- Music of the United Kingdom (1950s and 60s)
The roots of British popular music for the rest of the 20th century and into the next were set during the 1950s. In the aftermath of World War 2, the economy was still performing poorly. Many
consumer good s were not available, and there was little high-wage labor. American media was popular, and the British youth grew infatuated with the apparent wealth of their American counterparts. Theeconomy of the United States was booming, and the images on TV made it appear as though American teens were able to purchase much that the British could not. At the same time, a legion of American musical innovators, includingElvis Presley andChuck Berry , were adaptingAfrican American rock and roll for mainstream audiences, and American folk bands likeThe Weavers were fomenting aroots revival ofold time music . Indigenous styles of music production and performance dominated theUnited Kingdom until the late 1950s, when imported Americanrock and roll , pop-folk and rockabilly gained fans among British youth, whileAmerican roots music , especially theblues , found its own devoted fanbase.Joe Boyd brought the "Blues and Gospel Caravan" to England in April 1964 (includingMuddy Waters andOtis Spann ). He found the English audiences more enthusiastic than the US ones (see ""White Bicycles" chapter 2). Many USA blues artists followed in their trail.Late 1950s rock
American rock and roll caught on among British youth, who soon made it their own. In contrast to American listeners, however, the British soon looked past the dance stars and R&B performers into the roots of rock, towards an American folk form called the
blues . Lyrically and instrumentally simple, yet passionate, the blues seemed exotic, foreign and exciting. The blues soon became so popular in the UK that virtually unknown cult performers from the US were able to tour and record across the ocean, and a legion of bands imitating their style sprung up.By the mid-1950s, American rock had spread across the globe. Few countries, however, were able to sustain their own rock traditions. The United Kingdom proved itself an exception, and British rock soon became more popular than American. In the late 50s, though, there were British R&B performers that saw major mainstream success that fed into the British Invasion and beat boom of the later 60s. Almost as soon as
Elvis Presley broke into American audiences, Wee Willie Harris was topping the British charts with his own version of rock, followed by the more long-term success ofTommy Steele . Many of these earliest songs were simple covers that showed little innovation, sung by pop stars andteen idol s like Johnny Gentle,Marty Wilde , Vince Eager,Adam Faith andBilly Fury ("Sound of Fury").Lonnie Donegan , however, soon emerged as a truly influential performer, launching theskiffle fad. Skiffle was extremely simple, and required only cheap instruments. Local bands sprouted up across the UK, especially in Manchester, including The Quarrymen (who eventually becameThe Beatles ) and other musicians who became seminal British rock performers.While skiffle was developing with only limited pop success, more well-respected and original British rock bands appeared.
Cliff Richard & the Shadows ("Move It") are perhaps the most well-remembered of these bands, and saw considerable fame across the UK and abroad, in countries likeThailand .Tony Sheridan ,Screaming Lord Sutch & the Savages ,The Tornados ("Telstar")Johnny Kidd and the Pirates ("Shakin' All Over") andVince Taylor ("Brand New Cadillac") were also respected performers who exerted considerable influence on the next generation of British rockers.The British Invasion occurred in the 1960s
1960s: British blues and rock
Blues musicians became very popular in theUnited Kingdom in the late 1950s and early 1960s.British blues soon became a distinct genre, androck and roll ,rockabilly ,rhythm and blues and other forms of popular music mixed in the UK, resulting teen crazes such as mod andMerseybeat . By the mid-1960s, British rock dominated charts over much of the world, leading to the termBritish Invasion .The Beatles ,The Rolling Stones ,The Kinks ,The Yardbirds ,The Animals and other British artists played pop and rock with grit and swagger. In the late 1960s,Led Zeppelin and contemporaries such asBlack Sabbath (as well as American bands such asThe Velvet Underground andBlue Cheer ), developedheavy metal music . By the end of the 1960s, Britishpsychedelic rock was reaching its peak of influence, andglam rock arose with artists such asDavid Bowie ,Mott the Hoople andSlade The British rock scene veered into more experimental directions, such as in theCanterbury Scene and the further evolution and popularization ofprogressive rock bands such asKing Crimson ,Procol Harum , Genesis andThe Moody Blues . Surviving 60s musicians, and sixties music, can still be found today performed by re-formed, and in some cases reformed, bands. See for a good example [http://www.awesome60s.com The Four of Diamonds]Folk music and roots revival
Althhough various permutations of rock dominated the British charts in the 1960s, indigenous
folk music traditions remained vibrant and left a lasting influence on pop music. American folk musicians such asBob Dylan saw widespread success in the UK. Dylan and other American folk performers had been influenced by British and Irish folk music, such as Dylan's old friends, the Irish bandClancy Brothers and seminal archivistMartin Carthy .Inspired by Bob Dylan, some British youth were looking to their own folk traditions in the 1960s. Perhaps the most popular performer of British folk-based pop was
