17th September 2009
British Invasion: How it Changed Popular Music
Can you believe it’s been more than 45 years since the Beatles stepped off that plane at Kennedy Airport?
The British invasion of the early Sixties is a hazy memory to most of us who are old enough to remember it at all. For many of us, it’s the kind of memory that makes us smile and remember a time when things were less complicated… when we shared with each other the pure joy and energy of the new music playing on our radios.
The Invasion was a two fold happening. First the songs started to drift over the ocean and then the bands themselves. The first band to tour North America was the Dave Clark Five, followed closely by the Beatles and many others. This influx of music from Britain also created a major re-awakening of American Rock and Roll, as American artists had to fight for a place on the charts and for the publics affection (and Money).
The British Invasion is used to describe rock and roll, beat and pop performers from the United Kingdom who became popular in the United States from 1964 to 1966. The Second British Invasion refers to MTV and New Wave acts of the 1980s. In the latter half of the 2000s the term would be used to describe the critical and popular success of mostly female acts at first and then British acts in general.
