0:00:01 > 0:00:05America - the promised land for British youth in the '60s.
0:00:07 > 0:00:10I mean, America's the Holy Grail. For music, for us.
0:00:10 > 0:00:13It wasn't...Slovenia.
0:00:13 > 0:00:21From 1964 onwards, a group of British pioneers would get in their covered wagons and go west.
0:00:21 > 0:00:25# I wanna hold your hand... #
0:00:28 > 0:00:32It was such a thrill to actually go to play in America
0:00:32 > 0:00:35and do a little bit of research,
0:00:35 > 0:00:38blues clubs, things like that, it was just...like heaven.
0:00:38 > 0:00:43The British Invasion would export a new brand of youth to the States.
0:00:46 > 0:00:47The Beatles.
0:00:47 > 0:00:49The Animals.
0:00:49 > 0:00:51The Who.
0:00:51 > 0:00:52Whoosh!
0:00:52 > 0:00:54The Hollies. Ooh!
0:00:54 > 0:00:57And that's just a few.
0:00:57 > 0:00:59Made Bob Dylan and Elvis a bit shaky.
0:01:02 > 0:01:06This is how the Brits rocked America in the '60s.
0:01:06 > 0:01:10# I can't hide
0:01:10 > 0:01:13# Yeah you got that something
0:01:13 > 0:01:17# I think you'll understand
0:01:17 > 0:01:20# When I say that something
0:01:22 > 0:01:25# I want to hold your hand... #
0:01:27 > 0:01:29MUSIC: "Back In The USA" by Chuck Berry
0:01:37 > 0:01:42In the 1950s, we were living in a new world order.
0:01:42 > 0:01:46# Oh well oh well I feel so good today... #
0:01:46 > 0:01:49The sun had set on the British Empire,
0:01:49 > 0:01:53whilst our American saviours had become the dominant world power.
0:01:53 > 0:01:58# Jet propelled back home from overseas to the USA
0:01:58 > 0:02:02# New York, Los Angeles Oh how I yearn for you... #
0:02:02 > 0:02:04We were poor and they were rich,
0:02:04 > 0:02:10and as we couldn't afford the air fare, American rock'n'roll was one of the key portals
0:02:10 > 0:02:13through which we could explore this exciting new world.
0:02:17 > 0:02:20We heard those Chuck Berry records when we were at school.
0:02:20 > 0:02:25He'd tell these stories, Back In The USA, where he's talking about a hamburger sizzling
0:02:25 > 0:02:30night and day, we really didn't have hamburgers over here at that time.
0:02:32 > 0:02:35# Did I miss the skyscrapers? Did I miss the long freeway?
0:02:35 > 0:02:37# Uh huh huh, oh yeah
0:02:37 > 0:02:41# From the coast of California to the shores of the Delaware Bay... #
0:02:42 > 0:02:46The whole lifestyle that he was putting forward,
0:02:46 > 0:02:51and the enthusiasm, the drive of his music...
0:02:51 > 0:02:54It built up this wonderful picture
0:02:54 > 0:02:56of this Mecca, if you like, of music.
0:02:56 > 0:03:00And attitude and freedom.
0:03:02 > 0:03:05And whether it was or wasn't, this is what we all believed.
0:03:05 > 0:03:09# Looking hard for a drive-in, searching for a corner cafe... #
0:03:09 > 0:03:11It was just absolute magic.
0:03:11 > 0:03:15# Where hamburgers sizzle on an open grill night and day... #
0:03:17 > 0:03:21However, by 1963, American rock'n'roll actually looked like this.
0:03:21 > 0:03:27# Now I love a girl and Ruby is her name
0:03:27 > 0:03:29# Hear me talking... #
0:03:32 > 0:03:35It was teenagers writing for a teenage market.
0:03:35 > 0:03:40# What I say, whoah oh, Ruby, Ruby
0:03:40 > 0:03:42# How I want ya
0:03:42 > 0:03:46# Like a ghost I'm-a gonna haunt ya
0:03:46 > 0:03:50# Ruby, Ruby, Ruby will you be mine? #
0:03:51 > 0:03:57There were many of us solo American singers,
0:03:57 > 0:04:02Bobby Rydell, Frankie Avalon, Fabian,
0:04:02 > 0:04:07it was rock'n'roll, but mine was I think more special material.
0:04:09 > 0:04:12- # January - You start the year off fine
0:04:12 > 0:04:16- # February - You're my little Valentine
0:04:16 > 0:04:20- # March- I'm gonna march you down the aisle... #
0:04:22 > 0:04:25American pop had ground to a halt.
0:04:28 > 0:04:32The original energy and thrill of rock'n'roll had dissipated
0:04:32 > 0:04:36and had been replaced by an ersatz replica.
0:04:42 > 0:04:45It was a perfectly safe, grown-up soundtrack
0:04:45 > 0:04:46for the Mad Men era.
0:04:54 > 0:04:57The kind of classic rock'n'roll guys,
0:04:57 > 0:05:00Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard and even Elvis to a degree,
0:05:00 > 0:05:02had kind of been swept aside.
0:05:02 > 0:05:05Elvis had gone into the Army and become safe.
0:05:05 > 0:05:07Chuck Berry had been arrested,
0:05:07 > 0:05:10Jerry Lee Lewis had this scandal with his younger cousin.
0:05:10 > 0:05:15They'd been sidelined and music had become a lot safer.
0:05:17 > 0:05:19American pop was self-absorbed.
0:05:19 > 0:05:22Short-lived trends like preppy surf music
0:05:22 > 0:05:25meant all eyes were on the West Coast.
0:05:25 > 0:05:28Nobody so much as thought of looking east, towards the old country.
0:05:32 > 0:05:35There was no sense that these bands or musicians
0:05:35 > 0:05:37were going to be around for a long time and be artists.
0:05:37 > 0:05:40You're just ready for the next thing all the time
0:05:40 > 0:05:42and the next thing was always America.
0:05:42 > 0:05:45# Everybody's gone surfin'
0:05:45 > 0:05:48# Surfing USA
0:05:48 > 0:05:51# Everybody's gone surfin'
0:05:51 > 0:05:53# Surfing USA. #
0:05:53 > 0:05:55Whether it was going to be the Beach boys,
0:05:55 > 0:05:59having some hits in the early '60s and introducing a new sound.
0:05:59 > 0:06:03The idea that someone would come from England and enrich rock'n'roll
0:06:03 > 0:06:05was just...
0:06:05 > 0:06:08it was literally inconceivable.
0:06:08 > 0:06:12You couldn't formulate that idea. There was no basis for it.
0:06:16 > 0:06:19So on February 7th 1964,
0:06:19 > 0:06:23Britain's hottest rock'n'roll act would set off for America
0:06:23 > 0:06:25with modest expectations.
0:06:25 > 0:06:28How could a band from the crumbling, grey old country,
0:06:28 > 0:06:30hope to have any effect,
0:06:30 > 0:06:33on what to the Beatles, was the capital of their world?
0:06:38 > 0:06:40America, it's where it all came from.
0:06:40 > 0:06:47It's like blues, rock'n'roll, Elvis, the whole thing.
0:06:49 > 0:06:51Before that even, the Fred Astaire thing,
0:06:51 > 0:06:55it's always been coming out of America.
0:06:57 > 0:07:00First memory was getting off the plane
0:07:00 > 0:07:06in New York to a screaming mob that we didn't expect.
0:07:13 > 0:07:17What had happened was we'd heard about it on the plane.
0:07:17 > 0:07:20The pilot had radioed and said, "It's crazy here."
0:07:22 > 0:07:26The journalists heard about that and they said, "It's crazy there."
0:07:26 > 0:07:29That's good.
0:07:29 > 0:07:36We got off the plane, waving. It indeed was crazy.
0:07:40 > 0:07:42The Beatles' ecstatic welcome
0:07:42 > 0:07:46had been preceded by I Want To Hold Your Hand,
0:07:46 > 0:07:48which had topped the US chart a few weeks prior.
0:07:52 > 0:07:54With their cheek and lack of deference
0:07:54 > 0:07:56to the patriarchal American media,
0:07:56 > 0:07:59the Beatles seemed to be from another planet.
0:08:02 > 0:08:05There's a question, would you be quiet, please?
0:08:05 > 0:08:09- Would you please sing something?- No.
0:08:09 > 0:08:10- Sorry.- Next question.
0:08:10 > 0:08:13- But you can sing. - No, we need money first.
0:08:14 > 0:08:19- Are you going to get a haircut? - No.- I had one yesterday.
0:08:21 > 0:08:24My brother and I were just in a studio.
0:08:25 > 0:08:28The telephone rings, I pick it up.
