The Official Weekend Single's Thread ---May 19-21

Supernatural | May 19, 2006 | Supernatural

[Supernatural]

The British Invasion

I was rather lucky to have grown up in one of the most amazing periods in the history of modern music, what has become known as the “British Invasion”. It wasn’t really an invasion of the U.S. by an armed force from another country; rather it was an invasion of our music charts by British recording artists. I was in the eighth grade when I first heard “I Want to Hold Your Hand” and “She Loves You” by the Beatles. Prior to 1964 the British had only two hit records that topped the U.S. charts. Those were “Stranger on the Shore” by Acker Bilk and “Telstar” by the Tornadoes, both in 1962.

In 1964 Ed Sullivan, the host of the hugely popular “Ed Sullivan Show” was at a New York airport when the Beatles landed from England to go on their first U.S. tour. Crowds of screaming young girls greeted the Beatles and Ed was curious as to what the commotion was all about. He met with the Beatles on the spot and offered them $50,000 to appear on his show. The Beatles agreed and the British Invasion was officially underway. On February 9, 1964, the largest audience in the history of American television watched the Beatles perform live on the Ed Sullivan show. I was one of them.

For some years prior to 1964 young British musicians had idolized American music stars and many of the Americans were more popular in Britain than they were at home. The young Brits listened to Buddy Holly, Leadbelly, Elvis, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, the Everly Brothers, Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochran and many others. The U.S. musicians became like Gods to the young British musicians and they worked hard to emulate them.

The Animals (Eric Burdon), The Beatles, Chad and Jeremy, The Dave Clark Five, Freddy and the Dreamers, Herman’s Hermits, The Kinks (Ray Davies), Donovan, The Hollies (Graham Nash), The Rolling Stones (Mick Jagger and Keith Richards), Billy J. Kramer and the Dakota’s, Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders, Dusty Springfield, The Troggs, The Searchers, Gerry and the Pacemakers, Peter and Gordon, The Honeycombs, Manfred Mann, The Yardbirds (Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page and Eric Clapton), The Zombies, The Moody Blues, The Walker Brothers, Petula Clark, The Move, The Small Faces (Rod Stewart), The Who (Pete Townshend, Roger Daltry), Argent, John Mayall’s Blues breakers (Eric Clapton, Peter Green), Fleetwood Mac (Peter Green), Cream (Eric Clapton), Jethro Tull (Ian Anderson), Procol Harum (Robin Trower), Led Zeppelin (Jimmy Page, Robert Plant), Traffic (Dave Mason, Stevie Winwood), Deep Purple and The Spencer Davis Group (Stevie Winwood).

Eric Burdon

Eric Clapton

Mick Jagger

The Who

Yardbirds Concert Advertisement

The Yardbirds with Jimmy Page

Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac

Jimmy Hendrix

The Beatles (George, John, Ringo and Paul)

Beatles ticket from 1964 (Pittsburgh, PA)

Some facts about the Beatles from “Wikipedia”

• During the week of April 4, 1964 The Beatles occupied the first five slots of the Billboard Hot 100, #1 - "Can't Buy Me Love," #2 - "Twist and Shout," #3 - "She Loves You," #4 - "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and #5 - "Please Please Me," the only group in rock and roll history to achieve this feat.

• In 1964, the Beatles had the never-matched total of 15 American million-selling records (9 singles and 6 LPs), representing US sales of over 25 million in 1964 alone.

• "I Want To Hold Your Hand" sold nearly 5 million records in the US by 1968, making it the best selling single of the 1960s (from a Capitol Records Press release, September 9, 1968).

• When "Can’t Buy Me Love" was released in the US on March 16, 1964, it sold 940,225 copies on the first day, shattering all previous sales records. The single went on to sell over 3 million by the end of the year (Spizer, Bruce, 2000: The Beatles’ Story on Capitol Records, Part One: Beatlemania & The Singles, p. 36).

British Number One Singles of 1964

• 1 I WANT TO HOLD YOUR HAND - The Beatles
• 2 A HARD DAY'S NIGHT - The Beatles
• 3 CAN'T BUY ME LOVE - The Beatles
• 4 LOVE ME DO - The Beatles
• 5 HOUSE OF THE RISING SUN - The Animals
• 6 I FEEL FINE - The Beatles
• 9 A WORLD WITHOUT LOVE - Peter & Gordon
• 11 DO WAH DIDDY DIDDY - Manfred Mann
• 12 I SAW HER STANDING THERE - The Beatles
• 13 HAVE I THE RIGHT - The Honeycombs
• 18 SHE LOVES YOU - The Beatles
• 22 NEEDLES AND PINS - The Searchers
• 24 YOU REALLY GOT ME - The Kinks
• 25 LITTLE CHILDREN - Billy J.Kramer & the Dakotas

