Favorite British Invasion Groups of the 60's

[Tontj5]

When the Beatles came to the states 50 years ago it changed my life. Up to that point I was only interested in sports. I then saved my every penny (didn't have much then) to run up to the record store to buy my next 45rpm.

Who were your favorite bands of that time?  Here are mine:

1- The Beatles (of course)

2- The Dave Clark 5 (Didn't last very long, but I liked every song)

3- Herman's Hermits (Admit it ....we all know the words to Henry the 8th and Mrs Brown you got a lovely daughter)

4- The Rolling Stones (They still make better music than 95% of the other stuff I hear today)

5- The Kinks - (they were great live)

There were so many others.

[DoubleEagle]

Great thread....I was in like the 9th grade when this all started.  I still listen to all that stuff from the 60's and 70's.  They really sang when they performed, they didn't lip sync like most performers do today....Used to watch them on the Ed Sullivan Show.

My favorites were:

Eric Burdon and the Animals

The Beatles

The Dave Clark 5   Loved Bits and Pieces

The Rolling Stones   Satisfaction still their greatest song

The Kinks

The Spencer Davis Group

Donovan  Hurdy Gurdy man and Season of the Witch

The Hollies  Bus Stop

The Yardbirds

The Zombies

[Fourputt]

It depends on what time frame you put on the British invasion.  My favorite British bands were The Who, and the latter day Beatles and Paul McCartney and Wings, both of whom I saw live in the '70s.

When the invasion first started in late 1963 I was a senior in high school in Montana, and we had exactly one AM station playing rock and roll.  I don't think they picked up on the invasion until summer or later in 1964.  At the time my favorites were The Beach Boys and The Four Seasons.  To be honest, we were fiercely provincial, and strongly resisted having our American bands supplanted by "foreigners".  The music was good enough that it didn't take long for our attitudes to change, but a lot of the early stuff was not that much different from American rock and roll - what we were calling "bubble gum" music by 1967.  We had started getting into the sounds coming out of San Francisco (Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Steppenwolf, Iron Butterfly), so the later Beatles and The Who slipped right into that mix.  It was music with more "substance" to it.

[boogielicious]

When the Beatles came to the states 50 years ago it changed my life. Up to that point I was only interested in sports. I then saved my every penny (didn't have much then) to run up to the record store to buy my next 45rpm.

Who were your favorite bands of that time?  Here are mine:

1- The Beatles (of course)

2- The Dave Clark 5 (Didn't last very long, but I liked every song)

3- Herman's Hermits (Admit it ....we all know the words to Henry the 8th and Mrs Brown you got a lovely daughter)

4- The Rolling Stones (They still make better music than 95% of the other stuff I hear today)

5- The Kinks - (they were great live)

There were so many others.

Henry the 8th was the first 45 I bought with my own money when I was 6!

I saw the Kinks in college in 1979.  They were great live.

I do like a lot of the British Invasion bands.  Don't forget the singe artists like Lulu and Dusty Springfield.  I saw a retrospective show on the British Invasion on PBS earlier this year (you know when the beg for money).  Lulu was unbelievably good singing To Sir with Love .  Her voice was still fantastic, if not even better, and she was still quite lovely.

[dennyjones]

Of course the Beatles were huge but after 50 years:

The Beatles

Led Zeppelin

The Rolling Stones

The Who

Pink Floyd

these bands could still draw a record crowd if they were to play a concert.

[dfreuter415]

1) Beatles

2) Kinks

3) Rolling Stones

4) The Animals

5) Dave Clark 5

6) The Hollies

7) Moody Blues

8) The Who

9) The Yardbirds

10) The Zombies

11) Spencer Davis Group

12) Herman's Hermits

[dave s]

Now you guys are speaking my FIRST language ... music!  If I could hit golf balls anywhere near as well as I can play guitar and sing, I'd be a scratch player tomorrow!  Another of my 'expensive' hobbies is playing in a hippie 60s show band during festival / fair season each year. At least they PAY me to swing a guitar!  Like anyone would pay me to hit golf balls ... EVER!

