“As a young man anxiously seeking the next Beatles release, I distinctly remember hovering over my transistor radio in 1963 and painstakingly tuning in WLS, the Chicago radio station whose tremendous nighttime signal reached masses of fans in over 38 states.
“WLS DJ Dick Biondi was the first to play "Please Please Me" in February. I was hooked. These early Beatles recordings changed my life. I was twelve years-old at the time – impressionable and searching for something. (What? I had no clue.) It was then I first began to “rock,” and immediately I began a lifelong musical journey I would never abandon.”
– Frank Thompson, Blog entry on “Beatlemania” (2019)
The British Invasion of the 60s ushered in the time of the rock group. Along came the the Rolling Stones, the Dave Clark Five, the Who, the Animals, Herman's Hermits, the Kinks, and scores of other English bands riding the tide of the Beatles' incredible popularity. Young people seemingly overnight began switching their allegiance from pop female and male vocalists, doo wop groups, and folk ensembles to the new beat of bands, or what became commonly known as “groups.”
Last night I said
these words to my girl
I know you never even try, girl
Come on
(come on), come on (come on)
Come on (come on), come on (come
on)
Please, please me, whoa yeah, like I please you
You
don't need me to show the way, love
Why do I always have to say,
love
Come on (come on), come on (come on)
Come on (come on),
come on (come on)
Please, please me, whoa yeah, like I please you
– From “Please Please Me” by the Beatles
The groups in the British Invasion set templates for American bands. U.S. artists like the Byrds, Creedence Clearwater Revival, the Rascals, and the Beach Boys scored hit after hit. As these established bands quickly gained great popularity, so did cover groups like the Kingsmen, Paul Revere and the Raiders, Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels, Tommy James and the Shondells, the Grass Roots, ? And the Mysterians … and on and on.
In the ‘60s, when the transistor portable radio was introduced, it became even easier for us teens to take our tunes wherever we went. Local and national DJ's became so important to the younger generation as they played the hits and showcased new musical artists. And, the charts featured great music from so many genres including country, instrumental, and even easy listening adult contemporary – Johnny Cash to Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass to Frank Sinatra.
Studios all across America – such as Motown in Detroit, Stax in Memphis, Fame and Jackson Highway in Muscle Shoals, Gold Star and Capitol Tower in Los Angeles – all commonly fed a nation of teens hungry for rock, r&b, and pop. The country was alive with even less-well known studios pumping out popular music. In these exciting, creative times every small group hoped for a hit single.
In addition, TV variety programs like the Ed Sullivan Show and music shows like Shindig! and Hullabaloo featured new music weekly. There was even a music-based television variety show called Where the Action Is created by Dick Clark as a spin-off of American Bandstand that ran from 1965 to 1967. It was carried by the ABC network and aired each weekday afternoon.
A fine little girl,
she waits for me
Catch a ship across the sea
Sail that ship
about, all alone
Never know if I make it home
Louie Louie,
oh no no no
Sayin' we gotta go, oh no
Said Louie Louie, oh
baby
Said we gotta go
Three nights and days I sail the
sea
Think of girl, all constantly
On that ship I dream she's
there
I smell the rose in her hair
Louie Louie, oh
no
Sayin' we gotta go, yeah yeah, yeah yeah yeah
Said Louie
Louie, oh baby
Said we gotta go
Okay, let's give it to 'em,
right now!
– From “Louie Louie” by the Kingsmen
But, in order to realize the impact of the invasion, we must understand the tsunami of local groups. Not only was the whole country listening to the music, but they were also playing and performing it. Established vocal and big band groups caught on to the influence. And, it seemed every teen musician across the country took advantage of the opportunity to play in a popular band. High schools featured student groups covering songs on the charts. These so-called “garage bands” played school dances, parties, and local teen clubs to the delight of local fans.
Communities often held a popular contest known as the “Battle of the Bands.” These events were well attended events that allowed groups – new and established from every hamlet of the area – to showcase their talents. Battles were important as different bands were forming, morphing, and dissolving all the time, so local musicians were a hot commodity to attract fans. Bands were adding horns and exotic percussion while tweaking new styles and arrangements.
The music, all by itself, was exciting enough; however, with the 60s groups came a seachange in culture and ideology.
Author David N. Townsend wrote …
“How quickly did it happen? The tremendous cultural leap from Bobby Vee clean-cutness to utterly defiant sloppiness came about so suddenly it had to be frightening to the outside world. Of course, to the inside world, those joining the cause, it was exhilarating, but sudden nonetheless.
“The first wave of "long" hair, started by the Beatle mop-tops, began no earlier than 1964 in America. By 1967, three fleeting years later, male hair as short as the original Beatles or Stones was almost laughable within the prevailing hip culture. Lavish, ostentatious clothing just as quickly gave way to worn, old, tattered jeans and jackets and t-shirts.
“For a long time, any outfit that was too neat or shiny or excessively adorned was a clear signal of uncool unhip attitudes (with the sort-of exception of the temporary fascination with psychedelic fashions that surfaced in the public consumption media through Hollywood and well intentioned but relatively clueless TV outlets like Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In). This was true not only among the rock performers, but among the audience, the youth culture as a whole. From the mid-sixties straight to this day, the dominant fashion for a large body of teenage schoolchildren is the extremely casual look.
“Blue jeans, which have formed a massive international trade market, are practically the universal high school dress code in many parts of America. Prior to the Sixties invasions, it was considered unthinkable to allow your kids to attend school in anything less than dress clothes; many schools had real, strictly enforced dress codes, most of which in the U.S. have long since fallen to the pressures of change. This change was rooted firmly in the cynicism, the profound hostility toward the established order, that grew up in the sixties.”