British Number One Singles of 1965

• 1 HELP! - The Beatles
• 2 I FEEL FINE - The Beatles
• 3 TICKET TO RIDE - The Beatles
• 4 (I CAN'T GET NO) SATISFACTION - Rolling Stones
• 5 MRS BROWN YOU'VE GOT A LOVELY DAUGHTER- Herman's Hermits
• 6 GET OFF OF MY CLOUD - The Rolling Stones
• 11 YESTERDAY - The Beatles
• 14 WE CAN WORK IT OUT - The Beatles
• 15 DOWNTOWN - Petula Clark
• 16 THE LAST TIME - The Rolling Stones
• 18 I'M TELLING YOU NOW - Freddie & the Dreamers
• 19 DAYTRIPPER - The Beatles
• 27 GAME OF LOVE - Wayne Fontana & the Mindbenders
• 30 EIGHT DAYS A WEEK - The Beatles

British Number One Singles of 1966

• 1 WE CAN WORK IT OUT - The Beatles
• 3 DAYTRIPPER - The Beatles
• 5 ELEANOR RIGBY - The Beatles
• 7 GREEN GREEN GRASS OF HOME - Tom Jones
• 10 PAPERBACK WRITER - The Beatles
• 11 THE SUN AIN'T GONNA SHINE ANYMORE - The Walker Brothers
• 12 FRIDAY ON MY MIND - The Easybeats
• 14 PAINT IT BLACK - The Rolling Stones
• 15 WINCHESTER CATHEDRAL - New Vaudeville Band
• 20 WILD THING - The Troggs
• 23 MY LOVE - Petula Clark
• 26 PRETTY FLAMINGO - Manfred Mann
• 28 SUNNY AFTERNOON - The Kinks

Music of the British Invasion

Time Is On My Side…The Rolling Stones

Don‘t Bring Me Down…The Animals

Mellow Yellow…Donovan

You Really Got Me…The Kinks

White Room…Cream

Have I the Right…The Honeycombs

She Loves You…The Beatles

I Want To Hold Your Hand…The Beatles

For Your Love…The Yardbirds

Madison Blues…Fleetwood Mac

Ferry Cross the Mersey…Gerry and the Pacemakers

I‘m Telling You Now…Freddy & the Dreamers

Wild Thing…The Troggs

Go Now…The Moody Blues

Little Children…Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas

[Nowhere Man]

I remember in sixth grade, the songs that were chosen at the 6th grade breakfast consisted of Aqua, Titanic, and Spice Girls. To this day, I'm still saying Unnngh! when I think about it...

I remember when I was in 6th grade, 1978/79, most of the songs we listened to were from Donna Summer and anything by the Bee Gees from "Saturday Night Fever." B-)

[Nowhere Man]

Well, I'm 22 and I look 16. I was at my little brother's orchestra banquet the other day and one of his friends asked what grade I was in. I graduated high school five years ago.

I'll be 40 in July and I still get comments that I look around 23, 25, 27 or so. Must be my mother's side, her side eems to hold their ages very well. She will be 68 in October and people think she is 45 to 55. My maternal grandmother, looked like she was 60 something well into her 80's until she went downhill with all the strokes she had prior to her death.

[Supernatural]

FM radio is turning into what AM radio used to be.

[Nowhere Man]

FM radio is turning into what AM radio used to be.

I know plus with all the various talkshow hosts out there, it would take FM to handle the spillover from AM. I know here in Pittsburgh, we do have three main talkers, KDKA (1020), WPTT (1360) and WPGB (104.7). Already I hear that WPTT is branding themselves as more of a progressive talk radio, well they do have Lynn Cullen. I do like to catch Doug Hoerth on my very short drive from work to home, I'm kind of burnt out on politics and I like it when Hoerth talks about movies and other light stuff. Well, as we've talked about before, I think KDKA has gone down the commode so I think the two main talkers are really WPTT vs. WPGB. Of course, there are smaller stations around but I'm talking about the main ones.

[rzeznikj at stout]

Nah, I was thinking more along the lines of:

UNNNNGH!!

[rzeznikj at stout]

In a sense, I'm kinda glad I missed the disco era...8^)

[Supernatural]

BTW, glad to hear about your cat. Sounds like he is going to be OK.

KDKA is sinking. The competition is getting very strong.

I've been around the country and Pittsburgh radio stations are much better than most other places. TV news and weather people are much better too.

[Supernatural]

But you also missed the mini-skirts and the micro-mini skirts.

You should have seen the "platform shoes". People really looked clumsy walking around in them; looked like they were walking on eggs.

[rzeznikj at stout]

They made a comeback in the 90's...

[rzeznikj at stout]

Yet another Dead Thread Ping...8^)

I've got that zappy thingy...8^)

[darkangel82]

Give it a zap, then.
I'm here, just watching baseball right now.

[rzeznikj at stout]

[Supernatural]

It is supposed to be pretty dead during the day. Sunday's are somewhat of an exception.

[darkangel82]

Whoa, not THAT much. We're not trying to burn the pace down here.

[rzeznikj at stout]

I kinda figured with the weekend and all...8^)

[rzeznikj at stout]

Er, that was the lowest level setting...

Oh, wait, this is a transformer jumper...

OOPS!! 8^)

[snugs]

To me the modern dance is just disco rehashed.

[rzeznikj at stout]

I wouldn't know...

It just seems like when kids my age dance, it's usually pretty, er, skanky...8^)

[snugs]

The first archery photo. This was taken at Bodiam Castle where each Spring Bank Holiday Monday they do battle reenactment and also Morris Dancing and Hoodining (more about that next weekend.).

[rzeznikj at stout]

Interesting...