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The Big British Bands: Pop Gallery eBooks, #1
The Big British Bands: Pop Gallery eBooks, #1
The Big British Bands: Pop Gallery eBooks, #1
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The Big British Bands: Pop Gallery eBooks, #1

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“The Big British Bands”: The British may not have originated rock n’ roll, but they certainly exploited it much better than the American artists who started the ball rolling in 1956. In England, they had their own stars who did their own versions of folk, pop and rock n’ roll music and the kids went wild. This book focuses on WHO influenced The Beatles to write their amazing catalog; The Rolling Stones’ British Invasion years and their ANTI-BEATLES image with their 19-year-old manager Andrew Loog Oldham; The Who For Starters covers their years up through Keith Moon’s 1978 death; KinksVille focuses on Ray Davies competitive nature with his British counterparts and so many more acts that came through Great Britain. You will gain a lot of knowledge with this very easy read for young and older fans alike.

LanguageEnglish
PublisherMarc Platt
Release dateJul 14, 2015
ISBN9781516309030
The Big British Bands: Pop Gallery eBooks, #1

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    The Big British Bands - Marc Platt

    Part One: The British Pop & Rock Revolution

    The British may not have originated rock n’ roll, but they certainly exploited it much better than the American artists who started the ball rolling in 1956.

    In England, they had their own stars who did their own versions of folk, pop and rock n’ roll music and the kids went wild.

    The difference between America and Britain is not the supplier, but rather the demand. America originated the musical forms from its rural and urban bases and the Brits interpreted what they were hearing and churning out their own version of what they were hearing. The passion that young white rockers like The Rolling Stones, The Animals and The Yardbirds brought to Blues and R & B music made a huge difference to WHITE audiences who liked their music a little harder-edged.

    The Beatles made it more palatable for the pre-teens and teenagers in both Britain and later America.

    This book will focus on the context of the music from origination straight through to influencing future generations of musicians.

    At the time of its creation, this music was considered disposable ‘Flavor-of-the-Week’ product. It really wasn’t until The Beatles ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ album came out during the Summer of Love (1967) that people really started taking notice of this music as art.

    AM radio was a huge part of the industry getting their message out. There was a lot of under-the-table deals and corruption to get airplay for artists. This made the radio deejays in England and America very powerful.

    There were many more small labels on both sides of the Atlantic, similar to what is happening today in music.

    So it’s time to go back in time to where it all started in England with a jazz artist named Anthony Donegan, who started raving up American folk songs with a guitar, washboard and a tea-chest bass. The music was called Skiffle. Once Donegan took the first name Lonnie, and recorded Leadbelly’s song "Rock Island Line" this music took off and started influencing youngsters like Roger Daltrey, John Lennon and Paul McCartney.

    Skiffle evolved into rock n’ roll once Elvis Presley and Buddy Holly started their ascent.

    This book will focus on the artists and the music as it made its way back to America where it all started in the early 1960s.

    The Skiffle Craze & Cliff Richard

    Okay there were a lot of kids in Britain who were born during World War II trying to figure out what they were going to do with their lives. Their parents had sacrificed, scrimped and saved to give these kids a better life after a very uncertain time in Great Britain.

    Their parents had Big Band and Jazz music in their day and the children were looking for someone or something to call their own.

    In the early 1950s a young jazz musician Lonnie Donegan started to play folk music somewhat sped up with more traditional blues and Delta instruments like a washboard and a tea-chest bass. His 1956 hit version of Leadbelly’s song "Rock Island Line," a song popularized in America by blues legends like Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry, captured the attention of the youth in Great Britain. Boys started buying acoustic guitars, banjos and other American folk instruments and forming their own Skiffle Bands.

    When John Lennon and Paul McCartney met in 1957, Donegan had the number one single in Great Britain with "Gamblin' Man B/W Puttin' on the Style." Needless to say Donegan started the ball rolling in Great Britain with his skiffle version of American Folk Music. He is revered by these soon-to-be-legends.

    All together Donegan DID have 20 Top 30 hits in Great Britain, which was surpassed by The Beatles during their tremendous run of hit songs.

    A Little Context

    It is important to note HOW important Donegan was to these young impressionable British youths. Donegan got them into the game. When Elvis Presley arrived on the scene, HE put them over the top as rockers and mods.

    Consider Donegan the high school and ELVIS was graduate school. It was a huge jump from folk and blues songs to that Outlaw rock n’ roll the parents hated.

    Cliff Richard is just a few days YOUNGER than John Lennon, but got his start BEFORE The Beatles had secured a recording contract. Cliff Richard was a mere 18-years-old when his song "Move It" became the first legitimate British rock n’ roll single to capture the imagination of the British youth.

