British Invasion

The British Invasion was an influx of rock and roll performers from Great Britain who became popular in the United States, Australia, Canada and elsewhere starting in 1964 and continuing through the present. The term british invasion goes to any english recording star who has a hit on american radio.

Following the successful export of Elvis Presley and other rock 'n' roll acts in the late 1950s, kids formed bands all over Britain to emulate their American heroes. While some, like Cliff Richard and The Shadows, saw great success in the US, very few British acts had hits on the USA record charts (exceptions included The Tornados, with "Telstar" and Mr. Acker Bilk with "Stranger on the Shore", both instrumentals that reached #1 on the charts) until Capitol Records released The Beatles' "I Want to Hold Your Hand" late in 1963 with a huge public relations campaign.

"I Want to Hold Your Hand" zoomed to the top of the USA charts just as The Beatles came to America for the first time; their historic appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show the night of February 9, 1964, watched by what was then the largest television audience in history, is seen by most as marking the start of the British Invasion.

The Beatles quickly came to dominate the charts, and on April 4 of that year they occupied the top five spots on the Billboard magazine Hot 100 music survey, a feat unmatched before or since. Their success opened the floodgates for other British acts to market their music in the United States, including the Rolling Stones, The Who, The Animals, The Kinks, The Dave Clark Five, Gerry and the Pacemakers, and many others.

By 1967, the British pop acts were becoming unpopular as psychedelic music was becoming the new music fad and some tried to accommodate the trend such as Eric Burdon & the Animals, Cream and The Beatles but most failed to change their music styles and disappeared. Those who tried psychedelia often failed and only a handful made it into the seventies still popular such as The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Kinks and The Beatles.

A period known as the Second British Invasion began in 1982 and peaked in 1985. Largely spawned by MTV, which brought to the attention of American audiences various British acts, such as The Fixx, the Cure, Depeche Mode, Eurythmics, Duran Duran, Boy George, and others, British acts came to dominate American charts to an even greater degree than in the first British invasion. See New Wave and New Romantic.

In May of 2002, there were no British artists on the US singles charts, the first time this had occurred since 1963.

The influence of the original, 1960s British Invasion upon the subsequent development of rock music cannot be overstated. The British Invasion made standard the model of the self-contained rock group (as opposed to the solo rock performer backed by anonymous stage or session musicians). The movement also helped to establish the convention of rock acts composing their own tunes. The sound of the British Invasion led directly to developments such as acid rock, heavy metal, and progressive rock, and would also be echoed in the punk rock, power pop and New Wave movements of the 1970s and 1980s.

The Britpop movement of the middle 1990s can be seen as a direct continuation of the original British Invasion of the 1960s, mixed with music of the 70s and 80s, although unlike the Invasion, Britpop never achieved the same degree of international popularity. Most of the bands weren't as popular outside as they were in Britain. Nevertheless a few like Oasis, Radiohead and Blur have managed to break through into the american market and achieve respectable international success.

British Invasion

First British Invasion artists

See also