0:08:28 > 0:08:30Grenada Television is on the other line
0:08:30 > 0:08:35asking if I'd be interested in making a film of the Beatles.
0:08:35 > 0:08:38They'll be arriving in two hours.
0:08:38 > 0:08:39I turned to my brother and said,
0:08:39 > 0:08:41"Who're the Beatles? Are they any good?"
0:08:41 > 0:08:46# How could I dance with another?
0:08:46 > 0:08:52# Oooh When I saw her standing there. #
0:08:52 > 0:08:54I had a producer on board,
0:08:54 > 0:08:57so we had no difficulty at all in meeting the Beatles
0:08:57 > 0:09:01and being with them day and night for a whole week.
0:09:01 > 0:09:06# I fall in love with her
0:09:06 > 0:09:09# She wouldn't dance with another... #
0:09:09 > 0:09:10We loved it.
0:09:10 > 0:09:13New York, baby.
0:09:15 > 0:09:18We were in the back of a car and we'd have a little tranny radio
0:09:18 > 0:09:20and you'd hear WINS.
0:09:20 > 0:09:22"Here we are, the Beatles are coming..."
0:09:22 > 0:09:24We'd go, "We're on the radio!"
0:09:24 > 0:09:28We're on the radio. Look at the big buildings.
0:09:28 > 0:09:31It's New York and they're talking about us on the radio.
0:09:31 > 0:09:33'Tomorrow night from 7 to 8... '
0:09:33 > 0:09:37We used to phone in the radio stations and they loved it.
0:09:37 > 0:09:39"I've got a Beatle on the line."
0:09:39 > 0:09:42Murray the K was one of the guys who kind of adopted us.
0:09:42 > 0:09:45I want to tell everybody, this is the Beatles station.
0:09:45 > 0:09:47They're telling us what to play.
0:09:47 > 0:09:48I've got more one-week of this
0:09:48 > 0:09:51and I'm going to become the fifth Beatle, baby. All right?
0:09:51 > 0:09:55OK, this is Paul McCartney, on WINS,
0:09:55 > 0:09:59and it's Marvin Gaye, singing, Pride and Joy.
0:10:01 > 0:10:04Yeah, baby, you got it.
0:10:09 > 0:10:12America was still stuck in the '50s,
0:10:12 > 0:10:13but in the UK,
0:10:13 > 0:10:18a Beatle-led youth revolution was in full swing by 1964.
0:10:23 > 0:10:26American kids were a year behind
0:10:26 > 0:10:30and they marvelled at these strange-looking Brits.
0:10:30 > 0:10:33The Beatles were equally shocked by the state of American youth.
0:10:36 > 0:10:39We felt it was a little bit backward.
0:10:39 > 0:10:45It hadn't had the youth revolution that we'd had in the UK
0:10:45 > 0:10:47and in Europe.
0:10:47 > 0:10:51I remember talking to fans and things and asking them questions.
0:10:51 > 0:10:54What about your boyfriend? And stuff.
0:10:54 > 0:10:57He'd be the guy with the flat top, the football playing guy,
0:10:57 > 0:11:01those kind of very old-fashioned values.
0:11:01 > 0:11:06It was like, oh, he's still like that, is he? OK.
0:11:06 > 0:11:07We didn't mind it.
0:11:07 > 0:11:10It just seemed a bit old-fashioned.
0:11:10 > 0:11:12They had a bit of catching up to do.
0:11:15 > 0:11:20Here were American girls going wild for distinctly un-macho Brits,
0:11:20 > 0:11:24an unprecedented threat to American manhood across the land.
0:11:25 > 0:11:29I think what the Beatles brought to America was an awakening
0:11:29 > 0:11:31that was a long time coming.
0:11:31 > 0:11:36We weren't expecting women in 1964
0:11:36 > 0:11:39to be expressing themselves emotionally like that in public,
0:11:39 > 0:11:47to be showing themselves as frenetic and hysterical and sexual.
0:11:47 > 0:11:49You didn't get that.
0:11:49 > 0:11:51Now that you've seen the Beatles, what do you think?
0:11:51 > 0:11:54They're unbelievable.
0:11:54 > 0:11:56I've never seen anything like it in my life.
0:12:00 > 0:12:04We were some exotic beast to them.
0:12:04 > 0:12:08Nobody had ever seen people with their hair all down like that
0:12:08 > 0:12:14and all the gear and the clothes and the mod look, you know?
0:12:14 > 0:12:17They were a little bit in the dark ages about all of that.
0:12:17 > 0:12:18We were very unusual.
0:12:18 > 0:12:21Ladies and gentlemen, the Beatles.
0:12:21 > 0:12:24SCREAMING
0:12:24 > 0:12:25Then we went on the Ed Sullivan Show
0:12:25 > 0:12:28and that really kicked it over the edge.
0:12:28 > 0:12:31# Close your eyes and I'll kiss you
0:12:31 > 0:12:34# Tomorrow I'll miss you
0:12:34 > 0:12:39# Remember I'll always be true
0:12:39 > 0:12:42# And then while I'm away
0:12:42 > 0:12:45# I'll write home every day
0:12:45 > 0:12:51# And I'll send all my loving to you... #
0:12:51 > 0:12:5370 million people saw that show.
0:12:57 > 0:13:01It's a lot of attention for 20-year-old kids.
0:13:02 > 0:13:06The Beatles came on the Ed Sullivan Show,
0:13:06 > 0:13:11and it was the most exciting thing in the whole world.
0:13:13 > 0:13:16All New York City went nuts for it.
0:13:16 > 0:13:21# All my loving I will send to you... #
0:13:21 > 0:13:23It wasn't just New York.
0:13:25 > 0:13:29The Beatles were beamed into living rooms across the nation,
0:13:29 > 0:13:32at a time when the power of television
0:13:32 > 0:13:34had just come into its own.
0:13:35 > 0:13:37It was right after the Kennedy assassination
0:13:37 > 0:13:41and the Beatles were the next media phenomenon.
0:13:41 > 0:13:45Not to diminish what the Kennedy assassination meant here,
0:13:45 > 0:13:47because it was just devastating.
0:13:47 > 0:13:53It also was one of the first big television moments.
0:13:53 > 0:13:56Everybody was watching the funeral
0:13:56 > 0:14:00and that sense that television was the primary means
0:14:00 > 0:14:04by which information was coming to you,
0:14:04 > 0:14:07was really very much solidified right at that moment.
0:14:07 > 0:14:10Right on the heels of that experience
0:14:10 > 0:14:13at this incredible American depression, come the Beatles.
0:14:13 > 0:14:16America's young prince was gone,
0:14:16 > 0:14:19now here were four pretenders at the gates of Camelot.
0:14:22 > 0:14:27The American competition was simply re-cast in a supporting role.
0:14:34 > 0:14:37There's four of them, they're all gifted, talented, gorgeous,
0:14:37 > 0:14:39what can you say?
0:14:39 > 0:14:41They're the Beatles.
0:14:41 > 0:14:45I found it very funny that we'd be booed all the time,
0:14:45 > 0:14:47because people of course would want the Beatles.
0:14:50 > 0:14:52I just loved every minute of it.
0:14:52 > 0:14:55I liked playing Monopoly with George Harrison. Who wouldn't?
0:14:55 > 0:14:58We had a couple of pillow fights on the plane.
0:14:58 > 0:15:00# Roll over Beethoven
0:15:00 > 0:15:02# And tell Tchaikovsky the news... #
0:15:02 > 0:15:06The Beatles gave America back their music
0:15:06 > 0:15:10because I think we had overlooked so many of the great blues artists,
0:15:10 > 0:15:15so many of the great people that we've all learned from
0:15:15 > 0:15:19and I think we had forgotten the basics
0:15:19 > 0:15:22and they gave that back to us.
0:15:22 > 0:15:25# Well if you're feeling like it
0:15:25 > 0:15:28# Get your lover And reel and rock it
0:15:28 > 0:15:30# Roll it over and move on up
0:15:30 > 0:15:33# Go for cover And reel and rock it... #
0:15:33 > 0:15:38We just loved American music so much that we wanted to play it.
0:15:38 > 0:15:42So we would take something like Twist And Shout by the Isley Brothers
0:15:42 > 0:15:46that we just loved as a record and we had to do it.
0:15:46 > 0:15:50When we went live, that was a great song to do.
0:15:50 > 0:15:52We kind of made it our own.
0:15:52 > 0:15:55# Shake it up baby now
0:15:55 > 0:15:56# Shake it up baby
0:15:56 > 0:15:58# Twist and shout
0:15:58 > 0:16:00# Twist and shout
0:16:00 > 0:16:01# Come on... #
0:16:01 > 0:16:06The Beatles were plugged into that early energy of rock'n'roll.