Donovan , who was unable to sustain popularity in any scene as he moved through pure pop, psychedelia and folk in the 1960s. Pure folk music of the time includes well-remembered performers likeShirley Collins ,Davey Graham ,Bert Jansch andMartin Carthy . These performers left a lasting influence on pop stars, such as Carthy's teachingPaul Simon one of his earliest hits, "Scarborough Fair", and Graham's teaching Simon "Anji".Simon & Garfunkel 's folk-pop was influenced by both British and American folk music, and become popular on both sides of the Atlantic during the 1960s, while Jansch influenced heavy metal pioneerJimmy Page as well as Canadian folk-rock singerNeil Young .With
John Renbourn , Jansch formed a group called Pentangle that made them perhaps the first folk-rock fusion in British history. The folk scene at the time was just beginning to incorporate progressive elements inspired by psychedelia, resulting in the spacey folk fusions of groups like theIncredible String Band andFairport Convention . Fairport Convention is often said to be the firstelectric folk group, and their 1969 "Liege and Lief " was enormously influential, heralding aroots revival in British popular culture that inspired a wave of more folk-based musicians like Richard Thompson,Steeleye Span ,Fotheringay ,Sandy Denny andIan Matthews .Early 1960s
In the late 1950s, British artists had begun slavishly imitating American performers of the blues. The 1960s, however, saw the evolution of a distinctly British version that drew on American pioneers like
Howlin' Wolf andB.B. King .Eric Clapton was perhaps the most influential of these musicians, and he inspired a legion of fans who were so devoted to him that they famously graffitied the sentence "Clapton is God" in major cities. By the middle of the decade, British blues and other trends, likeskiffle andmerseybeat , had coalesced intoBritish rock . The early 1960s had seen only some British flirtation with true rock; artists likeCliff Richard were popular, and played a distinct variation of rock, but without the stylistic innovation that was soon to define British rock. "The House of the Rising Sun" (1964) by the Animals was one of the first number one singles to be over 3 minutes long. It reached number one in the USA as well. It was also one of the first traditional songs to be performed with electric guitar.Skiffle
Skiffle was a form of music based on American
Appalachian folk music , with distinctively British characteristics. Skiffle bands were led by a guitarist, who was accompanied by a percussion instrument orwashboard . Some wereguitar andbanjo duos who looked and sounded like updated versions of 1920s and 1930sjug band s. This music was wild and energetic, and often rough and unpolished. Of the many brief skiffle stars,Lonnie Donegan arose as perhaps the most influential, inspiring numerous imitators and the genre's flirtation with mainstream success. It is also worthy to note thatJohn Lennon (ofThe Beatles ) started his musical career in a skiffle band called The Blackjacks.Mod, R&B and Merseybeat
The mod
subculture (which began in the late 1950s) has been associated with several different music genres. Early mods enjoyed modern jazz,rhythm and blues ,ska and soul (especially Motown recordings). Although the first British mod-related bands played cover songs, many of them soon began writing their own songs, which were faster and harder-edged than the music of their American R&B predecessors. Popular British mod bands includedSmall Faces ,The Who andThe Yardbirds .In London in the early 1960s, British teens were discovering American R&B pioneers through hard-to-find imports. This formed an important part of the repertoire of bands of the beat boom, such as the
Rolling Stones andThe Animals .Chuck Berry andBo Diddley were big influences on British R&B.Alexis Korner acted as a mentor for many of the earliest British R&B performers, including the Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds and the Graham Bond Organization (featuring future Cream membersGinger Baker andJack Bruce ).With the beat boom in 1963, Liverpool became the center for British rock, closely followed by a similar scene in Manchester.
Merseybeat was a fusion ofskiffle ,rock and roll and R&B. Artists such asGerry & the Pacemakers ,Billy J. Kramer andThe Beatles became phenomenally successful at home and found audiences in theUnited States ,Canada ,Australia and other countries. Manchester's Hollies, Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders, Herman's Hermits and Freddie and the Dreamers also found success. Pure Merseybeat was short-lived, but it left a lasting influence on bands such asThe Kinks and The Yardbirds. Meanwhile, the gritty London bandThe Rolling Stones quickly established itself as part of the British rock scene, and were second in popularity only to The Beatles.Alongside the Rolling Stones came bands such as the
Pretty Things ,Manfred Mann and The Yardbirds. The Yardbirds featured the legendary British guitaristEric Clapton at the time, although they saw little commercial success until he was replaced byJeff Beck .Eric Burdon 's The Animals,Stevie Winwood 'sSpencer Davis Group andVan Morrison 's Them also revolutionized the genre, adding new lyrical ideas and instruments such as the organ.John Mayall's Bluesbreakers used R&B as a major component of their blues-based recordings. Other artists added strongjazz influences, such asGeorgie Fame , Graham Bond Organization andZoot Money (with futureThe Police memberAndy Summers ).Songwriting quickly became a major part of the repertoire of The Yardbirds and the Rolling Stones, although The Animals, Pretty Things and most of the other contemporary bands only had sporadic success with original works. Many of the new songs crossed the line into rock and roll, such as Them's "Gloria" and the Rolling Stones' "Satisfaction". By the end of 1965, almost all of the British R&B bands had switched to rock or soul, and played almost entirely self-penned songs.
