We have to go back a little further to see what else induced this full-throttle burst into rock, back to where The Beatles burst onto the scene, revitalising rock, reawakening it and bringing it back from the dead.
The Beatles had taken the UK by storm in 1963. ‘Love Me Do’ was released on 5 October 1962 and reached a modest number 17. However, ‘Please Please Me’, released on 11 January 1963, then ‘From Me To You’, followed by ‘She Loves You’, all raced to the top of the charts. A sold-out tour sent the young girls screaming hysterically, and by October 1963, Beatlemania had been born in the UK, a phenomenon that was unlike anything witnessed before.
The United States was a little slower to catch on. Those early Beatles singles were not released in the States. The Americans were blasé. The US was the seat of all genres of popular music. Hardly anything of worth had come from outside the States. The hysteria of Beatlemania was viewed with amusement from afar.
Then, the dry tinder caught. The vacuum in rock music created by the payola scandal of the late fifties, with its subsequent clampdown on rock ‘n’ roll, had left an empty gap. Rock had become soft. It was all soft rock and pop with clean-cut pop idols. It had lost its rebellious edge. With the release of ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’ on 26December 1963, The Beatles shot to number one and that gap was filled. Their subsequent tour started on 7February 1964. It featured an incendiary slot on the highly influential Ed Sullivan Show, which helped to shoot them to the very top. All across the country, families tuned in to see what the fuss was all about. The kids were instantly smitten. Beatlemania took off in the States with a vengeance, with radio stations playing non-stop Beatles tracks and The Beatles dominating the American charts. The British invasion had begun.