Chapter 8 – The British Invasion
Continues and America Reacts
“I think with guitar smashing, just like
performance itself, it’s a performance, it’s an act,
it’s an instant, and it really is meaningless”
Pete Townshend of the Who
McGraw-Hill/Irwin
Copyright © 2011 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
The Mersey Sound
Influence of Buddy Holly and the Crickets
Instrumentation changes from string bass to electric
bass guitar and acoustic rhythm guitar to electric
rhythm guitar
Holly’s use of solid-body guitar becomes common
Some use of keyboards and/or string sections
From Liverpool: the Beatles and Gerry and the
Pacemakers
From Manchester: The Hollies (with Graham Nash)
and Herman’s Hermits
8-2
The Mods
London youth subculture, “modernists”
The Kinks, Ray Davies singer, songwriter,
guitarist
“You Really Got Me” (1964) popularized
fuzztone
Later songs dig at Mods, “A Well Respected
Man” and “Dedicated Follower of Fashion”
(both 1966)
8-3
Listening Guide
“You really Got Me” by the Kinks (1964)
Tempo: 138 beats per minute, 4 beats per bar
Form: 4-bar introduction introduces 4 statements of a 1-bar riff
that continues on 20-bar sections with a 10-bar instrumental
between the second and third sections
Features: Even beat subdivisions
Strong backbeat in drums, tambourine on each beat
Guitar fuzztone created by cut speaker cone
Riff begins with a half-beat pickup
Abrupt key changes, riff changes pitch to fit
Accents on “really” and “me”
Lyrics: Singer is enraptured by his girlfriend
Charts: Pop, #7, British his, #1
8-4
The Who
Background as Scorpions, then the Detours, High Numbers
Pete Townshend (born in 1945), songwriter, guitar, multiinstrumentalist
John Entwistle (1946-2002), electric bass guitar
Roger Daltrey (born in 1944), singer, some guitar
Keith Moon (1947-1978), drums
Lambert and Stamp managers
Monterey Pop Festival, stage destruction
Concept albums The Who Sell Out (1967), Tommy (1969), and
Quadrophenia (1973)
Who’s Next (1971) synthesizer ad sequencer effects
Membership additions after Moon’s death, Kenney Jones,
drums, and John “Rabbit” Bundrick, keyboards
Festival seating problem at Cincinnati’s Riverfront Coliseum
8-5
(1979)
Listening Guide
“My Generation” by the Who (1965)
Tempo: 192 beats per minute with some variation, 4 beats per bar
Form: 4-bar introduction, then mostly 20-bar periods
Features: Uneven beat subdivisions
Strong backbeat in drums
Solo vocal lines responded to by group vocals
3rd period instrumental
Daltrey stutters and stammers on solo vocal lines
Abrupt key changes up a whole step, then ½ step, then whole
step again
Lyrics: The song is an outcry for rebellious youths who want to be
free to do as they please and don’t ever want to be like “old”
people
Charts: Pop, #74, British hits, #2
8-6
British Blues Revival Bands
Chris Barber’s band played traditional jazz, skiffle, and country blues
Blues revival bands formed in early sixties:
Blues Incorporated
Rolling Stones
John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers
Spencer Davis Rhythm and Blues Quartet
Yardbirds
Graham Bond Organization
Eric Clapton with Yardbirds, Bluesbreakers, Cream, Blind Faith, before
solo career
Blues revival band formed in the late sixties:
Fleetwood Mac with Mick Fleetwood (drums), John McVie (bass),
Peter Green and Jeremy Spencer (guitars)– Christine McVie joined
1970
8-7
Listening Guide
“Crossroads” by Cream (1968)
Tempo: 138 beats per minute, 4 beats per bar
Form: 12-bar blues
Instrumental introduction, full 12-bar chorus
Features: Backbeat accented by drums
Solid-body electric guitar with fuzztone and low-tension
strings to allow for sliding and bending notes
Bass plays riff patterns and long walking lines
Lyrics: Combination of two Robert Johnson songs, “Cross
Road Blues” and “Traveling Riverside Blues”– treated as a
tribute to Johnson
Charts: Pop, #28
8-8
American Reaction
British brought new interest in American rock
styles of the fifties
British bands more popular than heavily
produced pop music in early sixties America
American bands imitate the British:
The Monkees like early Beatles
Garage Bands, raw and unrefined by studio
production techniques
8-9
Listening Guide
“Louie Louie” by the Kingsmen (1963)
Tempo: 126 beats per minute, 4 beats per bar
Form: 4-bar instrumental introduction with pickup
2-bar chordal ostinato repeats throughout song
Vocal phrases 4 bars long
16 bar instrumental section
Features: Even beat subdivisions in drums, uneven subdivisions in
vocals, guitar, and electric piano
Drums maintain a strong backbeat
Lyrics: The singer has been sailing for three days and nights thinking
about the girl that is waiting for him
Charts: Pop, #2 for six weeks, British hits, #26
8-10
Listening Guide
“Kicks” by Paul Revere and the Raiders (1966)
Tempo: 132 beats per minute, 4 beats per bar
Form: 4-bar introduction, then ABCDABCDCC, with C always having
the same lyrics
A, B and C sections are 8 bars
First D has 4 bars, second has 8 bars
Features: Even beat subdivisions
Backbeat not stressed
2 bar guitar riff repeats in each A section, played on electric 12strong guitar
Another guitar riff in each D section
The bass enters in the 3rd bar, plays riff in A sections, pounds
eighth-note pulse in C sections
Lyrics: Drugs can’t fill the girl’s emptiness and will lead to her
eventual destruction.
8-11
Charts: Pop, #4
American Blues Revival
American rock promoters only interested in the blues after
the popularity of the British blues bands
Paul Butterfield blues Band from Chicago
Canned Heat from L.A.
Janis Joplin from Texas, then San Francisco
Jimi Hendrix from Seattle, first hits in London
Southern bands played the blues:
Allman Brothers Band
ZZ Top
Jimmie and Stevie Ray Vaughan
Johnny and Edgar Winter
8-12
Listening Guide
“Red House” by Jimi Hendrix Experience (1967)
Tempo: 66 beats per minute, 4 beats per bar
Form: 12 bar blues
Features: Uneven beat subdivisions
Strong backbeat in drums
Bass played on a hollow-body electric guitar with the bass turned
up
Hendrix’s guitar plays fills and is featured in instrumental choruses
Hendrix uses string bending, vibrato, slides, and varies tone with
wah-wah pedal
Lyrics: The singer is disappointed on finding that his girlfriend has
moved away while he was in jail and compensates by going after
her sister
8-13
Discussion Questions
During the late sixties, some people said that the
British saved rock and roll. If true, what did they
save it from?
Would the postinvasion U.S. styles of garage bands
and blues revival bands have become popular
without the popularity of the British bands?
8-14