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40-631: The Koobas were an English beat group from Liverpool . Their music, and their early history, is similar in some ways to that of fellow Liverpudlians The Beatles , though they never achieved widespread popularity. The group was founded in April 1962 in Liverpool by members who had previously played in local outfits such as the Thunderbeats and Roy Montrose and the Midnighters. They used both

80-740: A mod following during the Swinging London period of the mid to late 1960s. Freakbeat bridges "British Invasion mod/ R&B /pop and psychedelia ". The term was coined by English music journalist Phil Smee . AllMusic writes that "freakbeat" is loosely defined, but generally describes the more obscure but hard-edged artists of the British Invasion era such as the Creation , the Pretty Things or Denny Laine 's early solo work. Other bands often mentioned as Freakbeat are

120-523: A band formed by Chris Barber . Lonnie Donegan played banjo for the Jazzmen, and also performed skiffle music during intervals. He would sing and play guitar with accompaniment of two other members, usually on washboard and tea-chest bass . They played a variety of American folk and blues songs, particularly those derived from the recordings of Lead Belly , in a lively style that emulated American jug bands . These were listed on posters as "skiffle" breaks,

160-635: A million copies worldwide. The Acoustic Music organization makes this comment about Donegan's "Rock Island Line". "It flew up the English charts. Donegan had synthesized American Southern Blues with simple acoustic instruments: acoustic guitar, washtub bass and washboard rhythm. The new style was called 'Skiffle' .... and referred to music from people with little money for instruments. The new style captivated an entire generation of post-war youth in England." After splitting from Barber, Donegan went on to make

200-510: A name suggested by Ken Colyer's brother Bill after recalling the Dan Burley Skiffle Group. Soon the breaks were as popular as the traditional jazz. After disagreements in 1954, Colyer left to form a new outfit, and the band became Chris Barber's Jazz Band. The first British recordings of skiffle were carried out by Colyer's new band in 1954, but it was the release by Decca of two skiffle tracks by Barber's Jazz Band under

240-471: A series of popular records as "Lonnie Donegan's Skiffle Group", with successes including " Cumberland Gap " (1957), " Does Your Chewing Gum Lose Its Flavour " (1958) and " My Old Man's a Dustman " (1960). It was the success of Donegan's "Rock Island Line" and the lack of a need for expensive instruments or high levels of musicianship that set off the British skiffle craze. A few bands enjoyed chart success in

280-488: A significant impact on popular music and youth culture from 1960s movements such as garage rock , folk rock and psychedelic music . The exact origins of the terms 'beat music' and 'Merseybeat' are uncertain. The "beat" in each, however, derived from the driving rhythms which the bands had adopted from their rock and roll, R&B and soul music influences, rather than the Beat Generation literary movement of

320-401: A trend of groups wishing to "play down that word skiffle", considering it limiting. By the end of 1958, the boom was over as enthusiasts either abandoned music for more stable employment or moved into some of the forms of music that it had first suggested, including folk, blues and rock and roll. As a result, it has been seen as a critical stepping stone to the second folk revival, blues boom and

360-575: A very different effect from the monolithic character of rock, in that the beat was given not by the duplication of one instrument in the rhythm section by another, but by an interplay between all three. This flexibility also meant that beat music could cope with a greater range of time-signatures and song shapes than rock & roll had been able to". Beat groups usually had simple guitar -dominated line-ups, with vocal harmonies and catchy tunes. The most common instrumentation of beat groups featured lead, rhythm and bass guitars plus drums, as popularised by

400-448: Is a British popular music genre and developed around Liverpool in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The genre melded influences from British and American rock and roll , rhythm and blues , skiffle , traditional pop and music hall . It rose to mainstream popularity in the UK and Europe by 1963 before spreading to North America in 1964 with the British Invasion . The beat style had

440-530: The British Invasion of the US popular music scene. Donegan continued his career in skiffle until his death in 2002. It has been estimated that in the late 1950s, there were 30,000–50,000 skiffle groups in Britain. Sales of guitars grew rapidly, and other musicians were able to perform on improvised bass and percussion in venues such as church halls and cafes and in the flourishing coffee bars of Soho , London, like

