Epstein’s Pet Shop - British Rock
1970's Rock
As the world marched further into the '60s there was still more bad news... on November 22nd, 1963 President Kennedy and his wife made a campaign stop in Dallas, Texas in preparation for the '64 elections. The president was shot and killed. The nation and the world mourned. There was disbelief. "How could such a thing happen?" "What was wrong with our society? It seemed that youthful vibrancy and optimism that JFK represented departed with him. As a country the U.S. was in a deep depression.
Over in England four musicians who'd been deeply influenced by American pop, rock and blues were enjoying remarkable success. Would they be successful in the U.S.? Quite frankly, the odds were against it. There had been several British pop stars who were unable to crack the U.S. market. Why should the Beatles be any different? Well, they had a couple of things that helped. First, American television show host Ed Sullivan, seeing the popularity of the Beatles in Britain thought he'd give them a shot on his show. But more importantly their cheerful yet cheeky exuberance was just what the world needed.
An early Beatles single "She Loves You" captures the group's energy and magic. And unlike most performers the Beatles continually changed and evolved to become one of the truly timeless rock acts.
Following the Beatles success, the world beat a path to London, and there was a massive search for musical talent. Interestingly, the British music scene had split into two camps… the pop side and the more "serious" blues groups. American blues performers heavily influenced the Rolling Stones, Animals and Yardbirds. All the people who had helped lay the groundwork for rock n' roll and whose music had been nearly forgotten in the U.S. were suddenly re-discovered by these British musicians. They reworked classic blues songs adding a more rock feel and usually playing louder and harder than the original. Eventually, they began writing their own 'blues" oriented songs.
With Eric Burdon on lead vocals the Animals with their reworking of the blues song "Inside Looking Out."