I think a point that has been made some times, but not often enough, is the impact that WWII had on that generation of English musicians.
John Lennon was born during the blitz bombing and was originally given the middle name of “Winston” for just that reason.
The Beatles (and many like them) grew up at a time when there just wasn’t a lot of money or stuff to go around. The country was still reeling from the effects of the war. I remember an anecdote in some Beatles book I read about Paul and his mates going over to Paul’s house one afternoon because his family was a bit well off and they had an egg or two or three that the friends could eat? Imagine in today’s world going to a friend’s house in the afternoon because you might get to eat an egg? Today’s generation would think you were from mars.
I’m a big Kinks fan. The Davies family was forced to move as a result of urban renewal (i.e. bomb damage at that point in time) and that forced move has colored Ray Davies’ writing through something like 35 albums. Muswell Hillbillies is the most obvious example but there are many, many others.
What we lose sight of now almost 50 years after the “British Invasion” is that many of these musicians grew up in a country that had been ravaged (i.e. bombed) and certainly made poor by a war that bled the country white. The anger, the energy, the striving for something better was IMHO a direct result of that.
I’m not saying this to excuse anything Lennon may have done, merely to try to put the “British Invasion” in some kind of historical and socio-economic context.
good post