24. American music continued to influence British bands during the British Invasion
Rolling Stones frontman and singer Mick Jagger adapted the stage presence and dance moves of American performer James Brown, having already begun using the inflections of black bluesmen in his band’s cover versions of their songs. John Lennon absorbed the influences of Bob Dylan, both in his lyrics and in his guitar playing on some of his own songs. The Motown sound emerged during 1964; both the Temptations and the Four Tops reached the top twenty that year, as did the Supremes. The Rolling Stones recorded at Chess Studios in Chicago. Three of the five songs recorded there were by American artists, including Chuck Berry’s Around and Around.
The British invasion changed radio playlists, and the American rock and roll from which it had sprung all but vanished from the airwaves. Some British bands even came to the United States sporting American names, such as the Nashville Teens, who had a hit with Tobacco Road in 1964. The song itself was an American blues song about life in North Carolina. The British Invasion was over for the most part in early 1967, and other new genres spun off from the rock and pop music it left behind, with the British bands continuing to influence those in America, and vice versa. It was an era which would never have happened had it not been for the reception of American rock and roll in Great Britain a decade earlier.
Where do we find this stuff? Here are our sources:
“Glenn Miller and His Orchestra”. George Thomas Simon. 1980
“A Record Changer and Record of Complementary Design”. RCA Review. June 1949. Online
“Chuck Berry: Farewell to the Father of Rock”. Mikal Gilmore, Rolling Stone Magazine. April 7, 2017
“Buddy Holly: A Biography”. Ellis Amburn. 1996
“Light Programme Music”. Radio Rewind. Online (UK)
“Britain Rocked Before the Beatles”, Bob Solly, Record Collector. July, 2013
“The Beatles Anthology (Book)”. The Beatles. 2000
“The Wanderer”. Dion Dimucci. 1988
“How the Transistor Radio Changed the World”. Chris Smith, BT. August 8, 2018. Online
“Who Really Invented Rock and Roll?” Jack Newfield, The New York Sun. September 21, 2004. Online
“Turning Points in Rock and Roll”. Hank Bordowitz. 2004
“I Used to be an Animal, but I’m All Right Now”. Eric Burdon. 1986
“Mods, Rockers, and the Music of the British Invasion”. James E. Perone. 2009