The British Invasion

The Vritish Invasion took over the American Music scene in the mid to late 1960's. That is, Rock and Roll bands from England came to America and were able to cash in on any success they could get in the American record business. With the Britsih Invasion came the most influential pop/rock band in the history of music, The Beatles. The drummer of course for the Beatles was Ringo Starr. Ringo may have not been the best drummer in the world, but he was good enough to be with the biggest Rock band of all time and Beatlemania just wouldn't have been the same without him. Along with The Beatles came a number of other influential groups who are less recognized as being important to that era. The Dave Clark Five was a very important group in the history of Rock drumming because Dave Clark, the groups leader, was in fact the drummer as well. Only Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich had actually led their ensembles and were the drummers at the same time, and they were both Big Band/Swing. Dave Clark was the first rocker to lead and be the drummer, and that was a first for mainstream music. Other groups like The Kinks and the Animals helped solidify the British Invasion as a true high point in the history of Rock and Roll as well as all music. They inspired young people everywhere to pick up an instrument and start rockin, including taking up the drums. But the drums wren't brought into the limelight of rock until Charlie Watts and Keith Moon hit the scene, as the first wild English drummers.