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the pre-1964 British pop scene:

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highly indebted to American pop music

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some British music historians will argue that pre-1963 UK pop music was more sophisticated that US pop music of that time

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but when you talk to the people in the business, you learn that the product that the UK industry could sell the most of what American popular music

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UK songs that sold were mostly either covers of songs from the US or imitations of that kind of music

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one of the important contributions of the Beatles in 1963 was to help to change this picture

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Beatles were at the forefront of the beat movement which gave UK pop music its own identity

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Elvis never came to the UK but his movies were played in the UK

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Skiffle Movement

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very big in 1955-1959

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a guy at the center of the Skiffle movement was Lonnie Donegan

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started out doing a Skiffle bit, folk songs but upbeat, very easy to play

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people became Lonnie Donegan fans, became one of "UKs answer to Elvis Presley"

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even went to #8 in the U.S.

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when Elvis hit, there were many Elvis impersonators in the UK

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Cliff Richard

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1959 Living Doll

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had a fantastic series of hits

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was as big as big could be

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Beatles didn't try to sell to the US because they thought if Cliff Richard couldn't make it there, they wouldn't be able to either

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Tommy Steele

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1956 Rock with the Caveman

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1960-1963

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the hard, driving Chuck Berry style was out, and a softer guitar style was in

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Billy Fury

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1961 Halfway to Paradise

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Larry Parnes

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had a number of lead singers that were Elvis-like, gave them stage names

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Tommy Steele

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Marty Wilde

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Billy Fury

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Vince Eager

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Johnny Gentle

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Duffy Power

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Lance Fortune

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Joe Brown (Larry Parnes wanted to call him Elmer Twitch)

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Beatles did a tour of Scotland as a backing band for Johnny Gentle

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early Beatles

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1957: John (17), Paul (15) and George (14)

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did Skiffle, Elvis, pop

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played at the Jacaranda Club

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Casbah Coffee Club

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venue in West Derby, Liverpool, started by Mona Best in 1959 in the cellar of the family home

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her son Pete Best was the drummer for awhile

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The Quarrymen: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ken Brown, went to the club to arrange their first booking

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earliest recording

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1958: "That'll Be the Day"

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Harold Phillips

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went to Hamburg to explore possibilities for the Royal Caribbean Steel Band

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one of the reasons the Beatles ended up in Hamburg

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history

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1957: Paul meets John at a local church festival and joins The Quarry Men

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1958: George joins

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1960: Stu Sutcliffe joins

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1960: Pete Best joins