appearing on
The Ed Sullivan Show in 1966 In the late 1950s, a flourishing culture of groups began to emerge, often out of the declining
skiffle scene, in major urban centres in the UK like Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, and London. This was particularly true in Liverpool, where it has been estimated that there were around 350 different bands active, often playing ballrooms, concert halls, and clubs. Liverpool was perhaps uniquely placed within Britain to be the point of origin of a new form of music. Commentators have pointed to a combination of local solidarity,
industrial decline, social deprivation, and the existence of a large population of Irish origin, the influence of which has been detected in Beat music. which made for much greater access to American records and instruments like guitars, which could not easily be imported due to trade restrictions. As a result, Beat bands were heavily influenced by American groups of the era, such as
Buddy Holly and the Crickets (from which group the Beatles derived their name, combining it with a pun on the beat in their music), and to a lesser extent by
British rock and roll groups such as
the Shadows. After the national success of the Beatles in Britain from 1962, a number of Liverpool performers were able to follow them into the charts, including
Gerry & the Pacemakers (who achieved a number one hit in the UK before the Beatles),
the Searchers, and
Cilla Black. Outside of Liverpool many local scenes were less influenced by rock and roll and more by the
rhythm and blues and later directly by the
blues. These included bands from Birmingham who were often grouped with the beat movement, the most successful being
the Spencer Davis Group and
the Moody Blues. Similar blues influenced bands who broke out from local scenes to national prominence were
the Animals from
Newcastle and
Them from
Belfast. From London, the term
Tottenham Sound was largely based around
the Dave Clark Five, but other London-based
British rhythm and blues and rock bands who benefited from the beat boom of this era included
the Rolling Stones,
the Kinks and
the Yardbirds.
British Invasion in the U.S., and subsequent appearance on
The Ed Sullivan Show, marked the start of the British Invasion The Beatles'
appearance on
The Ed Sullivan Show soon after led to chart success. During the next two years,
the Animals,
Petula Clark,
the Dave Clark Five,
the Rolling Stones,
Donovan,
Peter and Gordon,
Manfred Mann,
Freddie and the Dreamers,
the Zombies,
Wayne Fontana and
the Mindbenders,
Herman's Hermits, and
the Troggs would have one or more number one singles in America.
Freakbeat Freakbeat is a subgenre of
rock and roll music developed mainly by harder-driving British groups, often those with a
mod following during the
Swinging London period of the mid to late 1960s. Freakbeat bridges "British Invasion mod/
R&B/pop and
psychedelia". The term was coined in the 1980s by English music journalist
Phil Smee. AllMusic writes that "freakbeat" is loosely defined, but generally describes the more obscure but hard-edged artists of the
British Invasion era such as
the Creation,
the Pretty Things or
Denny Laine's early solo work. Other bands often mentioned as Freakbeat are
the Action,
the Move,
the Smoke,
the Sorrows, and
Wimple Winch. ==Decline==