The Beatles Story



The Beatles Story

Teacher Notes for the The British Invasion exhibition

(Please allow around 40 minutes to explore the exhibition)

|Introduction |

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|1964 saw a seismic shift in American popular music. |

|British bands launched what became known as an ‘Invasion’ on the music charts. |

|Led by the Beatles, other bands including The Rolling Stones, Donovan, The Dave Clark |

|Five, The Kinks, Gerry and the Pacemakers and many more dramatically changed the |

|course of Rock & Roll in America |

|At no other time in the 20th century has American popular music been so affected by |

|outside influences. |

|What the teens didn’t know was that these “new” sounds weren’t new at all; they were |

|reinterpretations of American music. |

|The British Invasion ignited a music renaissance in America and permanently established|

|the UK on the Rock & Roll map. |

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|Blues Folk and Skiffle |

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|American Blues and Folk music were both roots of Rock & Roll and main inspirations for |

|the British Invasion. |

|Folk musicians such as Woody Guthrie, Josh White, and Lead Belly helped create a |

|pre-rock and roll sound in the UK known as Skiffle. |

|1956 saw Lonnie Donnegan recorded Rock Island Line a song originally by his greatest |

|influence Lead Belly. |

|This song started off a Skiffle craze and lead to a young John Lennon forming a Skiffle|

|band. |

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|America Before the Beatles |

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|In the early 1960s American Rock & Roll was stuck in neutral as many of the most |

|important pioneers were missing from the scene. |

|Elvis was in the army, Chuck Berry was in jail, Ritchie Valens Buddy Holly and Eddie |

|Cochran had died. |

|Little Richard found religion, Jerry Lee Lewis had married his cousin, Johnny Cash was |

|focusing on Country music,Carl Perkins was recovering from a car accident and Gene |

|Vincent had been badly injured in a motorcycle mishap. |

|Rhythm & Blues, Rock & Roll and Soul |

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|In the late ‘50s early ‘60s the American music contained numerous artistic styles – |

|Rhythm & Blues, Rock & Roll and Soul. |

|Rhythm & Blues, a precursor to Rock & Roll came of age after World War Two. Artists |

|like Ray Charles and James Brown were R&B stylists who helped the pre-dominantly |

|African-American sound reach a wider audience. |

|Soul music evolved from R&B it had a smoother, more pop friendly groove. |

|The Motown sound came from Detroit and featured artists such as Smokey Robinson, Stevie|

|Wonder and the Supremes – all regualar acts in the music charts. |

|In California, the Beach Boys created a surf sound to represent sunny L.A. |

|The American Invasion of Great Britain |

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|Before British bands invaded the U.S, American acts had invaded Great Britain. |

|It started with American Jazz and Blues musicians, in the post war years, touring the |

|UK and bringing with them raw, rough cut sounds. |

|It was not until Rock & Roll exploded in America that a torrent of sounds and styles |

|hit Britain. |

|1955 movie Blackboard Jungle featured Rock Around the Clock by Bill Haley and the |

|Comets, both were hugely popular. |

|Elvis hit the scene with Heartbreak Hotel and acts such as Little Richard, Eddie |

|Cochran, Gene Vincent, Chuck Berry and Buddy Holly, all R&R pioneers, elevated the |

|popularity of the music and inspired countless British musicians. |

|Meet the Beatles / Their First Visit / The Ed Sullivan Show |

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|The Beatles arrived in New York on Friday 7th February 1964. |

|They were escorted into the Pan American Airlines building for their press conference |

|featuring over 200 sceptical reporters, whilst outside 4000 fans waited to greet them. |

|Hoping for a warm reception, what they received was a sign of things to come. |

|On Sunday 9th February the band appeared on the Ed Sullivan show and broke broadcasting|

|records as 73 million Americans tuned in. |

|Having seen the hysteria surrounding the boy’s arrival firsthand in Heathrow some |

|months earlier, Ed Sullivan saw their potential and had booked them for three shows. |

|The first visit lasted only two weeks but it was enough to ignite Beatlemania; during |

|this trip they went to three cities, played three concerts and held dozens of |

|interviews. |

|I Want to Hold Your Hand was entrenched in the number one chart position. |

|The British Invasion….and the Blues |

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|Once the Beatles had found success, it paved the way for many acts to follow suit. |

|Solo artists, duos and bands from across the UK flooded the American pop charts. |

|Part of the American fascination was cultural; teens loved the accents, fashions and |

|new hairstyles. Musically, although the roots were in America, British Rock sounds |

|became increasingly original. |

|In the 60’s middle class households teenagers were allowed to have separate bedrooms, |

|which allowed them greater privacy than in previous generations. |

|This space became private domains, decorated with photos of British Invasion artists. |

|Photographs and record collections competed for space with school books, scrap books |

|and trinkets; while private telephones were an added luxury. |

|Whilst many groups followed the rock and pop route some chose to follow the Bluesmen. |

|The Rolling Stones took their name from a Muddy Waters song; the Animals went to the |

|top of the charts with House of the Rising Sun, an old folk-blues standard. |

|Bands such as Cream, Savoy Brown and Led Zeppelin continued the Blues exploration until|

|a new genre, Blues Rock emerged in the late 60’s. |

|American Response |

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|The invasion unleashed a create music explosion that saw an increase in guitar sales; |

|fashions changed as long hair became fashionable for men, the British flag became |

|popular, a new music press was born and new bands formed across the country. |

|LA group The Byrds based their early sound on the Beatles. The Beach Boys used Rubber |

|Soul and Revolver as inspiration for Pet Sounds. |

|Jefferson Airplane and The Grateful Dead of San Francisco had early roots in the |

|Invasion. Whilst in Boston, The Standells reflected the rawness of the Rolling Stones; |

|and in Detroit Motown acts started to interpret Beatles songs. |

|The Next Invasion |

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|There was no official end date to the British Invasion, however many music historians |

|point to the Beatles final concert in Candlestick Park in Aug ‘66 as the most logical |

|conclusion. |

|The Beatles became a studio based band that broadened rocks creative reach with singles|

|like Strawberry Fields Forever and the album Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. |

|There was however a second wave invasion. |

|Cream, Pink Floyd, the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Led Zeppelin, The Small Faces, The |

|Moody Blues, Procol Harlem alongside the Rolling Stones, The Who and the Kinks ensured |

|the second was just as memorable. |

End of exhibition

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