When The Beatles performed "She Loves You" on "The Ed Sullivan Show" in 1964, they fired the opening salvo of the British Invasion. Viewers could barely hear the song over the screaming hysterics of the girls in the audience. Music had never sounded or looked like this - nor had they ever seen men wearing their hair long and combed down.
The Beatles moved in a brash, fun, European way: John Lennon bounced as he played guitar. Paul McCartney bobbed from side to side. George Harrison was light on his feet. Ringo's smiling charisma captured the whole scene.
Exotic as the event seemed, few at the time realized that The Beatles were pretending to be Americans. John and Paul's harmonies imitated those of the Everly Brothers. They punctuated their verses with Little Richard's "Whooo!"
"She loves you, and you know that can't be bad. She loves you and you know you should be glad - Whooo!"
The electricity of the British Invasion is still palpable each night at the Horizon Casino Resort, more than 44 years after The Beatles appeared on "The Ed Sullivan Show."
Yesterday Beatles Tribute Show band recreates the live performances from "Ed Sullivan" and the Shea Stadium concert six nights a week in the Golden Cabaret inside the Horizon. Something about watching even a facsimile of those first moments from the British Invasion still makes women in the audience scream.
A perfect storm of events led to the British Invasion, a seminal time for music in the United States. It arrived in a nick of time: America needed a musical and societal shake-up.
Circumstances beginning in 1958 halted the emerging musical genre of rock 'n' roll.
Politically, the nation was mired in the Cold War, which came to a terrifying apex during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
A worldwide nuclear holocaust threatened Americans, and they knew it. On Nov. 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy, the country's youthful, inspiring leader, was assassinated. The nation mourned.
Ten weeks later, the Beatles arrived. "The end of 1963 was a very depressing time for America," said Don Bellezzo, who portrays John Lennon in Yesterday, the Beatles tribute band. "We were ready for something new. The Beatles were fresh. They were full of energy, and they had long hair. It was perfect timing."
The Beatles captured the imagination of America's youth, as would other British bands along the way. The Fab Four were followed by the Dave Clark Five, which in 1964 became the first British band to go on a full-fledged tour the U.S. The Animals, the Moody Blues, the Rolling Stones and dozens more invaded the States as rock 'n' roll evolved.
These other events led to the Brits' perfectly timed arrival:
- Rock 'n' roll pioneers Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and the Big Bopper died in a 1958 plane crash, the critical event in Don McLean's metaphoric song "American Pie."
- Elvis Presley joined the military and was stationed in Germany.
- The career of disc jockey Alan Freed, who championed music by black artists and coined the phrase "rock 'n' roll," fell victim to the "payola" scandal.
- Hollywood's infant tabloid journalism publicized the marriage of Jerry Lee Lewis to his 13-year-old cousin.
- Worse yet, Chuck Berry was imprisoned for a violating the Mann Act for bringing a Mexican waitress across the border and state lines to St. Louis.
Rock's development was under arrest as well:
"Over in England, we were all exposed to the early rock, which was great," said Moody Blues drummer Graeme Edge. "All this great stuff was going on and we're loving it, and then all of a sudden it all changes. I almost agree with what that song said, 'the day the music died ('American Pie') .' " Edge said he had been fascinated with the rebellious rock 'n' roll image America portrayed. He appreciated Presley's persona and the James Dean movie "Rebel without a Cause." He loved the music of Bill Haley, Gene Vincent and his Blue Caps, Holly and Eddie Cochran (who died at age 22 in a 1960 car crash). But the record companies took advantage of rock 'n' roll's hard luck and steered the music in another direction. Music producers took songs by artists such as Little Richard and Fats Domino and signed conservative crooners Paul Anka, Pat Boone and others to perform them. Boone's cover of Little Richard's song "Tutti Fruiti" did better on the charts than Richard's original version. "They packaged individual singers like Bobby Rydell, Fabian and Chubby Checker," Bellezo said. "It was bubble gum."
Sacramento blues artist/KXJZ - FM (KKTO 90.5 in Tahoe) disc jockey and historian Mick Martin has another description for it.
"I call it the Bobby Period: Bobby Rydell, Bobby Vinton and Bobby Vee," Martin said. "It was all of this watered down big record company imitation of rock 'n' roll." The reaction in England seemingly was unanimous. "It was like everybody (in the U.S.) wanted to join the Rat Pack and wear evening suits and black ties," Edge said. "We were all going' no, no, no - don't let us down like that.' "
Northern England, which includes The Beatles' hometown of Liverpool, had been exposed to the music from original rock artists such as Berry and Little Richard on Freed's "Jamboree" show on Radio Luxembourg. Recognizing the demand for authentic U.S. music - which also included blues and country and western, then later soul and Motown - import stores began popping up in the U.K .
Onnie McIntyre, a singer and guitarist for the Average White Band, spent plenty of time in Scotland record import stores.
"We'd go in looking for songs, which were covers, and the guy behind the desk would say, 'Well, here's Chuck Berry - he's the original guy," he said. Race was not a factor for England's music consumers, Edge said. "There was no color prejudice in England at the time because there were very few colored people there," he said. 'There was certainly no color prejudice in music. It didn’t matter what color they were, if the record company thought it was going to sell, they released it. "In three years, we were exposed to what led up to rock 'n' roll. We repackaged it and sold it back to you." "You should have paid attention."
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