Influences on Beatles’ Sound
• “Skiffle” – general “jangly” sound
• US Rock ‘n Roll / Rockabilly – Elvis, Chuck Berry,
Buddy Holly, Little Richard, etc.
• 12-bar blues or basic song forms
• Chuck Berry guitar strum
• Fuzz tone – Ventures, also Les Paul
• Brill Building – lyrics & song forms
• Vocal harmonies – girl groups, Everly Bros., etc
The Beatles (mid-career)
• “Beatlemania” (August 1966 –
Last stadium concert)
• YouTube - "I Saw Her Standing
There (Live)" By the Beatles
(1964)
• Revolver (1966 album)
-beginning of “studio” sound more complex “composition”
- album-length works
- difficult / impossible to
create in live performance
• The Beatles - "Tomorrow Never
Knows" Mono – YouTube (1966)
The Beatles
(1966)
Beatles’ Comments on Cristianity
• 4 March 1966 – Lennon, interviewed by the London Evening
Standard, said: “Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink.
I do not know what will go first, rock 'n' roll or
Christianity...We're more popular than Jesus now”
• Reprinted 5 months later in Datebook (American magazine),
igniting controversy in U.S. South
• Video Documentary (watch all 4 parts):
- YouTube - Jesus - John Lennon Controversy (Part 1 of 4)
- YouTube - Jesus - John Lennon Controversy (Part 2 of 4)
- YouTube - Jesus - John Lennon Controversy (Part 3 of 4)
- YouTube - Jesus - John Lennon Controversy (Part 4 of 4)
• Lennon Responds:
- YouTube - We are bigger than Jesus
Beatles Lyrics
• See: THE BEATLES lyrics for all words
• Early Examples (1963/64)
- Beatles She Loves You (With Lyrics) – YouTube
- The Beatles - I Want To Hold Your Hand – YouTube
• Later Examples (c. 1965/66)
- THE BEATLES LYRICS - Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has
Flown) (Album: Rubber Soul, 1965)
YouTube - The Beatles - Norwegian Wood
- THE BEATLES LYRICS - Eleanor Rigby
(Album: Revolver, 1966) The Beatles - Eleanor Rigby YouTube
- THE BEATLES LYRICS - Tomorrow Never Knows
(Album: Revolver, 1966)
YouTube - The Beatles - Tomorrow Never Knows
Other British Bands
• “The British Invasion” (1964-66)
• Beatles “imitators”
- “good boy” image
- clean-cut image, shaven, uniform suits, etc.
- “mop tops” (Beatles haircuts, bangs)
• Brian Epstein (NEMS Enterprises) managed
- Gerry & the Pacemakers
- Billy J. Kramer & the Dakotas (Lennon/McCartney songs)
- Cilla Black (Lennon/McCarney covers)
- The Remo Four (Liverpool)
• Some successful British acts (1st US appearance, c. 1964)
- Chad & Jeremy (7 Top 40 hits, 1965-66)
- Peter and Gordon (“A World Without Love,” US # 1, 1964)
- Manfred Mann (“Do Wah Diddy Diddy,” US/UK/Can # 1)
- Petula Clark (“Downtown”, UK # 2, US/Can # 1, 1965)
Gerry & the Pacemakers
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•
•
•
Formed in Liverpool, 1959
“Mersey Beat” (after river)
1st 3 records top UK chart
Decline in 1965, disband in
following year (1966)
• Examples
- YouTube - Gerry and The
Pacemakers (“How Do You Do
It”) (1963 Debut, UK # 1)
- YouTube - Gerry and The
Pacemakers - 'Ferry Cross The
Mersey‘
(UK # 8, US # 6, 1965)
Dave Clark 5
• Dave Clark – drummer
leader & manager (1957)
• “Tottenham Sound”
- North London
- sax & keyboard
• 1st British group to hit US
charts after Beatles
• “cleaner than the Beatles”
• 17 Ed Sullivan appearances
• Faded after 1967
• Examples
- YouTube - Dave Clark 5 Glad all over (US # 6, 1964)
- YouTube - Dave Clark
Five - Catch Us If You Can
(1965) (movie theme)
Herman’s Hermits
“Herman”
(Peter Noone)
• R&B band turned to pop
• Non-threatening image
(teenybopper appeal)
• Few UK hits after 1964
• Peter Noone –affects British
“accent” for US audiences
• Top US pop act (1965)
• Example
- YouTube - Hermans
Hermits - Mrs. Brown you've
got a lovely daughter 1965
(US # 1)
Freddie and the Dreamers
• 1963-65 Mersey Beat band
(from Manchester)
• Freddie Garrity (5’3”)
-former milkman
- comedian, frontman
• “The Freddie” (1965)
• Examples
- Freddie & The Dreamers - I'm Telling
You Now (1966)_HQ – YouTube
(UK # 2, US # 1)
- Do The Freddie – YouTube (US # 18)
• “... a plentitude of talentless
idiocy ... a triumph of rock as
cretinous swill, and as such
should be not only respected,
but given their place in history.”
