American Reacts to The Collapse Of British Beat Music!

[@NotesOfBoredom]

My mum ran Rory Storm's fan club, met all The Beatles - had tea with John and Cynthia, and George's mum and mine wrote regularly to each other...

[@papercup2517]

How wonderful! Louise Harrison seems to have been a nice lady, very supportive of George's musical interests. I hear Rory's Mum used to make tea for them all (Beatles, Hurricanes et al) when they all gathered at his house after the pubs/ clubs had closed; that they'd hang out there and keep the party going... And wasn't the lovely Iris (both George and Paul's girlfriend/ crush at various times) Rory's sister?

[@calibrax]

Merseybeat is pronounced as if the S is a Z. And nobody in the UK has "bangs". It's called a "fringe".

[@ChrisStewart-mn5wm]

"Her bangs are amazing" is still a valid phrase in the land of the scouse...

[@Cleow33]

Came here to say this. A big Beatles fan needs to pronounce this correctly.

[@G0Lg0Th4N]

​@@ChrisStewart-mn5wmdon't have to be a Scouser to enjoy a good bang.

[@digidol52]

If you had dated that "schoolgirl" you would have been in for a big (or even medium-sized) surprise.

[@adriancampbell6924]

The continuous mispronunciation of Mersey was doing my head in. I couldn't watch the whole thing for fear for my PC monitor.

[@CJLloyd]

I'd love to see you react to the a video on the evolution of ska, esp. the two-tone era. I'd a sadly overlooked genre outside the UK, but so important within the country, and a phenomenal sound.

[@Isleofskye]

Tru Say,Mi Bredda. Preach those words,Bredrin...

[@LilMonkeyFella87]

Merseybeat was an iconic sound for the time, but Ive heard it said, if you wanted to make money, you had to leave Liverpool. The Merseybeat fans wanted to keep them to themselves in Liverpool, but a lot of bands left to try be a bigger name and be more successful, which allowed new music to replace them. If you don't mind longer videos, I have a roughly 45 minute documentary up on the rise of the Beatles, which also talks about some of the other Merseybeat bands which came up alongside them. Really interesting watch, has some rare Beatles footage too exclusive to the documentary "I Was There: When the Beatles Played the Cavern - FULL DOCUMENTARY - 2011 HD"

[@MThree1215]

You present the best stuff. Thoughtful.

[@robopecha]

this was a good one. time-traveling to the 60s is on my bucket list. and it was so inspiring in the end.

[@chrisharris5497]

As someone else has mentioned Mersey is pronounced Merzee, as it is based from Liverpool and the main River in Liverpool is the River Mersey (Merzee). And yes we don’t have bangs, it’s called a fringe lol

[@annedunne4526]

I remember " the Searchers" and " Gerry and the pacemakers" and " the Dave Clarke 5", the sound of my childhood. But I was 4 in 1959 so it's a long time ago

[@Isleofskye]

I was 5 then Anne and though, occasionally,at 70,I forget what I am about to say if I meander and go off on a tangent,I have excellent recall from my early days and can name all 43 kids in my South East London Primar School from 1963 and all the old Groups. Memory and the ability to retain and recall information over time, can be a strange thing.

[@terrypeaker]

What made the Beatles unique at the time was the fact that they wrote their own songs. while most of the other bands were looking out for rare American imports. The drummer in the Pretty Things who you thought looked cute..is actually a guy !

[@scotmax8426]

great video and great reaction as always . cheers. my one family story about the Beatles was my gran taking my mum to a theatre somewhere in Glasgow to watch them, not allowing her to wait outside the stage door to meet them, but insisting they went home. low and behold the bus route went past the stage door and the bus stopped with my mum and gran sat at the window as the Beatles came out, she was on a bus, but only a few feet away from them :D lol. musta been so cool.

[@wulfgold]

Ships coming in from the US would use unused/unsold records as ballast in the bottom of the ships to help keep them stable whilst crossing the ocean. When they'd arrive, the vinyl would go to make space for cargo + sold off en-masse. Was often soul music coming in from Detroit and became its own scene "Northern Soul" - some amazing songs, you could still go to a Northern Soul night over here and have a blast. P.S. the Nuggets (1+2) compilations are REALLY worth a listen. + I'd agree with those that say The Kinks "invented" heavy metal with *that* All Day and All of the Night riff.

[@billspencer9430]

Also Superman comics?