    The thing that keeps him from being a MORE important figure in rock n’ roll history is his lack of originality (in my opinion). Cliff was forced to mimic Elvis Presley’s musical style, dress and presentation and was unable to move beyond that fact. His watered-down version of Elvis Presley falls short in his impact beyond his early success.

    Needless to say, Cliff Richard amassed more than 200,000 million in sales over a 50-year career. He did have a few successes in America (notably 1979’s "We Don’t Talk Anymore.")

    A little More Context

    Cliff Richard, definitely an integral part of the early rock n’ roll music in Great Britain. He got off to a great start and set the early Guitar Band trends in England. The music business rode Cliff Richard & the Shadows all the way to the bank and established trends that The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and others would soon follow. In the end, Richard was surpassed in relevancy, but should always be regarded as a turning point for many male youthful Brits.

    Liverpool: A Sea Port That Rocked

    ––––––––

    Liverpool has such a rich history from Rory Storm & the Hurricanes, Gerry & the Pacemakers, The Big Three, The Beatles to Elvis Costello and Frankie Goes to Hollywood. These music makers are the result of this sea port.

    The sounds that came out of Liverpool were gritty and cutting edge.

    In the late 1950s young rockers would get the merchant sailors to bring them back the newest and hottest 45rpm singles of acts like Bill Haley & the Comets, Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, Little Richard and Bo Diddley. Lennon, McCartney, Gerry Marsden and all the bands would borrow the singles from each other and learn these songs note-for-note.

    This is why you would hear more than one band play Chan Romero’s song "Hippy Hippy Shake" on the same night at a given show. ALL THE BANDS were cover bands in Liverpool. In the late 1950s and very early 1960s no one had the writing chops to play more than one original song, if even that.

    The American acts had the material and that material was the currency of the day. Whoever could learn the hottest songs the quickest could become the biggest band at any given time. The Beatles had a secret weapon...Paul McCartney could learn pretty much any song very quickly and pass that song onto his bandmates and The Beatles had probably the strongest repertoire in Liverpool and Hamburg, Germany.

    One of the greatest assets to these bands was poverty. They were starving to get out of Liverpool and make something of their lives. Desperation forced these bands like Gerry & the Pacemakers to get their game to a level that would get them out of Liverpool.

    The Big Three were another band that excelled in dancehalls and The Cavern. They even recorded a very famous live album at The Cavern Club, complete with the introduction from the deejay Bob Wooler. The Big Three had a minor hit with Leiber & Stoller’s (and Richie Barrett’s) "Some Other Guy," a song The Beatles also perfected in their live act. Since The Big Three ended up getting managed by Brian Epstein and were not as prolific as The Beatles writing their own songs, The Beatles never properly recorded the track, but did record a version for the BBC Radio. If you ever get the chance, pick up The Big Three’s ‘Cavern Stomp’ Live album. It will really give you an idea of what it was like at that historic Liverpool club.

    Context Please

    This one is a no brainer. Liverpool became the center of the universe for a short time after The Beatles took the world by storm. The record labels went there and immediately snatched up all the bands in the hopes that they could get some of that Liverpool magic the mop tops captured. Of course there would be a few who hit the charts, but when something seems to be too good to be true, it usually is.

    Liverpool has gone on to be a huge tourist attraction for travelers because of The Beatles, but Elvis Costello (AKA Declan McManus) came from Liverpool as did the

    1980s band Frankie Goes to Hollywood.

    There have been many music scenes over the years in many locations, but the Liverpool Mersey Beat scene must rank as the biggest and most productive, even if it only ever produced The Beatles. Of course fans of Gerry & the Pacemakers, Big Three, Elvis Costello and Frankie Goes to Hollywood would beg to differ, but you get the idea.

    Beatlemania

    Beatlemania is a term that can best be described as a REACTION and not necessarily phenomena, as it has often been described. The popularity The Beatles attained first in Liverpool and then in the rest of Great Britain was astounding. That country had never seen anything like it before.

    By the time the band arrived in America, they were used to the mania, but likely thought it would dissipate with time. Their music was ritualistic dancehall rock n’ roll and was really no better than when they were playing The Cavern Club in Liverpool. They had written just a handful of hits by the time they landed in New York.

    The interesting thing to note about Beatlemania was the huge amount of trend-setting the band’s popularity immediately started to affect.

    John Lennon had said in interviews that Americans ...looked like horses when they first got there and by their second tour Everyone had long hair. Their effect was noticeable around the world in months.

    American bands started popping up with electric guitars and copying The Beatles style musically and they too started to look like the mop tops.

    This was much bigger than Elvis Presley’s impact.

