British Invasion

{{Short description|US cultural phenomenon of the mid-late 1960s}} {{About|the US cultural phenomenon of the mid-late 1960s}} {{Use mdy dates|date=May 2026}}  {{Infobox historical event | Event_Name = British Invasion | partof = the Swinging Sixties and the broader counterculture of the 1960s | Image_Name = The Beatles arrive at JFK Airport.jpg | Imagesize = | Image_Alt = | Image_Caption = The arrival of the Beatles in the United States in 1964 marked the start of the British Invasion.<ref name="Britannica" /> | Thumb_Time = | AKA = | Participants = | Location = United Kingdom and United States | Date = 1963<ref name="Britannica" />–1969<ref name="Guesswho">{{Cite magazine |last=Yorke |first=Ritchie |author-link=Ritchie Yorke |date=1970 |title=After Guess Who Single, Canadian Chart Boom |magazine=Billboard}}</ref> | nongregorian = | Deaths = | Result = British influence on the music of the United States | URL = }}

The '''British Invasion''' was a cultural phenomenon of the mid-late 1960s, when rock and pop music acts from the United Kingdom<ref name=IraRobbins>{{cite web| author=Ira A. Robbins |url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/80244/British-Invasion |title=British Invasion (music) – Britannica Online Encyclopædia |website=Britannica.com |access-date=January 18, 2011}}</ref> and other aspects of British culture became popular in the United States with significant influence on the rising "counterculture" on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.<ref name="Perone2004">{{cite book|author=James E. Perone|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6dw1soxFdm8C&pg=PA22|title=Music of the Counterculture Era|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|year=2004|isbn=978-0-313-32689-9|pages=22}}</ref> British pop and rock groups such as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, the Bee Gees, Gerry and the Pacemakers, the Who, the Kinks,<ref name="Allmusickinks">{{cite web |author=Stephen Thomas Erlewine |title=The Kinks - Music Biography, Streaming Radio and Discography - AllMusic |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-kinks-mn0000100160 |work=AllMusic}}</ref> the Zombies, the Small Faces, the Dave Clark Five,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-dave-clark-five-mn0000785611/biography |title=The Dave Clark Five - Biography - AllMusic |first=Richie |last=Unterberger |work=AllMusic}}</ref> the Spencer Davis Group, the Yardbirds, Them, Manfred Mann,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/oct/14/60s-hitmakers-manfred-mann-ive-sung-this-10000-times-and-never-liked-it |title=60s hitmakers Manfred Mann: 'I've sung this 10,000 times and never liked it!' |first=Alexis|last=Petridis|website=The Guardian|date=October 15, 2021}}</ref> the Searchers, Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, Freddie and the Dreamers, the Hollies, Herman's Hermits, Chad and Jeremy, Peter and Gordon, the Animals, the Moody Blues, the Mindbenders, the Troggs, John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, Cream, Traffic, the Pretty Things, and Procol Harum, as well as solo singers such as Dusty Springfield, Cilla Black, Petula Clark, Tom Jones, Donovan, Lulu, Shirley Bassey and Marianne Faithfull were at the forefront of the "invasion."<ref>Perone, James E. ''Mods, Rockers, and the Music of the British Invasion.'' Westport, CT: Praeger, 2009. Print.</ref>

== Background == The rebellious tone and image of American rock and roll and blues musicians became popular with British youth in the late 1950s. While early commercial attempts to replicate American rock and roll mostly failed, the trad jazz–inspired skiffle craze,<ref>M. Brocken, ''The British Folk Revival, 1944–2002'' (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2003), pp. 69–80.</ref> with its do-it-yourself attitude, produced two top-ten hits in the US by Lonnie Donegan.<ref name=allmusicchart>{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/lonnie-donegan-p8434/charts-awards/billboard-singles |title=Lonnie Donegan > Charts and Awards > Billboard singles |access-date=February 14, 2011 |website=AllMusic}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/lonnie-donegan-p8434/biography|title=Lonnie Donegan - Music Biography, Streaming Radio and Discography - AllMusic|first=Bruce|last=Eder |work=AllMusic}}</ref> Young British groups started to combine various British and American styles in different parts of the United Kingdom, such as the movement in Liverpool known as Merseybeat or the "beat boom".<ref name=Britannica/><ref>Morrison, Craig. ''American Popular Music''. British Invasion (New York: Facts on File, 2006), pp. 32–34.</ref><ref>J. Gould, ''Can't Buy Me Love: The Beatles, Britain, and America'' (New York, Harmony Books, 2007), pp. 344–45.</ref><ref name=BeatlesArrive>{{cite web|url = http://www.cnn.com/2004/SHOWBIZ/Music/02/05/beatles.40/ |title = When the Beatles hit America |work =CNN|date= February 10, 2004|first = Todd|last = Leopold}}</ref>

While American acts were popular in the United Kingdom, few British acts had achieved any success in the United States prior to 1964. Cliff Richard, who was the best-selling British act in the United Kingdom at the time, had only one Top 40 hit in the US, with "Living Doll" in 1959. Along with Donegan, exceptions to this trend were the US number-one hits "Auf Wiederseh'n, Sweetheart" by Vera Lynn in 1952 (Lynn also had a lower-charting, but more enduring, hit in "We'll Meet Again"), "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" by Laurie London in 1958, and the instrumentals "Stranger on the Shore" by Acker Bilk and "Telstar" by the Tornados, both in 1962.<ref>{{cite book |first=Joel |last=Whitburn |year=1990 |title=The Billboard Hot 100 Charts: The Sixties (26 May 1962, 7 July 1962, 22 December 1962 - 5 January 1963) |publisher=Record Research, Inc. |location=Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin |isbn=0-89820-074-1}}</ref> Also on the Hot 100, "Manhattan Spiritual" by Reg Owen and His Orchestra" reached number ten in February 1959, Hayley Mills' "Let's Get Together" from ''The Parent Trap'' peaked number eight in October 1961,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article46242948 |title=Hayley Mills busily happy |newspaper=The Australian Women's Weekly |volume=30 |issue=8 |date=25 July 1962 |access-date=15 September 2017 |page=3 (Teenagers Weekly) |via=National Library of Australia|last1=Ott|first1=Beverly}}</ref> and in 1962, "Midnight in Moscow" by Kenny Ball reached number two in March, the Springfields' version of "Silver Threads and Golden Needles" peaked at number twenty in September, and Frank Ifield's "I Remember You" reached number five in October.<ref name="The Book of Golden Discs">{{cite book |first=Joseph |last=Murrells |year=1978 |title=The Book of Golden Discs |edition=2nd |publisher=Barrie and Jenkins Ltd |location=London |pages=[https://archive.org/details/bookofgoldendisc00murr/page/147 147, 166, 167] |isbn=0-214-20512-6 |url=https://archive.org/details/bookofgoldendisc00murr/page/147 }}</ref>

