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British Invade Again

SITE OF THE WEEK

Last week I introduced you to a clever young Boston band that is on its way up. Now meet a few friends from my era on their way down. From hip to hip replacements in a single week.

 

 

SEE web links at end of article

They’re old and gray, paunchy and short of breath -- but they’re back. The 60-something rock-n-roll has-beens of the Sixties British Invasion are using the Internet to fill their fading concert schedules and reach a dying breed of loyal fans. Once the generation of free love and social protest, the English bands I once idolized have gone the nostalgic route of Lawrence Welk and Mitch Miller. And it ain’t a pretty sight.

Some rock bands, of course, never went away. Senior citizen Mick Jagger still swaggers the stage, sticking his tongue into Keith Richards ear. The Moody Blues hawk their tuneful CDs on Public Television Fundraisers. Sir Paul McCartney seems to go down that long and winding road forever.

But what those other British groups that road the Beatle bandwagon to stardom during the early Sixties? If you’re old enough to remember the Kennedy Administration, you remember rushing home to watch Hootenanny, Shindig and Where the Action Is on afternoon television. These were Dick Clark American Bandstand-like shows, but an even hipper forum for lip-synching longhairs.

The memories are sometimes as painful as were the tight pegged white jeans and zip-up Beatle boots that some of us were compelled to wear. I remember sitting in Latin class where the Victorian desks still had ink wells and were nailed to the floor. But I was fashionably attired in flared corduroy pants and a colorful shirt with huge polka dots or ameba-like paisley. Twice I was sent to the principal’s office because my hair overlapped the back of my shirt collar. Girls were required to kneel in the nurses office. If their skirts did not touch the floor, they were sent home to change.

Ahh, those were the days my friend. We thought they’d never end. Yes grandchildren, I lived in an age before video games and cell phones, when a Coke cost a dime and schools had no metal detectors. Nothing was cool if it wasn’t mod and British. Asked if he was a Mod or a Rocker in the film A Hard Day’s Night, Ringo Starr said he was a "Mocker". Who knew the whole thing was scripted?

I distantly recall hours in front of the hall mirror with an unplugged Radio Shack microphone mouthing the latest Gerry and the Pacemakers or Herman’s Hermit’s tune. Everyone did it – didn’t they? The Beau Brummels were my favorite British band, except their web site now tells me, they were really Americans. That group has been trying to get back together for nearly 40 years. Many have faded with dignity into history. Others still wear their colors, recycling their pop hits like human jukeboxes at county fairs and grange halls and civic centers.

THE UP SHOT

Was it really the greatest cultural revolution of all time, or was the music just a means to sell us teens a load of garbage like today?

This little nostalgia ride started when I got spammed earlier this week by the lead singer of the 1910 Fruitgum Company. You remember them. Okay, you don’t remember them for such dippy lovable tunes as "1-2-3 Red Light", "May I Take a Giant Step" and "Simple Simon Says". This is a band so saccharine that they made the Monkees sounds like Mozart. The "Bubble Gum" era was a short-lived American response to the British Invasion, which was itself a response to Elvis Presley, who was himself a response to black rhythm and blues. Most Bubblegum bands were studio groups with quick commercial hits like the Archies (Jangle, Jangle) who recorded their novelty tunes as a gag. "Gag" is still the operative word with the Fruitgum Company that offers free signed souvenir photos (You can order pictures of the band wearing sport coats or in colorful shirts). Why is it that all middle-aged white guys look the same?

But we are talking British bands here. Some have revisited America. Eric Burden, the gritty blue-eyed bluesman is still touring the states. Many continue to fill small clubs in Germany, Scandinavia and other Euro-spots where the old British bands originally cut their teeth. Others have just enough energy to board the bus for tours of their native United Kingdom. The hard core show bands are going much as they came in – with low-paying hard-working tours of their native land.

Some British pop stars have taken the Internet to heart. Gerry Marsden of Gerry and the Pacemakers offers a fervent prayerlike homage to the Internet on his personal web site. In many cases elder-fans can write directly to the former star and get an email response. While many nostalgia sites are sad affairs, often hosted on free servers with wilted graphics and no design, a few still shine. Peter Noone was only 15 when he hit the charts as the effervescent and unflinchingly corny lead singer of Herman’s Hermits. His personal web site – which he apparently runs himself -- is a youthful, funny and entertaining oasis in a sea of often agonizing self worship. The balancing point seems to be which performers kept their sense of humor amid the teenaged adulation and continued to be creative and move forward. Peter Noone, for one, pulls it off with dignity.

THE WEB SITES

Where are they today? Here’s a quick look at a dozen of the British invasion acts. You judge.

Dave Davies
(You Really Got Me, Lola, All Day and All of the Night)
Formerly of the Kinks and continually reinventing himself, also into paranormal stuff and wrote an autobiography.

Eric Burdon
(House of the Rising Sun, Spill the Wine)
Touring hard with the "New Animals" between solo work.

Gerry and the Pacemakers
(Ferry Cross the Mersey, Don’t Let the Sun Catch You Crying)
His autobiography is out of print, but he’s still on the road.

The Troggs
(Wild Thing, With a Girl Like You)
Down to two originals, but still touring to beat the band.

Swinging Blue Jeans
(Hippy Hippy Shake, Promise You’ll Tell Her)
Originally the Blue Genes in 1959, introduced the Beatles at "The Cavern" and still touring with many original members.

The Hollies
(Bus Stop, Look Through Any Window)
Graham Nash left decades ago, down to two originals and still recording.

Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders
(Game of Love, Um Um Um Um Um Um)
Now also a booking agent for oldie bands playing gigs like the Cambridge Corn Festival.

Rod Argent
(Time of the Season, Tell Her No)
The Zombies broke up almost instantly, but band members carry on, especially Rod Argent and Colin Blunstone.

 

Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich
(Bend Me, Shape Me)
Band is available for a discount without Dave Dee.

Freddy & the Dreamers
(Do the Freddy, I’m Telling You Now)
Freddy is long gone, but the backup band still carries on.

The Searchers
(Love Potion #9, Needles and Pins)
Touring as the second most popular band to come out of Liverpool.

The Tremeloes
(Silence is Golden, Here Comes My Baby)
Another highly original and seemingly unstoppable Invasion band.

Vanity Fare
(Hitchin’ a Ride, Come Tomorrow)
Late bloomers, bigger there than here, but still a showband.

Peter Blair Dennis Bernard Noone
(I’m Henry VIII, Mrs. Brown You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter)
You knew him at age 15 in Herman’s Hermits, now touring heavily with the slogan "Lock Up Your Grandmothers".