The "British Invasion". A question for you old farts out there.

The Monkees were a manufactured band cast for a TV show, and the music was written mostly by Boyce and Hart and others and performed by serious studio musicians. Some nice stuff, but although very popular it was barely them although they could play and sing somewhat...Mike Nesmith is a relatively well regarded musician and songwriter and I think was the most substantial talent among those guys.

Was in high school in the mid 60's.  Cliques...sure, but don't recall any of them being aligned with bands/singers.  Never jumped on the Beatles' bandwagon, nor the Stones' for that matter.  Never got jazzed over DC 5 either.  Only recording of theirs I ever liked was Catch Us If You Can.  The Who?  Nah.  As with some other contributors here, my British Invasion tastes ran more toward Manfred Mann (My Little Red Book), Kinks (Sunny Afternoon), Animals (I'm Crying), Yardbirds (Heart Full Of Soul), Troggs (With A Girl Like You), Hollies (Look Through Any Window) and yes...unapologetically...Herman's Hermits (No Milk Today).

Anybody want to watch "Pirate Radio" again?  

In SoCal in the 60s The Beach Boys gave The Beatles a run for their money, but the Beatles evolved.  I can remember going into a record store in Redondo Beach and all their top selling singles on the wall were Beatle records.   It was insane. No cliques, whole high school was in on the Beatles.

Not in the Bay area. It was War, Santana, James Brown, The Temptations, The 4 Tops, Sly Stone, Janis Joplin, Elvis, The Doors even Bob Dylan, but The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and even the Beach Boys took a back seat to the one's I just mentioned..

You were a little funky if you listened to The Who, to tell the truth..

Weird one Elton John came on like gang busters the late 60s in my little town.. (I think it was still the 60s).. I always thought it strange he was so popular in a Cool and the Gang, & Sly and the family Stones town..

Regard