British invasion

Arrival from The Beatles to the United States on February 7, 1964, greeting fans after their arrival at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. His appearance at The Ed Sullivan Show two days later marked the beginning of the British invasion.

The British Invasion (in English, British Invasion) was the predominant musical movement in the United States in the mid-1960s, when rock groups from the United Kingdom reached high levels of popularity as a result of the success of the British rock group The Beatles. All these groups, clearly influenced by rock and roll, blues and rhythm & American blues, were capable of crafting simple, catchy songs.

Before the brilliant arrival of The Beatles, singers like Cliff Richard or bands like The Shadows enjoyed great repercussions in the United Kingdom. The almost non-existent British presence on the American music scene is clearly reflected in the number of British songs that managed to reach the top of the American charts during that time, only two: "Stranger on the Shore" by Mr. Acker Bilk and "Telstar" of The Tornados, in May and December 1962, respectively. With Capitol's release of The Beatles' single "I Want To Hold Your Hand" at the end of 1963, the revolution arrived: the group visited the United States for the first time and their album soon reached the top of the charts. In addition, his presence on the Ed Sullivan show on February 9, 1964 marked a record number of viewers ever reached to date; this moment is usually considered the beginning of the British invasion. The "Fab Four" they soon took over the top of the charts, which opened the US market to British rock bands such as The Rolling Stones, The Dave Clark Five, The Animals, or The Who, and also singer Tom Jones.

Interestingly, other British bands as important at the time as The Yardbirds, Them or The Kinks initially had little presence in the US. However, despite their scant mainstream success (the Kinks even reached to have his presence in the United States prohibited as a sanction for his bad behavior) his influence in the underground environment was enormous. So much so as to be authentic icons of the bands that gave rise to the explosion of what has come to be called Garage Rock or Garage-Punk and which had its culminating moment between 1965 and 1968.

Background

It is important to note that before the success of The Beatles, rock & roll was having a hard time, or rather, its performers. Elvis Presley had gone into the military, Chuck Berry had gone to prison, Little Richard had become a preacher, Buddy Holly, The Big Booper and Ritchie Valens had died in a plane crash, Eddie Cochran would die in a car crash, and Jerry Lee Lewis had been involved in a scandal when he married a thirteen-year-old girl. Meanwhile, the twist, led by Chubby Checker, began to fill the empty spaces left by these artists, so the editors of the record companies began to look for new idols capable of filling these spaces, which ended in the emergence of a new way of interpreting music, more mellow and sweet than the most casual Rock & original roll.

The warning of what was to come was given on the night of Sunday, February 9, 1964, when four boys from a port city in the far north of the United Kingdom appeared on one of the most popular television shows. major cities in the United States, almost completely paralyzing its main cities, especially New York City. Those guys called themselves The Beatles.

When weeks later, five of his songs occupied the first five places in the Billboard magazine ranking, the Americans fell captive to the same pandemic that had been plaguing the British for a couple of years and that the press had baptized like “Beatlemania”, a phenomenon that would later give rise to the arrival of other English bands to the new continent.

British invasion

The Beatles' first visit to the US, on February 7, 1964, set a pattern that became almost the rule for English groups: make a career on this side. February 7th marks not only half a century of the arrival of The Beatles, but also of what is culturally and historically known as "The British Invasion".

The Rolling Stones, one of the main bands of the British invasion.

Following the success of The Beatles, in the US market, the real process of the so-called British Invasion began; bands like The Rolling Stones, The Dave Clark Five, The Who, The Animals, Tom Jones and others literally invaded the United States with their music.

The Rolling Stones set foot on American soil for the first time in June 1964, appearing in the best venues and best programs of the time as "The Ed Sullivan Show". In 1965 they released their third record, 'Out of Our Heads', which included the hit '(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction', the first of the many number 1s on the American charts that the band would later obtain.

Interestingly, The Rolling Stones reached number 1 on the British market with their first two albums, without achieving it in the United States, but this was their first number one in the United States and the first to stay only at number 2 on the chart. United Kingdom.

Written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards,"Satisfaction" It is considered by critics as the band's best recording and one of the best in contemporary music. Number 2 on the list of the 500 greatest songs of all time. The American television network VH1 put it at number 1 on its list of the 100 greatest songs of Rock & Roll. In 2006 a jury composed of experts in music and sound perseveration from the United States added it to the National Recording Registry of the United States Library of Congress due to its "cultural or historical significance" in American life.

