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British Invasion
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in the U.S., and subsequent appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, marked the start of the British Invasion.]]
The British Invasion was the term applied by the news media—and subsequently by consumers—to the influx of rock and roll, beat and pop performers from the United Kingdom who became popular in the United States, Canada and Australia. The classic British Invasion period was 1964 to 1967 (roughly bracketed by The Beatles' appearance on Ed Sullivan and the emergence of Jimi Hendrix as a U.S.-born superstar who had his first success in the UK).
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in the U.S., and subsequent appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, marked the start of the British Invasion.]]
The British Invasion was the term applied by the news media—and subsequently by consumers—to the influx of rock and roll, beat and pop performers from the United Kingdom who became popular in the United States, Canada and Australia. The classic British Invasion period was 1964 to 1967 (roughly bracketed by The Beatles' appearance on Ed Sullivan and the emergence of Jimi Hendrix as a U.S.-born superstar who had his first success in the UK). The Second British Invasion refers to MTV friendly acts of the 1980's. In the latter half of the 2000's the term would be used to describe the chart and Grammy Award success of mostly female acts at first and then British Acts in general.
Background
The rebellious tone and image of American rock and roll and blues musicians deeply resonated with British youth in the late 1950s, influencing all the British Invasion artists.
"Stranger on the Shore" by Acker Bilk in 1961 and "Telstar" by the Tornados in 1962 were the first two songs by British artists to reach #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, both hitting the top of the chart before the generally accepted start of the "British Invasion."
First British Invasion
The song generally cited by historians as beginning the first British Invasion was The Beatles' I Want to Hold Your Hand, which debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 on January 18, 1964, and hit #1 on February 1, 1964. It became the biggest hit of the year, as well as the fourth-biggest hit of the decade. Technically speaking, The Beatles music was released in America six months earlier, including the first single of "From Me to You", released on Vee-Jay Records, and charting at #118 on the Bubbling Under charts on August 3, 1963. Only when Capitol mounted a massive publicity campaign in late December, 1963 did the Invasion hit full steam. On February 7, 1964 The CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite ran a story about the Beatles United States arrival in which the correspondent said "The British Invasion this time goes by the code name Beatlemania"
Though generally not credited with starting the "Invasion," Dusty Springfield was one of the first British artists to have significant success in the U.S., with her hit single "I Only Want To Be With You," released in November 1963, though it technically did not chart on the Billboard Hot 100 until January 11, 1964. Influential pop music radio station WMCA in New York even chose Dusty's "I Only Want To Be With You" as its station "Sure Shot" on December 11, 1963, almost three weeks before premiering the Beatles on New York radio in late December. She appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show on May 10, 1964 singing the popular hit, and continued to have several U.S. hits through the rest of the decade.
Beatlemania
The Beatles' first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show on February 9, 1964, started a massive wave of chart success that lasted until they broke up in 1970.
The beats and catchy rhythms were hard not to like among Americans when Beatlemania first hit the nation - so much that it is often said that The Beatles as icons were so popular because they personified the generation's youth, and that their music and records "had begun to mark the passage of time in their listeners' lives." With President Kennedy's assassination, the Vietnam War and other political crises, it was only right for the Beatles to serve as "pivotal figures in the creation myth of the counterculture." Cultural critics have pointed out that the February 7, 1964 arrival of the Beatles and the ensuing mass hysteria occurred because of an existing vacuum that existed among America’s youth still in mourning over Kennedy’s death the previous November 22. The Beatles' "British oddities" as far as appearance and first impressions, with their shaggy hair and funny accents, were apparent when a reporter asked, "Does all that hair help you sing?" Their music meshed codependently with the culture and fashion of the musical group.
British Invasion effect on United States Music and Culture
The Anglomania at the time provided a boost for other cultural exports such as films, art and television. Noted Disc Jockey John Peel recalls in his memoirs how he was able to break into American radio purely on the basis of his Merseyside accent.
In 1964 films featuring James Bond portrayed by Sean Connery became popular in America as did Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins. That year the Beatles' first film A Hard Day's Night further painted England as the center of the (rock) universe. North American media took the bait and made Carnaby Street, London's trendy fashion center in the mid-1960s, a household name. British television shows such as The Avengers that deliberately emphasized British identity were also popular.
British Invasion acts influenced fashion, haircuts and manners of the 1960s of what was to be known as The Counterculture because they connected to the young "rebels" of the generation and influenced what defined a "cultural rebel" and collective nonconformity when it came to protests and activism.
The success of British acts of the time lead to American garage rock bands subsequently changing their sound and style. The influence continued on subsequent groups such as Big Star, Sparks and Todd Rundgren amongst others.
Second British Invasion
During the 1977-1980 period with a few exception such as The Police, Elvis Costello, Joe Jackson, Dire Straits, and Gary Numan British Acts associated with the British Punk Rock explosion and its aftermath during this period failed to chart well in the United States, as Arena Rock and Disco dominated the U.S. charts.
This changed in 1981 with the formation and influence of MTV. Needing videos to broadcast, the channel used a disproportionately large number by British acts, whose videos were generally more image conscious and entertaining and acted as short films far more than their American counterparts at the time. which were usually just video taped concert performances. and brought various distinctly British acts to the attention of American audiences. Also that year Los Angeles radio station KROQ would have success by launching a Rock of the '80's format.
In the fall of 1982 I Ran by A Flock of Seagulls entered the Billboard Top Ten. It was the first hit that owed almost everything to video (more specifically singer Mike Scores’s hair style). Duran Duran glossy video's would come to symbolize the power of MTV..
