British Invasion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

British Invasion - Essay Example They did not only copy their music style, but their rebellious images that were close to British youth. Thanks to that a few successful British artists appeared, namely The Shadows and Cliff Richard, but their popularity was nothing close to that of the American musicians, and therefore their influence on the American music charts was limited. In 1962 the single Telstar by the British band The Tornadoes became number one in the USA. This event marked the initial stage of the British Invasion. But the real start of this great wave of music was in December 1963, when the song I Want to Hold Your Hand by The Beatles appeared on American radio stations and became extremely popular. On February 9th 1964, the Beatles performed live on The Ed Sullivan Show and from that day on Beatlemania swept the United States. â€Å"This appearance was a remarkable social and cultural milestone of the 1960's, and marked the dramatic start of the British Invasion† (The British Invasion) The special flavor that the British musicians added to the initially American sound, made this music very popular. At it is known, there were two schools in the British invasion. The groups representing the first school were called â€Å"skiffle† bands. Skiffle is a modern folk-country-blues. ... ar boxes, washboards for percussion, and an occasional acoustic guitar or piano† (Fontenot) The typical representatives of the style were the Ken Colyer Skiffle Band and Lonnie Donegan, who established skiffle as the musical phenomenon. Even though skiffle music is considered the one to be played by simple folks, who could not afford expensive instruments, such great rock groups as The Beatles and The Kinks started out their careers and road to popularity as the skiffle bands. The second school of bands developed later, by the beginning of the 60s, mainly around London. It â€Å"comprised of groups playing rhythm and blues based on the more sound of classic American Blues artists such as Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf† (The British Invasion) The groups successfully performed in the UK and around Europe (mostly in Germany) and in the 1961-1962 they started developing variations of the American styles of music. Among the most popular groups that played in rhythm and blues s tyle there were The Animals, The Rolling Stones, Manfred Mann, etc. With the skyrocketing takeoff of the Beatles in the United States’ music market the whole explosion of the British bands in the America began, which later led to the spread of the popularity of the British bands throughout the world. The Beatles’ songs began to dominate the American music charts. The success of The Beatles was followed by the other British bands, such as The Animals, The Kinks, Gerry and the Peacemakers, Peter and Gordon, Manfred Mann, The Rolling Stones, The Zombies, Herman’s Hermits, Petula Clark, etc. The British Invasion was basically over by 1967, when American music became very similar in style to the British one. American groups, namely the Byrds, began emulating the British sound, and even the appearance