Some observers have noted that American teenagers were growing tired of singles-oriented pop acts like Fabian and the "Bobby"s: Bobby Darin, Bobby Vinton, Bobby Rydell, Bobby Vee etc.<ref name=Cogan>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r4WFjKG6vmUC&q=%22james%20bond%22%20%22british%20invasion%22%20%22all%20things%20british%22&pg=PA80 |title=Encyclopedia of the Sixties: A Decade of Culture and Counterculture |first=Brian |last=Cogan |editor=Abbe A. Debolt |editor2=James S. Baugess |publisher=Greenwood Press |isbn=9780313329449 |pages=80–81 |date=December 12, 2011 |access-date=July 23, 2012}}</ref> The Mods and Rockers, two youth "gangs" in mid-1960s Britain, also had an impact in British Invasion music. Bands with a Mod aesthetic became the most popular, but bands able to balance both (e.g., the Beatles) were also successful.<ref>{{cite book |first=James |last=Perone |year=2009 |title=Mods, Rockers, and the Music of the British Invasion |publisher=Praeger |location=Westport, Connecticut}}</ref>

== Beatlemania == {{Main|Beatlemania}} {{See also|Cultural impact of the Beatles|The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show}} [[File:Aankomst Beatles op Schiphol, overzicht drukte op Schiphol, Bestanddeelnr 916-5134.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|Fans and media swarm the Beatles at Schiphol Airport in the Netherlands in 1964.]]

In October 1963, the first newspaper articles about the frenzy in England surrounding the Beatles appeared nationally in the US.<ref name=GreenbergBillboard>[https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/5894018/how-the-beatles-went-viral-in-america-1964?page=0%2C0 "How the Beatles Went Viral: Blunders, Technology & Luck Broke the Fab Four in America,"] by Steve Greenberg, ''Billboard'' February 7, 2014</ref> The Beatles' November 4 Royal Variety Performance in front of the Queen Mother sparked music industry and media interest in the group.<ref name=GreenbergBillboard /> During November, a number of major American print outlets and two network television evening programs published and broadcast stories on the phenomenon that became known as "Beatlemania".<ref name=GreenbergBillboard/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.newseum.org/news/2009/02/the-beatles-in-america--we-loved-them--yeah--yeah--yeah.html |title=The Beatles in America: We Loved Them, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah |publisher=Newseum |date=February 5, 2009 |access-date=June 29, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101126162611/http://newseum.org/news/2009/02/the-beatles-in-america--we-loved-them--yeah--yeah--yeah.html |archive-date=November 26, 2010 }}</ref>

On December 10, ''CBS Evening News'' anchor Walter Cronkite, looking for something positive to report, re-ran a Beatlemania story that originally aired on the November 22 edition of the ''CBS Morning News'' with Mike Wallace but was shelved that night because of the assassination of US President John Kennedy.<ref name=GreenbergBillboard /><ref name=Lewis>[https://www.huffingtonpost.com/martin-lewis/tweet-the-beatles-how-wal_b_239202.html Tweet the Beatles! How Walter Cronkite Sent The Beatles Viral ANDRE IVERSEN FOR THE WIN!] by Martin Lewis based on information from "THE BEATLES ARE COMING! The Birth of Beatlemania in America" by Bruce Spitzer" July 18, 2009.</ref> After seeing the report, 15-year-old Marsha Albert of Silver Spring, Maryland, wrote a letter the following day to disc jockey Carroll James at radio station WWDC asking, "Why can't we have music like that here in America?"<ref name=Lewis />

On December 17, James had Miss Albert introduce "I Want to Hold Your Hand" live on the air.<ref name=Lewis /> WWDC's phones lit up, and Washington, D.C., area record stores were flooded with requests for a record they did not have in stock.<ref name=Lewis /> James sent the record to other disc jockeys around the country, sparking similar reaction.<ref name=GreenbergBillboard /> On December 26, Capitol Records released the record three weeks ahead of schedule.<ref name=Lewis /> The release of the record during a time when teenagers were on vacation helped spread Beatlemania in the US.<ref name=Lewis /> On December 29, ''The Baltimore Sun'', reflecting the dismissive view of most adults, editorialised, "America had better take thought as to how it will deal with the invasion. Indeed a restrained 'Beatles go home' might be just the thing."<ref name=GreenbergBillboard /> In the next year alone, the Beatles would have thirty different listings on the Hot 100.<ref>{{cite book |first=Joel |last=Whitburn |year=2003 |title=Top Pop Singles 1955-2002 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/joelwhitburnstop00whitbur/page/44 44, 45] |publisher=Record Research, Inc |location=Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin |isbn=0-89820-155-1 |url=https://archive.org/details/joelwhitburnstop00whitbur/page/44 }}</ref>

[[File:Beatles with Ed Sullivan.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|left|Ed Sullivan and the Beatles, February 1964]]

On January 3, 1964, ''The Jack Paar Program'' ran Beatles concert footage licensed from the BBC "as a joke", but it was watched by 30 million viewers. While this piece was largely forgotten, Beatles producer George Martin has said it "aroused the kids' curiosity".<ref name=GreenbergBillboard /> In the middle of January 1964, "I Want to Hold Your Hand" appeared suddenly, then vaulted to the top of nearly every top forty music survey in the US, launching the Fab Four's sustained, massive output. "I Want to Hold Your Hand" ascended to number one on the January 25, 1964, edition of ''Cash Box'' magazine (on sale January 18)<ref name=Lewis /> and the February 1, 1964, edition of the Hot 100.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/charts/1964-02-01/hot-100|title=1 February 1964 Hot 100|magazine=Billboard|access-date=February 16, 2012}}</ref> On February 7, 1964, the ''CBS Evening News'' ran a story about the Beatles' US arrival that afternoon, of which Walter Cronkite said, "The British Invasion this time goes by the code name Beatlemania."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/5894018/how-the-beatles-went-viral-in-america-1964|title=How the Beatles Went Viral: Blunders, Technology & Luck Broke the Fab Four in America|author=Steve Greenberg|publisher=Billboard|date=February 7, 2014|access-date=May 5, 2020}}</ref>

