John And Paul...But No George Or Ringo?

[WestVirginiaRebel]

John Lennon and Paul McCartney never meet up and make it big as individual musicians.

What is the British Invasion like as a singer-songwriter movement? Perhaps there's an intellectual faction inspired by John a la Bob Dylan? Maybe Paul is the "British Elvis?"

 

[Wanderlust]

There were still lots of other good bands, like the Strolling Bones, the Animals, the Dave Clarke 5, and Donovan, and all the others. Really pisses me off that the Beatles get all the attention... Like they were only ever good British band . The whole British invasion was a sum greater than the individual parts - it can survive easily without the overrated child of those two egotists (and those two actual good guys, Harrison and John Ringo).

Just look at how many of these other bands were Liverpudlians
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Invasion#Original_British_Invasion_artists

 

[Dave]

Without John, Paul still would have been a very successful musician. Without Paul, John would be singing in the subway.

 

[Weaver]

I thought it was a Papal reference.

 

[Hendryk]

They become the British Simon and Garfunkel?

Not that it matters all that much in the greater scheme of things. As Wanderlust says, the movement was a sum greater than its parts.

(and those two actual good guys, Harrison and John Ringo).

Harry Harrison and John Ringo, good guys?

 

[Wanderlust]

Harry Harrison and John Ringo, good guys?

Sweet baby Jesus!

 

[Magniac]

Mick and Keef and the boys are still the kings of the rockers. The Who become the mods' equivalent of the Stones? Makes sense, those two groups have similar sized reputations. Let's face it, The Beatles were totally outsized to all other music artists of this time, even the Rolling Stones, even Dylan.

Maybe Ray Davies gets rightfully acknowledged as the genius he is if The Kinks are a bigger part of the 'British Invasion' (you don't think America is spared, do you?)

It'll suck for the other Merseyside performers who piggybacked on the success of our heroes in OTL. And the secret genius of The Monkees sadly won't come to pass (I AM NOT KIDDING ABOUT THE MONKEES BEING REALLY GOOD.)

 

[Tom Veil]

Without John, Paul still would have been a very successful musician. Without Paul, John would be singing in the subway.

Yeah, right. This is the 1960s we're talking about. Protest music is the vanguard of rock. John would have had no trouble being recognized by the music community, which would have then turned him into a grass-roots star, a la Bob Dylan.

If anything, it's Paul who might have had a Sinatra/Elvis-like mid-career slump in the late 1960s, as his happy-go-lucky style of music faded out of fashion for a few years before coming back in the 1970s.

 

[Tom Veil]

Ringo won't be famous himself, but if he has the ambition, he'll easily end up in a world-famous rock band. To quote John Lennon in 1980:

"Ringo was a star in his own right in Liverpool before we even met. Ringo was a professional drummer who sang and performed and was in one of the top groups in Britain [Rory Storm and the Hurricanes] but especially in Liverpool. ... Ringo's a damn good drummer."

 

[Mark E.]

Without the Beatles, the British Invasion of 1964 would have been more gradual, but within a year or two, the direction of music would have been very much the same.

We must remember American music was a little subdued from 1960 to 1963 for reasons that would not have applied in Britain. A big hush came from religious conservatives who branded rock and roll as "the work of the devil." You lost key performers, as Buddy Holly was killed and Chuck Berry went to prison. California beach music was the norm. When Elvis took off his army uniform, he delivered "Love Me Tender" as opposed to "Hown' Dawg."

Many will agree that the most developmentally significant piece of rock music to hit the charts in 1964 was the Kinks' "You Really Got Me."

 

[Magniac]

California beach music was the norm.

Brian Wilson as the rightful King of Pop!

Many will agree that the most developmentally significant piece of rock music to hit the charts in 1964 was the Kinks' "You Really Got Me."

I've already mentioned that Ray Davies was the man, but I just checked wiki and found that both 'Gloria' and 'House of the Risin' Sun' came out two months before that Kinks song (though the Them song was a B-side).

But in terms of the mod v. rocker divide it sounds like the Kinks and The Who would fill the void left by no Beatles.

Except the Beatles weren't really in the whole mod versus rocker thing in 1964! They were more pop than pop at this point.

Their closest equivalent, culturally, in terms of appealing to Ed Sullivan Show watching teen girls is... The Beach Boys?