“I Want To Hold Your Hand” didn’t just introduce The Beatles to America in 1964. It also set the British Invasion in motion. Not long after the song debuted, many other British artists came bounding over to US shores with their own hits.
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By 1965, the British Invasion was pretty much unstoppable here in America. These four chart-topping songs from that year led the charge.
“I’m Telling You Now” by Freddie And The Dreamers
Every musical movement needs an act that skews toward the lighter side of things. Certainly, Freddie and the Dreamers offered that change of pace for the British Invasion. The band was known for the rhythmic dance moves that they’d do in unison while they played on stage. And lead singer Freddie Garrity would hop around wildly while pulling faces in between singing. Freddie and company also knew where to get their material. Mitch Murray was as reliable as they came as a kind of one-man British Tin Pan Alley for a variety of British Invasion bands. Murray wrote the bouncy “I’m Telling You Now” with Garrity. The song was by far and away the Dreamers’ biggest American hit.
“The Game Of Love” by Wayne Fontana & The Mindbenders
The Mindbenders ended up being one of the most resilient British Invasion bands. In their first incarnation, they served as a vehicle for frontman Wayne Fontana. Fontana led them to a Top 5 British hit in 1964 with the unforgettably titled “Um, Um, Um, Um, Um, Um”. That paved the way to “The Game Of Love”, which was written by Clint Ballard Jr., who also wrote “You’re No Good”, a No. 1 hit for Linda Ronstadt in 1975. Fontana decided on a whim to leave the band not long after “The Game Of Love” did its damage. But the Mindbenders carried on. A year after Fontana skedaddled, they rallied with the ballad “A Groovy Kind Of Love”. That song stalled at No. 2 in the US, although Phil Collins hit No. 1 with it two decades later.
“Mrs. Brown, You’ve Got A Lovely Daughter” by Herman’s Hermits
Herman’s Hermits were fronted by Peter Noone, who’d enjoyed success as an actor in Great Britain before stepping out as the lead of this outfit. Like many of their contemporaries, the Hermits didn’t write much of their own material. But they had a knack for making songs their own, both those written specifically for them and those that they picked up from elsewhere. Trevor Peacock wrote “Mrs. Brown, You’ve Got A Lovely Daughter” for a 1963 television play. It was covered informally by many British acts of the era as a live crowd-pleaser. No one played his thick accent to the hilt on the song. It was one of two songs by the band that landed at No. 1 that fateful year. “I’m Henry VIII, I Am” also hit the top.
“(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” by The Rolling Stones
The Stones had enjoyed some chart success in America in their first few years of recording. But they hadn’t achieved anything near the level of their nominal rivals, The Beatles. Then Keith Richards hit the sack one night, and everything changed. Richards heard the riff in his sleep, quickly dashed it off into a tape recorder, and went back to bed. Mick Jagger tackled the lyrics. The song offered the clearest glimpse to that point of how the Jagger/Richards songwriting partnership could set the band apart. “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” spent an impressive four weeks on top of the US charts in July 1965. From that point forward, the Stones were constants on the US charts. In fact, they’d hit the top again later that year with “Get Off Of My Cloud”.
Photo by Mark and Colleen Hayward/Redferns
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