h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

It's funny that Liverpool had always been the route to the 'New World', with Europeans leaving from there to start a new life in America. In the 1950s, American music found its way into the UK via the ports, and so Liverpool music was very much influenced by Rock 'n' Roll, songs by people like Little Richard, Elvis, Carl Perkins and Buddy Holly.

When The Beatles took off, they were doing music that was either covers of American artists or else highly derivative of them. But by the time of their third album, 'A Hard Day's Night', you could really hear a definite 'sound' that was an evolution of, yet markedly different from, American rock 'n' roll. Suddenly, that fusion of music from the Liverpool docks became something huge - 'Merseybeat' music spawned Gerry and the Pacemakers, Cilla Black, the Swinging Blue Jeans and influenced Manchester and London musicians such as Freddie and the Dreamers, Billy J Kramer and the Dakotas (Kramer was himself from Liverpool) and even the Rolling Stones.

When the Beatles came to America, it was after bands like the Who had already paved the way. But unlike their contemporaries, the beatles refused to go there as unknowns. They were already proud No 1 artists in the American chart, so their appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show was as stars in their own right, rather than humble newcomers. Their sound changed the world and shaped modern pop music. The Monkees (with their Manchester-born lead singer Davy Jones), the Byrds, the Mamas and the Papas and even the utmost Americana band The Beach Boys all owed a lot to the harmonies, production and themes of the Beatles.

At a time when the Liverpool football club was also making a name for itself for the first time, it was really the best time to be a 'Scouser'.

There's nowt wrong with being a scouser now (well, a Woollyback at least )

Well yes, I'm a woollyback officially. But that still doesn't stop these Londoners from cracking all those anti-Scouser jokes at my expense. I just smile and point out that if you're born in St Helens you're not actually a Scouser.

Well, being born in Wallasey doesn't really do much for my self esteme, so I usually just get away with saying the Wirral

Good points all, and I was a big fan of "British Invasion" music (still am).

But I have to point out that when the invaders arrived, they found a few acts already here

Here in Texas, one of the most memorable is Janis Joplin, who died in 1970. Born in a small redneck oil town, she ended up ... a little different I still remember a video of Mama Cass (of the Mamas and Papas) watching Janis perform at the Monterrey Pop Festival - Cass' jaw literally dropped.

The VH1 list for "Best Rock 'n Roll Bad Girl" has Janis at the top, ahead of Courtney Love and Madonna. I read a hilarious report of Janis attending her 10th highschool reunion ... she took one look at all the "big hair" classmates and headed for the bar

Her will calls for 200 of her friends to throw a party at her favorite bar ... maybe she's Irish?

That's pretty much my idea of the 60's.

Could one argue maybe that the Sixties was the first real invasion when non-American acts first made a real name for themselves?

I say this as it seems that prior to the Beatles really, the main All-Star acts hailed from the States in the main; but, after this decade, the music scene became much more eclectic & it became kudos for €uropean stars to try to "break" America.

I'd agree with that. From the Glossary at www.allmusic.com:

QUOTE

British Invasion

While America was embracing light teen-idol pop during the early 1960s, British youth were undergoing a pop and rock revolution, inspired by stateside sounds like blues, country, American pop, and garage-rock. Among the scores of emerging bands, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones best exemplified the diversity of these absorbed influences and created a totally fresh, vibrant sound that reawakened pop and rock from their dormancy. The collective effect was empowering to a generation of post-WWII adolescents, who were beginning to question the expectations of their elders in a Cold War climate. Both the Beatles and the Rolling Stones initially recorded material that reflected their American influences, but eventually they became formidable sources of original work. Examples -- Peter & Gordon, Gerry & the Pacemakers, Herman's Hermits, and Billy J. Kramer & the Dakotas to rougher rock-oriented acts like the Yardbirds, Them, the Kinks, the Animals, and the Who.

END QUOTE

IMHO, the Beatles in particular understood music - harmony in particular. Unlike, say, Elvis who reportedly said he didn't know much about music because in his business, he didn't have to.