    A lot of it had to do with timing. It was just a few months before that President John Kennedy was gunned down in Dallas. America needed a jolt of something positive and in February, 1964 The Beatles BECAME the scene.

    Their three appearances that winter on the Ed Sullivan program captivated the nation. It gave kids something to look forward to. Teenagers bought every piece of Beatles memorabilia and all their recordings that February. There were records out on several labels, because Capitol Records took a while to come around and even release the band’s early recordings.

    It is also important to note that Lennon & McCartney set out to become a great songwriting team. They worshipped Gerry Goffin & Carole King in America and fancied themselves along that vein. They wrote songs like "Bad to Me, a song that Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas had a hit with. They wrote Step Inside Love for Cilla Black. Those two acts originated from Liverpool and were managed by Brian Epstein. They also wrote Misery for Helen Shapiro, but she turned it down. Their biggest non-Beatles early hit is Peter & Gordon’s World Without Love."

    Lennon & McCartney was the hottest writing team in the world outside America, which made Liverpool the center of the music world in early 1964.

    The Brits Finally Conquer America

    America was lacking the excitement that was being generated in England by the Beatles in late 1963, early 1964. In November John Kennedy was assassinated and in December, 1963 a Maryland teenager named Marsha Albert brought an advanced copy of "I Want to Hold Your Hand" to WWDC in Washington D.C. and was the first American to introduce The Beatles to the U.S. airwaves. The song took off and then in New York Disc Jockeys Murray the K and Cousin Brucie played the song non-stop throughout the Christmas holiday season and the song took off when Capitol Records finally released it properly, after much coaxing from Producer George Martin and Beatles Manager Brian Epstein.

    So when The Beatles took off from Heathrow Airport in early February, 1964 they had the number one hit in America. The Beatles had signed an arrangement the previous December to appear on Ed Sullivan for three appearances. The band had stated that they wouldn’t go to America WITHOUT a number one hit. It should be noted that Sullivan had some good foresight on The Beatles signing them for $10,000 for the three appearances. It was just eight years earlier he had to fork out $50,000 for a 21-year-old former truck driver, Elvis Presley for HIS three appearances.

    It wouldn’t be too long before a slew of Brits would be hopping on planes to make their splash in America.

    We will delve into those acts in this book and try to give the movement some context in the process.

    Several of those acts are still making an impact well into the 21st century like The Who, Rolling Stones, Donovan and The Zombies. Eric Burdon continues to tour playing clubs throughout the world with his fine catalog and of course The Animals music.

    The second tier of British Invasion artists like Peter Noone (Herman’s Hermits) have continued to resurface as part of oldies shows.

    The women were covered as well. Dusty Springfield, Lulu and Petula Clark were all major British players in the mid-1960s. Each of them made an impact and I will go into further detail in a bit.

    The Beatles main early British competition was from The Dave Clark Five (DC5). This band had 17 Top 40 singles in the U.S. They were also the band that knocked The Beatles "I Want to Hold Your Hand out of the #1 UK position in January, 1964 with their Glad All Over. Take a listen to Doug Sheldon’s 1961 single Your Ma Said You Cried in Your Sleep Last Night. This was the song that inspired Dave Clark to come up with his band’s unique sound. You can hear where Glad All Over" came from by giving this song a quick listen.

    Context

    The Dave Clark 5 was the 2nd band to come to America and they had a lot of success, which in reality HELPED The Beatles more than it hurt them. The DC5 gave a lot of credibility to the British Invasion bands. Their hit-power was tangible. They had songs like "Glad All Over, Over and Over, Catch Us If You Can, Can’t You See That She’s Mine, Bits and Pieces and the oft-covered Because" in their arsenal. Their leader Dave Clark turned out to be a savvy businessman, buying the rights to their music early on and licensing out tracks through his own company. He also managed the band himself. It came out in later years that Clark himself was the brains behind the operation, but actually hired a session drummer Bobby Graham to play drums on the tracks. Clark put his band on a weekly salary and paid them year round. He benefitted the most from all the money that came in as the tracks and publishing all reverted back to him 10 years after his original EMI record deal.

    Herman’s Hermits certainly had their place in popular music with two number one Billboard chart hits: "Mrs. Brown You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter and I’m Henry the Eighth, I Am in 1965. My two favorite songs of this band are Gerry Goffin & Carole King’s I’m Into Something Good, Can’t You Hear My Heartbeat and There’s a Kind of Hush."

    Context

    The pre-teens needed to have their bands and Herman’s Hermits was a favorite of your little sister when big sister worshipped The Beatles. The songs were a little less threatening than The Beatles, Stones and The Animals. Herman’s Hermits had their place in popular music. None of their songs were suggestive. They were very tame. A kiss is about as far as it would ever go with Herman and his gang. Session player Jimmy Page played lead guitar on many of the band’s hits.

