This famous album cover was almost never seen in the United States. Capitol Records, the American subsidiary of the British label EMI, was confident that a British act could never sell enough records in the United States to be profitable. After declining to release the British hit singles “Love Me Do,” “Please Please Me,” and “She Loves You” in the States, however, Capitol finally decided to release “I Want to Hold Your Hand” in the last week of 1963. By early 1964, the single had gone to number one on U.S. charts. The other three singles were climbing the charts as well, but on independent labels Swan and Vee Jay, which had picked them up when Capitol rejected them. Scrambling to recover from this costly mistake, Capitol quickly put together an album for American release, combining tracks from the first two British albums with both sides of the “I Want to Hold Your Hand” single. The resulting album, Meet the Beatles!, was the first Beatles album most American fans owned, though it differs somewhat from the similar British release called With the Beatles. Capitol continued carving up Beatles albums through the first few years of the band’s career in the United States, creating several albums that have no direct British counterpart, such as The Beatles’ Second Album (1964), Beatles VI (1965), and Yesterday and Today (1966). Photo Credit: Capitol/EMI

Regarded as the most important figure in the late-1950s skiffle movement in Britain, Lonnie Donegan and his band blended American folk music with a traditional jazz beat. This photo shows Donegan (left) and a second guitarist strumming folk guitars while the other two band members play a stand-up bass and drum set, as might be found in a jazz dance band. Photo Credit: Hulton-Deutsch Collection/Corbis

Before they became worldwide stars, the Beatles regularly played the Cavern Club in their hometown of Liverpool. The photo on top shows the band at the Cavern in 1961, clad in leather and with Pete Best on drums. The second shows them in 1963 with Ringo on drums and wearing the matching suits suggested by manager Brian Epstein. Photo Credit: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

Before they became worldwide stars, the Beatles regularly played the Cavern Club in their hometown of Liverpool. The photo on top shows the band at the Cavern in 1961, clad in leather and with Pete Best on drums. The second shows them in 1963 with Ringo on drums and wearing the matching suits suggested by manager Brian Epstein. Photo Credit: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

The Beatles’ first performance on the Ed Sullivan Show, February 9, 1964, is among the most storied in rock. A record television audience tuned in to watch the British invasion storm the home shores. Photo Credit: Bettman/Corbis

During the first year of the Beatles’ success, fellow Liverpudlians Gerry and the Pacemakers rivaled the Fab Four’s chart success in the UK. Led by singer guitarist Gerry Marsden (second from the left), the band is shown performing live in the Cavern Club. Photo Credit: Gab Archives/Redferns

The pandemonium of rock shows could sometimes turn violent. Here a Zurich crowd gets out of hand in April 1967 at a Rolling Stones concert. Considering the manic quality of many of these events, it seems remarkable that such chaos did not break out more often. Photo Credit: Bettman/Corbis

A dedicated student of American Blues, Eric Clapton (far right) played on the first Yardbirds recordings. When the group’s music took a more commercial turn, Clapton quit the band and reemerged with John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers. V Photo Credit: AL WILMER/Redferns

By the summer of 1967, the original Animals lineup had dissolved and lead singer Eric Burdon forged ahead with a new band. Included in the concert advertised on this poster with Burdon are 1950s legend Chuck Berry—showing the continuing connection between classic rock and roll and the British invasion— and the Steve Miller Band, who would enjoy considerable success in the 1970s. Photo Credit: wolfgangsvault.com

Led by brothers Ray and Dave Davies, the Kinks blended elements of both the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. The band’s raw performance approach fostered a bad-boy image, while the songs often displayed a careful attention to lyrics and songwriting craft. Photo Credit: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

The Who were embraced by the British Mod movement in the mid 1960s, and the attention to snappy fashion so typical of mods is evident in this live shot from 1967. Not long after this, lead singer Roger Daltrey would trade in his fashionable suit for tight jeans and a fringe vest and guitarist Pete Townshend would opt for a one-piece cotton worksuit. Photo Credit: Bob Baker/Redferns

The Beatles and the British Invasion chapter 4

British pop between 1964 and 1966 American business taken by surprise in early 1964 by the Beatles An American fad for British music ensued Two important strains of the story Chronicle of British pop Influence of British pop on American pop

British pop from WWII to 1963 Prior to 1964 British music was considered inferior in America In contrast, American Culture was interesting to Britons Result of American involvement in WWII British labels licensed music from American independents Facilitated the spread of American black pop

British pop from WWII to 1963 History of British interest in American music includes folk and jazz “Trad” jazz Skiffle Cliff Richard, early rock http://youtu.be/fOpemAIAmqk http://youtu.be/ypeMZRLRSJw

Lonnie Donegan

The Beatles, 1960-1962 Early years Formed out of the skiffle-based Quarrymen Among the first generation of musicians who listened to rock as youth Began performing live actively in 1960

