In the 1950s, Britain was well placed to receive American rock and roll music and culture.[102] It shared a common language, had been exposed to American culture through the stationing of troops in the country, and shared many social developments, including the emergence of distinct youth sub-cultures, which in Britain included the Teddy Boys and the rockers.[103] Trad jazz became popular in the UK, and many of its musicians were influenced by related American styles, including boogie woogie and the blues.[104] The skiffle craze, led by Lonnie Donegan, utilised amateurish versions of American folk songs and encouraged many of the subsequent generation of rock and roll, folk, R&B and beat musicians to start performing.[105] At the same time British audiences were beginning to encounter American rock and roll, initially through films including Blackboard Jungle (1955) and Rock Around the Clock (1956).[106] Both movies featured the Bill Haley & His Comets hit “Rock Around the Clock“, which first entered the British charts in early 1955 – four months before it reached the US pop charts – topped the British charts later that year and again in 1956, and helped identify rock and roll with teenage delinquency.[107]
The initial response of the British music industry was to attempt to produce copies of American records, recorded with session musicians and often fronted by teen idols.[102] More grassroots British rock and rollers soon began to appear, including Wee Willie Harris and Tommy Steele.[102] During this period American Rock and Roll remained dominant; however, in 1958 Britain produced its first “authentic” rock and roll song and star, when Cliff Richard reached number 2 in the charts with “Move It“.[108] At the same time, TV shows such as Six-Five Special and Oh Boy! promoted the careers of British rock and rollers like Marty Wilde and Adam Faith.[102] Cliff Richard and his backing band, the Shadows, were the most successful home grown rock and roll based acts of the era.[109] Other leading acts included Billy Fury, Joe Brown, and Johnny Kidd & the Pirates, whose 1960 hit song “Shakin’ All Over” became a rock and roll standard.[102]
As interest in rock and roll was beginning to subside in America in the late 1950s and early 1960s, it was taken up by groups in major British urban centers like Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, and London.[110] About the same time, a British blues scene developed, initially led by purist blues followers such as Alexis Korner and Cyril Davies who were directly inspired by American musicians such as Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf.[111] Many groups moved towards the beat music of rock and roll and rhythm and blues from skiffle, like the Quarrymen who became the Beatles, producing a form of rock and roll revivalism that carried them and many other groups to national success from about 1963 and to international success from 1964, known in America as the British Invasion.[112] Groups that followed the Beatles included the beat-influenced Freddie and the Dreamers, Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders, Herman’s Hermits and the Dave Clark Five.[113] Early British rhythm and blues groups with more blues influences include the Animals, the Rolling Stones, and the Yardbirds.[114]