Rock History

Rock History

Matt Hendricks February 26, 2009 Professor Makris UWA # 3 They arrived and there was about 50,000 people waiting for them at the airport screaming their heads off. The Beatles pretty much changed the American culture. Everyone wanted to be like them. People would start growing their hair out or even go and buy wigs to put on. They carried themselves very good. They were always clean and well dressed. Their music changed everything. That had new sounds along with the instruments to go into their songs that no one had ever heard before. They had changed it from rock to the artistic side of music which was very intriguing to the American people. Along with studio tricks such as sound effects, unconventional microphone placements, tape loops, double tracking and vari-speed recording, The Beatles began to augment their recordings with instruments that were unconventional for rock music at the time. The rebellious tone and image of American rock and roll and blues musicians deeply resonated with British youth in the late 1950s, influencing all the British Invasion artists. "Stranger on the Shore" by Acker Bilk in 1961 and "Telstar" by the Tornados in 1962 were the first two songs by British artists to reach #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, both hitting the top of the chart before the generally accepted start of the "British Invasion." British Invasion acts influenced fashion, haircuts and manners of the 1960s of what was to be known as The Counterculture because they connected to the young "rebels" of the generation and influenced what defined a "cultural rebel" and collective nonconformity when it came to protests and activism. The success of British acts of the time lead to with and American garage bands subsequently changing their sound and style. The influence continued on subsequent groups such as Big Star, Sparks and Todd Rundgren amongst others. The rise of the power trio was made possible in part by developments in amplifier and...

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