55th Anniversary of the British "Invasion"

MichaelWinicki

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It was 55 years ago today The Beatles landed in the US.

And as they say the music scene has never been the same.

No matter what type of rock you enjoy today, The Beatles (and all the other British groups–And a couple from Australia) influenced it.
 

CouchCoach

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Ahhhhhh, the magic time of music, my friends. I was a 16 year old lad when it all began and it was the greatest time of music in my life. There is was, American Rock, Motown and the British Invasion all on the same radio stations, the variety was overwhelming, most different and all of it was good.

It was a fascinating time because just when you thought you'd heard your favorite, a new one emerges and you have a new favorite. But you know the coolest thing about it from the perspective of a 16 year old boy? Ugly.

Up until then, we had to endure the dreamboats like Elvis, Fabian, Ricky Nelson, Paul Anka, Tommy Sands and Pat Boone and the girls would all just stare at them and drool. Then the Beatles with cute Paul and the Dave Clark Five show up. What the hell is this, the only guys in England with good teeth? Thankfully, Peter Noone showed up. But little did we know, it was coming, help was on the way. The Mods were in the very first wave but the Rockers were coming, the Rockers were coming!

The Rolling Stones and Animals show up and these guys are uglier than any of us, we have a chance. The only Stone that was decent looking was Brian Jones and they drowned him for being pretty. "Eh love, yer not so pretty now, all bloated like that, are ye mate?"

Still today, my favorite music and the influence that it brought on our music and our culture was something to behold living through it. I was the first to stop combing my hair back and got sent home from school on day one, first to have Beatles' boots and dressed like them. It was as if I was adrift, had no self image, didn't know that I belonged to anything but then it happened. They came. And the fact that the Beatles and the others scared the parents more than Elvis made it so much better.
 

JohnnyTheFox

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Back when British bands brought back the music they stole from Mississippi delta black blues musicians

Sure they did it was par for the course given the time period, Zeppelin and the Stones as well and they weren't the only ones.
 

CouchCoach

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Back when British bands brought back the music they stole from Mississippi delta black blues musicians
That were basically being ignored by what would become their audience. That was the cool part to me, people wondered where this new sound was coming from and most of it was here all along.

The Stones first album was all cover tunes except for Tell Me, my first favorite of theirs.
 

JohnnyTheFox

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It was 55 years ago today The Beatles landed in the US.

And as they say the music scene has never been the same.

No matter what type of rock you enjoy today, The Beatles (and all the other British groups–And a couple from Australia) influenced it.

Nope, the Beatles were my 1st love when it comes to music although I do prefer the Rubber Soul and after material. They were absolutely stellar.
 

lukin2006

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British Invasion is my favourite era of music. I'm tone death, I couldn't tell a note apart...so if they stole from the blues artist, I can not argue. But it was more than just the instruments, for me, it has more to do with the lyrics...
 

Big_D

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British Invasion is my favourite era of music. I'm tone death, I couldn't tell a note apart...so if they stole from the blues artist, I can not argue. But it was more than just the instruments, for me, it has more to do with the lyrics...


These artists didn't steal from the blues, they were inspired by them. The Beatles, Stones, Clapton, Black Sabbath, Zeppelin, Elvis, SRV etc.. all pay heavy tribute to the likes of Chuck Berry, BB King, Buddy Guy, Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson and many more. Like Country music also derives from the blues. A lot of fans have rock heroes and those guys were theirs. Blues started around mid 1800s and is basically the influence and foundation for all music.

"The Blues? It's the Mother of American music. That's what it is." ~ BB King

"I don't think anyone steals anything. All of us borrow." ~ BB King
 

CouchCoach

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And then there were artists/bands that really brought the variety to flesh out the Invasion like Gerry and the Pacemakers, Peter and Gordon, Chad and Jeremy, Marianne Faithful, The Searchers, Dusty Springfield, Manfred Mann, Herman's Hermits and the band that really influenced the jangle that would define alternative later, The Byrds. That layered jangle would make a big comeback.

But the band that really got me the first time I heard them was The Kinks, pun intended. That song nailed me right between the ears the first time I heard it and became a top 10 all time. There was a rawness to it that I couldn't shake.

Buddy Holly died 5 years before the Invasion started and I think he would have welcomed it and used it for inspiration. I can only imagine what he could have added to the mix of American Rock to add to the Motown and British Invasion. He was an idol and inspiration to a lot of the British artists.
 

Passepartout

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Yeah as really the British Invasion owes a lot to Buddy Holly. If it were for people not like him, we would not have the Beatles or the British Invasion at all.
 

cowboyec

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These artists didn't steal from the blues, they were inspired by them. The Beatles, Stones, Clapton, Black Sabbath, Zeppelin, Elvis, SRV etc.. all pay heavy tribute to the likes of Chuck Berry, BB King, Buddy Guy, Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson and many more. Like Country music also derives from the blues. A lot of fans have rock heroes and those guys were theirs. Blues started around mid 1800s and is basically the influence and foundation for all music.

"The Blues? It's the Mother of American music. That's what it is." ~ BB King

"I don't think anyone steals anything. All of us borrow." ~ BB King
well said...kinda hard to steal something when you never claim it was yours.
from 1955-1977....Elvis always performed Ray Charles' classic I Got A Woman...it was also the first song he recorded at his first studio session for Rca in '56.
at one of his Vegas shows in '69...he intoduced his idol Fats Domino and told the audience he (Domino) was "the king".
My favorite story was during Elvis' movie years in the mid-60s...he had heard that one of his heroes...Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup was in a hospital in Memphis.
Elvis paid the medical bills...when asked why he went on and on about how much he was inspired by his music.
The great blues artists themselves were inspired by country and gospel.
Thats where Elvis' sound came from...Gospel,Country and R&B.
Its just good music...period.
 

PJTHEDOORS

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well said...kinda hard to steal something when you never claim it was yours.
from 1955-1977....Elvis always performed Ray Charles' classic I Got A Woman...it was also the first song he recorded at his first studio session for Rca in '56.
at one of his Vegas shows in '69...he intoduced his idol Fats Domino and told the audience he (Domino) was "the king".
My favorite story was during Elvis' movie years in the mid-60s...he had heard that one of his heroes...Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup was in a hospital in Memphis.
Elvis paid the medical bills...when asked why he went on and on about how much he was inspired by his music.
The great blues artists themselves were inspired by country and gospel.
Thats where Elvis' sound came from...Gospel,Country and R&B.
Its just good music...period.


Elvis recorded I Got A Woman for Sun back in 1955, but was lost. He did sing it live in 1955, so at least there is that.
 

cowboyec

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for the record....my favorite Elvis cover of a Beatles tune.....Something.
he covered:
•Hey Jude in studio in '69.
•Yesterday...live in '69 & '70.
•Something...live in '70...and featured it again in '73 at his historic Aloha from Hawaii satellite broadcast...the live version from '70 is my fav.
•he merged his hit Little Sister w/Get Back in 1970 for his Vegas shows...revived it again in '72.
•and at a studio session in Nashville in '71 he and his awesome studio band jammed to Lady Madonna....you can tell on the recording Elvis was havin' lotta fun with it.
 
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