British Invasion

• 1. Origins And Precursors

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  In the late 1950s, American rock and blues musicians became popular with British youth. This rebellious tone and image sparked a cultural shift across the Atlantic Ocean. Early commercial attempts to replicate American rock and roll mostly failed in Britain. The trad jazz, inspired skiffle craze produced two top-ten hits in the US by Lonnie Donegan. Young British groups started to combine various British and American styles in different parts of the United Kingdom. A movement known as Merseybeat emerged in Liverpool during this period. While American acts were popular in the United Kingdom, few British acts had achieved any success in the United States prior to 1964. Cliff Richard was the best-selling British act in the United Kingdom at the time. He had only one Top 40 hit in the US, with Living Doll in 1959. Exceptions to this trend included Auf Wiederseh'n, Sweetheart by Vera Lynn in 1952. Laurie London also had a lower-charting but more enduring hit in He's Got the Whole World in His Hands in 1958. Instrumentals like Stranger on the Shore by Acker Bilk reached number ten in February 1959. Telstar by the Tornados appeared in 1962. Some observers noted that American teenagers were growing tired of singles-oriented pop acts like Fabian and the Bobby's. The Mods and Rockers, two youth gangs in mid-1960s Britain, also had an impact on British Invasion music.

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• 2. Beatlemania Breakthrough

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  In October 1963, the first newspaper articles about the frenzy surrounding the Beatles appeared nationally in the US. The group's the 4th of November Royal Variety Performance in front of the Queen Mother sparked music industry interest. During November, major American print outlets published stories on the phenomenon known as Beatlemania. On the 10th of December, CBS Evening News anchor Walter Cronkite re-ran a Beatlemania story originally aired on the 22nd of November. After seeing the report, 15-year-old Marsha Albert of Silver Spring, Maryland, wrote a letter to disc jockey Carroll James at radio station WWDC. She asked why America could not have music like that here. On the 17th of December, James had Miss Albert introduce I Want to Hold Your Hand live on the air. Washington, D.C., area record stores were flooded with requests for a record they did not have in stock. Capitol Records released the record three weeks ahead of schedule on the 26th of December. The release occurred during a time when teenagers were on vacation. In the next year alone, the Beatles would have thirty different listings on the Hot 100. On the 3rd of January 1964, The Jack Paar Program ran Beatles concert footage licensed from the BBC. It was watched by 30 million viewers. In the middle of January 1964, I Want to Hold Your Hand vaulted to the top of nearly every top forty music survey in the US. The song ascended to number one on the 25th of January 1964 edition of Cash Box magazine. It reached number one on the 1st of February 1964 edition of the Hot 100. On the 7th of February 1964, the CBS Evening News ran a story about the Beatles' US arrival. Two days later, on Sunday, the 9th of February, the group appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show. Nielsen Ratings estimated that 45 percent of American television viewers saw their appearance. That night, 73 million people watched in total.

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• 3. Beyond The Fab Four

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  One week after the Beatles entered the Hot 100 for the first time, Dusty Springfield became the next British act to reach the chart. She peaked at number twelve with I Only Want to Be with You. During the next three years, many more British acts with a chart-topping US single would appear. As 1965 approached, another wave of British Invasion artists emerged. These were usually composed of groups playing in a more pop style, such as the Hollies or the Zombies. Artists with a harder-driving, blues-based approach included the Dave Clark Five and the Kinks. By the 17th of April, British acts accounted for 30 records in the Hot 100. On the 8th of May, they accounted for eight of the nine British Commonwealth's entries that made a nearly clean sweep of that weekly Hot 100 Top Ten. They lacked only a hit at number two instead of Gary Lewis & the Playboys' Count Me In. On the 1st of May, the British Commonwealth also nearly swept the Cash Box singles chart's Top Ten. That same year, half of the 26 Billboard Hot 100 chart toppers belonged to British acts. The Rolling Stones would become the biggest band other than the Beatles to come out of the British Invasion. They topped the Hot 100 eight times. Eric Burdon of the Animals said they dressed them up in strange costumes. He noted it was ridiculous and far away from their nature. Freakbeat is a term sometimes given to certain British Invasion acts closely associated with the Mod scene during the Swinging London period. Certain acts, such as the Pretty Things and the Creation, had a degree of chart success in the UK.

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• 4. Cultural Exports And Fashion

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  Outside of music, other aspects of British arts became popular in the US during this period. BSA motorcycles led American media to proclaim the United Kingdom as the center of music and fashion. The Beatles' A Hard Day's Night marked the group's entrance into film. Mary Poppins starring English actress Julie Andrews released on the 27th of August 1964 became the most Oscar-winning Disney film in history. My Fair Lady released on the 25th of December 1964 won eight Academy Awards. Oliver! released in 1968 won Best Picture. Four of the decade's Academy Award winners for best picture were British productions. Lawrence of Arabia starred Peter O'Toole as British army officer T. E. Lawrence and won seven Oscars in 1963. British television series such as Danger Man began appearing on American screens. The Saint and The Avengers also started airing. By 1966, spy series emerged as a favorite format of American viewers. Fashion set the Beatles apart from their earlier American rock and roll counterparts. Their distinctive uniform style challenged the clothing style of conventional American males. Mod fashions, such as the miniskirt from Swinging London designers like Mary Quant, were popular worldwide. Twiggy and Jean Shrimpton wore these styles as early supermodels. Newspaper columnist John Crosby wrote that the English girl had an enthusiasm American men found captivating. Even while longstanding styles remained popular, American teens and young adults started to dress hipper.

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• 5. Impact On American Music Industry

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  The British Invasion had a profound impact on popular music and internationalized the production of rock and roll. In America, it arguably spelled the end of the popularity of instrumental surf music. It ended pre-Motown vocal girl groups and temporarily derailed the chart success of certain surviving rock and roll acts. Elvis Presley nevertheless racked up thirty Hot 100 entries from 1964 through 1967. The movement prompted many existing garage rock bands to adopt a sound with a British Invasion inflection. It inspired many other groups to form, creating a scene from which major US acts of the next decade would emerge. In February 2021, Ken Barnes analyzed US musical acts' success before and during the Invasion. He noted that several acts whose careers were eclipsed by the Invasion eventually made comebacks after the waning period. Others, such as Bill Anderson and Bobby Bare, remained successful in the country realm. One record company, Cameo Parkway, sustained more permanent damage from the Invasion than any other. A plurality of the alleged victims of the Invasion were already seeing diminishing returns in 1963 before the Invasion began. Stylistically, the proportions of US music being made did not change substantially during the Invasion. Folk, country and novelty music dropped to near-nonexistence while girl groups were hard hit. Though many of the acts associated with the invasion did not survive its end, many others became icons of rock music.

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• 6. Legacy And Subsequent Waves

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  Beginning in March 1969 with the success of These Eyes by The Guess Who, the British Invasion was at least partially superseded by a Canadian Invasion. As cultural aspects of the British Invasion waned, British musical acts retained their popularity into the 1970s. British progressive rock acts of the 1970s were often more popular in the US than their native Britain. British bands such as Badfinger and The Sweet evolved the movement into power pop. In 1978, two rock magazines wrote cover stories analyzing power pop as a savior to both new wave and direct simplicity. Several power pop artists were commercially successful; most notably the Knack. Their song My Sharona was the highest-ranked US single of 1979. A subsequent wave of British artists rose to popularity in the early 1980s. British music videos appeared in American media leading to what is now known as the Second British Invasion. Another wave of British mainstream prominence came in the mid-1990s with the brief success of Spice Girls and Oasis. At least one British act would appear somewhere on the Hot 100 every week from the 2nd of November 1963 until the 20th of April 2002. That week, only two of the top 100 albums were from British artists. The latest movement came in the mid- to late 2000s when British R&B and soul artists enjoyed huge success in the US charts.

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