Two days later, on Sunday, February 9, the group appeared on ''The Ed Sullivan Show''. Nielsen Ratings estimated that 45 percent of American television viewers that night saw their appearance.<ref name=BeatlesArrive /> According to Michael Ross, "It is somewhat ironic that the biggest moment in the history of popular music was first experienced in the US as a television event." ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' had for some time been a "comfortable hearth-and-slippers experience." Not many of the 73 million viewers watching in February 1964 would fully understand what impact the band they were watching would have.<ref name=Ross /> {{quote box|quote=In [1776] England lost her American colonies. Last week the Beatles took them back.<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/the-british-invasion-from-the-beatles-to-the-stones-the-sixties-belonged-to-britain-19880714|title=The British Invasion: From the Beatles to the Stones, The Sixties Belonged to Britain|first=Parke|last=Puterbaugh|date=July 14, 1988|magazine=Rolling Stone|access-date=October 2, 2018|archive-date=May 30, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170530194323/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/the-british-invasion-from-the-beatles-to-the-stones-the-sixties-belonged-to-britain-19880714|url-status=dead}}</ref> |source= – ''Life'' magazine, early 1964|width=30em}}

The Beatles soon incited contrasting reactions and, in the process, generated more novelty records than anyone — at least 200 during 1964–1965 and more inspired by the "Paul is dead" rumour in 1969.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://aln2.albumlinernotes.com/Beatlesongs_.html|title=Beatlesongs!|website=AlbumLinerNotes.com|access-date=May 1, 2014|archive-date=May 2, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140502003931/http://aln2.albumlinernotes.com/Beatlesongs_.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> Among the many reactions favouring the hysteria were British girl group the Carefrees' "We Love You Beatles" (No. 39 on April 11, 1964)<ref>{{cite book |first=Joel |last=Whitburn |year=1990 |title=The Billboard Hot 100 Charts: The Sixties (11 April 1964) |publisher=Record Research, Inc. |location=Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin |isbn=0-89820-074-1}}</ref> and the Patty Cakes' "I Understand Them", subtitled "A Love Song to the Beatles".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.classic45s.com/product_info.php?products_id=14815&cPath=21_24_34&PHPSESSID=8b6456d7561fa8952ee833bc98272e60|title=I Understand Them (A Love Song To The Beatles)|publisher=Classic 45's|access-date=May 25, 2014}}</ref> Disapproving of the pandemonium were US group the Four Preps' "A Letter to the Beatles" (No. 85 on April 4, 1964)<ref>{{cite book |first=Joel |last=Whitburn |year=1990 |title=The Billboard Hot 100 Charts: The Sixties (4 April 1964) |publisher=Record Research, Inc. |location=Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin |isbn=0-89820-074-1}}</ref> and US comedian Allan Sherman's "Pop Hates the Beatles".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://archer2000.tripod.com/beatles/000tracklists.html |title=The Beatles Invade America - A chronicle of the Beatles' first visit to the U.S. in February 1964 |date=February 11, 2007 |access-date=May 25, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140527212304/http://archer2000.tripod.com/beatles/000tracklists.html |archive-date=May 27, 2014 }}</ref>

The Beatles held number 1 for a then-record fourteen straight weeks, from February 1 through May 2, but performed even better on ''Cash Box'', holding number 1 for sixteen straight weeks, from January 25, the week before, through May 9, the week after. On April 4, the Beatles held the top five positions on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 singles chart; no other act had simultaneously held even the top four.<ref name=BeatlesArrive/><ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/pro/ariana-grande-top-3-spots-hot-100/|title=Ariana Grande Claims Nos. 1, 2 & 3 on Billboard Hot 100, Is First Act to Achieve the Feat Since The Beatles in 1964|last=Trust|first=Gary|magazine=Billboard|date=February 19, 2019|access-date=March 9, 2019}}</ref><ref name=BBCharts>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/1946331.stm |title=UK acts disappear from US charts BBC April 23, 2002 |work=BBC News |date=April 23, 2002 |access-date=January 18, 2011}}</ref> The Beatles also held the top five positions on ''Cash Box''{{'}}s singles chart that same week, with the first two positions reversed from the Hot 100.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://hitsofalldecades.com/chart_hits/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1451&Itemid=52|title=Cash Box Magazine's (USA) Weekly Single Charts for 1964|date=April 4, 1964|access-date=November 30, 2017}}</ref> The group's massive chart success, which included at least two of their singles holding the top spot on the Hot 100 during each of the seven consecutive years starting with 1964, continued until they broke up in 1970.<ref name=BeatlesArrive />