0:16:06 > 0:16:10I remember Jerry Lee Lewis in an interview saying the Beatles
0:16:10 > 0:16:13swept away all of these guys who had cute names who were making
0:16:13 > 0:16:15rock'n'roll in the US at that time.
0:16:17 > 0:16:21Bobby Benton, Bobby Denton...
0:16:21 > 0:16:23nothing but Bobby's on the radio.
0:16:23 > 0:16:25Thank God for the Beatles.
0:16:25 > 0:16:27They showed 'em a trick.
0:16:29 > 0:16:33Cut 'em down like wheat before the sickle.
0:16:34 > 0:16:37Whilst young America had been slow out of the blocks,
0:16:37 > 0:16:40they were now keen to make up lost ground.
0:16:40 > 0:16:43In conquering the USA, the Beatles kicked down the door,
0:16:43 > 0:16:47and in behind them poured an invasion of British bands.
0:16:50 > 0:16:53It looked good, I guess, on film,
0:16:53 > 0:16:56but it was a disaster.
0:16:59 > 0:17:02ARCHIVE RECORDING: Here they are, The Animals,
0:17:02 > 0:17:05Britain's hottest new rock'n'roll export.
0:17:05 > 0:17:09Their New York arrival runs into a ban on any tumultuous airport reception.
0:17:09 > 0:17:11The Beatles had been there and done it.
0:17:11 > 0:17:15The Port Authority were really tired because of the expense.
0:17:17 > 0:17:21So when we landed, there was nobody there.
0:17:22 > 0:17:26The ride from the airport, over the many bridges
0:17:26 > 0:17:28and streets of New York, there was nobody.
0:17:28 > 0:17:32There was just each one of us in a Mustang with a girl
0:17:32 > 0:17:35dressed up in a silly bunny costume
0:17:35 > 0:17:37with fishnet stockings, I remember that.
0:17:37 > 0:17:39# She's not there
0:17:39 > 0:17:41# Well let me tell you
0:17:41 > 0:17:43# 'bout the way she looked
0:17:43 > 0:17:44# The way she... #
0:17:44 > 0:17:48New York laid on a proper welcome for other British invaders
0:17:48 > 0:17:50such as The Zombies.
0:17:52 > 0:17:57My parents had packed me a packed lunch to take on the plane...
0:17:57 > 0:17:59It was a long time ago.
0:17:59 > 0:18:02It was a bigger world in those days, wasn't it?
0:18:02 > 0:18:05# Nobody told me about her
0:18:05 > 0:18:07# What could I do...? #
0:18:07 > 0:18:10When we got off the plane, there were hundreds of people,
0:18:10 > 0:18:13I don't know, maybe thousands, and we did that old thing
0:18:13 > 0:18:16of looking over our shoulders to see...
0:18:16 > 0:18:18Who was on the plane!
0:18:18 > 0:18:21And it was us.
0:18:21 > 0:18:24Well, it was further away then.
0:18:24 > 0:18:27It's hard to imagine now that people go back and forth a lot,
0:18:27 > 0:18:30but a trip to America then was still a big deal.
0:18:33 > 0:18:35The first time we went to New York,
0:18:35 > 0:18:39big, huge, beautiful Cadillac limousines,
0:18:39 > 0:18:41screaming girls trying to tear your clothes off.
0:18:41 > 0:18:43It was excellent.
0:18:43 > 0:18:45I recommend it highly. It was fun.
0:18:50 > 0:18:53With so many people, so many fans in the terminal waiting
0:18:53 > 0:18:55for Herman's Hermits, with signs,
0:18:55 > 0:18:57causing all kinds of commotion,
0:18:57 > 0:19:02they couldn't bring the plane into the terminal.
0:19:02 > 0:19:04So they parked it on the field and these old businessmen...
0:19:04 > 0:19:07Remember, there were no women flying in those days.
0:19:07 > 0:19:10So we're on this plane with these older men who were not really
0:19:10 > 0:19:15that happy to be messed around, as they took our plane and the police cars came to get us...
0:19:15 > 0:19:18"Good. They've been arrested." The police were our escorts.
0:19:18 > 0:19:21# As far as I can tell I'm her kind of guy... #
0:19:21 > 0:19:24For a generation that had grown up in bombed-out Britain,
0:19:24 > 0:19:29their first experience of New York City would be beyond their wildest dreams.
0:19:29 > 0:19:33# Something tells me I'm into something good... #
0:19:33 > 0:19:36It was an unbelievable shock, being taken to a midtown Manhattan hotel
0:19:36 > 0:19:39and everybody saying, "Have a nice day."
0:19:39 > 0:19:41And, "We love your accent."
0:19:41 > 0:19:44Looking down and seeing all these...
0:19:44 > 0:19:48They looked like boats to me, the cars.
0:19:48 > 0:19:52They were just silly. It was just like Walt Disney come alive.
0:19:52 > 0:19:55# Start spreading the news
0:19:55 > 0:19:59# I'm leaving today... #
0:19:59 > 0:20:02You've only got to go to New York and you're impressed with everything
0:20:02 > 0:20:04because it's so big and vast,
0:20:04 > 0:20:06skyscrapers.
0:20:06 > 0:20:08# New York, New York... #
0:20:08 > 0:20:11I remember the first time we got to New York
0:20:11 > 0:20:13and I had seen it on the movies,
0:20:13 > 0:20:16the grids in the road, steam coming out of them.
0:20:16 > 0:20:21I thought, what is that? We don't have that in England.
0:20:21 > 0:20:23# The very heart of it
0:20:23 > 0:20:26# New York, New York
0:20:28 > 0:20:31# I want to wake up
0:20:31 > 0:20:33# In a city... #
0:20:33 > 0:20:36I'd never heard of pizza before I got to America.
0:20:36 > 0:20:38I was looking... "What's piz-er?"
0:20:40 > 0:20:44(AMERICAN ACCENT) "Hey, man. We eat it all the time here. Pizza, man.
0:20:44 > 0:20:47"We're going to get you some." Of course, it was brilliant.
0:20:47 > 0:20:49Loved it, pizza.
0:20:51 > 0:20:54Long before sex and drugs, there was food...
0:20:54 > 0:20:58an eye-opener to a generation raised on rationing.
0:21:02 > 0:21:05I was hungry one day and we'd just gotten in
0:21:05 > 0:21:07and our stage manager said, "What do you want?"
0:21:07 > 0:21:09I said, "Well, we don't have time to go out."
0:21:09 > 0:21:11"No, we'll just have it brought in."
0:21:11 > 0:21:14"Brought in?! What do you mean?"
0:21:14 > 0:21:18"You can order anything you want and just have it delivered right here."
0:21:18 > 0:21:20Wow! What a concept.
0:21:20 > 0:21:22# Great fried potato yeah... #
0:21:22 > 0:21:27You would sit down, whether it was a diner or a posh restaurant,
0:21:27 > 0:21:30you would be handed the menu and a glass of iced water.
0:21:30 > 0:21:32Then you'd get a salad first
0:21:32 > 0:21:36and you had to eat your salad before your proper food arrived.
0:21:49 > 0:21:53- Burger, steak or chicken, that was your meal...- With fries.
0:21:53 > 0:21:57..with fries or baked potato with prime rib.
0:21:57 > 0:22:00I particularly like prime rib. They were very good with beef.
0:22:03 > 0:22:04# Mashed potato
0:22:04 > 0:22:06# Yeah, yeah, yeah... #
0:22:06 > 0:22:11- I noticed that a lot of the ladies had larger backsides than our ladies. - They still have.
0:22:14 > 0:22:18Wide-eyed, the Brits poured into New York throughout the mid-'60s,
0:22:18 > 0:22:21and those with Bohemian interests
0:22:21 > 0:22:24sought out the city's famous artistic side.
0:22:26 > 0:22:30When I was in New York, I guess, Ginsberg took me down
0:22:30 > 0:22:32to the factory...
0:22:32 > 0:22:34Warhol's silver pillow period
0:22:34 > 0:22:36and he was making movies.
0:22:37 > 0:22:42I went out on one of the "attack New York with Super-8 camera" trips,
0:22:42 > 0:22:45where he sent out girls into the city,
0:22:45 > 0:22:48and I think one party we arrived at, we met Dali.
0:22:51 > 0:22:54Around that time, I would go off down Greenwich Village.
0:22:54 > 0:22:57There were lots of jazz clubs down there. I would sit like here,
0:22:57 > 0:23:02Miles Davis would be playing there, Charlie Mingus a few yards away. He'd buy a beer
0:23:02 > 0:23:05and watch these greats. I saw them all.
