British Invasion

In the mid-'60s, the British Invasion stormed across the Atlantic with life-changing force, slamming into our shores with more excitement than we'd experienced since the dawn of rock 'n' roll a decade before. Consider the Rolling Stones, whose street-fighting image redefined the pretty-boy pop ideal, and their Windy City way with the blues lit the fuse for that primal explosion of young lust, "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction." The Who just might've been the first punk rock band; just listen as they leer and stutter their way across the power-chord-propelled "My Generation." And on the poppier side, the Bee Gees blended seamless brotherly harmonies with a pinch of soul and a dash of tuneful tartness on the heart-in-a-handbasket plea "To Love Somebody."

Find out what made the British Invasion an unstoppable force, in Next Steps.

Being a music obsessive during the British Invasion was like being a kid with a sweet tooth locked in a chocolate factory — everywhere you listened there was yet another new-favorite-band set to explode. Before their white-satin nights, the Moody Blues were a Birmingham beat group, whose first singer, Denny Laine, held a world of sadness in his lovelorn voice on the tearful, R&B-tinged ballad "Go Now!" London's Yardbirds boasted a stellar staff of six-string superheroes, including Jeff Beck, who turned the world's ears inside out with his fuzz-guitar fury on "Heart Full of Soul." And while the Animals retooled U.S. R&B for their Newcastle blues, their organ-laced howl of frustration "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" sounded like nothing that had come before.

Dig deep into the heart and soul of the British Invasion, in Deep Cuts.

Welcome to our British Invasion Deep Cuts, where you'll experience the full spectrum of Union Jack jams from every corner of the mid-'60s scene. You'll find hints of the psychedelic revolution just around the corner in Status Quo's wah-wah-washed "Pictures of Matchstick Men." If it's garage rock you're after, uncover raw, rootsy rock 'n' roll riots like the Swinging Blue Jeans' "Hippy Hippy Shake." And, remember, there was no "groups only" clause in the movement's charter, either — get ready for that lump-in-the-throat sensation from folk-rock troubadour Donovan's heartbreaking "Catch the Wind," or get a giddy jolt of Swingin' London pop from songbird Petula Clark's "I Know a Place." They're all part of British pop's original royal family.

In an era when girl groups and teen idols dominated the U.S. charts, the British Invasion stormed our shores like nothing before or since, its musical and cultural explosion not only making rock groups fresh and exciting again, but also redefining what "pop" could — and should — mean. In the mid-'60s, nothing seemed hipper to Yanks than being a Brit, especially one who swung a guitar or manhandled a microphone. From the back-alley, blues-drenched rock 'n' roll of the Rolling Stones and the Pretty Things to the heavenly harmonies and dazzling pop artistry of the Bee Gees and the Hollies, the leading lights of the British Invasion colored their music with the full 64-crayon box — and we've got 75 of the Invasion's greatest moments on wax to show you exactly what we mean.