The Brits and rock: Rockers (1963-64, Part II)

The Beatles attracted legions of fans in Liverpool. Their first taste of success came in the early 60's, when they returned to Liverpool after George Harrison, an underage minor, was discovered and they were deported. Their look had changed, though, with Stuart Sutcliffe having stayed behind to be with his girlfriend Astrid. Later on, Pete Best would be dumped in favour of Ringo Starr, or Richard Starkey, another working class Liverpudlian who had discovered rock, and more specifically Elvis, at an early age. Although they had many fans in Liverpool, Brian Epstein, who saw them at the Cavern, felt that they could do far, far better. He cleaned them up and promised to make them as big as Elvis. They dropped the leather and took on the suit look that would soon be their trademark. Even though their rough edges had been sanded, they never forgot where they came from and refused to take voice lessons to lose their distinctly working-class accents. They led the British Invasion, which we will see next week, became the most successful group of all time and prompted many musical and political groups of the sixties and are arguably the most influential group of all time.

There's far too much about the Beatles to be covered in one, two, or even three articles, and so when I finish my overview of the history of rock, I'll devote a couple of months to them or something. Next week, we look at the British Invasion, which was very important because of the new styles of music, the political importance, all that stuff, but mainly because it wiped out all the mass-produced junk from the charts. I'd like to remind people that the week of Canada Day, I'll take a break from the History to dedicate an article to whatever group is voted the best Canadian group on my poll. To vote, go to the main page and just vote in the poll. Until next week, rock on!

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