# What precipitated the British Invasion? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 26, 2015, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-precipitated-the-british-invasion/720845 "2015-05-26T04:33:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2015, 9:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-precipitated-the-british-invasion/720845/21 "2015-05-28T09:16:17Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > There were the doo-wop groups and falsetto singers. There were the teen idols. There were the socially conscious folk singers. And there was surf music. That was about it. > [@Mr.Miskatonic](#): > > That was also an era when a lot of novelty/joke songs made it high in the charts: Itsy Bitsy Teenty Weeny Bikini, Monster Mash, Alley Ooop (the rock version). These weren’t just running along like Weird Al songs do today, they were #1 hits! Some others had popped up in the late 50’s but that just shows even the big American acts were running out of steam. Yep. You forgot Allan Sherman. And I forgot to mention there was some “race music” making the airwaves, like Chubby Checker, Fats Domino, and the like. They were clean cut enough to make American Bandstand, but still… they were black and it was the 60s, you know? ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2015, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-precipitated-the-british-invasion/720845/22 "2015-05-28T09:23:00Z")
> [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > Weren’t there a lot of British musicians who went to art school in their late teens, hung out and formed bands? Also a lot of them were influenced by the skiffle craze of people such as Lonnie Donegan. That would be Lennon and Clapton. Lennon went for skiffle and Clapton went for the blues. I do remember hearing Lonnie Donegan’s “Does Your Chewing Gum Lose It’s Flavor On The Bedpost Overnight” on the AM radio in the pre-Beatle 60s. It was a novelty tune. But it must have been pretty popular back then because I was too young to be much of a pop-music listener and it got through to my consciousness even then. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2015, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-precipitated-the-british-invasion/720845/23 "2015-05-28T12:08:46Z")
> [@mcgato](#): > > Just a wild thought (which may be wrong): It could also be due to the availability of transatlantic jet flights that started in the late 1950s. Prior to that, it would probably be very difficult for a British band to come and tour the states. Without a physical presence over here, it would be difficult for a band to gain much traction. Excellent observation, I think. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2015, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-precipitated-the-british-invasion/720845/24 "2015-05-28T12:34:31Z")
I’m surprised no one has mentioned Hayley Mills in the period leading up to the Beatles. I’m sure she whetted some people’s appetites for more British pop stars. I was in second and third grade at the time, and I remember how my brother adored her. I liked her myself, though I probably knew zilch about music at the time. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2015, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-precipitated-the-british-invasion/720845/25 "2015-05-28T15:54:44Z")
Re: Art Schools. Keith Richards and Brian Jones both got into/tried to get into art school. OTOH, Jagger was going to go to an economics school. Later member Ronnie Wood attended art school with Pete Townshend and Freddie Mercury. The effect of American R&B in the late 50s on these early British groups cannot be underestimated. Almost all of them were heavily into collecting R&B records and studying their music. In Liverpool, home to the Beatles and the Mersey Sound, sailors would buy R&B records in America and resell them to kids like Lennon and McCartney back home. American R&B acts also found Britain a friendly-ish environment for touring. So it was fairly easy for the kids to see their idols perform live. And then, later, tour with them. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2015, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-precipitated-the-british-invasion/720845/26 "2015-05-28T17:18:25Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > Re: Art Schools. Keith Richards and Brian Jones both got into/tried to get into art school. OTOH, Jagger was going to go to an economics school. Later member Ronnie Wood attended art school with Pete Townshend and Freddie Mercury. > > The effect of American R&B in the late 50s on these early British groups cannot be underestimated. Almost all of them were heavily into collecting R&B records and studying their music. > > In Liverpool, home to the Beatles and the Mersey Sound, sailors would buy R&B records in America and resell them to kids like Lennon and McCartney back home. > > American R&B acts also found Britain a friendly-ish environment for touring. So it was fairly easy for the kids to see their idols perform live. And then, later, tour with them. Mick Jones of the Clash used to say that he had no talent for art and no interest in art, but chose to go to Art School because it seemed as if all the biggest rock stars he knew had gone there, and he thought it would be a good place to find guys to start a band with! In his words, “I figured on my first day, I’d just walk into the toilet and see a bunch of guys with guitars, and we’d be all set.” ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2015, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-precipitated-the-british-invasion/720845/27 "2015-05-28T17:37:04Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > I’m surprised no one has mentioned Hayley Mills in the period leading up to the Beatles. I’m sure she whetted some people’s appetites for more British pop stars. Bit of trivia: The house where Hayley grew up, “The Wick” was once owned by Ronnie Wood and its current resident is Pete Townshend. ---
**Author:** ![up\_the\_junction](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/f1d935/32.png) [@up\_the\_junction](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/up_the_junction)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2015, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-precipitated-the-british-invasion/720845/28 "2015-05-28T17:44:27Z")
Fwiw, I always rate the ‘connectivity’ of a place and time - how, where, who were the connections/catalysts (focal points, key enablers) - all the almost unquanifiable factors that fascilitate something’ creative to happen. I think London absolutely had that in the late 50s/early 60s, as perhaps did Liverpool to a much lesser extent. A later example would be Malcolm McClaren, his shop with Vivian Westwood, the cultural zeitgeist, etc. Back in the late 50s people like Alexis Korner were fundamental. As were places like Eel Pie Island. Huge but totally connected, accessible and nurturing scene in SW London. People talk about individuals accessing black music but I think mostly it was the connected group sharing knowledge and ideas. And of course, as there always, always is in these things there was … the BBC. > **[Alexis Korner](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexis_Korner)** > > Alexis Andrew Nicholas Koerner (19 April 1928 – 1 January 1984), known professionally as Alexis Korner, was a British blues musician and radio broadcaster, who has sometimes been referred to as "a founding father of British blues". A major influence on the sound of the British music scene in the 1960s, he was instrumental in the formation of several notable British bands including The Rolling Stones and Free. > Alexis Andrew Nicholas Koerner was born on 19 April 1928 in Paris, France, to an Au... [http://eelpieislandmusic.com/music](http://eelpieislandmusic.com/music) Personally, I think exploring that scene would make a great movie… ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2015, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-precipitated-the-british-invasion/720845/29 "2015-05-28T18:36:58Z")
> [@mcgato](#): > > Just a wild thought (which may be wrong): It could also be due to the availability of transatlantic jet flights that started in the late 1950s. Prior to that, it would probably be very difficult for a British band to come and tour the states. Without a physical presence over here, it would be difficult for a band to gain much traction. I think this ties in with what ThelmaLou says. There was a wave of change that the Beatles didn’t create, but they were at the very front of it. Part of that wave came in the form of technology. Airplanes are certainly part of it. I also think we need to take transistor radios into account as well. Just like Elvis was helped along by records, the Beatles were timed perfectly for portable radios. The first transistor radios date back to the mid-50’s. So the mid-60’s was a perfect time for these radios to have penetrated the market and become cheaper. Just look at [pricing on Wikipedia’s page](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transistor_radio#Pricing). What cost $50 in 1955 was only $15 in 1962. (Prices unadjusted for inflation). ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2015, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-precipitated-the-british-invasion/720845/30 "2015-05-28T20:01:44Z")
It was also the era for variety shows on television. Ed Sullivan, Smothers Brothers, Hollywood Palace, American Bandstand on weekend days. Three networks and most homes only had one tv. If a group from Liverpool becomes popular, a show might try one from London or Manchester. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-precipitated-the-british-invasion/720845.md?page=1)