British Invasion

The British Invasion was an influx of rock and roll performers from the United Kingdom who became popular in the United States, Australia, Canada and elsewhere. The classic British Invasion was in 1964-1966, but the term may also be applied to later "waves" of UK artists to significantly impact entertainment markets outside of Britain.

The British invasion

The British Invasion began in 1964, and peaked in 1965. A decade following the first invasion, the UK based punk movement resulted in another influx of raw, iconoclastic UK bands and artists, such as the Sex Pistols, The Clash, and Elvis Costello and the Attractions. As in 1963, the mainstream music market of 1975 had become heavily commercialized and formulaic, and the punk movement was a strong rebellion against this trend. Punk had a huge and lasting artistic influence on the popular music scene, but it never matched the broad commercial impact of the classic British Invasion of the 1960s. But in its wake, softer UK power pop artists (sometimes referred to as "New Wave" artists) also begin to appear in the US market, still dominated by heavily commercialized disco and heavy metal music. Throughout the end of the 1970s, the influence and success of these artists (such as The Police) would slowly grow to become a second invasion.

This was largely spawned by the influence of MTV, which brought various distinctly British acts to the attention of American audiences. These included The Fixx, The Cure, Depeche Mode, Eurythmics, Duran Duran, Culture Club, and others. Once again, British acts came to dominate American charts, this time to an even greater degree than in the first British Invasion. See New Wave and New Romantic.

This second invasion of the 1980's remains (to date) the only other one. The continued splintering of the music market into vastly different genres makes a follow up, mass-appeal movement such as the British Invasion currently unlikely. Some musicians today dream of making such a mark.

Britpop

The Britpop movement of the mid-1990s can be seen as a direct continuation of the original British Invasion of the 1960s, mixed with music of the '70s and '80s, although unlike the Invasion, Britpop never achieved the same degree of international popularity. Most of the bands weren't as popular worldwide as they were in Britain. Nevertheless, a few like Oasis, Elastica and Blur have managed to break through into the American market and achieve respectable international success. The Spice Girls also had chart success abroad.

The start of the millennium saw new artists from Britain come to rise, the most popular of them being Coldplay, who have achieved success in the U.S. Other acts are following in their footsteps.

In May 2002, there were no British artists on the US singles charts, the first time this had occurred since 1963.

In 2005, James Blunt reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with his single "You're Beautiful", the first British artist to do so since Elton John with "Candle In The Wind" in 1997.

In 2006, Corinne Bailey Rae achieved high acclaim for her self titled album and her single "Put Your Records On". It has achieved considerable success in the U.K. and has debuted in the Billboard Hot 100. Her self-titled album debuted at #17 in the U.S.

The British invasion

Britpop

First British Invasion artists

See also

Gourt Home::Gourt :: British Invasion

The British invasion

Britpop

First British Invasion artists

See also