The British Invasion

One of the most seminal developments to the evolution of Rock in the 1960s came not from America, but from across the Atlantic – in England. To be fair, the path was circuitous. American performers regularly left American shores to tour Europe at least as far bask as the Fisk Jubilee singers in the 1800s, exposing the “Old World” audiences to “New World” sounds. The tradition continued in the 1950s, with Blues musicians such as Muddy Waters, Sonny Terry, and Big Bill Broonzy arriving on European shores.

In England, an infatuation with Blues led to the creation of “Home-grown” bands inspired largely by musicians such as Muddy Waters. In a few years, these bands would become internationally known in their own right: from the Animals to the Yardbirds to the Rolling Stones. As is always the case, these musicians infused the genre with their own backgrounds and perspectives, and re-introduced the Blues (albeit in a new format) to American audiences. With the arrival of the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show in 1964, the British sound in turn became an infatuation for the United States, with hundreds, if no thousands of bands forming in the country – themselves inspired by the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.

This unit examines the dynamics of this process, and details the trajectories of particular British bands as they took their music across the ocean and helped shape the future sound of American popular music.