0:23:05 > 0:23:10There was one particular thing, a very famous bar called the Metropole,
0:23:10 > 0:23:13and I remember going in there that first time, 1965,
0:23:13 > 0:23:17and one of the great drum idols was playing drums behind the bar
0:23:17 > 0:23:19on a long stage.
0:23:19 > 0:23:21And it was Gene Krupa.
0:23:26 > 0:23:30I thought, wow! You were experiencing the real America.
0:23:32 > 0:23:36In 1964 and '65, British music would virtually
0:23:36 > 0:23:39own the American charts.
0:23:39 > 0:23:42At one point in April '64, the Beatles held all top five positions
0:23:42 > 0:23:44on the Billboard Top 100.
0:23:44 > 0:23:48Hot on their heels were the Dave Clark Five who were booked
0:23:48 > 0:23:51on the Ed Sullivan show an unprecedented 18 times.
0:23:51 > 0:23:55From Gerry and the Pacemakers to Freddie and the Dreamers,
0:23:55 > 0:24:00it seemed you only had to speak in an English accent to have a hit in the States.
0:24:03 > 0:24:07Somebody at some point thought that all people who were English
0:24:07 > 0:24:09were multifaceted entertainers.
0:24:09 > 0:24:13So we would see these buses stopping in a transport cafe
0:24:13 > 0:24:16and there'd be people on the other bus that would be like,
0:24:16 > 0:24:21James Brown and the Famous Flames, The Zombies and direct from England, The Hullabaloos.
0:24:21 > 0:24:26They weren't known in England. I'd go, "Who's The Hullabaloos?" "We're The Hullabaloos."
0:24:26 > 0:24:29"Where are you from?" "Hull." "You've never had a hit in England."
0:24:29 > 0:24:32"Yeah, I know, but we were over here..."
0:24:32 > 0:24:34So anything that was English would go.
0:24:34 > 0:24:37# Birds sing out of tune
0:24:37 > 0:24:40# And rain clouds hide the moon
0:24:40 > 0:24:42# I'm OK
0:24:42 > 0:24:44# Here I'll stay
0:24:44 > 0:24:46# With my loneliness
0:24:48 > 0:24:50# I don't care what they say
0:24:50 > 0:24:53# I won't stay in a world without love... #
0:24:53 > 0:24:56It was the foppish appearance and carefree attitude
0:24:56 > 0:24:59of these young Brits that fascinated America...
0:24:59 > 0:25:02# I will see my true love smile... #
0:25:02 > 0:25:04..such as Peter and Gordon,
0:25:04 > 0:25:07the second British invasion act to top the charts.
0:25:07 > 0:25:10# When she does I lose So baby until then
0:25:10 > 0:25:13# Lock me away
0:25:13 > 0:25:16# And don't allow the day
0:25:16 > 0:25:18# Here inside
0:25:18 > 0:25:20# Where I hide
0:25:20 > 0:25:21# With my loneliness... #
0:25:21 > 0:25:25It was a funny era because Beatle, or Beed-le as it was in America,
0:25:25 > 0:25:30almost became a collective, a sort of generic term.
0:25:30 > 0:25:33If you had long hair... I remember getting into a lift
0:25:33 > 0:25:35and some kid going, "Are you a Beatle?"
0:25:35 > 0:25:38It didn't actually mean he thought I was a member of the Beatles,
0:25:38 > 0:25:41the band, it was sort of, "Are you part of that?"
0:25:41 > 0:25:44The answer was yes, because they all had crew-cuts.
0:25:47 > 0:25:51The youthful revolution that had swept through Britain,
0:25:51 > 0:25:55transforming attitudes to sex, authority and ambition,
0:25:55 > 0:25:57had simply not happened in the USA.
0:25:57 > 0:26:01So it was up to us to make America groovy.
0:26:03 > 0:26:09It was, did you know the Queen? Or, hey, you guys look weird.
0:26:09 > 0:26:11Yes. You're weird.
0:26:11 > 0:26:14They'd all have Ivy League suits on.
0:26:14 > 0:26:17That was the first time. The second time you go, they'd loosen up a bit.
0:26:17 > 0:26:22The third time, when flower power arrived, they all looked like Jesus Christ.
0:26:22 > 0:26:26# When rain has hung the leaves with tears
0:26:26 > 0:26:28# I want you near
0:26:28 > 0:26:31# To kill my fears... #
0:26:31 > 0:26:36So this is a new country, only 300 years old, or 400 years old,
0:26:36 > 0:26:40and so it was full of wonder for Europe
0:26:40 > 0:26:42and I suppose I stepped onto the pavement
0:26:42 > 0:26:46as if I'd stepped off a spaceship from another planet.
0:26:46 > 0:26:49# I may as well try
0:26:49 > 0:26:52# And catch the wind... #
0:26:58 > 0:27:02America loved me and others like my pals, as well.
0:27:02 > 0:27:04# I may as well
0:27:04 > 0:27:07# Try and catch the wind. #
0:27:12 > 0:27:14Not everybody loved the new guys in town,
0:27:14 > 0:27:18especially the American establishment.
0:27:21 > 0:27:25I remember at airports, with our slightly long hair
0:27:25 > 0:27:29there would be American businessmen with Samsonite cases
0:27:29 > 0:27:31turning round and literally...
0:27:31 > 0:27:35Very rude and people spat at us and things occasionally.
0:27:35 > 0:27:37They didn't let us into Disneyland,
0:27:37 > 0:27:40that was the same year as Khrushchev wasn't let into Disneyland,
0:27:40 > 0:27:43because we had slightly long hair and didn't look like them.
0:27:49 > 0:27:55Relative latecomers to the British invasion were the Rolling Stones.
0:27:55 > 0:27:59Their career in America didn't really take off until 1965.
0:27:59 > 0:28:02But as had happened in Britain, their mere presence in the USA
0:28:02 > 0:28:04was enough to infuriate the old guard.
0:28:07 > 0:28:10The Beatles were kind of wimpy compared to the Rolling Stones.
0:28:10 > 0:28:15The Rolling Stones, when they came to America, they were known as the ugliest band from England.
0:28:15 > 0:28:19What do you say to a thing like that? Yes, I suppose.
0:28:19 > 0:28:22That was scary. It was cool.
0:28:23 > 0:28:27# Time is on my side
0:28:27 > 0:28:30# Yes it is... #
0:28:30 > 0:28:33I remember the first time the Rolling Stones were on The Ed Sullivan Show,
0:28:33 > 0:28:37Mick Jagger came out wearing a sweatshirt
0:28:37 > 0:28:41and, I mean, every single one of my teachers the next day
0:28:41 > 0:28:44was lecturing about how awful the Rolling Stones were.
0:28:44 > 0:28:46# You come running back
0:28:46 > 0:28:50# To me... #
0:28:51 > 0:28:55If the invaders found the metropolitan youth of New York
0:28:55 > 0:28:57a little backwards, they were in for a real shock
0:28:57 > 0:29:00when they took their music into the American interior.
0:29:00 > 0:29:04There they would find the land of their childhood screen idols.
0:29:05 > 0:29:10Way out west, a lot of the people still dressed in cowboy outfits.
0:29:10 > 0:29:13You know, Oklahoma, Wyoming,
0:29:13 > 0:29:17the men would walk round in Stetsons and cowboy shirts
0:29:17 > 0:29:18and cowboy boots...
0:29:18 > 0:29:20Cowboy influence was still there.
0:29:20 > 0:29:26It was literally, "Wow, this place is fantastic. I want to stay here."
0:29:26 > 0:29:28It's absolutely brilliant.
0:29:28 > 0:29:30# I saw her today
0:29:30 > 0:29:31# I saw her face
0:29:31 > 0:29:33# It was a face I loved
0:29:33 > 0:29:35# And I knew
0:29:35 > 0:29:37# I had to run away
0:29:37 > 0:29:39# And get down on my knees... #
0:29:39 > 0:29:41I realised my dream.
0:29:41 > 0:29:45I could go into a shop and buy a Colt 45.
0:29:46 > 0:29:50# Needles and pins... #
0:29:50 > 0:29:52You could do that in the '60s. Unbelievable.
0:29:54 > 0:29:57# The tears I've got to hide... #
0:30:02 > 0:30:03We went to Denver
0:30:03 > 0:30:07and we did a gig in Denver. We rented a couple of station wagons
0:30:07 > 0:30:13and we drove down, under a full moon, across the desert to New Mexico.
0:30:16 > 0:30:20And the window was down in the back and it was a full moon,
0:30:20 > 0:30:23and the desert was so light, you know,
0:30:23 > 0:30:28it was day for night. It was like, "I'm in a movie.
0:30:28 > 0:30:31"This is where I belong. I've always wanted to be in the movies.