    Dusty Springfield knocked around a little bit before launching a very successful solo career.  You only need to hear her breathy-and-very-sexy vocal on "The Look of Love" to know you were hearing pop magic. That 1967 Burt Bacharach-Hal David song was nominated for an Academy Award (from ‘Casino Royale) and is played on the radio every day somewhere in the world. 

    She had a string of pop hits that landed her in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1999). "I Only Want to Be With You, Son of a Preacher Man, Wishin’ and Hopin’, The Look of Love and I Just Don’t Know What to do With Myself." That is a very impressive amount of material for the songstress.

    Context

    When you talk about sultry and sexy vocals from a woman, Dusty Springfield is the FIRST female artist who comes to mind. Her smoky vocal style and song choices were impeccable. Her recordings are timeless and copied to this day. Dusty Springfield was one of the most-respected British artists to make her way to the American airwaves.

    Gerry and the Pacemakers, the second band to come out of Liverpool, England with big hits in 1964, was managed by Brian Epstein and produced by George Martin. This was a hit-making machine that lacked the staying power and writing skills to compete with The Beatles. They were the UK act to score three number one hits in the UK charts with their FIRST three singles. This made them instant stars. The first two hits "How Do You Do It and I Like It were written by Mitch Murray. Rogers & Hammerstein’s You’ll Never Walk Alone" was the next number one and is a very inspirational song.

    The two songs I love the most are ballads: Gerry Marsden’s "Ferry Cross The Mersey and his Don’t Let The Sun Catch You Crying. Their most rockin’ single It’s Gonna Be Alright" did chart in the mid-twenties in both the U.S. and UK.

    Some Context

    Gerry and the Pacemakers are a footnote in British rock n’ roll history, but should be given their due at some point. I believe some day they will be given a spot in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. That reality may be a while coming, but the quality of the Hall of Fame is diminishing with each passing year. All the biggies are in there. It would be nice to see them included. Gerry Marsden did pen two of the best-known songs of that early British Explosion with "Ferry Cross The Mersey and Don’t Let The Sun Catch You Crying." To me, those two songs merit automatic inclusion.

    Petula Clark hit hard with "Downtown and Don’t Sleep in the Subway." These two songs were radio powerhouses in the mid-1960s. She sold 68 million records in her career.

    Lulu is yet another British (Scottish) singer with great success worldwide. Her two biggest worldwide hits were from movie soundtracks. "To Sir With Love and  the James Bond film The Man with the Golden Gun were both title tracks that were sung by Lulu that gained a lot of attention in the mid-1960s. Those two songs along with her version of the Isley Brothers’ Shout" were Lulu’s biggest contributions during the British Invasion.

    Context

    These two women were always mentioned in the same context of the big 1960s singers like Dusty Springfield, Leslie Gore, Dionne Warwick and Aretha Franklin. There were many girl groups in the 1960s, but these were solo artists who held their own on the world stages and TV and film. They were pop singers and they had a sound. A few more current artists who were touched by them are the late Amy Winehouse and Duffy.

    The Hollies came to light right on the heels of The Beatles. They were successful early and had a vocal harmony style that was unique and distinctive. They took their name from their hero Buddy Holly and enjoyed a long run.

    The band had a lot of hit songs in their harmonic pop-rock style like  "Just One Look, Look Through Any Window, Bus Stop,, I Can't Let Go,, On a Carousel,, Stop Stop Stop, Carrie Anne, Jennifer Eccles, in the early days and later He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother, Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress and The Air That I Breathe."

    Graham Nash left the band midway through their run to join forces in America with Stephen Stills and David Crosby for the powerhouse Crosby, Stills and Nash in 1968.

    Context

    Songs like "Bus Stop and Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress" still get a lot of radio airplay and are songs embedded in our musical psyche. Nash was a proponent of trying to stretch the boundaries away from boy-girl to a more social commentary. He left the band to pursue those principles, but the band carried on to much success after Nash’s departure. They were well-deserving of their 2010 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction.

    The Yardbirds were one of the most important bands to come out of England in the early-to-mid-1960s. They began as blues rock purists and ended as one of the most experimental-sounding hard rock outfits ever.

    Their ‘Five Live’ album put them on the map as the leading blues rock purists. Eric Clapton shined on that recording, but soon left the band when they recorded "For Your Love, which as too poppy for Clapton’s tastes. He was replaced by Jeff Beck, who really took the band to a new level with some voodoo rock qualities on songs like Heart Full of Soul, Evil Hearted You, and fully kept with the purist quality with I’m a Man, Over Under

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