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480-554: The Tottenham Sound respectively. The most distinctive characteristic of beat music was its strong beat, using the backbeat common to rock and roll and rhythm and blues , but often with a driving emphasis on all the beats of 4/4 bar. The rhythm itself—described by Alan Clayson as "a changeless four-four offbeat on the snare drum"—was developed in the clubs in Hamburg , West Germany, where many English groups, including

520-492: The 1940s. Skiffle was a relatively obscure genre, and it might have been largely forgotten if not for its revival in the United Kingdom in the 1950s and the success of its main proponent, Lonnie Donegan . British skiffle grew out of the developing post-war British jazz scene, which saw a move away from swing music and towards trad jazz . Among these bands were Bill Bailey Skiffle Group and Ken Colyer 's Jazzmen,

560-505: The 1950s. As the initial wave of rock and roll subsided in the later 1950s, "big beat" music, later shortened to "beat", became a live dance alternative to the balladeers like Tommy Steele , Marty Wilde , and Cliff Richard who were dominating the charts. The German anthropologist and music critic Ernest Borneman , who lived in England from 1933 to 1960, claimed to have coined the term in a column in Melody Maker magazine to describe

600-857: The 2i's Coffee Bar , the Cat's Whisker and nightspots like Coconut Grove and Churchill's, without having to aspire to musical perfection or virtuosity. A large number of British musicians began their careers playing skiffle in this period, and some became leading figures in their fields. These included leading Northern Irish musician Van Morrison and British blues pioneer Alexis Korner , as well as Ronnie Wood , Alex Harvey and Mick Jagger ; folk musicians Martin Carthy , John Renbourn and Ashley Hutchings ; rock musicians Roger Daltrey , Jimmy Page , Ritchie Blackmore , Robin Trower and David Gilmour ; and popular Beat-music successes Graham Nash and Allan Clarke of

640-697: The Action , the Move , the Smoke , the Sorrows , and Wimple Winch . By 1967, beat music was beginning to sound out of date, particularly compared with the "harder edged" blues rock that was beginning to emerge. Most of the groups that had not already disbanded by 1967, like the Beatles, moved into different forms of rock music and pop music , including psychedelic rock and eventually progressive rock . Beat

680-571: The African-American migration to northern industrial cities. The first use of the term on record was in 1925 in the name of Jimmy O'Bryant and his Chicago Skifflers. Most often it was used to describe country blues music records, which included the compositions "Hometown Skiffle" (1929) and "Skiffle Blues" (1946) by Dan Burley & his Skiffle Boys . It was used by Ma Rainey (1886–1939) to describe her repertoire to rural audiences. The term skiffle disappeared from American music in

720-710: The Animals from Newcastle and Them from Belfast . From London, the term Tottenham Sound was largely based around the Dave Clark Five , but other London-based British rhythm and blues and rock bands who benefited from the beat boom of this era included the Rolling Stones , the Kinks and the Yardbirds . The Beatles' appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show soon after led to chart success. During

760-480: The Beatles , the Searchers , and others. Beat groups—even those with a separate lead singer—often sang both verses and choruses in close harmony , resembling doo wop , with nonsense syllables in the backing vocals. In the late 1950s, a flourishing culture of groups began to emerge, often out of the declining skiffle scene, in major urban centres in the UK like Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham and London. This

800-518: The Beatles derived their name, combining it with a pun on the beat in their music), and to a lesser extent by British rock and roll groups such as the Shadows . After the national success of the Beatles in Britain from 1962, a number of Liverpool performers were able to follow them into the charts, including Gerry & The Pacemakers (who achieved a number one hit in the UK before the Beatles),

840-441: The Beatles, performed in the early 1960s and where it was known as the mach schau (make show) beat. The 8/8 rhythm was flexible enough to be adopted for songs from a range of genres. In addition, according to music writer Dave Laing , "[T]he chord playing of the rhythm guitar was broken up into a series of separate strokes, often one to the bar, with the regular plodding of the bass guitar and crisp drumming behind it. This gave