Mid to late 1960s
The earliest British rock performers quickly moved from innovative interpretations of American rock to romantic ballads and pop songs. While these performers, like
Cliff Richard , Joe Brown andBilly Fury , remained popular among mainstream audiences, they fueled a backlash among many of the British youth, who wanted more energetic and original musicians that were more like their unorthodox American stars,Buddy Holly andChuck Berry . With the success of The Beatles in 1963 ("Please Please Me "),major label s began signing hard rock bands that were previously considered unsignable. Originally centered in The Beatles'Liverpool , other cities produced their own stars, many of whom emerged from the poverty-stricken urban areas of major cities. This wave of British popular rock bands became popular across the world, especially in the United States at first, but soon spreading to all the corners of Asia, Latin America, Africa and continental Europe; this became known as theBritish Invasion .*
Belfast - The American- and Irish-folk influenced Them, featuringVan Morrison
*Birmingham - Earlyprogressive rock bands likeMoody Blues andThe Move
*Liverpool -Merseybeat bands likeBilly J. Kramer & the Dakotas , The Searchers,The Beatles andGerry & the Pacemakers
*London - Long-running hard rock starsRolling Stones
*Manchester - Pop-rock bands likeThe Hollies . Visit [http://www.manchesterbeat.com] for an extensive collection of Manchester area groups of the era.
*Newcastle-on-Tyne -The Animals Liverpool, Manchester and London were perhaps the most important scenes of the British rock bands. Liverpool's merseybeat revolution was short-lived, but inspired a passionate local scene. London's bands tended to be harder and more R&B-influenced, though pure American folk blues was popular as well, especially
Muddy Waters andBo Diddley . London had been the center of the British blues movement, which produced bluesmen likeCyril Davies andAlexis Korner . These were the pioneers that inspired the Rolling Stones,The Kinks ,The Who andThe Yardbirds . Their rebellious attitude earned these London bands much controversy, which soon spread to The Beatles and everywhere else the British Invasion went.British Invasion
Only some of the British Invasion bands were able to maintain their artistic integrity throughout the 1960s. Many folded due to internal rivalries, including
The Zombies andThe Yardbirds , and their members went on to form side projects and solo careers. The Who, Rolling Stones and Beatles were able to maintain international popularity and critical acclaim through the 1960s and beyond, while The Kinks became a long-running band that was popular primarily in the UK. The Kinks'Ray Davies is often considered a quintessential British performer, whose influence defined the next thirty years of British rock-pop.Members of the bands who folded in the face of the pressures of sudden stardom became the root of many of the late 1960s' most popular bands. Traffic and Cream arose out of the ashes of other bands, featuring yet more innovative songwriting and experimental elements, as well as cohesive albums of original material. Still others, like
Pink Floyd , had little in common with their forebears, but nevertheless emerged as pioneers taking British rock to new heights of experimentalism. By 1966, the major wave of the British Invasion was over. British bands remained popular abroad, but many British teens took to those that found relatively little success in the States, especially The Kinks.Psychedelic rock
Psychedelic rock emerged late in the 1960s, both in the United Kingdom and United States, as the music of a youth-led revolution. The
counterculture inspired political and social activism, and a challenge to British cultural norms. The degree of influence thatrecreational drug use , likecannabis andLSD , had on psychedelic rock is hotly debated. That drugs, especially LSD, were an important part of the counterculture, is certain. The degree to which they inspired the well-meaning activism of the countercultural youth as well as the degree to which they caused its failure is less certain.British psychedelia was generally less dark than its American counterpart. Spacy lyrics with poetic imagery were common, as were experimental fusions of rock with the English folk tradition,
jazz and Indian music. Psychedelic bands showed a rough and forceful image, though their music and lyrics were playful and accessible, showcasing a pride in British culture that was unusual in a time when globalized media was just beginning to dominate British society. Psychedelia is usually said to have evolved in 1966, drawing out of revolutionary recordings from the previous year like The Who's "My Generation". Almost immediately, Indian influences crept into British popular music, with The Kinks' "See My Friends" and The Yardbirds' "Heart Full of Soul", and thesitar on The Beatles' "Rubber Soul " among the earliest.The Yardbirds' "Shapes of Things" is considered the true beginning of psychedelic rock. The Yardbirds were not the pop stars The Beatles were, but they were extremely popular and their songs' dark and sludgey sound set the stage for