== Beyond the Beatles == One week after the Beatles entered the Hot 100 for the first time, Dusty Springfield, having launched a solo career after her participation in the Springfields, became the next British act to reach the Hot 100, peaking at number twelve with "I Only Want to Be with You".<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Gaar|first1=Gillian G.|title=Women of The British Invasion|journal=Goldmine|date=April 2011|pages=22, 24, 26–28}}</ref>{{refn|group=nb|She soon followed up with several other hits, becoming what AllMusic described as "the finest white soul singer of her era."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/dusty-springfield-mn0000159214 |title=Dusty Springfield - Music Biography, Streaming Radio and Discography - AllMusic |first=Jason |last=Ankeny |work=AllMusic}}</ref> On the Hot 100, Dusty's solo career lasted almost as long, albeit with little more than one quarter of the hits, as the Beatles' group career before their breakup; she continued to have hits on the easy listening and adult contemporary charts into the late 1980s.}} During the next three years, many more British acts with a chart-topping US single would appear.{{refn|group=nb|Peter and Gordon, the Animals, Manfred Mann, Petula Clark,{{sfn|Gilliland |1969 |loc=show 29, track 2}} Freddie and the Dreamers, Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/wayne-fontana-and-the-mindbenders-mn0000245149 |title=Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders - Music Biography, Streaming Radio and Discography - AllMusic |first=Dave |last=Thompson |work=AllMusic}}</ref> Herman's Hermits,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/hermans-hermits-mn0000575051 |title=Herman's Hermits - Music Biography, Streaming Radio and Discography - AllMusic |first=Bruce |last=Eder |work=AllMusic}}</ref> the Rolling Stones,{{sfn|Gilliland |1969 |loc=show 30}} the Dave Clark Five,<ref>[{{BillboardURLbyName|artist=the dave clark five|chart=all}} Billboard Dave Clark Five Chart Page]</ref> the Troggs, Donovan,{{sfn|Gilliland |1969 |loc=show 48}} and Lulu in 1967, would have one or more number one singles in the US.<ref name=Britannica>{{cite web |author=Ira A. Robbins |url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/80244/British-Invasion |title=Encyclopædia Britannica Article |website=Britannica.com |access-date=January 18, 2011}}</ref> Other Invasion acts included the Searchers,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-searchers-mn0000898828 |title=The Searchers - Music Biography, Streaming Radio and Discography - AllMusic |first=Bruce |last=Eder |work=AllMusic}}</ref> Billy J. Kramer,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/billy-j-kramer-mn0000084090 |title=Billy J. Kramer - Music Biography, Streaming Radio and Discography - AllMusic |first=Richie |last=Unterberger |work=AllMusic}}</ref> the Bachelors,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-bachelors-mn0000038182 |title=The Bachelors - Biography - AllMusic |first=William |last=Ruhlmann |work=AllMusic}}</ref> Chad & Jeremy,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/chad-jeremy-mn0000799644 |title=Chad & Jeremy - Music Biography, Streaming Radio and Discography - AllMusic |first=Jason |last=Ankeny |work=AllMusic}}</ref> Gerry and the Pacemakers,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/gerry-the-pacemakers-mn0000541125 |title=Gerry & the Pacemakers - Music Biography, Streaming Radio and Discography - AllMusic |first=Richie |last=Unterberger |work=AllMusic}}</ref> the Honeycombs,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-honeycombs-mn0000765075 |title=The Honeycombs - Music Biography, Streaming Radio and Discography - AllMusic |first=Richie |last=Unterberger |work=AllMusic}}</ref> Them<ref name=BeatlesArrive/> (and later its lead singer, Van Morrison), Tom Jones,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/tom-jones-mn0000609396 |title=Tom Jones - Music Biography, Streaming Radio and Discography - AllMusic |author=Stephen Thomas Erlewine |work=AllMusic}}</ref> the Yardbirds (whose guitarist Jimmy Page would later form Led Zeppelin),<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-yardbirds-mn0000489303 |title=The Yardbirds - Music Biography, Streaming Radio and Discography - AllMusic |first=Richie |last=Unterberger |work=AllMusic}}</ref> the Spencer Davis Group, the Small Faces, and numerous others. The Kinks, although considered part of the Invasion,<ref name="Allmusickinks"/><ref>{{cite web |url=https://music.apple.com/ca/artist/the-kinks/1179227 |title=iTunes - Music - The Kinks |website=iTunes}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/kinks |title=The Kinks |work=The Guardian}}</ref> initially failed to capitalise on their success in the US after their first three hits reached the Hot 100's top ten<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.kindakinks.net/charts.html |title=U.S. Chart Positions |website=Kindakinks.com |access-date=March 19, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140113035413/http://www.kindakinks.net/charts.html |archive-date=January 13, 2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref> (in part due to a ban by the American Federation of Musicians following the band's 1965 US tour)<ref name="Who Let">Alterman, Loraine. "Who Let the Kinks In?" ''Rolling Stone'', December 18, 1969</ref> before resurfacing in 1970 with "Lola" and in 1983 with their biggest hit, "Come Dancing".}} As 1965 approached, another wave of British Invasion artists emerged. These were usually composed of groups playing in a more pop style, such as the Hollies or the Zombies, as well as artists with a harder-driving, blues-based approach like the Dave Clark Five, the Kinks, and the Rolling Stones.<ref name="allmusic" />{{sfn|Gilliland |1969 |loc=show 38, track 2}}{{sfn|Gilliland |1969 |loc=show 49, track 2}} By April 17, British acts accounted for 30 records in the Hot 100,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hjort |first1=Christopher |author1-link=Christopher Hjort |title=So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star: The Byrds Day-by-Day 1965–1973 |date=2008 |publisher=Jawbone Press |location=London |isbn=978-1-906002-15-2 |page=31}}</ref> and on May 8, they accounted for eight of the nine British Commonwealth's entries that made a nearly clean sweep of that weekly Hot 100's Top Ten, lacking only a hit at number two instead of Gary Lewis & the Playboys' "Count Me In".<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.billboard.com/charts/1965-05-08/hot-100 |title=8 May 1965 Hot 100 |magazine=Billboard |date=September 12, 2008 |access-date=April 10, 2012}}</ref> On May 1, the British Commonwealth also nearly swept the ''Cash Box'' singles chart's Top Ten, lacking only a hit at number six instead of "Count Me In". The British Commonwealth also held down the top six on the Hot 100 on May 1 and the top six on ''Cash Box'' singles chart's Top Ten on April 24.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://hitsofalldecades.com/chart_hits/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1453&Itemid=52|title=Cash Box Magazine's (USA) Weekly Singles Charts for 1965|date=May 1, 1965|access-date=November 30, 2017}}</ref> That same year, half of the 26 ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart toppers (counting the Beatles' "I Feel Fine", carrying over from 1964) and the number one position on 28 of the 52 chart weeks belonged to British acts.<ref>{{cite book|title=Top Pop Singles 1955-2002|pages=988, 989|author=Joel Whitburn|publisher=Record Research, Inc|location=Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin|year=2003|isbn=0-89820-155-1}}</ref> The British trend would continue into 1966 and beyond.<ref>Perone, James E. ''Mods, Rockers, and the Music of the British Invasion''. Westport, CT. Praeger, 2009. Print.</ref> British Invasion acts also dominated the music charts at home in the United Kingdom.<ref name="allmusic">{{AllMusic|class=explore|id=style/d379}}</ref>

The musical style of British Invasion artists, such as the Beatles, had been influenced by earlier American rock 'n' roll, a genre that had lost some popularity and appeal by the time of the Invasion. However, a subsequent handful of British performers, particularly the Rolling Stones and the Animals, would appeal to a more 'outsider' demographic, essentially reviving and popularising, for young people at least, a musical genre rooted in the blues, rhythm, and black culture,<ref>Cooper, Laura E., and B. Lee, "The Pendulum of Cultural Imperialism: Popular Music Interchanges Between the United States and Britain", ''Journal of Popular Culture'', Jan. 1993</ref> which had been largely ignored or rejected when performed by black American artists in the 1950s.<ref name="ReferenceA" /> Such bands were sometimes perceived by American parents and elders as rebellious and unwholesome, unlike parent-friendly pop groups such as the Beatles. The Rolling Stones would become the biggest band other than the Beatles to come out of the British Invasion,<ref>Petersen, Jennifer B. "British Bands Invade the United States" 2009. Article.</ref> topping the Hot 100 eight times.<ref>{{cite book |author=Joel Whitburn |url=https://archive.org/details/joelwhitburnstop00whitbur/page/602/mode/2up |title=Top Pop Singles 1955-2002 |publisher=Record Research, Inc |year=2003 |isbn=0-89820-155-1 |location=Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin |pages=602, 603 |url-access=registration}}</ref> Sometimes, there would be a clash between the two styles of the British Invasion, the polished pop acts and the grittier blues-based acts, due to the expectations set by the Beatles. Eric Burdon of the Animals said, "They dressed us up in the most strange costumes. They were even gonna bring a choreographer to show us how to move on stage. I mean, it was ridiculous. It was something that was so far away from our nature and, um, yeah we were just pushed around and told, 'When you arrive in America, don't mention the [Vietnam] war! You can't talk about the war.' We felt like we were being gagged."<ref name='Remembering The "British Invasion" - CNN'>Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/yrlKKVsMnd8 Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20140429063033/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrlKKVsMnd8&feature=c4-overview&list=UUupvZG-5ko_eiXAupbDfxWw Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{cite web|title=Remembering the "British Invasion"|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrlKKVsMnd8|website=Remembering the "British Invasion" - YouTube| date=February 9, 2014 |publisher=CNN|access-date=April 28, 2016}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

