Many British Invasion artists who were scoring hits in America in the early to mid-60s petered out not long after that. But a few of those acts managed to withstand all the way into the 80s. And they even enjoyed a little chart success.
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It doesn’t hurt that the four bands listed here stand among the most decorated in music history. Here’s how they were still making a pop chart impact in the MTV era.
The Rolling Stones
The Stones hadn’t coughed up any of their commercial momentum heading into the 80s. Their first single of the decade, “Emotional Rescue”, went to the Top 10. However, relations between band leaders Mick Jagger and Keith Richards hit an all-time low. Because the two didn’t want to spend time together writing a new album, the band went back into their vaults to find unfinished tracks for their 1981 release. They came up smelling like roses with the massive hit album Tattoo You, which featured the Top 5 hit “Tattoo You”. The band kept scoring solid hits as the decade progressed, even though they nearly broke up in the middle of the decade before Jagger and Richards buried the hatchet.
The Who
The Who had to deal with all kinds of issues that stymied their momentum heading into the 80s. Just a few weeks after their 1978 album Who Are You was released, drummer Keith Moon passed. On top of that, songwriter Pete Townshend was dealing with his own personal problems while also trying to allot material to his solo career. Nonetheless, with Kenny Jones on board, The Who came out smoking on their first single of the 80s. “You Better You Bet” roared to the Top 20 in 1981. A year later, “Athena”, from the album It’s Hard, gave them another Top 40 hit. Unfortunately, that would be the last of their career, as Townshend briefly shuttered the band. They wouldn’t release another studio album until 2006.
The Kinks
The Kinks endured a somewhat rocky road with American audiences. After coming out of the gate with three straight Top 10 hits in 1964, their momentum flagged in the second half of the decade when they were banned from touring in the States. Even as they shed some of lead singer/songwriter Ray Davies’ conceptual ambitions in the latter half of the 70s, the band still endured a long singles’ slump in America. Then came 1982 and the song “Come Dancing”, the first single off the band’s album State Of Confusion. The nostalgic track hit home with US audiences, rising all the way to No. 6. It was The Kinks’ first Top 10 hit in America in a dozen years.
The Hollies
Even after their first flush of success in the mid-60s, The Hollies would rise out of nowhere once every couple of years after that with a single that captured the US public’s imagination. They did so with such wildly disparate songs as “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother”, “Long Cool Woman In A Black Dress”, and “The Air That I Breathe”, all Top 10 hits in America. It seemed like the last of those smashes would also be their last hurrah, as they then went eight years without coming close to hitting the Top 40. Then, in 1982, they surprised everyone with a No. 29 cover of the Supremes’ classic “Stop In The Name Of Love”. The song reunited them with Graham Nash for the first time since the late 60s.
Photo by Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images.
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