| London has long been the political, economic, artistic center of England and,
by extension, the United Kingdom. Other cities certainly boast ancient
history, economic power, and unique cultural qualities, but London is
where all of their interests intersect. Obviously, much of this has to
do with London as the seat of central government and military power, but
around this collateral concentration of wealth has grown centuries of
artistic traditions. |
| Londoners traditionally have
seen themselves as the center of British culture and, ironically, have
contradicted themselves with regularity. They have often demonstrated
a deep distrust of anything foreign, particularly when these aesthetics
contradict English "good taste." However, while they have been fiercely
proud of their own British aesthetic awareness and they have patronized
foreign artists substantially. (E.g., Georg Fredrich Handel, C. P. E.
Bach, Franz Josef Haydn, and Felix Mendelssohn all flourished here.) |
| Not surprisingly, with the
national and international success of "northern" popular musicians, London
musicians soon took up the cause and eclipsed the north in the sheer number
and diversity of their musical ideas. Moreover, they did so in a way that
celebrated "Englishness" and diminished the "Americaness" celebrated by
the first wave of northern groups. The Beatles — the source of all this
excitement — had long since moved to London and, in their
move, become more "British" in their sound (however, we define that). |
| Not all London area musicians
referenced what they did to Merseybeat. London's role in the beat boom
of the mid-sixties also attracted performers who had inclinations towards
American jazz and blues. Sometimes they liked jazz (as with Georgie Fame
and the Blue Flames and with the Zombies). Others were interpreters of
the American pop tradition (Manfred Mann). Finally, others imitated the
blues tradition, but brought a Merseybeat sound to it (the Nashville Teens). |
| |
| The
Dave Clark Five | Petula Clark | Georgie
Fame & the Blue Flames |
| The
Honeycombs | The Ivy League | The Kinks | Marianne Faithful |
| Manfred
Mann | The Nashville Teens | Peter & Gordon |
| Sandie
Shaw | Millie
Small | Dusty
Springfield | The
Zombies |
| |