I grew up in Santa Monica Ca. ground zero for The Surf scene.
I was into The Beatles,my brother was into The Beach Boys. and my older brother was into The Rolling Stones.
The "British Invasion". A question for you old farts out there.
In school as a young teen ager, we has two groups....the Beatles fans and the Dave Clark Five fans, which I was one of. In your youth did you have different cliques (I am thinking high school) based on what bands/singers they liked? I was also in the minority by being a Del Shannon fan. (yes, I am a dinosaur! ). Thankfully I aged into Jazz and Classical for the most part, but did enjoy some popular music in the 80s. And you?
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Hilarious, I too had extremely miltaristic female chorus teacher in 9th grade. Got kicked out of class for year for failure to conform, had to sit in principle's office for the year, deprived of all books, anything to read or distract me. Staring at the wall for 45 minutes every day. Funny thing was, I loved singing in chorus and was told I had perfect pitch. Have to admit, I was a young radical, garage rock and later bands like MC5, Stooges, and even later, hard core mosh pits attracted me. |
It wouldn't be right if one of us old farts didn't give a big thank you to television shows like The Ed Sullivan Show, Shindig, Hullabaloo and American Bandstand. The Beatles, The Dave Clark 5, Rolling Stones, The Who, Marvin Gaye, Sam Cooke, James Brown, The Beach Boys, The Supremes, Roy Orbison, The Animals, etc. Without music video or YouTube, these shows were our only opportunity to "see" our favourite musicians perform. All pre-lip syncing, so the performances were 100% real and were usually performed exactly like we heard on whatever AM station you listened to. Even Bob Dylan. Great times and great memories from the golden age of pop music. |
@rtorchia - LOL, you had one of those music teachers as well eh? We had one in middle school that said ALL music fell into three categories: Classical, Opera, and The Big Beat. He viewed everything outside of Classical and Opera as indistinguishable trash that was nothing more than primitives beating on something to make noise so they could jump around in synchronicity. He was a thrill a minute, let me tell you. To be fair, we did learn about troglodytes at an earlier age than most... |
My crowd were Rolling Stones fans because we were rebellious and and close to being juvenile delinquents. The Beatles were all so well scrubbed and that didn't go over well. When they went psychedelic I really liked them. We had a sadistic music teacher in school, an ex Marine, who made a big show of ripping up any Beatles memorabilia he found on students. |
Rolling Stones at age 9 was my favorite, everyone else was into the Beatles. Replaced by Jefferson airplane at age 13. Liked the Doors also. At age 16, I was a clique of one in my Catholic HS listening to “(It’s a Chill Wind That) Blows Against the Empire” by Paul Kantner (R.I.P.) and PERRO (Planet Earth Rock & Roll Orchestra. |
I've never understood the Beatles craze, personally. With a few exceptions, they fit my description of bubble gum pop drivel (yes, I know I'm in the minority - as my wife fondly reminds me). Grateful Dead? Well, now, no good coma would be complete without GD accompaniment. Now, The Stones, Kinks, Humble Pie (...talkin 'bout black Lebanese..), Led Zep, Black Sabbath, Strawbs, Tull, Gentle Giant, Steeleye Span, Bloodwyn Pig...*That* was the British Invasion to me. Still listening to them 50-odd years later, still good tunes, although symphonic metal is my newest love. As always, YMMV. Listen to what speaks to you. |
Apple Music has a nice “British Invasion” playlist. I was also surprised occasionally to see that somebody I thought was American was British. The only clique I recall — in jr. hi, since I’m so old — was Beatles vs. Stones. Or maybe the folks who liked The Beach Boys as a genuine US group. Or Dylan if they were self-consciously hip. In college a friend introduced me to classical music and as a result I have a 10-year gap in my popular music experience, regardless or which side of the pond they came from. |
All of those were great groups, but especially The Beatles. My 16 year old son (yes, I’m an old codger with young children) still listens to them all the time and loves their music. Someone mentioned Paul Revere and the Raiders holding up the American end. There was also the Lovin’ Spoonful, good music and good run in the mid 1960’s. |
Beatles vs. Rolling Stones. All others were on the sidelines. I was (am) a Beatles fan. They put out some of the most inventive, groundbreaking music and continually evolved. Each of their albums was a step in a new direction that you could listen to over and over and find something new with each listen. |
In the UK there were definitely cliques in the 60's that determined what music was acceptable - Mods, Rockers, Skinheads, Hippies, Folkies and others. There were all these little countercultures that dressed, wore their hair and used slang differently. In the US you saw that as the British Invasion of lots of Beat and rock n' roll acts. Of course what you listened to at home and with your 'mates' could be very different. BTW my farts are new! |
When I was a kid, I listened to the two AM stations that were popular in the Tulsa area during the early to late 60s: KAKC and KELI. (This was long before KMOD took over the FM airwaves.) Those stations were played all the time at our house, because my older sisters (a pre-teen and a teenager) listened to them constantly. (Several transistor radios with the single earpiece provided service over the years in our household.) That's where my tastes in music were primarily developed. I didn't appreciate it until much later in my life, but those two AM stations played at least a small variety of popular music every day: British Invasion, garage bands (i.e. the kinds of bands you'll find on Nuggets compilations), Motown, some Stax r&b, doo wop, surf music, teen idols, girl groups, the occasional blues record, and even country folks like Merle Haggard and Freddie Hart. I can also remember when they played "Israelites" by Desmond Dekker and "Double Barrel" by Dave & Ansel Collins all the time. Those stations are probably why I like almost all kinds of music (except for bad music). As for the British Invasion, most of my classmates fell into that Beatles vs Rolling Stones thing. I love the music of both bands (and I managed to catch the Stones live a few times), but I primarily ran with the Beatles crowd. Still do. |
