Wednesday, September 4, 2013

The British Invasion - Counting Them Down

The Top 100 Hits of The British Invasion, 1964 - 1965 can be found here ...  

The countdown begins TODAY!!!


 #100 - TELL ME - The Rolling Stones  (1964)

 # 99 - IF I LOVED YOU - Chad and Jeremy  (1965)

 # 98 - AS TEARS GO BY - Marianne Faithfull  (1965)
She had a hit with it before The Stones did.  (Of course dating Mick Jagger at the time certainly didn't hurt!)



 # 97 - AIN'T SHE SWEET - The Beatles  (1964) 
When The Beatles did their first Hamburg recording session, backing up Tony Sheridan on "My Bonnie" and "The Saints", there was enough time left over to cut one on their own ... so they picked THIS old ditty, which became an American Hit several years later when ANYTHING remotely related to Beatlemania was gobbled up by pop culture! 



 # 96 - EVERYBODY KNOWS (I STILL LOVE YOU) - The Dave Clark Five  (1964)
The Dave Clark Five would have TWO hits called "Everybody Knows" ... this was the first one from 1964.



 # 95 -  CATCH THE WIND - Donovan  (1965)
Great Britain's answer to Dylan

 # 94 - MATCHBOX - The Beatles  (1964)
Carl Perkins was reportedly IN the studio when The Beatles cut some of his tunes in 1964.

 # 93 - I'm CRYING - The Animals  (1964)

 # 92 - HEART OF STONE - The Rolling Stones  (1964)

 # 91 - I DON'T WANT TO SEE YOU AGAIN - Peter and Gordon  (1964)
The Beatles have 19 of The Top 100 songs in this countdown ... in addition, they're represented by five others written for other artists like this one, a hit for Peter and Gordon in 1964.



 # 90 - HERE COMES THE NIGHT - Them  (1965)
America's first introduction to the magic of Van Morrison.

 # 89 - A WORLD OF OUR OWN - The Seekers  (1965)
In addition to their bigger hits "Georgy Girl" and "I'll Never Find Another You", The Seekers also scored with this long-forgotten gem back in 1965.



 # 88 - I LIKE IT - Gerry and the Pacemakers  (1964)

 # 87 - COME HOME - The Dave Clark Five  (1965)



 # 86 - DON'T LET ME BE MISUNDERSTOOD - The Animals  (1965)

 # 85 - I'M A MAN - The Yardbirds  (1965)

 # 84 - BEFORE AND AFTER - Chad and Jeremy  (1965)

 # 83 - MARIE - The Bachelors  (1965)

 # 82 - IT'S ALL IN THE GAME - Cliff Richard  (1964)
Despite over 100 hits on The British Pop Charts between 1958 and 2002, he didn't have his biggest hits here in The States until the mid-'70's when tracks like "Devil Woman" and "We Don't Talk Anymore" finally caught on.  (Incredibly, he was Elvis-like in the UK!)  Records on the US chart prior to that were sporadic at best ... but this was one of them from 1964 that did make its way through.



# 81 - I'LL BE THERE - Gerry and the Pacemakers  (1965)
These guys covered a wide variety of musical styles in their brief career ... great ballads, straight up rock and roll ... even show tunes ... and, in 1965, they even covered a Bobby Darin B-Side!




The countdown continues tomorrow ... in Forgotten Hits!