60s Genre - British Invasion

In this Blog for my 1960's Genre I have chosen to look at the British Invasion. This was a term given to a period roughly between 1964 and 1967 when British Rock 'n' Roll and Pop acts exploded in popularity in the United States of America. This is generally seen as being kicked off by the appearance of The Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show on February 9th 1964. This period is very important in the history of popular music as it was the first time a British artist made a significant impression in America. The first British band to get a Number 1 hit in the States was the Tornados, with "Telstar" in 1962, but the first British artist to get Number 1 was Dame Vera Lynn ten years earlier in 1952.

Despite these earlier hits, the wave of British artists invading the US charts really took off in 1964 when the Beatles began their US tour by playing the Ed Sullivan Show on February 9th, promoting "I Wanna Hold Your Hand". The show was watched by more than 73 million people, and was seen as the start of what the press labelled the 'British Invasion', and what was soon to become known as 'Beatlemania' swept across the US. It was widely thought that the Beatles cheered up the nation, still mourning the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in November 1963.

The sound of the British Invasion was influenced by the American Rock 'n' Roll of the Fifties, Liverpudlian bands such as the Beatles, Gerry & The Pacemakers and Herman's Hermits, were influenced by records brought back to port by sailors that had been across the Atlantic to America and brought them back home as souvenirs of their travels, or as presents for loved ones. British musicians found themselves copying or being heavily influenced by the rock 'n' roll sound, and the British the skiffle movement began. Skiffle was played using home-made instruments such as washboard and tea-chest bass, alongside conventional instruments such as acoustic guitar, banjo and drumkit. A couple of notable Skiffle artists are Lonnie Donegan, and The Quarrymen, later to become The Beatles. The British breed of rock 'n' roll evolved from this skiffle/rock 'n' roll sound, with bands from Liverpool becoming known as Merseybeat, because of Liverpool's location by the river Mersey.

After The Beatles exploded into the American charts, it was the beginning of a flood of British artists, including the likes of The Animals, Rolling Stones, The Troggs, The Who and The Yardbirds. The Invasion is generally seen as ending when Jimi Hendrix, a US-born artist, came onto the pop scene in the UK.