The Music of 1965

A weekly look at America's top singles in the year that The British Invasion peaked

De: Ken F. Jarrell

Narrado por: Virtual Voice

The British Invasion of the Hot 100 in 1964 really was an invasion of the American pop chart by British acts that no one could have foreseen. In 1963, only one British act reached #1 on the American singles chart. It was The Tornados with their instrumental hit, ‘Telstar’. It was released in 1962 and spent a single week in 1963 at #1. Many #1 records in 1963 don’t even seem like pop records, at least not the kind you would find on the Hot 100 a scant few months into 1964. You were more likely to find a lot of these records in the parents’ record collections than with America’s youth. The #1 records in 1963 included songs by Steve Lawrence, The Rooftop Singers, Paul and Paula, Andy Williams, Al Martino, Eydie Gorme, Henry Mancini, Kyu Sakamoto, Dale and Grace and, of course, every male teenager’s fantasy, The Singing Nun. No wonder young kids embraced The Beatles so fervently when they arrived on the scene in 1964.
In 1964, four different British acts held the #1 spot on the Hot 100 for a total of 24 weeks with The Beatles holding down the top spot for 18 of those weeks. The Animals, Peter and Gordon and Manfred Mann also reached the #1 spot. By 1965, seven British artists are found at #1 for a total of 28 weeks. The Beatles had five #1s, Herman’s Hermits and The Rolling Stones had two each while Freddie and The Dreamers, Petula Clark, The Dave Clark Five and Wayne Fontana and The Mindbenders all accomplished the feat once.
In 1965, as in 1964, it is the seemingly inexhaustible talent of The Beatles, especially the songwriting genius of John Lennon and Paul McCartney, that dominates. In 2019, the movie ‘Yesterday’ imagines a world in which The Beatles did not exist. To many people my age, that is a horrifying thought and, surely, such a world would bea less joyous one. I can’t imagine that in such a world my record collection would be filled with Bobby Vinton albums instead of ‘Revolver’, ‘Rubber Soul’, ‘Abbey Road’, ‘The Beatles’ aka ‘The White Album’ and ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’. In 1965, the best acts from 1964 remain (The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Dave Clark Five), some of the others that had just begun to dent the Hot 100 in 1964 flourished in 1965 (Herman’s Hermits, The Kinks), some acts that starred in 1964 were already fading (Gerry and The Pacemakers, The Searchers, Billy J. Kramer with The Dakotas, Chad and Jeremy) while new groups were waiting in the wings and eager to start making their mark on the American charts (The Who, The Moody Blues, The Yardbirds). As the year progresses, week by week, we will witness the stranglehold on the Hot 100 by established British Invasion acts and be amazed by the initial records released by new British artists which may become some of our favourite musical acts for years to come. We will also see American talent, again both established (The Beach Boys, The 4 Seasons, The Four Tops, The Supremes) and new (The Byrds, The Turtles, The Lovin’ Spoonful, Sonny and Cher, Gary Lewis and The Playboys, Simon and Garfunkel), compete week to week with the UK acts as they try to regain control of their own country’s record charts.
The Music of 1965: A weekly look at America’s top singles in the year that The British Invasion peaked examines the Hot 100 chart for each week in 1965. Each chapter examines one week of 1965, beginning with the #1 song, other songs in the Top 10, fast rising records and a sampling of the new entries. The rest of the chapter focuses on different aspects of the chart that week, sometimes interesting stories about the songs themselves, other times the songwriters or the artists, famous artists before they became famous or strange coincidences and amusing trivia. Readers will be able to follow week by week as The British Invasion acts dominate the US pop chart in 1965 to an extent not seen before or since. I am sure at least some of these 1965 artists and songs will bring back potent memories.