Early British rock and roll
In the 1950s, Britain was well placed to receive American rock and roll music
and culture.
It shared a common language, had been exposed to American
culture through the stationing of troops in the country, and shared many social
developments, including the emergence of distinct youth sub-cultures, which
in Britain included the Teddy Boys.
Trad Jazz became popular, and many of
its musicians were influenced by related American styles, including Boogie
127
Woogie and the Blues.
The skiffle craze, led by Lonnie Donegan, utilised
amateurish versions of American folk songs and encouraged many of the
subsequent generation of rock and roll, folk, R&B and beat musicians to start
performing.
At the same time British audiences were beginning to encounter
American rock and roll, initially through films including
Blackboard
Jungle
(1955) and
Rock Around the Clock
(1955).
Both films contained
the Bill Haley & His Comets hit "Rock Around the Clock", which first
entered the British charts in early 1955 - four months before it reached the US
pop charts - topped the British charts later that year and again in 1956, and
helped identify rock and roll with teenage delinquency.
[8]
American rock and
roll acts such as Elvis Presley, Little Richard and Buddy Holly thereafter
became major forces in the British charts.
The initial response of the British music industry was to attempt to
produce copies of American records, recorded with session musicians and
often fronted by teen idols.
British rock and rollers soon began to appear,
including Wee Willie Harris and Tommy Steele.
The bland or wholly
imitative form of much British rock and roll in this period meant that the
American product remained dominant. However, in 1958 Britain produced its
first "authentic" rock and roll song and star, when Cliff Richard reached
number 2 in the charts with "Move It".
[9]
British impresario Larry
Parnes fashioned young singers to the new trend, giving them corny names
such as Billy Fury, Marty Wilde and Vince Eager. At the same time, TV
shows such as
Six-Five Special
and
Oh Boy!
, both produced by Jack Good,
promoted the careers of British rock and rollers like Marty Wilde and Adam
Faith.
Cliff Richard and his backing band The Shadows were the most
successful home grown rock and roll based acts of the era. Other leading acts
included Joe Brown, and Johnny Kidd & The Pirates, whose 1960 hit song
"Shakin' All Over" became a rock and roll standard.
The first American rock
and roll artist to hit British stages and appear on television was Gene
Vincent in December 1959, soon joined on tour by his friend Eddie Cochran.
The producer Joe Meek was the first to produce sizeable rock hits in England,
culminating with The Tornados' instrumental "Telstar", which went to number
one in both the UK and USA.
Достарыңызбен бөлісу: |