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The British Invasion was one of the watershed developments in American popular music history. The phenomenon involved the virtual domination of AM radio and the record industry in the United States by British artists, particularly the beat groups who had proved adept at revamping the American rhythm and blues and rockabilly songs of the 1950s. The Invasion also spelled the end of such acts as instrumental surf music groups, and the teen idols that had dominated the American charts in the late 1950s and early 60s. It crippled the careers of established R&B acts like Chubby Checker and Fat Domino and temporarily derailed the chart success of surviving rock’n’roll acts, including Elvis Presley.
It’s hard to imagine the invasion taking place without the Beatles. After a brief period of covering American R&B pop and country standards, the group went on to compose a long string of rock classics, many of which are likely to be performed for generations to come. The Beatles had attempted a number of times in 1963 to secure a hit record on the American charts. Songs like “Love Me Do,” “From Me to You,” “Please Please Me,” and “She Loves You”- all hits in the U.K, had gone nowhere when released by various labels in the states. By late 1963, however, the nation was caught up in communal sense of mourning, brought on by the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. The Beatles, with their cheeky wit and catchy, upbeat pop songs proved to be the perfect anecdote America’s collective depression. Within a matter of weeks, they went from complete unknowns to household names in the U.S. With “I Want to Hold Your Hand” perched in the number one position on the Billboard Hot 100.
These developments made a substantial impression on the British music scene. British artists of every genre were hurriedly signed up by American labels and promoted through mass media. The first onslaught of British performers to achieve success on the American charts included The Rolling Stones, Dusty Springfield, the Dave Clark Five, the Searchers, Billy J. Kramer, and Peter and Gordon.
The Rolling Stones got a delayed start in the U.S. However, after twenty-five years, even with their current status open to conjecture, they remain the most tangible link to the British Invasion era. They put the raunch back in rock & roll. Unlike the Beatles, the Stones came on unsmiling and without manners. After warming up the Top Ten with “Time Is on My Side” and “The Last Time,” they delivered a knockout punch with “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction.”
The Beatles continued to reign supreme in the second half of the Sixties, although the British Invasion, in the sense the term is commonly understood, had pretty much run its course by 1967. It was still the Beatles everyone tried to emulate or top, though the music and the audience had changed markedly. They were turning inward, and their music was greeted not with screams but with a more mature appreciation of the new places they were taking their audience.
The most positive result of the British Invasion was its role in clearing away the musical deadwood which had found a home on the American charts. Many critics and journalists heralded the wave of British artists as a lifeline for the American market as they bought colour and energy back into the popular music.
However, fans and critics of rock music were skeptical towards the New Music hysteria, as they felt it did not represent true America, but tried to cement British values and culture into the American society. These charming invaders had borrowed (often literally) American rock music and returned it—restyled and refreshed. Needless to say, the British Invasion shook things up so much on a cultural level that it can be seen as the start of the Sixties as a concept, as well as an era of cultural transformation.
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