British Invasion: The Crosscurrents of Musical Influence

204 Pages·2014·3.545 MB·English

by  Simon Philo

Tempo
A Rowman & Littlefield Music Series
on Rock, Pop, and Culture
SeriesEditor: Scott Calhoun
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titlesthatexplorerockandpopularmusicthroughthelensofsocialandculturalhistory,
revealing the dynamic relationship between musicians, music, and their milieu. Like
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aretheidealintroductiontomajorpopandrockartistsandgenres.
BobDylan:AmericanTroubadour,byDonaldBrown
BonJovi:America’sUltimateBand,byMargaretOlson
BritishInvasion:TheCrosscurrentsofMusicalInfluence,bySimonPhilo
BruceSpringsteen:AmericanPoetandProphet,byDonaldL.DeardorffII
TheClash:TheOnlyBandThatMattered,bySeanEgan
PattiSmith:America’sPunkRockRhapsodist,byEricWendell
PaulSimon:AnAmericanTune,byCornelBonca
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BRITISH INVASION
The Crosscurrents of Musical Influence
Simon Philo
ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD
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Copyright©2015bySimonPhilo
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthisbookmaybereproducedinanyformorby
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Philo,Simon,1966–
Britishinvasion:thecrosscurrentsofmusicalinfluence/SimonPhilo.
pagescm.—(Tempo:aRowman&Littlefieldmusicseriesonrock,pop,andculture)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978-0-8108-8626-1(cloth:alk.paper)—ISBN978-0-8108-8627-8(ebook)
1.Rockmusic—UnitedStates—1961–1970—Historyandcriticism.2.Rockmusic—GreatBrit-
ain—1961–1970—Historyandcriticism.I.Title.
ML3534.3.P552014
781.660941’0973—dc23
2014023380
TMThepaperusedinthispublicationmeetstheminimumrequirementsof
AmericanNationalStandardforInformationSciencesPermanenceofPaper
forPrintedLibraryMaterials,ANSI/NISOZ39.48-1992.
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
ToLindaandAmélie,formeltingtheice.
CONTENTS
Foreword ix
Timeline xi
Acknowledgments xxiii
Introduction:“AtlanticCrossing” xxv
1 “Shakin’AllOver”:1956–1963 1
2 “We’reOut!”:1964 33
3 “LikeaRollingStone...oraBeatle”:1965 65
4 “ASplendidTimeIsGuaranteedforAll”:1966–1967 97
5 “It’sAllTooMuch”:1968–1969 129
6 “DoubleFantasy”:1970andBeyond 149
Bibliography 157
ForFurtherListening 161
Index 165
AbouttheAuthor 171
vii

FOREWORD
A
dribble. A ripple. A skiffle. A flood. It’s the little things that often
make big differences between the merely incidental and the momen-
tously influential. American roots, blues, and jazz music traveled to
England’sshoresbetweenthetwoworldwarsofthetwentiethcentury,
but the revival of skiffle in 1950s England proved the tipping point. A
primitive,DIYmusicofsomeofAmerica’spoorestpeoplesandregions,
skifflewasallbutdeadtotheAmericanmainstreambythe1930s,butin
it young British musicians found its skip-and-step rhythm to be just
what they needed to lift their postwar spirits. They were searching for
something new, something fun, and something that might upset their
parentsalittleoralot.ThewholeblendofAmericanrhythmandblues
was refreshingly foreign and satisfyingly invasive. It caught the ear of
John Lennon and Paul McCartney. When the Beatles arrived on
American soil in 1964, what they brought with them, or rather brought
back with them, was just as fresh to American youth. The sounds and
fashionsofthenewlymodernrock’n’rollweresimultaneouslyacontin-
uation of America’s reinvention story and the most artistically signifi-
cant and prosperous culture exchange Great Britain and the United
Stateshaveenjoyedtodate.
Invasions, welcomed or not, often have an element of surprise and
unpredictability.It’shardtoimagine,now,theBeatleseverrunningthe
risk of failure, especially in America. Equally hard to conceive are no
otherBritishbandsfollowingtheBeatlesthroughthe1960s,givingback
toAmericaaninterpretationofitsalreadydiversemusicalheritage.But
ix