(Rock critic Lester Bangs, 1980)
The Hollies
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•
•
•
•
•
Manchester (formed 1962)
“squeaky clean” image
Only one UK # 1
Limited US success, but…
29 hits on charts in 1960s
Considered “third group”
(after Beatles & Rolling Stones)
• Examples
- YouTube - Hollies - Bus Stop
- 1966 (live)
- YouTube - The Hollies Carrie Anne
Blues-Based British Bands
• Not the clean-cut Beatles’ image
• See as “Bad Boys” & non-conformists
• Sound : American (Electric/Chicago) Blues
- but not the 12-bar form (only occasionally)
- pitch-bending, distortion, “blue notes”
- Blues vocals (style of Muddy Waters, Elmore James)
• London “Blues Revival” @ Ealing Club (c. 1962)
• Major names include : Jack Bruce, Eric Clapton,
John Mayall, John McLaughlin, Stevie Winwood, et al.
(also Mick Jagger & Keith Richards)
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•
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•
•
•
•
The Animals
Alan Price R & B Combo
Joined by Eric Burden (1963)
“Animals” on stage
To London (1964)
UK tour w/ Chuck Berry
US appearances (1964-65)
Disbanded Sept. 1966
Example
- Animals - House Of The
Rising Sun - YouTube
The Rolling Stones
• Formed 1962
- Bryan Jones
- Mick Jagger, Keith Richards
- Bill Wyman, Charlie Watts
• Name from Muddy Waters’ tune
“Rollin’ Stone”
• R&B mixed w/ Rock ‘n Roll
• Crawdaddy’s (London Club)
• Scruffy “Bad Boy” image
• Slow US success (c. 1965)
The Rolling Stones
Examples
• YouTube - Rolling
Stones - The Last Time
(1965)
• Rolling Stones:
"Satisfaction!" YouTube (1965)
• Rolling Stones LIVE "Let's Spend The Night
Together" - on TOTP,
'67 - YouTube
The Kinks
Ex. - the kinks- you really
got me - YouTube
• Ray & Dave Davies, Pete
Quaife, Mick Avory (1964)
• Rock ‘n Roll into…..
• Hard Rock
• Distorted Guitar sound
• Peter Townshend: “The Kinks
were much more quintessentially
English. I always think that Ray
Davies should one day be Poet
Laureate. He invented a new kind
of poetry and a new kind of
language for pop writing that
influenced me from the very,
very, very beginning.”
Spencer Davis Group
• Birmingham (1963)
• Steve Winwood (b.
1948), vocals &
Hammond B-3 Organ
• Example
- YouTube - Spencer
Davis Group - Gimme
Some Lovin (1966)
• 1967 – Winwood quits
to form Traffic
The Yardbirds
• Backup band in London R&B
scene
• Sept. 1963 – follow Rolling
Stones as “house band” at
Crawdaddy’s (mediocre success)
• Oct. 1963 – Eric Clapton hired
as lead guitar (2nd from left)
• 1964 debut album – Five Live
Yardbirds (modest success)
1965 tour w/ Sonny Boy Williamson: “Those English kids want
to play the blues so bad—and they play the blues so bad.”
The
Yardbirds
(cont’d)
• “For Your Love” (1965)
- studio musicians play most of the session, so….
• Clapton quits the band, but….
• Jeff Beck (left) & Jimmy Page (2nd left) join.
• Examples:
- The Yardbirds - For Your Love – YouTube
- YouTube - The Yardbirds - Heart Full Of Soul
The Who
• Formed 1964 (was a “trad”
band, played R&B, Country)
• Popular w/ “Mods”
(London “moderns”)
• 1st smashed guitar (Sept 64) :
makes destruction of
instruments a stage trademark
• Pop Singles very successful
• The Who Sell Out
(Concept Album 1967)
• Tommy
(rock “opera”1968)
Peter Townshend
(The Who)
The Who
• 1965 1st release
• The Who- I Can`t
Explain - YouTube
(influence of the Kinks)
• 1967 release (US # 9)
- YouTube - the Who- I
can see for miles
(rarely performed live)