"I Want to Hold Your Hand"
Artist - The Beatles
The Beatles began their existence as the Quarrymen, one of the thousands of British youth groups playing skiffle music—a combination of country blues, Dixieland jazz, and American folk music that became wildly popular in the United Kingdom in 1957-58. After the skiffle craze waned the lads shifted their focus to rock and roll and rockabilly.
The Beatles played gigs wherever they could get them, many at the Cavern Club in their hometown of Liverpool. The owner of the Cavern had a friend who booked rock and roll acts into clubs in Hamburg; through this connection the group secured residencies at clubs in the Reeperbahn, the city's red light district. There the boys were required to play seven to eight hours a night, six days a week; as a result they mastered a great deal of material by artists like Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Buddy Holly, Gene Vincent, the Everly Brothers, and Little Richard. They also learned to fake their way through requests, modifying songs they knew into approximations of tunes they didn't. During the Hamburg years the personnel of the group shifted. Bassist Stu Sutcliffe was fired, as the rest of the group thought he wasn't very good; Paul McCartney, who had never played bass, figured he could do just as well. Drummer Pete Best was likewise jettisoned, and for some time the Beatles made do without a drummer; it has been posited that the aggressive rhythm guitar parts heard in early Beatles songs are relics of this period.
John Lennon and Paul McCartney began writing songs together fairly early in the band's existence, sitting "eyeball to eyeball" and hashing out lyrics, melody, and basic arrangements. As a natural songwriting team, they normally finished one song per working session, and met regularly, even on tour, to increase their original repertoire. While originally this caused problems—English record executives weren't used to new groups bringing their own material into the studio—in short order it became standard operating procedure, and groups that couldn't provide their own songs were considered a liability.
In 1963 no British band had ever achieved great success touring in the United States. The Beatles told their manager, Brian Epstein, that they refused to go to the states until they had a chart-topping record. "I Wanna Hold Your Hand," a Buddy Holly-esque composition that also borrowed Little Richard's falsetto shout, tight Everly Brothers harmonies, and peppy Motown handclaps, did the trick.
Also see: Buddy Holly, the Everly Brothers, the Temptations, the Miracles, Little Richard, Lonnie Donegan
Must Haves:
- "Love Me Do"
- "Please Please Me"
- "Twist and Shout"
- "A Hard Day's Night"
- "Can't Buy Me Love"
Performers Influenced By This Artist:
- Gerry and the Pacemakers
- the Searchers
- the Dave Clark Five
- Billy J. Kramer the Dakotas
- Oasis
"Tomorrow Never Knows"
Artist - The Beatles
In 1964 music journalist Al Aronowitz introduced Bob Dylan to the Beatles. The encounter influenced the musical development of both parties; after witnessing the pandemonium of a Beatles concert, Dylan bought an electric guitar and began exploring the idea of combining folk music with rock and roll. Dylan's comment to John Lennon that the Fab Four's songs "weren't about anything" also had a significant effect. The next two Beatles albums—Revolver and Rubber Soul—were in many ways responses to that charge; the boy-meets-girl lyrics of the early period dwindled and were replaced by subject matter that was more reflective, abstract, and poetic, embracing a wider spectrum of styles. The music was also different; it was more harmonically complex and richer, and it employed more tone colors and electronic effects. The change in the music was the work of the Beatles' producer, George Martin, who became more involved in the creative process as the group shifted their focus from touring to the studio.
Society, too, was changing. Under the influence of its new status as the pop kingdom of the world, London was transforming into "Swinging London," a place where cutting-edge fashion, art, and music combined to create the most happening place on earth. Drugs, too, were becoming more common, particularly an experimental substance touted by psychiatrists as a way to confront repressed memories and reduce anxiety and neuroses. D-lysergic acid diethylamide, (LSD25) was at that time legal, and the hipster set in London employed the drug for its consciousness-expanding properties. John Lennon and George Harrison were surreptitiously given the drug at a dinner party. Thereafter both became more involved in Eastern phenomena: both explored Buddhism and meditation, Harrison studied Indian music, and John Lennon's lyrics became more fanciful, impressionistic, and philosophical. The words of "Tomorrow Never Knows" are taken directly from the book The Psychedelic Experience, an analysis of the Tibetan Book of the Dead by Harvard professor and LSD proponent Timothy Leary. The song was the most heavily produced Beatles effort to date; George Martin wanted the vocals to sound like "the Dalai Lama sitting on a hilltop," and five tape loops, fuzz tone, and backtracking (George Harrison's guitar solo was actually recorded backward) were employed to replicate the psychedelic experience and the circular nature of much Eastern philosophy.
