The British Blues Explosion

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The British Blues Explosion

By the 1950’s, the blues had lost it’s primary black audience to soul music, but had gained a new audience of young white kids. To the black audience, the themes of oppression, anger and rebellion were no longer relevant and reminded them uncomfortably of their past history as slaves. In Britain, the popular music scene was dominated by cosy, idealistic songs of romance and ballads from artists such as Ruby Murray, Tony Bennett and Rosemary Clooney. To the post World war Two teenagers, this was just plain boring. Young white country singers, such as Elvis Presley were recording blues for a new generation, and paving the way for Rock and Roll.

Performance became equally as exciting as the music, and inspired by black R’n’B’ and electric blues stars such as T-Bone Walker and B.B. King. By the end of the 50’s, the electric guitar would come to dominate the genre and the way songs were musically arranged. Loud guitars demanded a loud drummer as well.

Bill Hayley a middle-aged, white former country and western singer noticed that white teens had picked up the street slang, dances and clothing style of the black youths. Hayley, and his backing band The Comets decided to emphasise the heavy back beat in their music to appeal to the new hybrid fashion, and focus lyrics on themes that were relevant to a teenage audience. In April 1954, the band recorded raucous covers of Joe Turner’s  ‘Shake, Rattle and Roll’ and a novelty song, ‘Rock Around the Clock’. The song was a smash hit both sides of the Atlantic, and became the theme song to ‘The Blackboard Jungle’ a film about teenage rebellion. Although Hayley was an unlikely icon, his contribution to music was to open the door to the white R’n’B artist, and to the success of Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly and ultimately bands including the Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Cream and Led Zeppelin. The first blues records were probably introduced to Britain from America by sea men after WW2. By the 60’s, the Chicago blues was the most contemporary sound around, and the artists on the Chess records label had a huge influence on English players, and got a lot of air play on campus radio. The key blues clubs included the famous Marquee in Soho and the Crawdaddy in Richmond, where both the Rolling Stones and The Yardbirds had been the resident bands.

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The Beatles were inspired by radio friendly mainstream acts such as Chuck Berry and Buddy Holly, but bands such as the Yardbirds and The Rolling Stones delved deeper into more obscure areas and found musical inspiration in such artists as Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, and Howlin’ Wolf.

‘The English Art College was a training ground for blues freaks. The amount of talent that came from one area in London was incredible’. – Jimmy Page – Led Zeppelin.

‘Blues Breakers’, released in 1966 was the most influential album of the British blues era. It featured a collaboration of ...

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