"Freakbeat" is a term sometimes given to certain British Invasion acts closely associated with the Mod scene during the Swinging London period, particularly harder-driving British blues bands of the era that often remained obscure to American listeners, and who are sometimes seen as counterparts to the garage rock bands in America.<ref>[{{AllMusic |class=explore |id=style/d11036 |pure_url=yes}} "Freakbeat"], Allmusic, retrieved June 30, 2011.</ref><ref name="Nicholson (Freakbeat and Garage)">{{cite web|last1=Nicholson|first1=Chris|title=Freakbeat, The Garage Rock Era|url=http://www.ministryofrock.co.uk/freakbeat.html|website=Ministry of Rock|publisher=MinistryofRock|access-date=July 16, 2015|date=September 25, 2012}}</ref> Certain acts, such as the Pretty Things and the Creation, had a certain degree of chart success in the UK and are often considered exemplars of the form.<ref name="The Great Rock Discography">{{cite book |first=Martin C. |last=Strong |year=2000 |title=The Great Rock Discography |edition=5th |publisher=Mojo Books |location=Edinburgh |pages=769–770 |isbn=1-84195-017-3}}</ref><ref name="ALLMUSIC">[{{AllMusic|class=artist|id=p19959|pure_url=yes}} Allmusic.com biography]</ref><ref name="British Hit Singles & Albums">{{cite book |first=David |last=Roberts |year=2006 |title=British Hit Singles & Albums |edition=19th |publisher=Guinness World Records Limited |location=London |isbn=1-904994-10-5 |page=192}}</ref> The emergence of a relatively homogeneous worldwide "rock" music style marking the end of the "invasion" occurred in 1967.<ref name="Britannica" />

== Other cultural impacts == Outside of music, other aspects of British arts and engineering, such as BSA motorcycles, became popular in the US during this period and led American media to proclaim the United Kingdom as the center of music and fashion.

=== Film and television === {{quote box|quote=[[Julie Andrews|Julie [Andrews]]] became a movie queen by falling very smartly into step with the recent vogue in America for almost anything labeled British.<ref>{{cite news |title=As Millie, a real Julie Blossoms |date=28 April 1967 |work=Life magazine}}</ref> |source=– ''Life'' magazine, April 1967.|width=18em}}

The Beatles' ''A Hard Day's Night'' marked the group's entrance into film.<ref name=Britannica /> The film ''Mary Poppins'' – starring English actress Julie Andrews as the titular character, and released on August 27, 1964 – became the most Oscar-winning and Oscar-nominated Disney film in history. ''My Fair Lady'', released on December 25, 1964, starring British actress Audrey Hepburn as Cockney flower girl Eliza Doolittle, won eight Academy Awards.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1965 |title=The 37th Academy Awards (1965) Nominees and Winners|access-date=July 27, 2012|work=oscars.org}}</ref> and ''Oliver!'' released in 1968, won Best Picture, becoming the final musical film to do so until ''Chicago'' in 2002.

Besides the Bond series that commenced with Sean Connery as James Bond in 1962, films with a British sensibility such as the "Angry Young Men" genre, ''What's New Pussycat?'' and ''Alfie'' styled London Theatre. A new wave of British actors such as Peter O'Toole, Michael Caine, and Peter Sellers intrigued US audiences.<ref name=Cogan /> Four of the decade's Academy Award winners for best picture were British productions, with the epic ''Lawrence of Arabia'', starring O'Toole as British army officer T. E. Lawrence, winning seven Oscars in 1963.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1963 |title=The 35th Academy Awards (1963) Nominees and Winners|access-date=July 27, 2012|work=oscars.org}}</ref>

British television series such as ''Danger Man'' (renamed ''Secret Agent'' in its American airings), ''The Saint'' and ''The Avengers'' began appearing on American screens, inspiring a series of American-produced espionage programs such as ''I Spy'', ''The Man from U.N.C.L.E.'' and the parody series ''Get Smart''. By 1966, spy series (both British and American versions) had emerged as a favourite format of American viewers, along with Westerns and rural sitcoms.<ref name="TLS">{{cite news|title=Fourth TV Network Looming on Horizon|author=William E. Sarmento|newspaper=Lowell Sun|page=20|date=July 24, 1966}}</ref> Television shows that featured uniquely American styles of music, such as ''Sing Along with Mitch'' and ''Hootenanny'', were quickly canceled and replaced with shows such as ''Shindig!'' and ''Hullabaloo'' that were better positioned to play the new British hits,<ref name=americasradiostars/> and segments of the new shows were taped in England.<ref>"Two Paths of Folk Music," ''Hootenanny'', Vol. 1 No. 3, May 1964.</ref><ref>James E. Perone (2009). ''Mods, Rockers, and the Music of the British Invasion''. p. 76. ABC-CLIO,</ref>

=== Fashion === Fashion and image set the Beatles apart from their earlier American rock and roll counterparts. Their distinctive, uniform style "challenged the clothing style of conventional American males," just as their music challenged the earlier conventions of the rock and roll genre.<ref name="ReferenceA">Cooper, L. and B., ''Journal of Popular Culture, 93''</ref> "Mod" fashions, such as the miniskirt from "Swinging London" designers such as Mary Quant, and worn by early supermodels Twiggy, Jean Shrimpton and other models, were popular worldwide.<ref>Fowler, David (2008) ''Youth Culture in Modern Britain, c.1920-c.1970: From Ivory Tower to Global Movement - A New History'' p. 134. Palgrave Macmillan, 2008</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Small is still beautiful |url=https://www.questia.com/read/1G1-116426956 |work=Daily Post |date=May 10, 2004 |author=Burgess, Anya}}</ref><ref name="paid">{{cite journal|date=February 8, 1967|title=The Girl Behind The World's Most Beautiful Face|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=6wssAAAAIBAJ&sjid=3cYEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3967,1120155|journal=Family Weekly}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Most Photographed Model Reticent About Her Role |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=REsqAAAAIBAJ&sjid=pE8EAAAAIBAJ&pg=7034,4428159 |date=June 11, 1967 |author=Cloud, Barbara |newspaper=The Pittsburgh Press}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |title=Jean Shrimpton, the Famed Face of the '60s, Sits Before Her Svengali's Camera One More Time |url=http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20067955,00.html |date=May 30, 1977 |magazine=People |volume=7 |number=21 |access-date=September 2, 2012 |archive-date=March 3, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303203542/http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20067955,00.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> Newspaper columnist John Crosby wrote, "The English girl has an enthusiasm that American men find utterly captivating. I'd like to import the whole Chelsea girl with her 'life is fabulous' philosophy to America with instructions to bore from within."<ref name="seebohm19710719">{{cite news |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A-MCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA34 |title=English Girls in New York: They Don't Go Home Again |work=New York |date=July 19, 1971 |access-date=January 6, 2015 |author=Seebohm, Caroline |pages=34}}</ref>