A normal show is opening up with British Invasion type music that includes Byrds, Beatles, Stones, Jerry & the Pacemakers and other one-hit wonders.  Having cut my musical chops playing 80s hard rock and metal, playing and singing 60s music is great.  Like an endless supply of wonderful music to choose, cover and play.

Here's one of my total favorites in our show.  It's Walk Away Rene by the Left Bank and covered by us, Aftermath, Experience the Sixties.  I'm the guitar player on the right side of the video.  Enjoy 60s fans!

dave

[DoubleEagle]

Enjoyed the video....In college, I moved a bit from the English stuff to CCR, Steppenwolf, Three Dog Night, etc.

Still love the stuff....I have all that stuff on my iphone and ipod that I listen to while walking, cutting grass, etc.

Greatest concert I ever attended was George Thorogood and the Destroyers....man, that is rock n roll...

[Tontj5]

Great thread....I was in like the 9th grade when this all started.  I still listen to all that stuff from the 60's and 70's.  They really sang when they performed, they didn't lip sync like most performers do today....Used to watch them on the Ed Sullivan Show.

My favorites were:

Eric Burdon and the Animals

The Beatles

The Dave Clark 5   Loved Bits and Pieces

The Rolling Stones   Satisfaction still their greatest song

The Kinks

The Spencer Davis Group

Donovan  Hurdy Gurdy man and Season of the Witch

The Hollies  Bus Stop

The Yardbirds

The Zombies

Great choices. Shame on me for forgetting the Animals. The house of the rising sun sounds as good today as it did back then.

[Tontj5]

It depends on what time frame you put on the British invasion.  My favorite British bands were The Who, and the latter day Beatles and Paul McCartney and Wings, both of whom I saw live in the '70s.

When the invasion first started in late 1963 I was a senior in high school in Montana, and we had exactly one AM station playing rock and roll.  I don't think they picked up on the invasion until summer or later in 1964.  At the time my favorites were The Beach Boys and The Four Seasons.  To be honest, we were fiercely provincial, and strongly resisted having our American bands supplanted by "foreigners".  The music was good enough that it didn't take long for our attitudes to change, but a lot of the early stuff was not that much different from American rock and roll - what we were calling "bubble gum" music by 1967.  We had started getting into the sounds coming out of San Francisco (Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Steppenwolf, Iron Butterfly), so the later Beatles and The Who slipped right into that mix.  It was music with more "substance" to it.

I had in mind  late 1963 through through 1965. Of course I loved the who and Wings but that was a whole different kind of music. Better in lots of ways, but didn't have the impact on my life as that earlier period. I was only 12 when the Beatles were on Ed Sullivan. I will remember it the same way I will always remember the Kennedy assasination.

I also grew up in New York, and like you the 4 seasons and the Beach Boys were my favorites to that point. As far as comparing that period to the bubble gum music that came later, bubble gum loses. Even the secondary groups like the Dave Clark Five, blew away the Ohio Express and 1910 Fruitgum Co.

If I had to pick my favorite year, I pick 1966. The British invasion groups were still rolling, the Beatles and Stones were getting better better with each album released. Motown was at its very best.

Who didn't like the great sounds of the Temptation, 4 Tops, Supremes, Martha and the Vandellas, etc. Add the underated Lovin Spoonful and the emergence of the Doors? Was there ever a better time to listen to music?

[Tontj5]

1) Beatles

2) Kinks

3) Rolling Stones

4) The Animals

5) Dave Clark 5

6) The Hollies

7) Moody Blues

8) The Who

9) The Yardbirds

10) The Zombies

11) Spencer Davis Group

12) Herman's Hermits

Wow. The Moody Blues, another of the great live bands.

[DoubleEagle]

[phan52]

I didn't get the early Beatles but, in time, they became my all time favorite band. I thought the Dave Clark 5 and Herman's Hermits were Beatles Lite. I liked the Kinks, Animals, Rollling Stones and The Who in the beginning of it.  We were lucky in Philly in the 60's that some of the first alternative FM stations were here, and we got to hear more of what they had to offer instead of just what was on the Billboard charts.

[Ernest Jones]

How about T-Rex?