0:30:31 > 0:30:35"Well, just stay in the back of this car for the whole ride
0:30:35 > 0:30:37"until it stops."
0:30:37 > 0:30:41We were in Oklahoma doing a concert and the promoter said,
0:30:41 > 0:30:43"What would you guys like to do?
0:30:43 > 0:30:44"You've got a day off."
0:30:44 > 0:30:48And straightaway I said, "Could we go horseriding?"
0:30:48 > 0:30:51You know, like my dream to be a cowboy on a horse.
0:30:51 > 0:30:53And I can remember getting up on the horse and thinking,
0:30:53 > 0:30:56"Wow! This is high."
0:31:00 > 0:31:03Like the pioneers in their covered wagons,
0:31:03 > 0:31:08the Brits took their music deep into uncharted territory.
0:31:08 > 0:31:09In the South they would discover
0:31:09 > 0:31:13an America that they never knew existed.
0:31:14 > 0:31:19We didn't realise that black Americans had their own separate life,
0:31:19 > 0:31:21and that white Americans had their separate life.
0:31:21 > 0:31:23They had separate radio stations,
0:31:23 > 0:31:27they had separate restaurants, they had different parts of the bus.
0:31:27 > 0:31:28They had different toilets.
0:31:28 > 0:31:32You know, we were not used to that segregation.
0:31:32 > 0:31:35I remember one particular night on the Dick Clark tour
0:31:35 > 0:31:39walking into a restaurant, and Colin and I, both in a friendly way,
0:31:39 > 0:31:43had our arm around two of The Velvelettes as we walked in.
0:31:43 > 0:31:47And there was absolute stunned silence in this restaurant.
0:31:47 > 0:31:51And the tour manager rushed up to us and said, "We have to get out now."
0:31:51 > 0:31:55He said, "You're going to get us killed, you're going to get us shot.
0:32:00 > 0:32:03Many of the British invaders toured the South
0:32:03 > 0:32:05with popular black American acts.
0:32:05 > 0:32:08Herman's Hermits were paired with Round Robin
0:32:08 > 0:32:11and Little Anthony and the Imperials.
0:32:12 > 0:32:16But we get to the South, Macon, Georgia,
0:32:16 > 0:32:18and, you know, we're pretty naive
0:32:18 > 0:32:21but we understand that there's a whole different vibe.
0:32:21 > 0:32:25# Shimmy shimmy, coco pop, shimmy shimmy bop
0:32:25 > 0:32:26# Shimmy shimmy, coco pop... #
0:32:26 > 0:32:29And we find that, some nights, we can't hang out with Round Robin
0:32:29 > 0:32:32because they won't let us in that hotel.
0:32:32 > 0:32:34You can't go with Little Anthony and the Imperials,
0:32:34 > 0:32:37our friends now, our best friends.
0:32:37 > 0:32:40Wherever they go, we go, cos they know what's going on, right?
0:32:40 > 0:32:44So we go on. We don't even look at the audience until we walk on stage.
0:32:44 > 0:32:49And we walk out and it is 12,000, 100% black audience,
0:32:49 > 0:32:51with their arms folded.
0:32:52 > 0:32:55Like... "Who are they?"
0:32:57 > 0:32:59For some reason, we got to them.
0:33:01 > 0:33:04I think it was Mrs Brown You've Got A Lovely Daughter.
0:33:04 > 0:33:05"Well, that's cute."
0:33:08 > 0:33:12They never applauded or anything, but we got through the evening.
0:33:12 > 0:33:15# But it's sad
0:33:15 > 0:33:19# She doesn't love me now... #
0:33:21 > 0:33:26The point is this. Even in 1965,
0:33:26 > 0:33:29there was still segregation.
0:33:29 > 0:33:32And I think it was illegal by that time, but we were still segregated.
0:33:32 > 0:33:38And I remember, the bus would stop, you would go into these little convenience stores,
0:33:38 > 0:33:42on sale there were Ku Klux Klan records. There was one called...
0:33:42 > 0:33:44# Stand up and be counted
0:33:44 > 0:33:47# And act just like a man Stand up and be counted
0:33:47 > 0:33:50# And join the Ku Klux Klan. #
0:33:50 > 0:33:53# We are a sacred brotherhood who love our country true
0:33:53 > 0:33:58# We always can be counted on when there's a job to do. #
0:33:58 > 0:34:00There were all these records openly on sale,
0:34:00 > 0:34:04many of them were recorded by country music's top stars
0:34:04 > 0:34:09and of course, the Confederate flag was everywhere.
0:34:17 > 0:34:23These Brits experienced first-hand what America was like in the mid-'60s,
0:34:23 > 0:34:26unlike most Americans, who harboured some quaint ideas
0:34:26 > 0:34:29about life in Britain.
0:34:29 > 0:34:32You really have to think about that time.
0:34:32 > 0:34:35Only rich people travelled, for the most part.
0:34:35 > 0:34:39America, as we well know, is a pretty isolated place,
0:34:39 > 0:34:44it's not as if there's a tremendous sense of what the rest of the world is like here very often.
0:34:44 > 0:34:47'If you want to talk about England, this is England.
0:34:47 > 0:34:50'It's almost the same size as Wyoming.'
0:34:50 > 0:34:54I remember as a kid thinking, "God, what am I doing in New York,
0:34:54 > 0:34:57"in Greenwich Village where I grew up?
0:34:57 > 0:34:59"If only I was in Liverpool!"
0:34:59 > 0:35:03# Li-i-i-fe
0:35:03 > 0:35:06# Goes on day after day
0:35:08 > 0:35:15# Hearts torn in every way... #
0:35:15 > 0:35:19They thought we were all from Liverpool. We'd go there and they'd go,
0:35:19 > 0:35:24"What's Liverpool like?" I'd say, "Actually, I've never been there. By reputation, it's horrible.
0:35:24 > 0:35:29"It's a horrible ugly port town and everyone I know, including the Beatles,
0:35:29 > 0:35:32"got the hell out of there, soon as they could afford the train ticket."
0:35:32 > 0:35:37Meanwhile of course, to Americans, Liverpool would become this magical zone
0:35:37 > 0:35:40where all these English bands were from. Of course, we weren't.
0:35:45 > 0:35:50In American minds, the image of Britain as one groovy little ol' place,
0:35:50 > 0:35:55conflated with more misty-eyed notions of the old country.
0:35:55 > 0:36:00On the one hand, they had this feeling that it was swinging London,
0:36:00 > 0:36:05and it was the centre of everything in pop culture, which it was, it absolutely was.
0:36:05 > 0:36:08At the same time, they couldn't divorce that in their minds
0:36:08 > 0:36:12from this quaint image of how England ought to be,
0:36:12 > 0:36:15and I think it's summed up in that record.
0:36:15 > 0:36:18# England swings like a pendulum do
0:36:18 > 0:36:21# Bobbies on bicycles two by two
0:36:21 > 0:36:23# Westminster Abbey The tower of Big Ben
0:36:23 > 0:36:27# The rosy red cheeks of the little children. #
0:36:27 > 0:36:32What's that got to do with swinging London? It was a very bizarre mix
0:36:32 > 0:36:35of... The one thing we found, immediately,
0:36:35 > 0:36:40you only had to speak in an English accent and people would swoon, wouldn't they?
0:36:40 > 0:36:42Unfortunately, that doesn't happen any more!
0:36:42 > 0:36:45# England swings like a pendulum do
0:36:45 > 0:36:48# Bobbies on bicycles two by two
0:36:48 > 0:36:50# Westminster Abbey The tower of Big Ben
0:36:50 > 0:36:53# And the rosy red cheeks of the little children. #
0:36:53 > 0:36:56And you go, "It's like a commercial for Britain!
0:36:56 > 0:37:00# You huff and puff and you finally save enough money
0:37:00 > 0:37:04# To take your family on a trip across the sea
0:37:04 > 0:37:06# Take a tip before you take a trip
0:37:06 > 0:37:09# Let me tell you where to go Go to England, oh
0:37:09 > 0:37:12# England swings like a pendulum do
0:37:12 > 0:37:14# Bobbies on bicycles... #
0:37:14 > 0:37:19But it was so sweet, so romantic. Americans are a very...
0:37:19 > 0:37:24I don't want to sound condescending, a sweet, romantic race.
0:37:24 > 0:37:28If you listen to it, it is a slightly quaint lyric.
0:37:28 > 0:37:32- Very creaky record, actually. - Sorry, Roger!
0:37:32 > 0:37:34CHEERING
0:37:34 > 0:37:39And it wasn't just Nashville crooners like Roger Miller who were cashing in.
