British Invasion
The
British Invasion was an influx of
rock and roll performers from the
United Kingdom who became popular in the
United States,
Australia,
Canada and elsewhere. The classic British Invasion was in 1964-1966, but the term may also be applied to later "waves" of UK artists to significantly impact entertainment markets outside of Britain.
The
British Invasion began in
1964, and peaked in
1965. A decade following the first invasion, the UK based
punk movement resulted in another influx of raw, iconoclastic UK bands and artists, such as the
Sex Pistols,
The Clash, and
Elvis Costello and the Attractions. As in 1963, the mainstream music market of 1975 had become heavily commercialized and formulaic, and the punk movement was a strong rebellion against this trend. Punk had a huge and lasting artistic influence on the popular music scene, but it never matched the broad commercial impact of the classic British Invasion of the 1960s. But in its wake, softer UK
power pop artists (sometimes referred to as "New Wave" artists) also begin to appear in the US market, still dominated by heavily commercialized
disco and
heavy metal music. Throughout the end of the 1970s, the influence and success of these artists (such as
The Police) would slowly grow to become a second invasion.
This was largely spawned by the influence of
MTV, which brought various distinctly British acts to the attention of American audiences. These included
The Fixx,
The Cure,
Depeche Mode,
Eurythmics,
Duran Duran,
Culture Club, and others. Once again, British acts came to dominate American charts, this time to an even greater degree than in the first British Invasion. See
New Wave and
New Romantic.
This second invasion of the 1980's remains (to date) the only other one. The continued splintering of the music market into vastly different genres makes a follow up, mass-appeal movement such as the British Invasion currently unlikely. Some musicians today dream of making such a mark.
The
Britpop movement of the mid-
1990s can be seen as a direct continuation of the original British Invasion of the 1960s, mixed with music of the '70s and '80s, although unlike the Invasion, Britpop never achieved the same degree of international popularity. Most of the bands weren't as popular worldwide as they were in Britain. Nevertheless, a few like
Oasis,
Elastica and
Blur have managed to break through into the American market and achieve respectable international success.
The start of the millennium saw new artists from Britain come to rise, the most popular of them being
Coldplay, who have achieved success in the U.S. Other acts are following in their footsteps.
In May
2002, there were no British artists on the US singles charts, the first time this had occurred since
1963.
In
2005,
James Blunt reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with his single "You're Beautiful", the first British artist to do so since
Elton John with "
Candle In The Wind" in 1997.
In
2006,
Corinne Bailey Rae achieved high acclaim for her self titled album and her single "
Put Your Records On". It has achieved considerable success in the U.K. and has debuted in the Billboard Hot 100. Her self-titled album debuted at #17 in the U.S.
*
The Action*
The Animals*
The Beatles*
The Bee Gees*
Cat Stevens*
Belfast Gypsies*
Dave Berry*
The Birds *
Chad and Jeremy*
Cilla Black*
Cliff Bennett*
Cream*
The Creation*
Crispian St. Peters*
The Dave Clark Five*
Donovan*
The Downliners Sect*
Dusty Springfield*
Freddie and the Dreamers*
Georgie Fame*
Gerry & the Pacemakers*
Graham Bond*
Herman's Hermits*
The Hollies*
The Honeycombs*
The Kinks*
Billy J. Kramer with The Dakotas*
Long John Baldry*
Lulu*
Manfred Mann*
Marianne Faithfull*
The Mindbenders*
The Moody Blues*
The Move*
The Nashville Teens*
Peter & Gordon*
Petula Clark*
The Pretty Things*
Procol Harum*
The Rolling Stones*
Sandie Shaw*
The Searchers*
The Shadows*
The Small Faces*
The Spencer Davis Group*
The Swinging Blue Jeans*
Them*
The Tornados*
Traffic*
Tom Jones*
The Tremeloes*
The Troggs*
Unit 4 + 2*
The Walker Brothers*
The Who*
The Yardbirds*
The Zombies*
List of songs by British artists which reached number one on the Hot 100*
UK topics*
Korean wave*
Uruguayan Invasion
