Talk:British rock and roll

Exposed to American culture

I don't understand the line "had been exposed to American culture through the stationing of American troops in the country". How did troops in bases expose Britain to American culture? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 109.175.173.64 (talk) 05:05, 4 February 2011 (UTC)

You don't understand how meeting people from a different culture would expose you to that culture?--SabreBD (talk) 15:21, 4 February 2011 (UTC)

The troops fraternised widely. They introduced many Britons directly to African-American - and other American - culture, through records, books, radio and personal contacts. Ghmyrtle (talk) 15:53, 4 February 2011 (UTC)

Inferior British Rock 'n' Roll?

What's with the line "It has generally been considered inferior to the American version of the genre, and made little international or lasting impact"?. Some of the biggest rock 'n' roll bands have been British. That seems much too biased, rather than factual, or where is the citation? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2a02:aa10:e280:3800:1044:a3ce:f4f0:5435 (talk) 19:29, 26 June 2018

As the opening sentence of the article makes clear, this article is about "a style of popular music... which emerged in the late 1950s and was popular until the arrival of beat music in 1962" - and not about beat music or British rock music, which came later. Wikipedia articles differentiate between rock and roll (1950s, essentially) and rock music (1960s and later) - though many sources, and indeed some musicians, tend to confuse the issue by using both terms interchangeably. Ghmyrtle (talk) 20:16, 26 June 2018 (UTC)

Grease (musical)

Hello, I have amended the 'Decline and revivals' bit as it was still a bit in that inferior tone of voice...and so added some links to the Top Ten hits positions (see below)...however is Grease the Musical something that needs to be added as one of the reason for its revival? There was a production of the musical in London 1973 and obviously the film came out towards the end of the 1970s...so might be culturally important in this respect? (On the other hand it could just be that '20 year' revival thing)

Decline and revivals

British rock and roll declined sharply in the face of the new beat music after 1962. While some of the most successful acts, most notably Cliff Richard, were able to hang on to positions in the chart, British rock and roll virtually disappeared from the chart, as beat and then R&B based groups began to dominate. Many British rock and rollers continued their careers, and occasional bands specialised in the form, but mainstream success for the genre was rare.

There have been periodic revivals of British rock and roll, with a successful revival starting in the mid 1970s, that saw highly nostalgic pop acts like Showaddywaddy and Alvin Stardust (who, as Shane Fenton, had enjoyed chart success in the early 1960s), enjoy a number of Top Ten hits in the UK Charts. These acts would be joined in the charts and on Top Of The Pops by a number of other retro acts in the late 1970s, like Darts and Matchbox, some more influenced by Doo-wop others more Rockabilly.

Even though a lot of these acts would by superseded in the charts by New Pop trends such as the New Romantic movement (with Showaddywaddy's last Top 40 hit being in 1982), the revival still managed to be a chart force in the 1980s due to Shakin' Stevens (with a few hits for Alvin Stardust as well). Shaky would go on to become the UK's 'most successful singles chart act of the 1980s' by promoting his rock and roll records on various Children's TV shows such as The Basil Brush Show and Razzmatazz, therefore being promoted to a large audience interested in pop but an audience more likely to be reading Look-in than the NME. However, since then a wider revival has been elusive.