Also see: Bob Dylan, the Byrds, avant-garde classical music, Ravi Shankar. Motown, Stax soul
Must Haves:
- "Norwegian Wood"
- "Within You and Without You"
- "Eleanor Rigby"
- "She Said She Said"
- "Got to Get You into My Life"
Performers Influenced By This Artist:
"Last Time"
Artist - The Rolling Stones
Though now considered the “world’s greatest rock and roll band,” the Rolling Stones began in 1962 as a blues group. Lead guitarist Brian Jones was a huge fan of rhythm and blues, black American music filtering into Britain as a result of a small but evangelical group of jazz critics who had fallen in love with the blues. Jones worshipped the blues bottleneck guitar player Elmore James; he re-christened himself Elmo Lewis and devoted himself to learning to play slide guitar. He moved from Cheltenham to London where a live blues scene was beginning to coalesce around the Ealing Club. In this club, Blues, Inc., billed as Britain’s first rhythm and blues band, performed every Thursday. There he met Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, two local blues fans, and they decided to form a group. Through ads in the trade papers they found pianist Ian Stewart, and Mick Jagger’s friend, Dick Taylor (who would go on to found Pretty Things) joined on bass. Their first gigs were filling in for Blues, Inc. at the Marquee Club, where the Ealing Club moved when R&B started to become popular. Mick Jagger’s comment to the jazz press was that he hoped no one would think the Rolling Stones, named after a Muddy Waters song and strictly devoted to the Chicago blues, was a rock and roll group!
The Stones quickly began to attract a devoted following, including Andrew Loog Oldham, a young go-getter in the pop business who’d done some work for the Beatles. Oldham advised the group to drop Ian Stewart, who didn’t look right, and encouraged them to project a rough, unkempt, and aloof image. Dick Taylor quit and was replaced by bassist Bill Wyman, and the group convinced Charlie Watts, the drummer of Blues, Inc. (which also included future Cream members Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker), to join as well. Oldham sold the band as the “anti-Beatles” — and they became huge. At the time the Stones’ repertoire consisted mostly of obscure blues and R&B songs. Oldham knew that paying others to write songs for the group would be expensive, and the Beatles had proven that pop singers could write their own songs and still enjoy chart success. No one in the group thought any of them could write, but the Stones’ manager shut Jagger and Richards in a room together and wouldn’t let them come out until they’d written at least one song. “Last Time” was their first self-composed A-side single. Keith Richards remarked, “"We didn't find it difficult to write pop songs, but it was VERY difficult - and I think Mick will agree - to write one for the Stones. It seemed to us it took months and months and in the end we came up with The Last Time.” The song was a reworked version of the traditional gospel song “This May Be the Last Time,” which the Staple Singers recorded in 1955, proving that the Stones were cogent of a broad range of African American musical styles. The song was recorded by the Stones on a one-day layover in the United States, with Phil Spector assisting with production. In fact, many of the Stones’ early hits were recorded in the States, as the band felt that English sound engineers weren’t capable of creating the right atmosphere. “The Last Time” also helped launch the Rolling Stones in America. Although they were considered the top pop group in England (yes—bigger than the Beatles), they struggled through two tours before finally gaining similar status in the States.
Also see: Muddy Waters, Blues, Inc., Jimmy Reed, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, the Beatles
Must Haves:
- "(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction"
- "Jumping Jack Flash"
- "Sympathy for the Devil"
- "Paint It Black"
- "Beast of Burden"
Performers Influenced By This Artist:
- All other blues rock groups, but especially-
- the Yardbirds
- Aerosmith
- the Who
- Bob Seger
"Heart Full of Soul"
Artist - The Yard Birds
In London in the early 1960s there were two great young rhythm and blues bands at the forefront of the British blues revival. One was the Rolling Stones; the other was the Yardbirds. The Stones had connections with the jazz world, which made them acceptable to (if not loved by) serious blues fans. The Yardbirds were their pop counterparts – a group of rowdy blues lovers with no jazz background who were prepared to throw caution to the wind and try what no other British R&B groups had: blues improvisation.
The Yardbirds began as the Metropolis Blues Quartet, which specialized in acoustic country blues. The band played few, if any, dates, but lasted long enough to draw the attention of three fellow Chicago blues enthusiasts from their native Surbiton, Jim McCarty, Chris Dreja and Top Topham. Topham’s father collected blues records, and exposure to his rhythm and blues discs took the band in a different direction. The new group quickly gained a following, especially after Topham was replaced by Eric Clapton, a friend of lead singer Keith Relf. The Yardbirds were known for their “raveups,” extended instrumental improvisations that were sometimes less than successful but always exciting, as the group kicked into double time toward the end.