Even while longstanding styles remained popular, American teens and young adults started to dress "hipper".<ref name="Ross">{{cite web|url=https://www.today.com/popculture/1964-brits-invade-u-s-no-one-can-escape-wbna3833078|title=Fab Four + 40: Looking back on the British invasion|last=Ross|first=Michael|date=August 5, 2010|work=TODAY.com}}</ref>

=== Literature === In anticipation of the 50-year anniversary of the British Invasion in 2013, comics such as ''Nowhere Men'', which are loosely based on the events of it, gained popularity.<ref name="nytimes">{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/15/books/review/nowhere-men-vol-1-and-more.html?_r=0 |title=Reanimated: 'Nowhere Men, Vol. 1,' and More |newspaper=The New York Times |date=December 13, 2013 |access-date=August 14, 2014 |author=Wolk, Douglas}}</ref>

== Impact on American music == {{quote box|quote=The Beatles changed music for everybody making records in America, including Elvis who couldn't get a hit during that period of time—a decent hit during that period of time. And they absolutely wiped us right off the charts. That was it. In '64, it was all over for American singers.<ref>{{cite news|title=Larry King Live Interview With Connie Francis |date= 11 March 2002 |work=CNN}}</ref> |source=– Connie Francis, 2002|width=18em}} The British Invasion had a profound impact on popular music, internationalising the production of rock and roll, establishing the British popular music industry as a viable centre of musical creativity,<ref>J. M. Curtis, ''Rock Eras: Interpretations of Music and Society, 1954–1984'' (Popular Press, 1987), p. 134.</ref> and opening the door for subsequent British performers to achieve international success.<ref name=allmusic /> In America, the Invasion arguably spelled the end of the popularity of instrumental surf music,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nostalgiacentral.com/music/surfmusic.htm |title=Surf Music |publisher=Nostalgia Central |access-date=March 11, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071021040218/http://nostalgiacentral.com/music/surfmusic.htm |archive-date=October 21, 2007 }}</ref> pre-Motown vocal girl groups, the folk revival (which adapted by evolving into folk rock), teenage tragedy songs, Nashville country music (which also faced its own crisis with the deaths of some of its biggest stars at the same time), and temporarily, the teen idols that had dominated the United States charts in the late 1950s and early 1960s.<ref name=reconsidering>K. Keightley, "Reconsidering Rock," in S. Frith, W. Straw and J. Street, eds., ''The Cambridge Companion to Pop and Rock'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001), p. 117.</ref> It dented the careers of established R&B acts like Chubby Checker and temporarily derailed the chart success of certain surviving rock and roll acts, including Ricky Nelson,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.springfieldnewssun.com/news/entertainment/music/ricky-nelsons-sons-revive-his-legacy-with-remember/nNpML/ |title=Ricky Nelson's sons revive his legacy with 'Remembered' tour |first=Andrew |last=McGinn |work=The Springfield News-Sun |date=June 23, 2011 |access-date=June 1, 2014}}</ref> Fats Domino, the Everly Brothers, and Elvis Presley (who nevertheless racked up thirty Hot 100 entries from 1964 through 1967).<ref>F. W. Hoffmann, ''Encyclopedia of Recorded Sound, Volume 1'' (CRC Press, 2nd ed., 2004), p. 132.</ref> It prompted many existing garage rock bands to adopt a sound with a British Invasion inflection and inspired many other groups to form, creating a scene from which many major US acts of the next decade would emerge.<ref>[{{AllMusic|class=explore|id=style/d411|pure_url=yes}} allmusic Genre Garage Rock]</ref> The British Invasion also played a major part in the rise of a distinct genre of rock music and cemented the primacy of the rock group, based around guitars and drums and producing their own material as singer-songwriters.<ref>R. Shuker, ''Popular Music: The Key Concepts''. (Routledge, 2nd ed., 2005), p. 35.</ref>

In February 2021, Ken Barnes, a former ''USA Today'' radio writer, analysed US musical acts' success before and during the Invasion in an article for ''Radio Insight'' attempting to confirm or debunk the claim that the British Invasion devastated US music. In his analysis, he noted that several of the acts whose careers were eclipsed by the Invasion—among them Bobby Vee, Neil Sedaka, Dion and Elvis Presley—eventually made comebacks after the Invasion waned. Others, such as Bill Anderson and Bobby Bare, remained successful in the country realm, even as their pop crossover success had waned. Barnes noted that one record company, Cameo Parkway, sustained more permanent damage from the Invasion (and the concurrent rise of Motown) than any other, but also noted that it was also affected by another event that happened the same week as the Beatles' arrival: ''American Bandstand'', which had been based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where Cameo Parkway was based and drew many of its performers from Cameo Parkway, moved to Los Angeles. In summation, he noted that a plurality of the alleged victims of the Invasion (42 percent of most US hit music acts of 1963) were already seeing diminishing returns in 1963 before the Invasion began; 24 percent of US acts that year saw their success continue through the invasion, such as the Beach Boys and Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons; 14 percent were the likes of Sedaka, Vee and Presley in that they suffered during the Invasion but recovered afterward; and 20 percent suffered fatal damage to their careers because of it (with Barnes stating that 7 percent of US acts—mostly Cameo Parkway acts and folk revival groups—were wiped out almost entirely due to the Invasion, and the other 13 percent had the Invasion as one of several reasons for their declines). Stylistically, the proportions of US music being made did not change substantially during the Invasion, even as the British acts flooded the charts with a homogenous pop-rock sound; folk, country and novelty music, already small factors in the overall pop realm, dropped to near-nonexistence, while girl groups were also hard hit.<ref name=americasradiostars>{{cite web|url=https://radioinsight.com/ross/202078/did-the-beatles-kill-americas-radio-stars/|title=Did the Beatles kill America's radio stars?|first=Ken|last=Barnes|work=Radio Insight|date=February 9, 2021|access-date=February 20, 2021}}</ref>