0:37:39 > 0:37:43Even the British invaders were happy to invoke ye olde England.
0:37:45 > 0:37:50Even to this day, Americans think of the English as a bulldog- bites-man-in-the-bum,
0:37:50 > 0:37:54and we all live in Tudor houses with bowler hats.
0:37:54 > 0:37:59I mean, there was one or two excruciating moments, that we did actually pander to that.
0:38:02 > 0:38:05We made it in a field somewhere outside of Windsor.
0:38:05 > 0:38:07# For your love
0:38:10 > 0:38:12# For your love... #
0:38:12 > 0:38:15It was kind of fun, you know. it was fairly harmless.
0:38:15 > 0:38:17# For your love
0:38:17 > 0:38:20# I'd give the stars and the sun 'fore I live
0:38:20 > 0:38:21# For your love
0:38:21 > 0:38:24# To thrill you with delight I'll give you diamonds bright
0:38:24 > 0:38:28# There'll be things that will excite... #
0:38:28 > 0:38:33The Yardbirds also gave a guitarist who would one day conquer the US an American baptism.
0:38:35 > 0:38:40At that time I was playing bass for the Yardbirds. It was such a thrill,
0:38:40 > 0:38:43to actually go to play in America
0:38:43 > 0:38:46and do a little bit of research,
0:38:46 > 0:38:49go to blues clubs, things like that. It was just like heaven.
0:38:51 > 0:38:54As Anglophilia swept the USA,
0:38:54 > 0:38:59it was almost inevitable that imitation became the sincerest form of flattery.
0:38:59 > 0:39:02There were American bands who tried to sound like
0:39:02 > 0:39:04and look like the British bands.
0:39:04 > 0:39:07Some... There's a fabulous record by The Knickerbockers called Lies,
0:39:07 > 0:39:09you'd think was almost a Beatles record.
0:39:09 > 0:39:13Yeah, baby, one of the greatest. With Lies,
0:39:13 > 0:39:17welcome Buddy, John, Bo and Jimmy - The Knickerbockers.
0:39:17 > 0:39:18CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:39:18 > 0:39:23# Lies lies Telling me that you'll be true
0:39:23 > 0:39:26# Lies, lies
0:39:26 > 0:39:30# That's all I ever get from you
0:39:30 > 0:39:33# Tears, tears
0:39:33 > 0:39:36# I shed a million tears for you... #
0:39:36 > 0:39:38Sir Douglas Quintet...they used to dress
0:39:38 > 0:39:41in what they thought was an English style. Groups did that.
0:39:41 > 0:39:45I suppose people assume that Sir Douglas Quintet is from England,
0:39:45 > 0:39:47but I have a surprise for you.
0:39:47 > 0:39:51Believe it or not, these fellows are all from my home state of Texas.
0:39:51 > 0:39:56They had She's About A Mover that sounded like She's A Woman. That was a big hit.
0:39:56 > 0:39:59# Wow, yeah, what I say
0:39:59 > 0:40:02# Heh heh
0:40:02 > 0:40:05# She's about a mover
0:40:05 > 0:40:08# She's about a mover
0:40:08 > 0:40:10# She's about a mover
0:40:10 > 0:40:12# She's about a mover... #
0:40:14 > 0:40:17After a while I don't think you can tell who's listening to who.
0:40:17 > 0:40:22You know, I think, it's obvious The Byrds' first record, they'd heard the Beatles.
0:40:22 > 0:40:25# No use keeping you around
0:40:25 > 0:40:28# If you don't want me all the way...#
0:40:36 > 0:40:40In 1964, The Byrds were very much a Beatle clone band,
0:40:40 > 0:40:41just for a minute.
0:40:41 > 0:40:46We had black suits with velvet collars and I remember,
0:40:46 > 0:40:50we had them at Zeros, the nightclub, and they were hanging on the rack.
0:40:50 > 0:40:55We'd come back and put them on, and go home in jeans and T-shirts.
0:40:55 > 0:40:57One night, we got to Zeros and they were gone.
0:40:57 > 0:41:01When I met John Lennon, I told him. He said, "I wish they'd stolen our suits!"
0:41:03 > 0:41:05# Here we come
0:41:05 > 0:41:08# Walking down the street... #
0:41:08 > 0:41:13But the ultimate American Beatles tribute hit TV screens in 1966.
0:41:14 > 0:41:16# Hey hey we're The Monkees... #
0:41:16 > 0:41:21It was a show about a band that wanted to be the Beatles...
0:41:22 > 0:41:27And never made it, on the television show.
0:41:27 > 0:41:31That's, I think, why it touched and connected with so many people.
0:41:31 > 0:41:35Here was US television cashing in on the British invasion,
0:41:35 > 0:41:39by manufacturing their very own band of cute characters.
0:41:39 > 0:41:44# Take the last train to Clarksville and I'll meet you at the station
0:41:44 > 0:41:47# You can be here by 4.30
0:41:47 > 0:41:51# Cos I've made your reservation Don't be slow
0:41:51 > 0:41:53# No, no, no... #
0:41:53 > 0:41:57We had a poster of the Beatles on the wall and we'd throw darts at it.
0:41:57 > 0:42:00It was about this band
0:42:00 > 0:42:03that represented all those bands all over the world,
0:42:03 > 0:42:06in their basements, in their garages, playing,
0:42:06 > 0:42:10trying to become something like the Beatles.
0:42:10 > 0:42:13# Warden threw a party at the county jail
0:42:13 > 0:42:15# The prison band was there they began to wail
0:42:15 > 0:42:18# The band was jumping...#
0:42:18 > 0:42:21If an American went to Britain, he might hope to see the Queen.
0:42:21 > 0:42:25When the British invaders went to America, they wanted to meet the King.
0:42:25 > 0:42:29Unfortunately, since the Brits had conquered all,
0:42:29 > 0:42:32Elvis had left the building.
0:42:32 > 0:42:38We turned up at Elvis' house and knocked on the door, and said, "Is Elvis in?" No security.
0:42:38 > 0:42:40We just walked up and said, "Is Elvis in?"
0:42:40 > 0:42:43His father came to the door and said,
0:42:43 > 0:42:49"Elvis would love to have seen you guys, he loves you. But he's away filming at the moment."
0:42:49 > 0:42:52# I wonder if
0:42:52 > 0:42:55# You're lonesome tonight... #
0:42:55 > 0:42:58His father said, "Have a look around", and being...
0:42:58 > 0:43:02We felt slightly strange about this... Did we actually go in the house?
0:43:02 > 0:43:04We mainly walked round the grounds.
0:43:09 > 0:43:13As you say, we never actually met him, we only knocked on his door.
0:43:13 > 0:43:16He couldn't come out that day!
0:43:17 > 0:43:21That's because Elvis was churning out movies in California.
0:43:23 > 0:43:26I saw him around in Palm Springs,
0:43:26 > 0:43:29especially at the local TV shop,
0:43:29 > 0:43:33because he bought one of the early big screens, one of the early ones.
0:43:33 > 0:43:39With the projection, and you had to be sitting right in the middle in order to see the image.
0:43:39 > 0:43:42Of course, Elvis would always get centre seat
0:43:42 > 0:43:47and the guys were always complaining because the football games would fade away at the edges,
0:43:47 > 0:43:51so there was constant complaining and the guy who owns it going,
0:43:51 > 0:43:54"It's just the way it comes, Elvis, that's the way it is."
0:43:56 > 0:44:01It would be up to plucky Mancunian Peter Noone to get an audience with the King in Hawaii.
0:44:06 > 0:44:11So I saw Colonel Parker walking through a hotel lobby in Hawaii.
0:44:11 > 0:44:16"You think you could find a way to introduce me to Elvis? My sister and I have got all his records."
0:44:16 > 0:44:18You know, my sister!
0:44:18 > 0:44:23He goes, "OK, actually, he's in town, he's making a movie.
0:44:23 > 0:44:25"But you'd have to get up at 6am."
0:44:25 > 0:44:28I didn't sleep, I called my sister.
0:44:28 > 0:44:32"What questions shall I ask Elvis, they want me to interview Elvis!"
0:44:32 > 0:44:34She said, "Ask him, does he dye his hair?"
0:44:34 > 0:44:36PETER: 'When are you coming to England?'
0:44:36 > 0:44:37ELVIS: 'Coming to where?
0:44:37 > 0:44:41'Oh, excuse me, coming to England. I don't know.
0:44:41 > 0:44:44'Maybe in a year or so.'
0:44:44 > 0:44:48I was looking at his hair going, "It does look dyed, but I'd better not mention it."
0:44:48 > 0:44:50PETER: 'How come you made it without long hair?'