[@martyjones1413]

I enjoy your insight, but I also like how you want to know details. I'm a 67 baby, born to a Liverpudlian dad! This explains a lot!

[@gvigary1]

I really enjoyed the more thoughtful, meaty nature of this reaction, much better than the WatchMojo fluff. And I learned some stuff too.

[@PatriciaTaylor-fi4le]

I started going to the Cavern and the Iron Door in 1964, so just missed the Beatles by about 8 months (their last appearance was in August 1963), but I did know lots of their contemporaries, the Merseybeats, the Big Three, Kingsize Taylor, the Chants etc etc.....a magical time to be a teenager in Liverpool

[@beverleyrankin3482]

The Hippy Hippy Shake, by The Swingling Blue Jeans, was the first single I bought (with my mum’s help, as I was 7 in 1964).

[@bwilson5401]

They sound "Beatleish" because they're all from Merseyside.Its a very distinct accent. The reason the Beatles achieved greater success, was because they evolved with every album.

[@AlBarzUK]

In the early ‘60’s I was in Croydon (Surrey back then) I booked seats in advance based on info from NME (New Musical Express). One concert was “Merseybeat” - more than a dozen bands from Liverpool - they’d run in, plug in, play one number, unplug, run off. Then the next band did the same. Bam, bam, bam all evening, ending with the group “The Merseybeats” who did six numbers to climax the night. By the way - the Gerry & the PMs show had the Rolling Stones as a support act. 😊

[@emmagriffiths9156]

I don’t know how familiar you are with the small faces but I would definitely recommend small faces under review. Such an underrated band.Steve Marriott,what a legend

[@martinstarnes2237]

Please be aware that the term Freakbeat is a retrospective term first used in the eighties, whereas the term Merseybeat existed at the time. And that is a fundamental difference. There was no such thing as Freakbeat at the time, and because some journalist came up with the term at a later date, it actually skews the history of rock 'n' roll somewhat. Something that didn't actually exist now is believed to have existed!!!!!! An example of history being nothing more than what historians write about the past, methinks.

[@trashandcheese3636]

And anyway Freakbeat properly refers to those "neither mod nor psych" bands of the mid-late '60s, of the Creation/Johns Children ilk.

[@garyrigby21]

School girl? That's a guy! His name was Viv Prince the drummer from the Pretty things

[@janolaful]

I was going to say that think he needs to go to speck savers the only band I remember who had a women drummer was the The Honeycombs.

[@sg-yq8pm]

He was JOKING, ffs.

[@janolaful]

@@sg-yq8pm no he wasn't but I couldn't give a flying f.

[@Spagmanix]

@@janolaful Remember The Liverbirds i.e. ;-)

[@janolaful]

@@Spagmanix why do hang around me oof forgot about the all girl band lol 😆

[@timegan1884]

Awesome watch. Very interesting video. Great music. Fond memories.

[@Isleofskye]

LOOK CLOSELY at that Single by "The Score" and on the label, it says "Dick James Music" the Guy from Secca Records who turned down The Beatles...

[@brigidsingleton1596]

JJLA fancies the male drummer? Ooh... John Lennon apparently liked the name of Buddy Holly's backing band, The Crickets and originally came up with The Silver Beatles - to be like The Crickets but _not_ spelt like the insect beetles, to make them different and thus help to make them more memorable. 'The Silver Beatles' was then deemed too long, so shortened to 'The Beatles' ...et voila!! 🎵🎸💙🎸💙🎸💙🥁💙💕

[@alistairwade258]

Graham Nash from The Hollies went on to form supergroup Crosby, Stills & Nash

[@Chris-c7i8d]

For me, the crucial thing that defines Beat music / Beatles music is that it had the pace and sound of Rock and Roll from the 50's but it wasn't just an up tempo12 bar I, IV, V pattern, they actually had new chords and middle 8's etc. So to me the point of it (at the time) was that it had the style of Rock and Roll but chordal developments of the crooners.

[@Ayns.L14A]

I'm gonna say it again JJ you need to watch the movie ...."The Boat That Rocked".............everytime pirate radio is mentioned i'm gonna say the same....

[@Isleofskye]

I'm 70 in London and got thousands of old records and love music but I have never heard the term "Freakbeat" lol

[@billythedog-309]

You'd expect bangs from a drummer.

