As promised, here are more songs from 1964, the year of the big British Invasion. I remember serious talk that year from the American musicians' unions about keeping these guys out of the States because they were taking work from hard-working Americans! It obviously didn't work. The Brits just kept on coming. Many American bands were inspired by groups from the UK; the British were emulating American rockers and bluesmen, and in turn imitated by Americans trying to keep up with the British. Eventually it all got sorted out.
The Applejacks I had forgotten until my brother reminded me of them. They had a female guitarist. That was very cool for 1964; I wonder if she got together with the drummer from the Honeycombs (yesterday's post) and jammed?
The Beatles come in with two songs, both showing how powerful they were in live performance. If anyone could hear them for all the shrieking girls, that is. "I Saw Her Standing There" is from '64, but "She Loves You" is a color film from 1963...fudging a bit on my 1964 theme, but in America "She Loves You" wasn't a hit until 1964.
There was some hype in 1964: "Will the Dave Clark 5 beat the Beatles?" The DC5 were pretty good, but they just weren't as big as the Beatles and never would be. My dad said of them, "At least they comb their hair!" as a slam at the Beatles. Those mop tops looked wild in '64, and in contrast the DC5 does seem a well-combed lot.
I believe "You Really Got Me" is the granddaddy of punk rock. I remember thinking it was the wildest song I'd ever heard.
I've shown this Zombies song before because I love it. Each of the songs on this list was a hit on American top 40 radio in 1964. It's a pleasure to bring these videos to my blog.
As I mentioned yesterday, YouTube giveth and YouTube taketh away. If you encounter a black screen on any of these vids it means that YouTube has deleted the link, probably because of some copyright claim. Enjoy them while we have them.
.
The British invasion is only remembered because they produced a lot of great songs.
ReplyDeleteGreat to see these performances again. Ray Davies of the Kinks always said that "You Really Got Me" was inspired by the song. "Louie, Louie".
ReplyDeleteYou really got me on that one. I hadn't heard about Davies using "Louie Louie" as an inspiration but now that you mention it, it seems obvious.
ReplyDeleteIn 1964 if I heard a new song I was disappointed if the band or singer wasn't from England. I heard from an old friend of that era who said looking at those two postings got his "nostalgia motor unwinding."