0:44:50 > 0:44:53LAUGHTER
0:44:53 > 0:44:55But the ultimate transatlantic summit
0:44:55 > 0:45:01took place in Los Angeles on Friday, August 27th, 1965.
0:45:01 > 0:45:05It was negotiated like the, er, Middle East peace treaty.
0:45:05 > 0:45:07There were no pictures ever taken.
0:45:07 > 0:45:10There is no picture, ever, of Elvis and the Beatles.
0:45:11 > 0:45:15Paul, what are your immediate reflections about last night -
0:45:15 > 0:45:17your meeting with Elvis Presley?
0:45:17 > 0:45:21Very nice, Larry. Very nice. I had a good time. He's a nice fella.
0:45:21 > 0:45:23Just what I expected, in fact.
0:45:23 > 0:45:27And, er, we tried to persuade him to make some new records,
0:45:27 > 0:45:29like the old records.
0:45:29 > 0:45:31So we had a good laugh, a few drinks.
0:45:31 > 0:45:34Rocking and rolling, playing the instruments,
0:45:34 > 0:45:37- and, er, bit of billiards, bit of roulette.- Roulette?
0:45:37 > 0:45:42I had a great time. Yes, yes, gambling away. I lost, of course. I always lose!
0:45:47 > 0:45:51Elvis had abdicated but by 1966,
0:45:51 > 0:45:54young America had its own bohemian king.
0:45:55 > 0:45:57# Johnny's in the basement Mixing up the medicine
0:45:57 > 0:46:00# I'm on the pavement Thinking 'bout the government
0:46:00 > 0:46:03# The man in the trench coat Badge out, laid off
0:46:03 > 0:46:06# Says he's got a bad cough Wants to get it paid off
0:46:06 > 0:46:08# Look out, kid It's something you did
0:46:08 > 0:46:12# God knows when But you're doing it again...
0:46:12 > 0:46:16Bob Dylan's revolutionary blend of poetry and folk rock
0:46:16 > 0:46:18put him on an equal standing with the Beatles
0:46:18 > 0:46:21in the eyes of many American youth.
0:46:21 > 0:46:25And in 1966, the Beatles' American adventure would come to an end
0:46:25 > 0:46:27with a third and final tour.
0:46:28 > 0:46:32# There are places I remember... #
0:46:32 > 0:46:35A throwaway comment made by John Lennon,
0:46:35 > 0:46:38comparing the Beatles to Jesus Christ,
0:46:38 > 0:46:41had infuriated the Christian far right.
0:46:42 > 0:46:44Ku Klux Klan, being a religious order,
0:46:44 > 0:46:49is going to come out here the night that they appear at the Coliseum here,
0:46:49 > 0:46:51to stop this performance.
0:46:51 > 0:46:53This is nothing but blasphemy.
0:46:53 > 0:46:56- Are you burning your Beatles records?- Yes, sir, I burned 'em.
0:46:56 > 0:46:58- You burned them yourself? - I already burned 'em.
0:46:58 > 0:47:01# And some are living
0:47:01 > 0:47:06# In my life I've loved them all... #
0:47:09 > 0:47:12A reluctant climb-down marked the end of innocence
0:47:12 > 0:47:15for the Beatles' special relationship with America.
0:47:15 > 0:47:21- Mr Lennon, could you tell us what you really meant by that statement? - Christ? When I was talking about it,
0:47:21 > 0:47:25it was very close and intimate with this person that I know, who happens to be a reporter.
0:47:25 > 0:47:29I was using expressions on things that I'd just read,
0:47:29 > 0:47:31and derived, about Christianity.
0:47:31 > 0:47:36Only I was saying it in the simplest form that I know, which is the natural way I talk.
0:47:39 > 0:47:43But more importantly, playing live had begun to limit the band.
0:47:43 > 0:47:46# Tell me that you've got everything you want
0:47:46 > 0:47:49# And your bird can sing... #
0:47:49 > 0:47:53The previous year's Shea stadium gig had broken attendance records,
0:47:53 > 0:47:56but also marked the beginning of the end.
0:47:57 > 0:48:00It did eventually get to be too much. At first we liked it,
0:48:00 > 0:48:05cos it was the novelty and the excitement - it was like, "Wow, we're going down great."
0:48:05 > 0:48:08But after a while, we started to get a bit annoyed
0:48:08 > 0:48:12that we couldn't hear what we were playing. The novelty wore off a bit.
0:48:12 > 0:48:16# When your prized possessions
0:48:16 > 0:48:18# Start to weigh you down... #
0:48:18 > 0:48:22We still loved the fans and loved that we were going down so well, but we DID want to hear
0:48:22 > 0:48:26what we were doing. You know, we WERE musicians, after all.
0:48:30 > 0:48:34It was just like... God, you know, it's just, er...
0:48:34 > 0:48:36"This isn't good for our musical development."
0:48:36 > 0:48:40And we were making records by then
0:48:40 > 0:48:45where we were exploring a little bit and moving a little bit further forward from what we'd done -
0:48:45 > 0:48:47repackaging American music.
0:48:47 > 0:48:51We were now kind of making our own in-roads,
0:48:51 > 0:48:55and THEY were now repackaging our music and sending it -
0:48:55 > 0:48:57mirroring it - back to us.
0:48:59 > 0:49:03Although the Beatles wouldn't return to American soil after 1966,
0:49:03 > 0:49:07they would remain avatars for American youth
0:49:07 > 0:49:11through their increasingly progressive studio albums.
0:49:11 > 0:49:13And for the British invasion as a whole,
0:49:13 > 0:49:15the tide was beginning to turn.
0:49:17 > 0:49:22In a couple of years, you know, suddenly, the Beatles are making Rubber Soul
0:49:22 > 0:49:26and the Rolling Stones are making Aftermath, and you're having a kind of maturity.
0:49:30 > 0:49:33Certain of these bands are part of what had been
0:49:33 > 0:49:35this fad of rock'n'roll,
0:49:35 > 0:49:41and certain of them were really, kind of, creating a new music.
0:49:41 > 0:49:43# Under my thumb
0:49:43 > 0:49:48# The girl who once had me down... #
0:49:48 > 0:49:52And that was where, you know, like, bands like The Searchers or Gerry And The Pacemakers,
0:49:52 > 0:49:57or certainly Freddie And The Dreamers, Wayne Fontana And The Mindbenders.
0:49:57 > 0:50:02You know, there was a difference between who was doing what,
0:50:02 > 0:50:06and who was going to stick around and who wasn't.
0:50:06 > 0:50:11# I'm leaning on the lamp
0:50:11 > 0:50:14# Maybe you think
0:50:14 > 0:50:15# I look a tramp... #
0:50:15 > 0:50:20A division grew between those Brits who wanted to be part of the counter-culture
0:50:20 > 0:50:23and those who were pure entertainers.
0:50:24 > 0:50:28Suddenly, the idea that musicians could -
0:50:28 > 0:50:31which I always found preposterous...
0:50:31 > 0:50:33Musicians could have some political influence.
0:50:33 > 0:50:35I thought we were on the other team.
0:50:35 > 0:50:39I'd always thought we were on the team with no influence on anybody except girls -
0:50:39 > 0:50:44and if you're really lucky, some guys'll like the music, as well, and you'll sell twice as much.
0:50:44 > 0:50:49# I'm leaning on the lamppost at the corner of the street
0:50:49 > 0:50:53# In case a certain little lady comes by... #
0:50:55 > 0:51:00There was a lot of tension because of the Vietnam War.
0:51:00 > 0:51:03The old guard was saying, "We must defend the country,"
0:51:03 > 0:51:06and young guys were saying, "I don't want to get killed for this. This is stupid."
0:51:08 > 0:51:11It was just such a hot issue, and there were so many people,
0:51:11 > 0:51:15you couldn't lie about it and say, "Oh, it's great," or, "I have nothing to say."
0:51:15 > 0:51:18You were in a corner, so you had to speak the truth.
0:51:18 > 0:51:21In America, people keep asking about Vietnam - does this seem useful?
0:51:21 > 0:51:25I don't know. If you can say that war's no good and a few people believe you,
0:51:25 > 0:51:28it may be good. You can't say it too much - that's the trouble.
0:51:28 > 0:51:33It seems silly to be in America and for none of them to mention Vietnam, as if nothing was happening.
0:51:33 > 0:51:36But why should they ask YOU? You're successful entertainers.
0:51:36 > 0:51:39Americans always ask showbiz people what they think about it.
0:51:39 > 0:51:43So do the British. Showbiz - you know how it is(!)
0:51:43 > 0:51:48I was chastised by everybody because I supported the war in Vietnam.
0:51:48 > 0:51:51Somebody asked me my opinion. I need to be able to sleep at night.