[@thabudmaster]

Love these music history videos, nice ✌🏼✌🏼☮☮💗💗

[@papercup2517]

I just saw this documentary the other day. Having lived through the era being discussed, I was puzzled by the term 'freak-beat' since I'd never heard of it. Following a discussion in the comments, it turned out it was a term invented by a music writer sometime in the 1980s, so potentially up to 20 years after the events in question, which I'm not sure the writer was old enough to have experienced first hand. He used it as a label to try and describe those changes he noticed had happened in popular music over the course of the 1960s to 70s, as the sweet pop and bouncy beat sounds of the first half of the sixties evolved into and were eventually replaced by a heavier/ harder edged psychedelic/ rock sound. In reality, it was just a case of some of the bands naturally evolving along with a general movement in the zeitgeist. People who were hip to what was going on were becoming more introspective as a result of new ideas, drugs and/or meditation, and with more willingness to open up to and express at length heavier emotions and ideas from their subconscious, with music to go with it, the older, 2 - 3 minute songs with their more innocent and/or superficial lyrics simply went out of fashion. So, no, to anyone else who might think their memory is failing in their old age, it's OK - 'freak-beat' was never an actual thing!

[@elwynj5379]

Around min 33 I think the band with the lady is Episode Six, It collapsed when Ian Gillan and Roger Glover left to join Deep Purple in 1969.😊

[@nolaj114]

My brother is 9 years older than me and the first record he bought as a teenager was Beatles "Love Me Do". Mine was Best of Cream. It really was a time of musical evolution. He also bought John Lennon's books and I read the poem "Our Dad" out loud and he got into trouble from mum for having a smutty book with the word "penis" in it. I just thought they'd misspelled "pennies"..lol.. Times really were different. 😅

[@stewrmo]

You NEED to visit the Cavern if you do visit us! One love from Scotland. 💙 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🦄

[@GayJayU26]

I love your knowledge of music

[@beverleyarscott8589]

This is the soundtrack of my teenage years. Every teenage lad had an old guitar - new guitars were really expensive and subject to tax. My brothers played in bands and practiced in our house gigging round the pubs. The northern bands played in clubs on a rota every Sat night.

[@GayJayU26]

My husband worked at Lord John on Carnaby Street in the fashion studios

[@legend9335]

Your best yet IMO. Vert very interesting. I was around at that time and never considered the intellectuality of it all. It was all about pulling birds and can I afford another pint and I have got a long walk home.

[@pfella1878]

Im from liverpool and as a kid there was a pub on the corner of our street called "The merseybeat" and it had a giant guitar outside😂

[@trashandcheese3636]

Merseybeat bands were famous for acquiring and covering records that were obscure in the States. The local "beatification" of Chan Romero is only the beginning - how many Americans would ever have heard of Richie Barrett, Eddie Fontaine, Bobby Comstock , or the Jodimars, if the Beatles hadn't covered their songs?

[@GayJayU26]

I saw all these groups at our local dancehall, a different one every week.

[@alisonrodger3360]

One of The Hollies, not Graham is all I know, came round to my mum's house to take her on a date....my Grandad slammed the door in his face 😯😂 Do check out some Northern Soul. This is the first time I have ever heard the term 'freakbeat', somebody must have needed a chapter title....But then I also don't remember calling the synth based music of the early 80's 'New Wave' at the time.

[@sjbict]

JJLA loving these Music social history vids I grew up in this time and had a small transistor radio that I listened to pirate radio on Especially Radio Caroline and a couple oof European stations like Luxemburg and Hilversum.. have you seen this one on Motown stars first tour of the UK. Stevie Wonder was 15 "When Motown came to Britain" BBC doc 2003

[@Cnw2410]

The Cavern was more than damp - he's right, the water was dripping off the walls, even when I went there with my cousin a few years after the really crazy times.

[@SH-yo3du]

You’ll never walk alone is Liverpool Football club’s theme song

[@steveshorrock]