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880-471: The British imitation of American rock'n'roll, rhythm & blues and skiffle bands. The 'Mersey' of 'Merseybeat' refers to the River Mersey . Liverpool lies on the eastern side of the river's estuary. The name Mersey Beat was used for a Liverpool music magazine founded in 1961 by Bill Harry . Harry claims to have coined the term "based on a policeman's beat and not that of the music". The band

920-1078: The Deepest ", but were overshadowed by P.P. Arnold 's version, which hit the UK Singles chart Top 20. Near the end of 1968, the group splintered just as EMI-Columbia prepped their self-titled first LP , released early in 1969. The Koobas never made it into the official sales chart but their cover of the Gracie Fields hit, "Sally", climbed as high as number 21 on pirate station Radio London 's Fab 40 in January 1967. Drummer Tony O'Reilly joined Yes in September 1968, after Bill Bruford 's departure to go to university, but Bruford returned in November of that year. He went on to play briefly with Bakerloo . Keith Ellis later played with Van der Graaf Generator and Juicy Lucy , while Stuart Leathwood formed

960-485: The English word skiffle is unknown. However, in the dialect of the west of England to make a skiffle , meaning to make a mess of any business, is attested from 1873. In early 20th century America the term skiffle was one of many slang phrases for a rent party , a social event with a small charge designed to pay rent on a house. It was first recorded in Chicago in the 1920s and may have been brought there as part of

1000-627: The Hollies . Most notably, the Beatles developed from John Lennon 's 1957 skiffle group the Quarrymen ; Paul McCartney was added after a few months and George Harrison joined in 1958. Similarly, the Bee Gees developed from Barry Gibb 's skiffle group The Rattlesnakes . During summer 1970, the skiffle-like song " In the Summertime " by British band Mungo Jerry reached the top of

1040-805: The Pacifics were renamed the Mersey Beats in February 1962 by Bob Wooler , MC at the Cavern Club , and in April that year they became the Merseybeats . With the rise of the Beatles in 1963, the terms Mersey sound and Merseybeat were applied to bands and singers from Liverpool, the first time in British pop music that a sound and a location were linked together. The equivalent scenes in Birmingham and London were described as Brum Beat and

1080-564: The Searchers , and Cilla Black . Outside of Liverpool many local scenes were less influenced by rock and roll and more by the rhythm and blues and later directly by the blues . These included bands from Birmingham who were often grouped with the beat movement, the most successful being the Spencer Davis Group and the Moody Blues . Similar blues influenced bands who broke out from local scenes to national prominence were

1120-669: The Vipers Skiffle Group , Ken Colyer , and Chas McDevitt . Skiffle was a major part of the early careers of some musicians who later became prominent in other genres, including the Quarrymen (who were later renamed the Beatles ) and Rory Gallagher . The skiffle style has been seen as a critical stepping stone to the second British folk revival , the British blues boom , and the British Invasion of American popular music. The origins of skiffle are obscure but generally thought to lie in African-American musical culture in

1160-530: The broadcasting of the BBC TV programme Six-Five Special from 1957. It was the first British youth music programme, using a skiffle song as its title music and showcasing many skiffle acts. However, the British rock and roll scene was starting to take off, producing home-grown stars like Tommy Steele , Marty Wilde and Cliff Richard and the Shadows (themselves originally involved in skiffle). By February 1958, Pete Murray , host of Six-Five Special , noted

1200-713: The duo Gary & Stu and later played with March Hare. The group's entire post-1966 output was reissued on CD in 2000 by the Beat Goes On label. "Where Are The Friends?" "Constantly Changing" "Here's A Day" "Fade Forever" Side Two: "Barricades" " A Little Piece of My Heart " "Gold Leaf Tree" "Mr. Claire" "Circus" B-side: "Magic Potion" B-side: "Somewhere In The Night" B-side: "A Place I Know" B-side: "Face" B-side: "Champagne & Caviar" B-side: "City Girl" B-side: "Walking Out" B-side: "Royston Rose" Beat music Beat music , British beat , or Merseybeat