heavy metal music as well as American psychedelia. The Beatles also released numerous early psychedelic recordings, many of which saw great popularity but were obscured by lighter pop fare and experimental recordings. "Revolver", for example, featured both early psychedelia with a dark tone as well as light and catchy orchestral songs inspired byThe Beach Boys proto-psychedelic "Pet Sounds ". In spite of its stylistic variation, "Revolver" 's sheer complexity and cohesion as an album made it an influential psychedelic recording.Though less well-remembered today,
Donovan emerged during the same period with "Sunshine Superman ", a stylistic leap for the pop star that saw him incorporating theBob Dylan -inspired folk of his earlier work, to more exotic, psychedelic sounds and instruments, including theSitar ,Tabla drum andHarpsichord .The darker sounds of early psychedelia inspired American bands like
The Doors , while The Kinks and other British bands preferred the lighter and simpler riffs of The Beatles and Donovan. Symphonic elements were introduced, and songs became yet more and more complex, eventually resulting in bands likeMoody Blues andThe Nice innovating a classical-inspired revolution in psychedelia calledprogressive rock . The darker edge of psychedelia dominated the American scene of the late 1960s, but soon lost its edge there in favor of light pop singer-songwriters likeJohn Denver andJames Taylor . The same sound, however, in British psychedelia never grew popular enough to gain a reputation for bloated and pretentious attitudes, instead inspiring the modern, yet simple passion of earlyheavy metal music and bands likeLed Zeppelin andBlack Sabbath .Alongside the psychedelic revolution of progressive rock came the
concept album , associated with ThePretty Things , "S.F. Sorrow ", The Kinks' "Face to Face" and The Who's "A Quick One ". Bands that represent perhaps the pinnacle of British psychedelia include the quirky experimentation ofSyd Barrett -eraPink Floyd , the typically English character sketches of Tomorrow and the jazzierSoft Machine , who helped to inspire the uniqueCanterbury Scene of psychedelia.California n expatriatesThe Misunderstood were also influential. The Beatles' 1967 "Penny Lane "/"Strawberry Fields Forever" and their "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band "-era and The Kinks "Village Green Preservation Society " also showcased British psychedelia at its most characteristic.Progressive rock
Progressive music began its evolution as early as 1965, and elements could be found in even earlier compositions. American and British artists added instruments like the
mellotron and adopted longer and longer suites of complex music.Bob Dylan 's "Like a Rolling Stone ", from "Highway 61 Revisited ", was the first major pop song to became a hit in spite of a running time of more than three minutes. Though Dylan and other American artists were influential, it was a wave of British artists that formed the vanguard of progressive rock, which peaked in mainstream success from 1971 to 1976.The two most influential bands of early progressive rock were
The Nice and theMoody Blues . The Nice formed whenP.P. Arnold needed a backing band, which featuredKeith Emerson on keyboards. The Nice soon outshined Arnold herself, and they began a career of their own, using classical music andjazz to spice up compositions written by everyone from Bob Dylan to Italiansoundtrack composerEnnio Morricone . Their first album was "The Thoughts of Emerlist Davjack ", released in 1967, just asPink Floyd was beginning to make a name for themselves in the London club scene. Pink Floyd featuredSyd Barrett 's spaced-out, simplenursery rhyme -style lyrics with instrumental jams; the band was originally psychedelic, but with the departure of Barrett became less song-focused and included more jams and cohesive albums, becoming a progressive rock band.Procol Harum 's "A Whiter Shade of Pale " was extremely popular, and launched the band's career as a pioneering progressive rock band, in spite of the song having been recorded by a studio band only lated fronted by Procol Harum. "A Whiter Shade of Pale" paved the way for the Moody Blues, who had released several R&B singles (including a huge hit, "Go Now") before being chosen by their label, English Decca, to be paired with an orchestra in a recording of Dvořák's "New World Symphony". The Dvořák idea was soon scrapped, and the band instead released the surprise success "Days of Future Passed ".In the wake of the Moody Blues psychedelia/proto-progressive stylings came some other bands, like the Dutch
Ekseption , the acoustic Providence ("Ever Sense the Dawn "),Barclay James Harvest and Giles, Giles & Fripp, soon to regroup as legendary bandKing Crimson . Aside from the sporadic success of the Moody Blues and other bands, progressive rock saw little mainstream success until the 1970s.ee also
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Music of the United Kingdom (1970s)
*Music of the United Kingdom (1980s)
*Music of the United Kingdom (1990s-2000s)
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