"British Rock Invasion"?

Question

Is there a "British Rock Invasion" in the 80s to the early 90s.

Did this result in the rise of pop groups such as Wham, Duran Duran or Simple Minds?

How did it arisen? When did it end? Is it still on?

Answer 1

The first British Invasion took place in the early 60s with The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Dave Clark Five, The Animals and plenty of others coming to America for the first time. This lasted throughout the 60s pretty much. The 2nd British Invasion began in the late 70s with 'new wave' artist like Elvis Costello and The Clash although most British punk bands were ignored by mainstream America. The 2nd invasion really took off in the early 80s with artists like Gary Numan, The Human League, Flock Of Seagulls, U2, Duran Duran, Thomas Dolby and so on. There were plenty of others who didn't get as much recognition but they still had strong followings and would tour the States playing clubs. By the early 90s it seemed as if most Americans had lost interest in British music thanks mainly due to "grunge". I remember seeing an article in a magazine in big bold letters "Are Americans Tired Of British Rock?"

Answer 2

I agree with dragonlady--however, i feel it died in the 90s when the seattle grunge was born with pearl jam and nirvana, also the R & B new jack sound came along also with Boyz II Men and Color Me Badd.
The mid- late 70s brought on punk (the clash, the members), and some early ska (bad manners, madness)...
Wham, Duran Duran, Simple Minds were all in the 80s. there were other british groups, some more popular in the UK, than the states such as Culture Club,The Style Council, The Blow Monkeys, haircut 100, Bananarama, boomtown rats, howard jones, level 42, UB40, New Order, Erasure, Depeche Mode--lots of good music!! love brit 80s!!

Answer 3

The original British rock invasion was in the late '60s - Beatles, Rolling Stones, The Who, etc. The sounds in the '60s were so new and original, the media coverage had to label it. I think there was a bit of a lull in the '70s in the pop scene - we got a lot of punk music, but it wasn't well noticed because it wasn't main stream. In the '80s, I think it was more of a cool sound bite that MTV used to label the bands and was much more "pop" than "rock" - we called it "New Wave". I don't think the '90s are considered as part of the "invasion". Anymore, there's less of a distinction of where the bands come from, so I would say that there is no invasion currently taking place. :-)

Yes, MTV used to play music. :-)

Answer 4

It started with the Beatles and Rolling Stones, and it seems that the US had a very long love affair with British music, at least through the '80's and part of the '90's.