They started to write their own songs! xx

[@brigidsingleton1596]

p.s. Makes me laugh the way young JJ tells _us_ (oldie Beatles fans) who Ringo used to drum for!! We were there, JJ, we lived through this era and, we know this stuff and probably better rhan the (AI) narrator does!! I used to like 'The Searchers', and 'Gerry and the Pacemakers' (and it's 'Gerry with the 'J' sound, like Jerry - (I have heard a lot of Americans say Gerry like Garry - sounding like the 'g' in golf, instead of the 'g' in giraffe!!) I used to like 'Freddie & The Dreamers' 'Bilky J.Kramer & The Dakotas', 'Herman's Hermits' - lead singer Peter Noone... The Hollies (my favourite Tony Hicks, guitarist), The Zombies - (lead singer Colin Blunstone) The Dave Clarke Five (Dave Clarke was the drummer, Mike Smith the lead singer), Helen Shapiro, (just 14 when she came to the fore with "Walking Back To Happiness". (- "woop-ba, oh ya-ay, yay"!!) I liked The Yardbirds, The Who, Cream, Dusty Springfield, Sandi Shaw, Lulu, The Kinks, The Small Faces - Steve Marriot, lead singer... The Applejacks, The Honeycombs... (However, I'd never heard of "Freakbeat" til this video!!) clothes-wise, my schoolfriend and I, in our late teens wore hotpants dungarees and a blouse with kneeboots, and I wore mini dresses* (one was made from a long tee-shirt* on which I had hand-painted the iconic 'Mickey Mouse' head shape!!) and these we wore to go to 'The Roebuck' dive bar (in Lewisham) to listen to live C&W bands,🎵 (& also to The Brockley Jack' to listen to live bands play pop songs🎵 etc) as we drank various alcohols 👍🍻🤭🍸🤭🍹🤭🍷🤭🍻🤭👍 💕 (🤔aged just _17_ ...!!🤭🤭)

[@papercup2517]

I think the Beatles were well aware of the multiple connotations of the word 'beat'. After all, they were themselves at various times described as beatniks, and at some point they'd played back-up for a well-known beat poet's live performances in which they had to improvise their instrumentation, following whatever the poetry conveyed to them in the moment. Their arty friends they met in Hamburg were attuned to beat and existentialist European culture, and Stuart (their original bass player) who was in a relationship with one of them (Astrid) is thought to have come up with the 'B-E-A-T-les' variation of the spelling, IIRC. Or else, if we prefer John's explanation, it just came out a Flaming Pie one day, and there it was - 'Beatles-with-an-A' 😀

[@highpath4776]

Worth you looking at the "cool british singles" series

[@gwaptiva]

It's always astonishing that the Beatles era only lasted 6 or 7 years, and all the other bands didn' teven last that long; In 1969/70, it had already evolved to Cream, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple and MC5 (to name but a few). 5 years after the Briitsh Invasion...

[@highpath4776]

Listen to the Pete Best Beatles tracks (inc the later CD cuts of dropped ones) Pete was a little bit jazz, but also more strict time than ringo. Ringo got a lot more dynamic, as he was in Rory Storm, and although on the beat made move along

[@chrismoir4835]

liverpool yanks,merchant seamen who returned to liverpool with jazz,blues rock and folk,plus suits ans shoes.

[@pfella1878]

This.......

[@vaudevillian7]

Wasn’t familiar with Wimple Winch but that’s very much my cup of tea

[@Craig-C]

Mersey is pronounced with a Z like the guy mentioned below. Also, Mersey is the actual river that flows through Liverpool (AKA Merseyside). Hope thats clear.

[@AncientBriton1948]

Saying 'Look at that schoolgirls bangs' really does mean something else here, the word is fringe unless of course you were commenting on her bangs? I thought it was a bloke anyway 🇬🇧

[@tobeski]

There is a fantastically awful movie called "Gonks Go Beat" with lots of amazing musicians. British film critic Mark Kermode describes it as "The Plan 9 From Outer Space of British musicals". There's a great track called 'Harmonica' which is on KZbin which will give you a flavour of it

[@ladylove3636]

All the bands you mentioned were what radio sounded like in the 80s X

[@GayJayU26]

At the time we never used the term Freak eat. Never heard of it.

[@corringhamdepot4434]

Makes sense of the Beatles always saying that they would only last for a few months, when they first started.

[@daverigby23]

There's no C is Mersey

[@onbedoeldekut1515]

Nowhere in Britain is more than 70 miles from the coast. Distance from ports means nowt.

[@pfella1878]

Of course it does! Liverpool was the gateway to America and vice versa......all the sailors from liverpool on these Atlantic crossings would bring albums home or the music with them.....nobody In fukin Skegness was doing it😂😂

[@Kelly-MarieLott]

why does it sound wrong? er ... little children, you better not tell on me ....

[@trashandcheese3636]

I assume you're joking - even before the middle-eight we've established what the song is about

[@Thurgosh_OG]

The Beatles were originally called the Quarrymen, when the band was formed in 1960 and later changed it to the Beatles in 1963, so I don't think there was an actual connection to the term 'Beat music' in there.