The high point of the second British invasion occurred in 1983. 30% of the record sales that year were from British Acts. In July 18 of the top 40 and 6 of the top 10 singles were by British artists. Overall record sales would rise by 10% from 1982. Newsweek magazine placed Annie Lennox and Boy George on the cover of one of its issues while Rolling Stone Magazine would release a England Swings issue. Early in the year radio consultant Lee Abrams would order his stations to double the amount of new music played to 30%.
All of this activity and the unusual high turnover of artists in the charts and lead to a sense of revolutionary upheaval. MTV and the British acts were credited with bringing color and energy to back to pop music. Veteran music journalist Simon Reynolds theorized that similar to the first British Invasion the use of black American influences by the British Acts helped to spur success.
Subsequent Years
1990-2005: Drought
Following the high water years of 1982 to 1986, success by British acts gradually dwindled to such a degree that at one point in May 2002 there were no British artists on the US singles chart, the first time this had occurred since 1963.
After the mid 1980s, tastes in the U.S. and UK diverged, the schism occurring most markedly in the late '80s and early '90s. In the UK, Dance music became hugely popular, but this movement was by and large ignored in the U.S., partly as a hangover from the Disco sucks campaign of the early '80s but also due to other social and cultural factors. There was a brief mini-invasion in 1991 with the success of Soul II Soul, Jesus Jones and EMF, but this was a blip in a downward trend only mitigated by the unexpected success of Morrissey's Your Arsenal (1992), which yielded him a moderate cult success in the States. And during the 80's the U.S. had certain genres such as hip hop which during the this time was very small in popularity in the UK.
In addition, the rise in the U.S. of glam metal in the late '80s, and grunge and most notably hip-hop in the '90s, meant that British acts would struggle in the U.S. The Britpop movement of the mid-1990s, which could be seen as a stylistic continuation of the original British Invasion of the 1960s, mixed with music of the 70s and 80s, failed to catch America's imagination, being perceived as too parochial and backward-looking, though some acts, notably Oasis, Radiohead, and Blur, achieved substantial success in the American market.
By the late '90s British acts were struggling to break through in America, with the most successful acts being long established artists such as Sting, Elton John and Eric Clapton. The most notable breakthroughs at that time were the Spice Girls who later became the biggest girl group in the world, Seal and Charlotte Church.
Return to Dominance: 2006 onward
In early 2006, James Blunt reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with his single "You're Beautiful", the first British artist to do so since Elton John with "Candle in the Wind 1997" in 1997.
In 2006, acts such as KT Tunstall, Muse and Keane have achieved success in the US. Corinne Bailey Rae achieved acclaim for her self titled album which reached #4 in the U.S. Snow Patrol also broke through, reaching the US Top 10 with the single "Chasing Cars". In early 2007 and Amy Winehouse reached the U.S. top 10 with her single "Rehab" as well as her album Back to Black which debuted at number 7 in the album charts before peaking at number 2 and later being certified 2 times Platinum while Lily Allen debuted at number 20 on the album charts.
And Joss Stone whose second album Mind Body & Soul reached number 11 in the U.S billboard Charts, and her third album Introducing Joss Stone debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 album charts selling 118,000 copies in its first week, becoming the first British solo female artist to have an album debut at number two.
Natasha Bedingfield also enjoyed success in the United States in 2005 and 2006 with singles like "These Words", which reached #17 in the U.S. charts, and "Unwritten", which peaked inside the U.S. top 10 at #5 and became the second most played song on U.S. radio in 2006. Her debut album also reached #26. In January 2008 Bedingfield released her second US album Pocketful of Sunshine which peaked at #3 on the Billboard Top 200, the lead single from her second album Love Like This reached #11 in the same week. In May 2008 Bedingfield scored her second top 10 in the U.S. with Pocketful of Sunshine which reached #5. Her brother Daniel Bedingfield also reached the U.S. Billboard Top 20 twice in 2003, with "Gotta Get Thru This" and "If You're Not the One".
By the March 2007 these successes and the popularity of Amy Winehouse had led to speculation that either another British Invasion was underway or a return to normalcy was occurring.
Alternative rock band Radiohead who reached #1 on the Billboard Top 200 in January 2008 with their album "In Rainbows", proving still to be the biggest British act in America. It was their second #1 album stateside after their 2000 album Kid A.
Also X Factor winner Leona Lewis, whose debut single Bleeding Love and album Spirit reached #1 on the Billboard Hot & Pop 100 chart and Billboard 200 album chart respectively. Bleeding Love was the first number one single on U.S charts by a British Female Artist since 1986.
In June 2008 Coldplay reached Number one in the US singles charts with their single Viva la Vida. The band also reached Number one in the album charts with the album Viva la Vida or Death and all his friends. By the end of June 2008 there were three British acts in the US top 10 singles charts at the same time - Leona Lewis, Natasha Bedingfield and Coldplay. Also during the summer of 2008 rapper M.I.A.'s Paper Planes was a top 5 U.S. single whist having limited success at home.
By 2008 the success of British women in North America had led to media reporting of a British Female Invasion.
British acts received a record number of 51st Grammy Awards nominations. Coldplay received seven nominations Radiohead received five nominations and Adele received four. Other British acts nominated included Duffy, Estelle, Hot Chip, Judas Priest, Leona Lewis, Sir Paul McCartney, M.I.A. and Robert Plant Several publications have described this as a British Invasion.. British acts would received a total of 16 Grammy Awards.
Out of the 10 best selling musical acts worldwide in 2008 four were British (Coldplay, Leona Lewis, Duffy, Amy Winehouse).
Mick Jagger thinks the current success of British acts are due to the diversity of their styles. A spokesmen for HMV Group a entertainment retail chain said that the catalyst for the current success of British acts were Amy Winehouse and possibly American Idol host Simon Cowell.
First British Invasion artists 1964-1967
Second British Invasion artists
Further Reading
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