1240-548: The early 20th century. Skiffle is often said to have developed from New Orleans jazz, but this claim has been disputed. Improvised jug bands playing blues and jazz were common across the American South in the early decades of the 20th century. They used instruments such as the washboard , jugs , washtub bass , cigar-box fiddle , musical saw and comb-and-paper kazoos , as well as more conventional instruments, such as acoustic guitar and banjo . The origin of

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1280-597: The influence of which has been detected in Beat music. It was also a major port with links to America, particularly through the Cunard Yanks , which made for much greater access to American records and instruments like guitars, which could not easily be imported due to trade restrictions. As a result, Beat bands were heavily influenced by American groups of the era, such as Buddy Holly and the Crickets (from which group

1320-531: The name of the "Lonnie Donegan Skiffle Group" that transformed the fortunes of skiffle in late 1955. Donegan's fast-tempo version of Lead Belly 's " Rock Island Line " was a major hit in 1956, featuring a washboard (but not a tea-chest bass), with " John Henry " on the B-side. It spent eight months in the Top 20, peaking at No. 6 (and No. 8 in the U.S.). It was the first debut record to go gold in Britain, selling over

1360-725: The next two years, the Animals , Petula Clark , the Dave Clark Five , the Rolling Stones , Donovan , Peter and Gordon , Manfred Mann , Freddie and the Dreamers , The Zombies , Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders , Herman's Hermits , and the Troggs would have one or more number one singles in America. Freakbeat is a subgenre of rock and roll music developed mainly by harder-driving British groups, often those with

1400-582: The public. In 1966, they moved from Pye to EMI Columbia Records , and the following year played with The Who at the Savile Theatre and performed alongside Jimi Hendrix in Switzerland . By 1967, the band had started to change its sound from R&B -rooted beat to psychedelia , and began writing their own material. In 1968 they cut a version of the Cat Stevens -penned " The First Cut Is

1440-649: The skiffle craze, including the Chas McDevitt Skiffle Group (" Freight Train "), Johnny Duncan and the Bluegrass Boys, and the Vipers , but the main impact of skiffle was as a grassroots amateur movement, particularly popular among working class men, who could cheaply buy, improvise, or build their own instruments and who have been seen as reacting against the drab austerity of post-war Britain. The craze probably reached its height with

1480-532: The spellings "Kubas" and "Koobas" at times. Late in 1963 they began playing at the Star Club in Hamburg , Germany , doing a three-week stint there. Tony Stratton Smith signed them to a contract in 1964 and brokered them a deal with Pye Records . In 1965, they were to appear in the film Ferry Cross the Mersey (a Gerry & The Pacemakers vehicle), as the losers in a battle of the bands , but this footage

1520-530: Was a major influence on the American garage rock and folk rock movements, and would be a source of inspiration for subsequent rock music subgenres, including Britpop in the 1990s. Skiffle Originating as a form in the United States in the first half of the 20th century, it became extremely popular in the United Kingdom in the 1950s, where it was played by such artists as Lonnie Donegan ,

1560-537: Was cut from the film's final release. Their first single was "I Love Her" b/w "Magic Potion", which did not make the chart, but the group opened for The Beatles on their last British tour to support the single. In the summer of 1965 they played, as resident group, in the Rock Ballroom at Butlin's Ayr , Scotland. Following the dates with the Beatles, the group did club tours of England and attracted much positive press, but further singles failed to catch on with

1600-431: Was particularly true in Liverpool, where it has been estimated that there were around 350 different bands active, often playing ballrooms, concert halls and clubs. Liverpool was perhaps uniquely placed within Britain to be the point of origin of a new form of music. Commentators have pointed to a combination of local solidarity, industrial decline , social deprivation, and the existence of a large population of Irish origin,

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