[@tighabhinn]

Surely there's a simple explanation for 'beat' related to heartbeat..bass drum etc ?

[@johndouglass6707]

What made them different is that the Beatles wrote their own music and not recycled American music. Most Liverpool bands were playing all the same few American music

[@YummyBrummy]

Thats why they were called The BEATles. Not the insect Beetle

[@pfella1878]

The beatles tommorow never knows is the first drum and bass song ......EVER !

[@frumpypigskin8009]

Check this out Macc Lads, The Most Banned Band in Britain

[@danellis-jones1591]

You need to listen to the other popular music at the time. It was Matt Monro and easy listening. Few would have heard rock n roll before because it wasn't played on any radio stations at the time. Music was slow, semi-orchestral and very conservative. This was a true revolution

[@trevorcook4439]

The Action are great.

[@RabidJohn]

At the start, the Beatles were just another Merseybeat band. They were definitely not the first to have success in the UK. They certainly made more of it than any of their predecessors, though.

[@grabtharshammer]

Excellent Reaction - (for a change) ... ... ... (just joking ;) ) - No, it REALLY was very interesting, especially hearing John Lennon's take on his life.

[@Mike-James]

Now I know I'm old.

[@winsfordtown]

What made the Beatles different was the songwriting of Lennon and McCartney. They know longer needed to fight for cover songs among their contemparies.

[@trashandcheese3636]

And what made them evolve so rapidly? Less the influence of George Martin, more the influence of the old sweet leaf!

[@thomasharper1927]

My nan used to go to the Cavern Club when she was younger and she often says that starting off The Swinging Blue Jeans were much better than The Beatles. Personally, I think she's just trying to be cool 😂

[@spursgog835]

Yet the Rolling Stones cut across all of this to heavily influence music throughout the 60s and beyond.

[@pfella1878]

Funny the way the scouse accent has evolved from the fella at around 10 minutes 30 in

[@alwynemcintyre2184]

It probably sounded off a bit, everything was mimed back then. The sound and the performance a lot of the time were misaligned.

[@garyrigby21]

Rory Storm killed himself in 1974

[@laylasean-u3n]

Yeah...The Beat-les...I see what they did there.

[@Bryt25]

OMG that narrator sure knew how to kill the spirit of music with words!! It's all rock music ;-)

[@paladin5163]

What the hell is freakbeat

[@martinstarnes2237]

Couldn't agree more. See my response above.

[@christinewright110]

I'm a 50's baby and never heard of Freakbeat

[@paladin5163]

@@christinewright110 Yes me too.

[@celestialteapot309]

so where are John Lennon's paintings, are they as bad as Paul McCartneys, or David Bowies?

[@angelavara-u6l]

the girl with bangs was a boy and he had a fringe

[@onbedoeldekut1515]

(for an American) Mersey should sound like merzy, not mercy.

[@joe2tonepringle352]

lol subtitles on...when listening to a bin dipper (scouser) tbf even the subtitles need subtitles

[@pfella1878]

Always one jealous Manc 😂😂

[@Ingens_Scherz]

This sounds very much like an AI generated video. You can tell by the voice, among other, more subtle signs. Doesn't mean it's bad ;) But I'm pretty sure JJ is the only "real" thing about this though!

[@GormlyKeep]

Freewhelling's content is simplistic, badly researched (possibly AI narration) crap. BTW, Pete Best called it the atom beat

[@Blink3h69]

Definitely sounds like AI.

[@SH-yo3du]

The fact that you need to keep stopping the videos to further clarify the subject suggests that you need to make your own videos. I would watch them

[@julianbarber4708]

Appalling AI subtitles. Also, I've never heard of freakbeat..

[@adriancampbell6924]

It was a guy on the drums, not a schoolgirl.

[@janolaful]

You really need to stop comparing all to the beatles 😒 most of these bands were around way before perhaps the beatles listened to them.

[@Jamienomore]

You got it the wrong way round. It was British Music that affected America and the World. Not American Music that affected British Music.

[@davidjohns4745]

A "Beadle' is an officer of the church. I don't think the Beatles, were that.

[@VeritySnatch]

i think that the advent of decent drugs killed beat music, because people realised its pretty shit

[@martinstarnes2237]

Ha ha! There may be some truth in that, methinks............