0:51:51 > 0:51:52A little more bottom.
0:51:54 > 0:51:59Monterey Pop in 1967 was the epiphany for a new counter-culture.
0:52:00 > 0:52:03The first major festival, it was a showcase
0:52:03 > 0:52:06for the psychedelic courts of both London and San Francisco,
0:52:06 > 0:52:08during the Summer of Love.
0:52:08 > 0:52:13You had your Monterey Pop festival, which was an enormous influence
0:52:13 > 0:52:19on anybody in music or fashion or culture, on that California coast.
0:52:21 > 0:52:23The Who were on it.
0:52:23 > 0:52:28Jimi Hendrix, who was almost a British act, really, was on it.
0:52:30 > 0:52:36A great gathering of people. A great ensemble of music, of all genres.
0:52:36 > 0:52:44People there just...for the event, in an atmosphere of peace and love,
0:52:44 > 0:52:46and just thoroughly enjoying it.
0:52:48 > 0:52:52You know, Monterey was extremely important, in terms of
0:52:52 > 0:52:56ushering in this next phase of what popular music generally -
0:52:56 > 0:53:00but also popular music from England, specifically - was going to be.
0:53:01 > 0:53:06Some of the British invasion would join the new counter-culture.
0:53:06 > 0:53:08They had saved American rock'n'roll
0:53:08 > 0:53:12and now they were going to save America itself.
0:53:12 > 0:53:17And from 1967 onwards, messianic zeal would replace cheeky-chappy.
0:53:17 > 0:53:20I think that pop musicians in today's generation
0:53:20 > 0:53:23are in a fantastic position - they could rule the world.
0:53:23 > 0:53:26We have the power, we have the tolerance.
0:53:26 > 0:53:29We can go in front of a television camera, we can go on the air,
0:53:29 > 0:53:31and we can say with definition that Hitler was wrong,
0:53:31 > 0:53:35that Rockwell is wrong, that people who hate Negroes are wrong, right?
0:53:35 > 0:53:38- And we can get up there and shout it to the world, Pete.- But I don't...
0:53:38 > 0:53:42We can shout it to the world, so why don't we do more of it?
0:53:42 > 0:53:45I've known Peter for many years, and he's a good Lancashire lad -
0:53:45 > 0:53:47got his feet on the ground.
0:53:47 > 0:53:52He just thinks a little differently, or did at that point, to me.
0:53:52 > 0:53:54I think I kind of viewed him as...
0:53:58 > 0:54:02..moving more towards the, er, side of the status quo and that everything was OK,
0:54:02 > 0:54:04and I was saying, "No, not everything's OK."
0:54:04 > 0:54:06That's what I'm saying - we can...
0:54:06 > 0:54:10- We can stop world wars before they ever started.- I disagree.
0:54:10 > 0:54:16- I don't believe that you can... - You know who start world wars? People that are over 40.
0:54:16 > 0:54:19The other people in the interview, like Graham Nash, treated me like...
0:54:19 > 0:54:22And Graham Gouldman - who were my friends from Manchester.
0:54:22 > 0:54:26"Oh, it's ridiculous - so naive." Well, yeah!
0:54:26 > 0:54:28I'm 18 - I can think and say whatever I want.
0:54:28 > 0:54:33Look what's just happened - you'd just assassinated President Kennedy, The Beatles just came
0:54:33 > 0:54:36and changed your complete culture of this country.
0:54:36 > 0:54:40I said, you know, "We can make this a better place.
0:54:40 > 0:54:42"We can speak our minds.
0:54:42 > 0:54:44"We can utilise music as a form of true communication."
0:54:44 > 0:54:47Today, because the kids are so tolerant,
0:54:47 > 0:54:51and they really want to understand what people are trying to say,
0:54:51 > 0:54:54then they'll go with Donovan 99% of the way,
0:54:54 > 0:54:58because what he's trying to put over is best for everybody.
0:54:58 > 0:55:02It'll stop... What Donovan's trying to put over will stop wars dead.
0:55:02 > 0:55:05MUSIC: "Hurdy Gurdy Man" by Donovan
0:55:05 > 0:55:08# Thrown like a star in my vast sleep
0:55:08 > 0:55:10# I open my eyes to take a peep
0:55:10 > 0:55:14# To find that I was by the sea... #
0:55:14 > 0:55:17Popular culture was in trouble - two wars and a depression.
0:55:17 > 0:55:23A nuclear disaster hovering over the whole world,
0:55:23 > 0:55:24and Vietnam War.
0:55:26 > 0:55:28A greedy grab for money,
0:55:28 > 0:55:32and suffering by the hundreds of thousands.
0:55:32 > 0:55:35# Hurdy gurdy, gurdy, gurdy, gurdy
0:55:35 > 0:55:37# Gurdy, gurdy, he sang... #
0:55:37 > 0:55:44Somehow, through the supposedly safe avenue
0:55:44 > 0:55:45of a 45-revs-per-minute single
0:55:45 > 0:55:51and a beautiful young boy singer, called Donovan -
0:55:51 > 0:55:53that was how we did it.
0:55:53 > 0:55:56That's how these issues could be sung - through pop music.
0:55:56 > 0:56:00# Histories of ages past
0:56:00 > 0:56:02# Unenlightened shadows cast... #
0:56:02 > 0:56:05Then the drugs thing came, on top of that.
0:56:07 > 0:56:12Everybody suddenly became more, sort of, cool and "my guru" and all that.
0:56:12 > 0:56:15# Singing songs of lo-o-ove... #
0:56:15 > 0:56:19And what happened was great, cos all the guys would go in a room to smoke dope and talk about,
0:56:19 > 0:56:23you know, the meaning of life, the war in Vietnam...
0:56:23 > 0:56:25So we'd take their girls out.
0:56:28 > 0:56:32Steal their girlfriends. It all was working out pretty good for us.
0:56:32 > 0:56:36We didn't realise that the guru world would eventually take it over.
0:56:40 > 0:56:45By 1968, the axis of influence in music had shifted firmly west -
0:56:45 > 0:56:48and if you wanted to be significant in this new world,
0:56:48 > 0:56:51you had to leave the British invasion behind.
0:56:51 > 0:56:54I think it was the difference between people
0:56:54 > 0:56:57that drank a lot of beer and people that smoked a lot of pot.
0:56:57 > 0:57:01It's a different way of thinking. Pot, for me, opened up my mind to...
0:57:03 > 0:57:07..infinite possibilities about what I could do with my life.
0:57:07 > 0:57:12We became very different people, you know? I wasn't...
0:57:12 > 0:57:15I wasn't happy to be writing Hollies songs any more - you know,
0:57:15 > 0:57:20the "moon, June, screw me in the back of the car coming down the hill" kind of pop songs.
0:57:20 > 0:57:23We were brilliant at it, but I was a little tired of that.
0:57:23 > 0:57:25# Teach
0:57:25 > 0:57:28# Your children well
0:57:28 > 0:57:29# Their father's hell... #
0:57:29 > 0:57:33Graham Nash swapped Manchester for Los Angeles
0:57:33 > 0:57:36and formed Crosby, Stills and Nash -
0:57:36 > 0:57:39a supergroup of transatlantic long-hairs.
0:57:41 > 0:57:45I listened to Horace Greeley! "Go west, young man, go west."
0:57:46 > 0:57:49I went to where the music was, and the music -
0:57:49 > 0:57:54in my mind, right then - was David and Stephen and myself.
0:57:54 > 0:57:58They lived in Hollywood, so I came to Hollywood and moved to Laurel Canyon,
0:57:58 > 0:58:02and shared the house with Joni Mitchell.
0:58:08 > 0:58:13The British invasion, like all fashions, came to an end.
0:58:13 > 0:58:16It had been a process of mutual self-discovery.
0:58:16 > 0:58:18# It's the time
0:58:18 > 0:58:19# Of the season... #
0:58:19 > 0:58:21We helped them come of age...
0:58:21 > 0:58:24# When love runs high
0:58:24 > 0:58:25# And this time... #
0:58:25 > 0:58:28..and they helped show us the future.
0:58:29 > 0:58:33# And let me try with pleasured hands
0:58:33 > 0:58:35# To take you in the sun... #
0:58:35 > 0:58:40From now on, America would be the land of opportunity for British rock.
0:58:40 > 0:58:44# It's the time of the season
0:58:44 > 0:58:47# For loving... #
0:58:47 > 0:58:52A new frontier and a new market for the next generation to go west.
0:58:54 > 0:58:58This whole British invasion had really taken off over there,
0:58:58 > 0:59:03and, er, you know, I just came in and managed to enjoy a major part of it.
0:59:13 > 0:59:16Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:59:16 > 0:59:19E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk