The 60s - The British Invasion

The British Invasion is a term used to describe the explosion of British rock and roll artist success in the US charts, around the mid to late 60s. At the forefront of this invasion were bands such as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and The Who amongst many others.

During the 1950s, rock and roll music was thriving in America, and was beginning to become popular in the United Kingdom, with the rebellious image and tone becoming popular with British teenagers. Many tried to copy their rock and roll idols, but many couldn’t afford the instruments so they began to play whatever came to hand - washboards and tea trays and the like – and so began the Skiffle craze. Inspired also by traditional jazz and a do it yourself attitude, Skiffle became the foundation of several very successful 60s rock and roll artists, most notable of which was The Beatles.

Throughout the late 50s and early 60s, The Beatles (formerly The Quarrymen, Johnny and the Moondogs and Long John and the Silver Beatles) were growing increasingly popular throughout the UK, with their fame getting to the extent that they sparked a craze known as Beatlemania. Beatlemania gripped England like no other craze had before; record and merchandise sales went through the roof and were turning over millions of pounds per year. However successful The Beatles were in Britain at the time though, Beatlemania was still yet to hit the USA. In late 1963, a news report was run in America about Beatlemania, and how it had grew to be a phenomenon in the UK. This sparked demand for Beatle airplay in the US, and a few days after the news report ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’ received its first playing in the US.
From there on in, Beatlemania swept the US to a height greater than that in the UK. After being released by Capitol Records, I Want to Hold Your Hand reached number 1 in several US charts. This led to the Beatles crossing the Atlantic to appear on the Ed Sullivan Show, which aired on February 9th 1964. That night, seventy five percent (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_British_Invasion) of all Americans watching television watched the Beatles’ appearance.

The Beatles' success opened up the opportunity for many other British acts to become successful in the US charts, with Dusty Springfield being the next British artist to have a hit in the US with ‘I Only Want to be With You’, peaking at #12 in the hot 100 chart.


Over the next two years, many more artists were to achieve success in the US charts, another notable band being The Rolling Stones. Formed in 1962 and led by Mick Jagger, The Stones were signed to the Decca label, which originally turned The Beatles down. The Stones enjoyed moderate success in the UK in the early 60s, however when they first ventured into the US, it was apparently "a disaster. When we arrived, we didn't have a hit record [there] or anything going for us." (Bill Wyman, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_rolling_stones). Over the coming years, however, The Stones were to enjoy increasing popularity in the US, themselves appearing on the Ed Sullivan show several times.


As the 60s entered its latter years, a second wave of British artists were to invade the US charts. The biggest band to come out of this second wave were The Who, a band formed in 1964 when the first wave of bands were achieving their success. The difference between the two was the sound; first wave British invasion artists were blues/rock and roll style, whereas the second wave artists were heavier and were influenced by American rock music. The Who were not to gain success in the US until 1967 with ‘Happy Jack’, two years and two albums after their initial success in the UK.

The growing popularity of generalized rock music towards the late 60s spelled the end of The British Invasion, however it is not to be said The British Invasion was a one off craze. The British Invasion changed the face or international music, opening up the floodgates for thousands of British artists to have success in the US charts, but it also marked the end of many movements and styles which were popular in the US before the invasion, such as R&B and surf music. But as these styles came and went, more were to flourish with the influence of the British Invasion as Rock music developed in to heavier genres over the 70s, 80s and 90s.