The Rolling Stones and The Animals are the first to bombard the United States “musically” after the ground prepared by The Beatles. The Stones represented the aggressive face of English Rock, contrasting somewhat with the polite "nice guys" image of The Beatles. The Rolling Stones, like The Yardbirds, more influenced by Chicago Blues, set foot in the United States for the first time in June 1964, performing at the best venues and the best variety shows of the time as "The Ed Sullivan Show"; It was the beginning of the Invasion. The Stones, already in the US, contacted their idols from the "underground" blues scene, such as Muddy Waters. Jagger and company knew how to turn their music around and gave their rock a sound with echoes of the blues of yesteryear. British musicians influenced American ones and vice versa. There was an attempt to do an "American wave" in the UK that did not have the same effect. In 1965 they released their third record Out of Our Heads, which included "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction", the first of the many "N ° 1 "in the American lists that the band would later obtain. Out of Our Heads was also their first platinum record and held the top spot for 63 weeks. Curiously, Rolling Stones reached No. 1 in the British market with their first two albums, without achieving it in the United States, but this was their first No. 1 in the United States, and the first to stay only as No. 2 in the United Kingdom.

The Animals, for their part, with the adaptation of a popular folk song “House of the rising sun”, managed to be the second British group to reach number one on both the British and American charts and at the end of 1964 they released their first LP "The Animals".

The list of groups that rely on this trio of bands to enter the US market is endless, but among them we must also highlight the importance of bands like The Who and The Kinks in all this musical process experienced in the 1960s. Curiously, as already mentioned, The Kinks were a banned group in the US after their 1965 tour, which prevented them from performing again in the country (and reaching their charts) until 1970. However, despite their scant presence during the height of the British Invasion, their influence was tremendous among the new bands that emerged all over the US geography and gave rise to Garage Rock. Something similar happened with bands like The Them or The Yardbirds (whose scant presence on the charts didn't prevent them from exerting enormous influence on garage groups).

The Invasion was already a fact and by 1965, the US market had been conquered by British bands: The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, The Who, The Animals, The Dave Clark Five (of which, at some point, time, it was even said that they were more famous than the Beatles themselves), Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich, The Hollies, The Herman's Hermits, to name a few of the best known, were the "owners" of the American market and the American bands that emerged simply limited themselves to "copying" the style imposed by these British groups, which was something like a fusion (electric and modern) between black R&B, rock & more classic roll, the pop developed years before by The Everly Brothers or Buddy Holly and, of course, a distinctly British touch.

US response

Although the Americans had successful bands, the truth is that the "British Invasion" it was literally perceived as that: a true invasion. However, something resembling a backlash soon mounted, what has been called "The American Response".

Artists and bands such as Chubby Checker, Bob Dylan, Joan Báez, Buffalo Springfield, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Simon and Garfunkel, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Doors, Steppenwolf, Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service, James Brown, Stevie Wonder, Roy Orbison, Billy Joel, Smokey Robinson, Marvin Gaye, The Supremes, The Beach Boys, The Byrds, The Kingsmen, an Elvis Presley back in the world of music as a good king, and a long etcetera were heard throughout the United States. However, the importance of the British invasion in musical tastes was fundamental. Until then, only "their" music (jazz, blues, rock... they were all born there) and their artists were consumed in the USA. No group, solo artist or songwriter from Britain had ever found success across the pond. But from 1964 the situation changed. Music from the British Isles began to be consumed, becoming a mass phenomenon. There was a breach of borders.

Starting in 1966, the birth of the “Hippie Movement” in California meant something like an American victory. From that moment on, the center of the musical world once again crossed the Atlantic and moved to the United States. In Los Angeles appear The Doors, and in San Francisco the "California Acid Rock" from Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Dead, Quicksilver Messenger Service or Big Brother & The Holding Company set new paths and musical formulas. Eric Burdon himself (leader of The Animals) dissolves his old band and settles on the US West Coast, refounding his group. Psychedelia acquires an American identity card and gradually displaces the British from the center of the scene.

Of course, British rock would still have a lot to say, both in the remainder of the decade and in the subsequent '70s and '80s (and even today). But the truth is that around 1967-68 the end of the phenomenon known as the "British Invasion" in the strict sense.

British Invasion groups