Die „britische Invasion“: britische Pop- und Rockmusik in den USA

The chapter focuses on the “British Invasion” of the American music market. It presents the success of the Beatles, as well as a number of further British bands as a decisive moment in the history of modern pop- and rock music, which put an end to the global domination of American popular music. While the U.S. had dominated the development of modern popular music since the beginning of the twentieth century, the “British Invasion” increasingly complicated the direction of transfers between “old” and “new”world. From 1964, the modes of reception between the U.S. and Europe – thus far one-sided – changed suddenly, and for good. The history of the “British Invasion” does not fit into attempts to explain popular culture as part of the global, irresistible and unstoppable “Americanization” of the world. Rather, the successes of British pop- and rock music in the United States tell a different, more complicated story of the transatlantic transfers of popular culture. Therefore, the history of the “British Invasion” forces us to re-think concepts such as “Americanization” or “Europeanization”