The Beatles, 1960-1962 Hamburg Played six and seven hour evenings Refined performing skills and repertoire

Beatles at the Cavern Club, 1961

The Beatles, 1960-1962 Liverpool Played at the Cavern nearly 300 times through 1962 Met future manager Brian Epstein in 1961 Secured Parlophone recording contract in 1962 First single (“Love Me Do”) goes to 17 on British charts

From Recording Notes PM: 'Love Me Do' was us trying to do the blues. It came out whiter because it always does. We're white and we were just young Liverpool musicians. We didn't have any finesse to be able to actually sound black. But 'Love Me Do' was probably the first bluesy' thing we tried to do. ' Please Please Me' was supposed to be a Roy Orbison-type song [sings lyrics in typical Orbison style, adding guitar noises]. Come on, ching ching Come on, ching ching Come on, ching ching Come on, ching ching Please pleeeeeaaase me! It's very Roy Orbison when you slow it down. George Martin up-tempo'd it, he thought that it was too much of a dirge and probably too like Roy Orbison. So he cleverly speeded us up and we put in the little scaled riff at the beginning which was very catchy. ML: You say that George thought it was too much

Beatles at the Cavern Club, 1963

The Beatles, 1960-1962 Influences Beatles learned from cover songs performed in early period Songs performed at Star Club and BBC, 1962-1965 American pop dominates Elvis, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Carl Perkins, Lieber and Stoller, Spector, Motown

The Beatles 1963-1966 Success in England in 1963 Two high-profile television performances Four consecutive hits Led wave of British-based hits in England

Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show

The Beatles 1963-1966 Success in America in 1964 Performed on Ed Sullivan in February 30 Top Ten pop hits between 1964 and 1966 All studio albums went to number 1 in both UK and U.S. Feature films Hard Day’s Night (1964) Help! (1965) Controversy over “bigger than Jesus” remark in 1966 Final public concert in San Francisco, August 1966

The Beatles 1963-1966 Musical development, 1964-1966 Imitated and extended American models in early music Used songwriting techniques from Brill Building, 1963-1964 Found variety in solving compositional “problems” “I Want To Hold Your Hand” Moved from craft to artistic approach, 1964-1966 Experimented with studio effects, stylistic juxtapositions, and timbre, and structure “Tomorrow Never Knows”

The Beatles 1963-1966 Importance of lyrics Teenage love in early years Unconventional in later music Self-confidence Sexual frustration Alienation Stylistic range Widens in 1965 with “Help!” Novel instrumentation Stylistic eclecticism

The British Invasion Beatles led the surge of British music in the United States in 1964 Groups were British, played guitars, and had long hair Broad stylistic range Had many hits on the U.S. charts between 1964 and 1966 Two strains modeled after Beatles and Stones

The British Invasion (Beatles-type) Charming, cute, friendly First wave, 1964 Gerry and the Pacemakers Dave Clark Five Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas Searchers

Gerry and the Pacemakers http://youtu.be/8smO4VS9134

The British Invasion (Beatles-type) Second wave, 1965 Herman’s Hermits Freddy and the Dreamers Hollies

The British Blues Revival (Stones-Type) Bad boys, in contrast to the Beatles-type image Followed the lead of the Rolling Stones Drew on tradition of Chicago electric blues from 1950s Spawned a wave of enthusiasm for collecting and performing American blues

Rolling Stones, Zurich, 1967

The British Blues Revival (Stones-Type) Rolling Stones, 1962-1966 Formed by guitarist Brian Jones as a blues band Managed by Andrew Loog Oldham and Eric Easton, 1963 Started move toward pop in 1963 Early recordings Covered songs by American artists “I Wanna Be Your Man” by Lennon and McCartney Jagger and Richards achieve success as songwriters in 1964 Did not achieve widespread success in America until 1965 Preferred contrasting verse-chorus rather than AABA

The British Blues Revival (Stones-Type) Yardbirds Guitarists included Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Page Used studio musicians on early records Recorded in Chicago at Chess

Yardbirds

The British Blues Revival (Stones-Type) Animals Reputation from wild stage act “House of the Rising Sun” (1964) Bassist Chas Chandler became manager for Jimi Hendrix in 1966 Spencer Davis Group

Animals (Eric Burdon)

The British Blues Revival Other British groups did not fit into Beatles/Stones categories Kinks Formed in 1963 Aggressive pop approach “You Really Got Me” (1964) Mirrored the Beatles move into artistic songwriting, 1965

The Kinks

The British Blues Revival Who Not influential until the late 1960s Never made the U.S. Top 40 during the mid-1960s Representative of the Mod subculture in London

The Who, 1967

Transformation of American Popular Music Rise of the Beatles transformed popular music Opened doors for British acts within the UK Opened new opportunities for British acts outside the UK British Invasion established a cross fertilization between U.S. and UK