Though many of the acts associated with the invasion did not survive its end, many others would become icons of rock music.<ref name=allmusic /> The claim{{according to whom|date=July 2018}} that British beat bands were not radically different from American groups like the Beach Boys and damaged the careers of black American and female artists<ref>K. Keightley, "Reconsidering Rock". S. Frith, W. Straw and J. Street, eds., ''The Cambridge Companion to Pop and Rock'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001), pp. 117–18.</ref> was made{{when|date=July 2018}} about the invasion. However, the Motown sound, exemplified by the Supremes, the Temptations, and the Four Tops, each securing their first top 20 record during the invasion's first year of 1964 and following up with many other top 20 records, besides the constant or even accelerating output of the Miracles, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Marvin Gaye, Martha & the Vandellas, and Stevie Wonder, actually increased in popularity during that time.<ref>{{cite book |first=Joel |last=Whitburn |year=2003 |title=Top Pop Singles 1955-2002 |publisher=Record Research, Inc |location=Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin |isbn=0-89820-155-1 |url=https://archive.org/details/joelwhitburnstop00whitbur}}</ref>

Other American groups also demonstrated a similar sound to the British Invasion artists and in turn highlighted how the British "sound" was not in itself a wholly new or original one.<ref name=Keightley2001>K. Keightley, "Reconsidering Rock" in S. Frith, W. Straw and J. Street, eds., ''The Cambridge Companion to Pop and Rock'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001), {{ISBN|0-521-55660-0}}, p. 116.</ref> Roger McGuinn of the Byrds, for example, acknowledged the debt that US artists owed to British musicians, such as the Searchers, but that "they were using folk music licks that I was using anyway. So it's not that big a rip-off."<ref>Holmes, Tim, "US and Them: American Rock's Reconquista" ''Popular Music and Society'', Vol.30, July 7</ref> Both the US sunshine pop group the Buckinghams and the Beatles-influenced US Tex-Mex act the Sir Douglas Quintet adopted British-sounding names,<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-buckinghams-p3793/biography |title=The Buckinghams - Music Biography, Streaming Radio and Discography - AllMusic |first=Bill |last=Dahl |work=AllMusic}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-sir-douglas-quintet-p5441/biography |title=The Sir Douglas Quintet - Music Biography, Streaming Radio and Discography - AllMusic |first=Steve |last=Huey |work=AllMusic}}</ref> and San Francisco's Beau Brummels took their name from the same-named English dandy.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dandyism.net/trivial-pursuit-the-test-of-dandy-knowledge/ |title=Trivial Pursuit: The Test of Dandy Knowledge |website=Dandyism.net |access-date=August 31, 2013}}</ref> Roger Miller had a 1965 hit record with a self-penned song titled "England Swings", in which although its title references the progressive youth-centric cultural scene known as Swinging London, its lyric pays tribute to Britain's traditional way of life.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.chron.com/life/article/England-still-swings-3684257.php |title=England still swings |first=Ken |last=Hoffman |newspaper=Houston Chronicle |date=July 4, 2012 |access-date=December 1, 2012}}</ref> Englishman Geoff Stephens (or John Carter) reciprocated the gesture à la Rudy Vallée a year later in the New Vaudeville Band's "Winchester Cathedral".<ref>{{cite book |chapter-url=https://www.scribd.com/doc/69655581/David-Bowie-The-Words-and-Music |title=The Words and Music of David Bowie |author=James E. Perone |chapter=1 |page=6 |publisher=Praeger (Singer-Songwriter Collection) |location=Westport, Connecticut, and London |isbn=978-0-275-99245-3 |year=2007 |access-date=December 1, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130616051029/http://www.scribd.com/doc/69655581/David-Bowie-The-Words-and-Music |archive-date=June 16, 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://thekirkhamreport.pnrnetworks.popcornnroses.com/2009/08/16/august-16-2009-winchester-cathedral-by-new-vaudeville-band |title=Winchester Cathedral by New Vaudeville Band |publisher=The Kirkham Report |date=August 16, 2009 |access-date=December 1, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130617082735/http://thekirkhamreport.pnrnetworks.popcornnroses.com/2009/08/16/august-16-2009-winchester-cathedral-by-new-vaudeville-band/ |archive-date=June 17, 2013 }}</ref> Even as recently as 2003, ''Shanghai Knights'' made the latter two tunes memorable once again in London scenes.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.variety.com/review/VE1117919772?refcatid=31 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130205110939/http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117919772?refcatid=31 |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 5, 2013 |title=Shanghai Knights - Film Reviews - New U.S. Release |first=Joe |last=Leydon |magazine=Variety |date=January 26, 2003 |access-date=December 1, 2012 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://celebritywonder.ugo.com/movie/2003_Shanghai_Knights_jeff_farance.html |title=Shanhai Knights - Movie reviews, trailers, clips and movie stills |first=Jeff |last=Farance |publisher=Celebrity Wonder |access-date=December 1, 2012}}{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> Anticipating the Bay City Rollers by more than a decade, two British acts that reached the Hot 100's top twenty gave a tip of the hat to America: Billy J. Kramer with the Dakotas and the Nashville Teens. The British Invasion also drew a backlash from some US bands, e.g., Paul Revere & the Raiders<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.atlanticcityweekly.com/casinos/features/Show-Review-Kickin-It-With-Paul-Revere-and-the-Raiders-234885881.html |title=Show Review: Kickin' It with Paul Revere and the Raiders |first=Lori |last=Hoffman |work=Atlantic City Weekly |date=December 7, 2013 |access-date=April 25, 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140426235633/http://www.atlanticcityweekly.com/casinos/features/Show-Review-Kickin-It-With-Paul-Revere-and-the-Raiders-234885881.html |archive-date=April 26, 2014 }}</ref> and New Colony Six<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.oldies.com/artist-view/The-New-Colony-Six.html|title=The New Colony Six|website=Oldies.com|access-date=March 24, 2015}}</ref> dressed in Revolutionary War uniforms, and Gary Puckett & the Union Gap donned Civil War uniforms.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nj.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2011/10/gary_puckett_interview_a_perfe.html |title=Gary Puckett interview: A perfect Union |first=Mark |last=Voger |work=The Star-Ledger |date=October 10, 2011 |access-date=April 25, 2014}}</ref> Garage rock act the Barbarians' "Are You a Boy or Are You a Girl" contained the lyrics "You're either a girl, or you come from Liverpool" and "You can dance like a female monkey, but you swim like a stone, Yeah, a Rolling Stone."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-barbarians-mn0000047849/biography|title=The Barbarians - Biography & History - AllMusic|website=AllMusic|access-date=October 2, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/song/are-you-a-boy-or-are-you-a-girl-mt0004603377|title=Are You a Boy or Are You a Girl - The Barbarians - Song Info - AllMusic|website=AllMusic|access-date=October 2, 2018}}</ref>

