Overview
As British bands absorbed the sounds of American rock and roll and its predecessors, they also forced American rock bands to reconsider their own sounds and approaches to music. Some artists in the mid-1960s held tight to older ideas and formulas, sometimes with great success. For example, songwriting duo Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller continued to pen hits during the 1960s, such as “Chapel of Love,” recorded by the Dixie Cups, and “Leader of the Pack,” recorded by the Shangri-Las. At the same time, new types of bands gained popularity in the American market, demonstrating that garage bands, folk rock, and blues revival groups could be a formidable presence on the American record charts.
Objectives
- Identify several artists and types of rock that became popular soon after the British Invasion
- Recall why garage bands, TV rock, the American blues revival, and folk music gained commercial viability in the middle of the 1960s
- Examine how rock music began to diversify following the British Invasion
Rock on TV
Paul Revere and the Raiders were one of the few garage bands that achieved lasting commercial success. This success came with the help of Dick Clark. Paul Revere and the Raiders recorded and released their own version of "Louie Louie ♫" at almost the same time as the Kingsmen, but the Kingsmen’s version was far more commercially successful. Paul Revere and the Raiders continued to have a productive career. In 1965, Clark invited Paul Revere and the Raiders to serve as the musical hosts of Where the Action Is, a new rock variety show that he had created for CBS. Created as a response to the ABC show Shindig, Where the Action Is offered a chance for British and American rock bands to gain national exposure. These two shows, along with NBC’s Hullaballoo, helped artists such as the Supremes, the Lovin’ Spoonful, and Roy Orbison gain national exposure.
Paul Revere and the Raiders served as the house band for Where the Action Is until 1966. On the show, the band was presented as an American response to the British Invasion. The group wore costumes inspired by the uniforms worn by soldiers in the American Revolution, and they frequently performed slapstick comedy routines and farcical dance choreography. During their time on the show, they released several hit singles such as "Kicks ♫" and "Hungry ♫," which were written by the Brill Building team of Barry Mann and Cynthia Weill. In 1966, Paul Revere and the Raiders released the first song they had written themselves, which was "The Great Airplane Strike ♫." Paul Revere and the Raiders continued to enjoy commercial success after they left Where the Action Is. Their 1971 single "Indian Reservation ♫" was their first recording that reached number 1 on the American pop charts.
