The British Rock Invasion 101: PART ONE
Tim Vuotto ~ 12/6/2024
Many bands throughout music history have attempted to chart in the US as that's the biggest musical market in the world. If you can successfully chart in the US you've officially made it. When the Beatles burst onto the American musical scene in 1964 they took it by storm. Dethroning the blues, jazz, and swing that was most popular beforehand. In this article I’d like to go through each decade (60s-00s) and list some of the biggest bands to come out of the UK and chart successfully in the US.
The 60s:
The Beatles: Formed in Liverpool in 1960 they steadily began to climb charts until their 1962 renowned hit “Twist and Shout” landed at #2 on the US charts. Two years later in 1964 the Beatles arrived on US soil for the first time and immediately were guests on the Ed Sullivan show. The rest is history. They would go on to sell 600 million units worldwide and are in constant debates on being the greatest band of all time. Personally, I'm indifferent toward them. I recognize their INDIVIDUAL talent and significance in musical history but I don't believe their music, especially their earlier discography, holds up particularly well today. Especially compared to other bands who came onto the scene in the decade. To me they were just the first boy band with cute matching haircuts who sang about wanting to hold hands and all this cringey shit which chicks at the time digged, but me, meh…. next.
The Who: Formed in London in 1964 by Roger Daltrey, Pete Townsend, Keith Moon, and John “The Ox’ Entwistle. Songs from the decade such as “My Generation” and “Substitute” began to gain popularity in the US as well as their energetic, often destructive, live sets which aired on TV. But the big moment that cemented them for success in the US was the release of the Iconic rock opera “Tommy” in 1969 which landed at #2 in the UK and eventually climbed to #4 in the US. They continued their run of success with the albums Who's Next, Quadrophenia, and Who are you?. Until the unfortunate death of their star drummer Keith Moon in 1978, later followed by Entwistle in 2002. Roger and Pete still continue to tour and create music to this day with their latest album that came out in 2019.
The Rolling Stones: We couldn't talk about the 60s without mentioning the most infamous band of all time. Formed in 1962 they directly rivaled The Beatles for musical supremacy in the US. To me it's not even close. Everywhere you go you can find someone wearing a Shirt with the iconic tongue and lips logo. Their music holds up to this day from their earliest works to hits from today. I mean they’re 80 years old and got Sydney Sweeney to agree to be primarily featured in their music video for their new song “Angry”. That's pull. My favorites include “Gimme Shelter”, “Jumpin Jack Flash”, “Satisfaction”, and “She’s a rainbow.”
The 70s:
Black Sabbath: Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, and Bill Ward. Enough said. That original group is maybe only rivaled by one other band from the same decade. They pioneered a very niche genre coming out of Birmingham at the time (heavy metal) and put it on the globe. They were formed when guitarist Tony Iommi and drummer Bill Ward sought a new band after their previous one broke up. They saw an Ad in a local music shop that read “OZZY Zig needs gig- has own PA” the rest is history. It was all so simple though. They were initially criticized heavily from media outlets for being “satanic” due to the dark and occult images and lyrics. But after a few of their live shows were aired on televisions across the US and UK they took off on both charts.
Led Zeppelin: The Greatest of all time. Unrivaled. Never to be replicated (Nice try Greta Van fleet). They instantly became a household name in the US after their American tour in 1968, they would go on to tour nine times in the states between 1968-1971. Hits such as “Whole lotta love” (4 on US billboard 100) , “Black Dog” (15 on US billboard 100), and “Immigrant Song” (14 on US billboard 100), on top of a live concert movie shot from their 3 night show at MSG in NYC titled Song remains the same everything they made and produced is simply timeless. Unfortunately, we didn't get much time with them, as John Bonham, who many regard as the greatest drummer of all-time, sadly died after a night of partying after a show from choking on his own vomit in his sleep. They couldn't replace him if they tried and decided to call it quits. They did appear in 1985 for the live aid performance in Philadelphia with Phil Collins standing in to drum, but it was terrible. From my understanding they decided to do it at the last minute and hadn't played together since Bonhams untimely passing, definitely a performance to forget.
Queen: Overrated. Not Freddie Mercury, undoubtedly top-5 frontman of all time, for me he's the only redeeming quality. Without Mercury you wouldn't even know who they were. They do have a few good tracks that don't annoy me or aren't totally overplayed (If I hear “We will rock you”/ “We are the champions” on the radio one more time…) such as “You’re my best friend”, “Love of my life” and “Under Pressure”. As well as one of the greatest live performances of all time at live aid 1985. Going into the performance Mercury was secretly diagnosed with HIV shortly beforehand (wasn't publicly revealed until 1991) and he knew he was dying, but still put on an incredible performance for the ages. Unfortunately, to me they’ve always failed to catch my attention past that. Not much more to say.
READ PART TWO HERE!