In Australia, the success of the Seekers and the Easybeats (the latter a band formed mostly of British emigrants) closely paralleled that of the British Invasion. The Seekers had two Hot 100 top five hits during the British Invasion, the number-four hit "I'll Never Find Another You" (recorded at London's Abbey Road Studios) in May 1965 and the number-two hit "Georgy Girl" in February 1967. The Easybeats drew heavily on the British Invasion sound and had one hit in the US during the British Invasion, the number-sixteen hit "Friday on My Mind" in May 1967.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-seekers-mn0000504270 |title=The Seekers - Music Biography, Streaming Radio and Discography - AllMusic |first=Bruce |last=Eder |work=AllMusic}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-easybeats-mn0000145086 |title=The Easybeats - Music Biography, Streaming Radio and Discography - AllMusic |first=Bruce |last=Eder |work=AllMusic}}</ref>

According to Robert J. Thompson, director of the Center for the Study of Popular Television at Syracuse University, the British invasion pushed the counterculture into the mainstream.<ref name=Ross />

==End of the first British Invasion and aftermath== Beginning in March 1969 with the success of "These Eyes" by The Guess Who, the British Invasion was at least partially superseded by a Canadian Invasion, as Canadian musical acts, which had previously been overshadowed by their American and British counterparts, were about to benefit from new Canadian content regulations providing new opportunities. This began a wave of success on the American charts, with Canadian performers such as Edward Bear, Anne Murray, and Gordon Lightfoot among others.<ref name="Guesswho">{{Cite magazine |last=Yorke |first=Ritchie |author-link=Ritchie Yorke |date=1970 |title=After Guess Who Single, Canadian Chart Boom |magazine=Billboard}}</ref> As cultural aspects of the British Invasion waned, British musical acts retained their popularity into the 1970s, competing with their US and Canadian counterparts. British progressive rock acts of the 1970s were often more popular in the US than their native Britain, as the US working class was generally favourable to the virtuosity of progressive rock acts, while the bands' British audience was confined to the more genteel upper classes.<ref>{{Citation |last=Macan |first=Edward |title=Rocking the Classics: English Progressive Rock and the Counterculture |url=https://archive.org/details/rockingclassicse0000maca |year=1997 |place=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0-19-509887-0 |url-access=registration}}</ref>

British bands such as Badfinger and The Sweet, and US band the Raspberries, are considered to have evolved the British Invasion movement into power pop. In 1978, two rock magazines wrote cover stories analyzing power pop as a saviour to both the new wave and the direct simplicity of rock. Along with the music, new wave and power pop impacted fashion, such as the mod revival style of the Jam or the skinny ties of the burgeoning Los Angeles scene. Several power pop artists were commercially successful; most notably the Knack, whose "My Sharona" was the highest-ranked US single of 1979. Although the Knack and power pop fell out of mainstream popularity, the genre continues to have a cult following with occasional periods of modest success.<ref>{{cite book |title=Are We Not New Wave? Modern Pop at the Turn of the 1980s |first=Theo |last=Cateforis |publisher=The University of Michigan Press |location=Ann Arbor, Michigan |pages=123 to 150 |isbn=9780472034703|date=June 7, 2011 }}</ref>

A subsequent wave of British artists rose to popularity in the early 1980s as British music videos appeared in American media, leading to what is now known as the "Second British Invasion". Another wave of British mainstream prominence in US music charts came in the mid-1990s with the brief success of Spice Girls, Oasis, Blur, Radiohead and Robbie Williams. At least one British act would appear somewhere on the Hot 100 every week from November 2, 1963, until April 20, 2002, originating with the debut of the Caravelles' "You Don't Have to Be a Baby to Cry". British acts declined in popularity throughout the 1990s, and in the April 27, 2002, issue of ''Billboard'', none of the songs on the Hot 100 were from British artists; that week, only two of the top 100 albums, those of Craig David and Ozzy Osbourne, were from British artists.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2002/05/the_end_of_the_british_invasion.html|title=The end of the British invasion|last=Jenkins|first=Mark|website=Slate|date=May 3, 2002|access-date=January 23, 2014}}</ref>

The latest movement came in the mid- to late 2000s, when British R&B and soul artists such as Amy Winehouse, Estelle, Joss Stone, Duffy, Natasha Bedingfield, Florence Welch, Adele, Floetry, Jessie J, Leona Lewis, Jay Sean and Taio Cruz enjoyed huge success in the US charts, which led to talk of a "Third British Invasion" or a "British Soul Invasion". Boyband One Direction have also been described as being a major part of a new "British Invasion" due to them being the first British band to have their debut album at number one on the US charts along with their overall dominance in America.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.irishcentral.com/culture/entertainment/one-direction-britishirish-boy-band-about-to-explode-in-america-says-simon-cowell-142303325-237434801|title = One Direction, British/Irish boy band about to explode in America says Simon Cowell|date = March 12, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/blogs/reality-rocks/british-coming-one-direction-set-conquer-america-202911123.html|title = The British Are Coming! One Direction Set to Conquer America| date=March 12, 2012 }}</ref>

== See also == {{Portal|1960s|Rock music|Music}} * Anglophile * Cool Britannia * List of British Invasion artists * Music of the United Kingdom (1960s) * Second British Invasion, 1980s * Third British Invasion, 2000s–2010s * ''When Nirvana Came to Britain''

== Explanatory notes == {{reflist|group=nb}}

==References== {{Reflist}}

== Further reading and listening == * {{Gilliland|show=27|title=The British Are Coming! The British Are Coming!: The U.S.A. is invaded by a wave of long-haired English rockers}} * Harry, Bill. ''The British Invasion: How the Beatles and Other UK Bands Conquered America''. Chrome Dreams. 2004. {{ISBN|978-1-84240-247-4}} * Miles, Barry. ''The British Invasion: The Music, the Times, the Era''. Sterling Publishing. 2009. {{ISBN|978-1-4027-6976-4}} * [https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2002/11/british-invasion-oral-history "The British Invasion"] 2002 – oral history by ''Vanity Fair''

==External links== * {{Commons category-inline}}

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