(David N. Townsend. “Unrest Overseas.” Changing the World: Rock 'n' Roll Culture and Ideology. Chapter 4. 2011.)
Many groups supported full scale, defiant, unified rebellion. The times were seething with anti-establishment views and inter-generational conflicts. Vietnam protests, the civil rights movement, the women's rights movement, and environmentalism were gaining widespread support. Songs that addressed these issues became important additions to the repertoire of love songs and rock odes to drugs and sex.
Festivals became huge musical events. Of course, Monterey Pop in 1967 featured groups like the Byrds, Buffalo Springfield, the Who, the Electric Flag, Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Big Brother and the Holding Company, the Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead, and the unforgettable Jimi Hendrix Experience. Then came Woodstock in 1969 with its stellar lineup that pushed variety even more – consider the Band, Santana, Sly and the Family Stone, Canned Heat, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and Ten Years After.
Everywhere across America, garage bands were picking up new and suddenly more popular influences – blues, folk, Latin, country, rhythm and blues, and even Indian genres made major contributions to their set lists. These bands featured raw, often simple music that was usually a variation on British Invasion or American rock. As regional groups like the Shadows of Knight, the Count 5, the Seeds, and the Standells recorded major hits like “Gloria” and “Dirty Water,” other garage bands clamored for national recognition.
Like to tell you
'bout my baby
You know she comes round
Just 'bout five feet
four
From her head to the ground
Well she comes
around here
Just about midnight
She makes me feel so good
Lord
Makes me feel alright.
Her name is
G-L-O-R-I-A
Gloria, Gloria, Gloria
– From “Gloria” by the Shadows of Knight
The local groups were part of a movement of young folks seeking to flex their musical muscles – many of whom with a firm belief that somehow their music would change the fabric of society. It did. How much? Many believe it was a driving force that influenced daily life, fashion, attitudes and language in a way few other social developments have equaled.
Perhaps the most ironic feature of the onslaught of the 60s groups was that even though it was begun and spurred by the British Invasion, those British bands – including the Beatles – found their roots and inspiration in American rock and blues. From artists like Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley, Howlin' Wolf, and Muddy Waters, the Invasion groups copied, refined, and remodeled their own contributions. In fact, the rock music revolution of 1960s in America kickstarted from our own rock and blues exported to Europe then imported with a British accent … and perhaps with a little more polish.
The Beatles founded the movement and built the mold, but it was the American garage band that provided the live rock to supercharge American creative juices. Often with basic three chord structures and unsophisticated, aggressive lyrics, U.S. garage bands took the music to the masses. These groups spawned grass-roots rock, psychedelia, surf, and punk crazes. Perhaps, above all, they provided tons of teens with a means of realizing their rock and roll dreams, no matter how grand or limited the aspirations.
To close, no one could praise garage groups without giving credit to two vital ingredients in the mix.
The first was the electric guitar. The amplified electric guitar – some say “the drum with strings” first largely seen as “curiosity” – pioneered the popularity of rock in the 50s and continues to influence deeply the musical hearts and brains of young musicians ever since. Many musicians in the 60s explored their rhythmic souls through the instrument.
Having lost faith in the “American Dream,” many young Americans looked for an outlet to help them express their feelings of confusion and openness to new ways and new ideas. They found that outlet in the electric guitar. Guitar models like the Fender Strat and the Gibson Les Paul became iconic extensions of American creativity … not to mention phallic symbols, extensions of sexuality. I mean just look at the beautiful objects – all shapely, vibrant, and expressive.
You got your eyes on
the cheerleader queen
And you're walkin' her home from school
You
know that she's only seventeen
She's gonna make you a fool
You know you can't
touch that stuff
Without money or a brand new car
Let me give
you some good advice young man
You better learn to play guitar
Play guitar, play
guitar, play guitar, oh yeah
Play guitar, play guitar, play
guitar, oh yeah
All women around the world
Want a phony rock star who plays guitar
You can pump your
iron and shine your shoes
And wear your hair just right
You go
down out on cruisin' street
'Cause you want to score tonight
And you really
want to show your scars
Forget all about that macho shit
And
learn how to play guitar
– From “Play Guitar” by John Mellencamp
And, that brings me to the other key ingredient … at least one most important for young male group members in the throes of raging, peak testosterone with the impulsive need to find outlets for their aggressive impulses. Of course, that would be girls. Rock groups were – and still are – popular with the ladies. Be it the music, the fashion, the “moves,” whatever the attraction – girls give members of these bands large measures of adulation. For the guys in the group, performing music is a win-win: they love the music and they adore the ladies. Enough said.
There she is
again
Standin' over by the record machine
Looking like a
model
On the cover of a magazine
She's too cute to be a minute
over seventeen
Meanwhile I was thinkin'
If she's in the mood
no need to break it
I got the chance and I oughta take it
If
she can dance we can make it
C'mon queenie let's shake it
Go, go, go, little
queenie
Go, go, go, little queenie
Go, go, go, little queenie
– From “Little Queenie” by Chuck Berry
There was an intensity to everything in the 60s. Maybe I believe that because I was young then. But, I think musically, that intensity translated much more smoothly into daily life when rock was exceedingly alive. It seems almost everything I did as a young man depended so much on that music – ideas, attitudes, innovations, mood. The innovation and freedom in the music were real and products of our keen interest.
Without the radio, the 8-track, the stereo, the TV productions, and the concerts, the technicolor memory of my youth would be bland and faded. To say the music was merely my constant companion would be to underplay its impact; instead, more importantly, it was within me … thanks in large part to those great 60s groups.
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