I had the great fortune to experience live The Beatles during their last US tour in '66. I was hooked on music in general from my earliest youth though. We had two garage bands during my HS days, of which I played bass and keyboard in the invasion cover group while the other band focused more on US beach music, Beach Boys, Ventures, etc. Neither group were high quality (as most of us self taught were) but we all enjoyed ourselves immensely! On the other hand, our front man, Dave Gordon, did turn professional and was highly regarded in the folk genre until his death from cancer in his early 30's. So, yeah, I guess those were our "cliques", even-though we did think of it much that way back then. No clique now though, just this group. Oops! |
You might have been ostracized from the Beatles crowd when you were in school, but that’s entirely justifiable in anyone’s estimation. Be that as it may, picture this British Invasion tragedy, When I was twelve years old in 1964 my 45rpm of Manfred Mann’s " Do Wah Diddy Diddy" disappeared. Definitely not one to let matters of such import rest, I revisited this sore subject at a family reunion, aboard a cruise ship no less, some forty or so years later. At this late date my sister Marion laughingly confessed to having traded this prize possession to Theresa McNally for a turtle. She was only four years old at the time, but I threatened to throw her overboard anyway, Actually doing so might have been too harsh. The moral of the story, yes the British Invasion was supremely important, but don’t go overboard with it at this late date. |
As sns says... Anyway, before the Beatles went on Ed Sullivan, I was strictly a classical guy, with occasional forays into show tunes thanks to the fact my mother and aunt danced and did bit parts in several 1940’s movie musicals. I hated rock-and-roll. Then the Beatles showed up and turned my taste upside down. As for the Dave Clark Five, they had their share of hype during the first moments of the British Invasion but in hindsight they come off as little more than a Swinging Sixties footnote. |
Well, there is a difference between early/mid 60's, say '63 vs. '67. Brit invasion era really at it's end around 67. This is the beginning of the flower power/psychedelic era. Brit invasion music is a Top 40 convention, the two or three minute song thing. Many Brit invasion bands morphed into more complex/mature forms of rock, the ones who didn't mostly died by end of '67. FM free form stations took over the air waves around this time as well, AM Top 40 in beginning of death throes. |
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 |
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? |
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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. |
You've got to remember that The Beatles hadn't matured yet in 64 and 65. They were still a teen pop band not that different from the DC 5. Looking back on their entire careers, there's no comparison, but in the early days the DC 5 were competition for the Fab Four. From Wikipedia: The Dave Clark Five, often called The DC5, were an English rock and roll band formed in Tottenham in 1958. In January 1964 they had their first UK top ten single, "Glad All Over", which knocked the Beatles' "I Want to Hold Your Hand" off the top of the UK Singles Chart. It peaked at No. 6 in the United States in April 1964.[1] Although this was their only UK No. 1, they topped the US chart in December 1965, with their cover of Bobby Day's "Over and Over". Their version of Chet Powers' "Get Together" reached No. 8 on the UK Singles Chart retitled as "Everybody Get Together".[2] They were the second group of the British Invasion to appear on The Ed Sullivan Show in the United States (for two weeks in March 1964 following the Beatles' three weeks] the previous month). They would ultimately have 18 appearances on the show. The DC5 were one of the most commercially successful acts of the British Invasion, releasing seventeen top 40 hits in the US between 1964 and 1967, and were briefly considered serious rivals to the Beatles. The group disbanded in early 1970. On 10 March 2008, the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.[3] |
Yes, early garage rock was an American thing, and my preferred music at that time. Bands like Beau Brummels, The Seeds, Count Five, Music Machine, Syndicate of Sound, Unrelated Segments, Zakary Thaks, Electric Prunes, Blues Magoos, Question Mark & Mysterians and The Litter. This was the music I related to with all my adolescent angst, which then led into the psychedelic era, . Brits evolved in a different direction, all is good in my book, still listen to all these genres occasionally. |
flatblackround I agree with your post as I am always Hungry for those good things Paul Revere and the Raiders' Pop Legacy in 5 Songs
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Give me a break. BLUES is an American thing, Everyone else just learned how to play the blues. As a kid in the south in the 50-60s. Blues were a real heart felt "THING" from across the tracks. Just so you know most of the counties in that area were DRY. The Juke Joints in the sticks were visited by ALL. Liquor and music flowed like water. Muddy Water at that. :-) I worked on a 55 acre wood farm as a kid in Alabama. Music use to fill the areas from Wednesday - Sunday. Rag time, gospel, Bayou Blues, some Rock a Billy, like Buddy Holly, Elvis, Jerry Lee, Mavis, Willie Thornton, Chuck Berry, Carl Perkins. Soul was being formed at the time. You could hear it... James Brown.. Mercy he WAS the hardest working CAT in the business.. Still listen to JB. Sex machine, I feel good. Smookin' good.. BUT the Dave Clark 5.. :-) Just kiddin' OP.. I like shuffle dancin' too. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGSKfCF44W8 Regards |
Interesting contrast Beatles and Dave Clark 5. The contrast is usually Beatles vs Stones of which I was more into the Stones. Yes, Paul Revere & raiders were a top shelf band and had a lot of good music, but the Beatles overshadowed them. One group they did NOT overshadow was Grand Funk Railroad. They sold out Shay Stadium quicker than the Beatles. And at another venue they opened for Zeppelin who then refused to go on afterward. GFR is not in the R&R hall of shame, which is a very big injustice to them, R&R community & R&R history |
The lead singer for the Dave Clark Five was Mike Smith. Mike died a few years back because of complications from an earlier accident. Actually I looked it up and Mr. Smith died longer ago than I thought. Time does pass quickly. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike_Smith_(Dave_Clark_Five) |