While the Yardbirds were a popular live act their records didn’t do well on the pop charts; the excitement and presence of the band simply wasn’t captured on a three-minute single. “Good Morning Little Schoolgirl,” a cover version of the Sonny Boy Williamson (I) hit, broke the Top Thirty, but was stalled by a competing version of the song by Rod Stewart.
By 1965 the Yardbirds had watched the Rolling Stones, the Animals, and other British R&B bands achieve popular success in Britain and the United States, and they were tired of waiting for their big break. They took drastic action and recorded “For Your Love,” a pop song in the “Merseybeat” style of the Beatles and the Hollies. The gamble paid off; it took only two weeks for the quasi-psychedelic “For Your Love” to ascend to the top of the British pop charts. However, their success came at a price. Clapton, who considered himself a serious blues player, couldn’t stomach the new commercial direction of the band and quit.
The Yardbirds asked Jimmy Page (at that time the studio guitarist in London) to replace Clapton; he declined, but suggested they try Jeff Beck, who accepted. Beck was pressed into service on the Yardbird’s next single, “Heart Full of Soul.” The group’s manager thought an Indian sitar would be an interesting tone color for the introduction, but the recording engineers couldn’t figure out how to amplify it. After several hours of careful listening Beck suggested that a guitar with a fuzz box would produce nearly the same sound, and Beck’s “dirty” guitar quickly became a Yardbirds trademark.
Also see: Jimmy Reed, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Bo Diddley, the Rolling Stones,
Must Haves:
- "For Your Love"
- "I Ain’t Got You"
- "Train Kept A’Rollin"
- "Shapes of Things"
- "Happenings Ten Years Time Ago"
Performers Influenced By This Artist:
- Led Zeppelin
- Cream, Free
- Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac
- the Troggs
- the Zombies
"You Really Got Me"
Artist - The Kinks
The Kinks started out (as did many classic rock bands) as a British rhythm and blues group. Ray Davies played guitar for the Dave Hunt R&B Band, one of the first bands to convert from playing jazz to R&B after Blues Incorporated and the Rolling Stones began to find an audience. Davies soon left to join a band formed by his brother Dave and their school chum Peter Quaife. They went through a succession of drummers before hiring Mick Avory (the original drummer for the Rolling Stones) after seeing his "band wanted" ad in Melody Maker, a popular music magazine.
The band secured a record contract with the Pye label in 1964. Their first two singles did little on the charts, but the third, "You Really Got Me," rocketed to the top of British charts and broke into the top ten in the United States. The song's riff is one of most recognizable in rock and roll. Dave Davies, one of rock's master riff craftsmen, claims he was influenced by the Kingsmen's "Louie, Louie" and "Tequila," by the Champs. The alternation between two power chords was additionally sculpted by fuzz tone, a sound Davies adopted to give his guitar more presence and compensate for the small, cheap amplifiers in use at the time. While producer Shel Talmy was reluctant about using the sound on the single, the band insisted, and threatened to withhold publishing rights for the song unless it was included. The effectiveness of the sound may have motivated Keith Richards to use fuzz tone on the hook for "Satisfaction." Certainly Davies's fuzz-laden guitar sound and aggressive strumming was a major influence on guitar players from Pete Townshend to Eddie Van Halen.
It remains unclear, though, who played the riff on "You Really Got Me." Jimmy Page, at that time one of the top session musicians in London, was used on a number of tracks on the Kinks first LP Both Ray and Dave Davies claim that Page did not play on "You Really Got Me," and it may be that trivia buffs just assumed the future guitar god laid down the signature riff while in the studio. However, rumors persist about Page's involvement.
The Kinks followed their chart-topping hit with "All Day and All of the Night," which quickly rose to #2 on the American charts. The band's future looked bright, but disagreements with promoters during their U.S. tour got the group banned by the United States Federation of Musicians (which had to approve all tours by foreign acts) for four years. This locked the Kinks out of the superstardom achieved by groups like the Rolling Stones and the Animals. As a result, the band turned inward, and many Kinks songs from this period were heavily influenced by British dance hall music and other native pop. Ray Davies's lyrics were also rooted in observations on English life and customs, which endeared them to native audiences.
The Kinks returned to touring in the United States in 1968, and while their albums were favorably received by critics, the band had trouble finding audience until 1970, when "Lola"— Davies's tune about a transvestite that features an irresistible hook—found a place on the pop charts.
Also see: Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry, The Beatles, Buddy Holly
Must Haves:
- "Lola"
- "Apeman"
- "All Day and All of the Night"
- "Picture Book"
- "Waterloo Sunset"
Performers Influenced By This Artist:
- Oasis
- Blur
- Pulp
- Van Halen
- Green Day
- the Zombies
- The Troggs