Transcript Slide 1

chapter 4
1964– 1966
The Beatles and
the British Invasion
British pop between 1964
and 1966
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American business taken by surprise in
early 1964 by the Beatles
An American fad for British music
ensued
Two important strains of the story
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Chronicle of British pop
Influence of British pop on American pop
British pop from WWII to
1963
• Prior to 1964 British music was considered
inferior in America
• In contrast, American Culture was interesting to
Britons
– Result of American involvement in WWII
• British labels licensed music from American
independents
– Facilitated the spread of American
black pop
British pop from WWII to
1963
• History of British interest in
American music includes folk and jazz
– “Trad” jazz
– Skiffle
– Cliff Richard, early rock
Lonnie Donegan
The Beatles, 1960-1962
• Early years
– Formed out of the skiffle-based Quarrymen
– Among the first generation of musicians who
listened to rock as youth
– Began performing live actively in 1960
The Beatles, 1960-1962
• Hamburg
– Played six and seven hour evenings
– Refined performing skills and repertoire
Beatles at the Cavern Club, 1961
The Beatles, 1960-1962
• Liverpool
– Played at the Cavern nearly 300 times through 1962
– Met future manager Brian Epstein in 1961
– Secured Parlophone recording contract in 1962
– First single (“Love Me Do”) goes to 17 on
British charts
Beatles at the Cavern Club, 1963
The Beatles, 1960-1962
• Influences
– Beatles learned from cover songs performed
in early period
– Songs performed at Star Club and BBC,
1962-1965
• American pop dominates
• Elvis, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Carl Perkins,
Lieber and Stoller, Spector, Motown
The Beatles 1963-1966
• Success in England in 1963
– Two high-profile television performances
– Four consecutive hits
– Led wave of British-based hits in England
Beatles on the
Ed Sullivan
Show
The Beatles 1963-1966
• Success in America in 1964
– Performed on Ed Sullivan in February
– 30 Top Ten pop hits between 1964 and 1966
– All studio albums went to number 1 in both UK and U.S.
– Feature films
• Hard Day’s Night (1964)
• Help! (1965)
– Controversy over “bigger than Jesus” remark in 1966
– Final public concert in San Francisco, August 1966
The Beatles 1963-1966
• Musical development, 1964-1966
– Imitated and extended American models in early
music
– Used songwriting techniques from Brill Building,
1963-1964
• Found variety in solving compositional “problems”
• “I Want To Hold Your Hand”
– Moved from craft to artistic approach, 1964-1966
• Experimented with studio effects, stylistic juxtapositions,
and timbre, and structure
• “Tomorrow Never Knows”
The Beatles 1963-1966
– Importance of lyrics
• Teenage love in early years
• Unconventional in later music
– Self-confidence
– Sexual frustration
– Alienation
– Stylistic range
• Widens in 1965 with “Help!”
• Novel instrumentation
• Stylistic eclecticism
The British Invasion
• Beatles led the surge of British music in
the United States in 1964
– Groups were British, played guitars, and had
long hair
• Broad stylistic range
• Had many hits on the U.S. charts between 1964
and 1966
– Two strains modeled after Beatles and Stones
The British Invasion
(Beatles-type)
– Charming, cute, friendly
– First wave, 1964
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Gerry and the Pacemakers
Dave Clark Five
Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas
Searchers
Gerry and the Pacemakers
The British Invasion
(Beatles-type)
– Second wave, 1965
• Herman’s Hermits
• Freddy and the Dreamers
• Hollies
The British Blues Revival
(Stones-Type)
• Bad boys, in contrast to the Beatles-type
image
• Followed the lead of the Rolling Stones
• Drew on tradition of Chicago electric
blues from 1950s
• Spawned a wave of enthusiasm for
collecting and performing American blues
Rolling Stones, Zurich, 1967
The British Blues Revival
(Stones-Type)
• Rolling Stones, 1962-1966
– Formed by guitarist Brian Jones as a blues band
– Managed by Andrew Loog Oldham and Eric Easton, 1963
– Started move toward pop in 1963
– Early recordings
• Covered songs by American artists
• “I Wanna Be Your Man” by Lennon and McCartney
• Jagger and Richards achieve success as songwriters in 1964
– Did not achieve widespread success in America until 1965
– Preferred contrasting verse-chorus rather than AABA
The British Blues Revival
(Stones-Type)
• Yardbirds
– Guitarists included Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck,
and Jimmy Page
– Used studio musicians on early records
– Recorded in Chicago at Chess
Yardbirds
The British Blues Revival
(Stones-Type)
• Animals
– Reputation from wild stage act
– “House of the Rising Sun” (1964)
– Bassist Chas Chandler became manager
for Jimi Hendrix in 1966
• Spencer Davis Group
Animals (Eric Burdon)
The British Blues Revival
• Other British groups did not fit into
Beatles/Stones categories
– Kinks
• Formed in 1963
• Aggressive pop approach
– “You Really Got Me” (1964)
• Mirrored the Beatles move into artistic
songwriting, 1965
The Kinks
The British Blues Revival
– Who
• Not influential until the late 1960s
• Never made the U.S. Top 40 during the mid-1960s
• Representative of the Mod subculture in London
The Who, 1967
Transformation of American
Popular Music
• Rise of the Beatles transformed popular
music
– Opened doors for British acts within the UK
– Opened new opportunities for British acts
outside the UK
• British Invasion established a cross
fertilization between U.S. and UK