Can You Identify All These Bands From the British Invasion?

The Beatles lead the British Invasion, establishing themselves in the pop firmament with crowds of screaming fans following their every move. Determined to control their own destinies, they started Apple Records in 1968. Despite a legal settlement with Apple Computer in 1981 stating that Apple Computer would never go into the music business, Apple Computer established iTunes, prompting another lawsuit, which Apple Records lost.

While The Beatles came from Liverpool, The Kinks were Londoners, famed for their blues-influenced music, which, much like that of The Beatles, catapulted them to the top of the U.S. music charts. Songs like "You've Really Got Me," "Lola," and "Destroyer" keep The Kinks on the radio to this very day.

Mick Jagger is famed as the voice of The Rolling Stones, perhaps the longest-lived of the British Invasion bands, but he has also had a flourishing acting career since early on. In 1970, Jagger starred in the film "Performance," which remains as it was in 1970, a total oddball. Since then, Jagger has found major roles in films when he hasn't been busy touring.

The Yardbirds were serious musicians from day one, steeped in blues music and huge enthusiasts for the solo instrumental, which soon became a staple in one of the forms of rock they helped establish: hard rock. They also worked extensively with other bands, and Yardbirds members would go on to start other groups, including Led Zeppelin and Renaissance.

Manfred Mann (the band) was formed in 1962, around lead singer Manfred Mann. The group went through several incarnations, producing not just pop rock but also blues and even jingles and soundtracks. Manfred Mann would later for Manfred Mann's Earth Band and cover Springsteen's 1973 song "Blinded By The Light" in 1977, becoming, for many, the definitive version.

Coming from Newcastle, The Animals weren't just a rock band. They were an R&B band, and their psychedelic music incorporated strange new sounds produced by the still-new distortion technology. Combining this willingness to experiment with outstanding talent, The Animals gave the world such classics as "The House of The Rising Sun."

The Zombies are one of those bands many people would struggle to name, but whose music they instantly recognize. Their biggest hits, "Season For Loving" And "She's Not There," epitomize their sound, a mix of urgency and laid-back dreaminess that seems a perfect fit for America in the 1960s.

The Hollies are a band whose influence extends far beyond their fans. Using three-part vocal harmonies and echo on their songs, they added a strange, sophisticated polish to their catchy blues-influenced pop-rock. Best known for "Long Cool Woman," one of their band members was Graham Nash, who would go on to become part of American megaband Crosby, Stills and Nash.

Led Zeppelin is responsible for every time you've heard someone play "Stairway to Heaven" in a music store, but also, "Stairway to Heaven" itself. Formed by Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, the group's name comes from their belief that the band would be a failure "going down like a lead balloon" as the British idiom goes. As it turned out, Led Zeppelin remains one of the most revered rock bands of all time.

Like most of the great British Invasion bands, Herman's Hermits were founded in the first half of the 1960s and had a couple of hits generated when they covered songs. Specifically, their big singles came with covers of "I'm Henry VIII I am" and "Mrs. Brown, You Have a Lovely Daughter," both of which were originally performed by other artists. In this way, they were more like the bands that came before them, who rarely wrote their own music.

The Dave Clark Five were one of those rare British Invasion bands that were actually formed in the 1950s. They were the first British Invasion band to follow The Beatles to America, though their success was decidedly less pronounced than that of The Beatles.

Peter Asher and Gordon Waller met at school and began playing together early on. As the duo Peter and Gordon, they would find a hit with "A World Without Love," a song written by Asher's sister's then-boyfriend, Paul McCartney of The Beatles. The band broke up in the late 1960s and had a brief reunion later before Gordon Waller passed away from heart disease.

The Bluesbreakers (sometimes also called "John Mayall & ... ") were a cosmic nebula for other great bands of the era, mainly because it attracted Eric Clapton, who recorded and toured with the band for a while, ultimately inspired to start a group of his own, Cream, as well as band member Mick Fleetwood, of future band Fleetwood Mac.

With hits like "All or Nothing" and "Itchycoo Park," Small Faces was one of the most successful of the British bands to cross over to British Invasion territory. While the band broke up for a while and has long since passed into history, its influence can be heard, particularly in British pop music where their mix of blues and catchy, easy to clap rhythms made them a sensation.

"Donovan" or, more completely, Donovan Leitch, was a popular folk singer in the UK for years before he had his first American hits. The singer behind "Mellow Yellow," he also gave America "The Hurdy Gurdy Man" and "Sunshine Superman," all of which charted well in the U.S.

Gerry and the Pacemakers were a band from Liverpool. They earned their stripes playing nonstop in the same clubs as The Beatles in places like Hamburg, Germany. While many saw the two groups as close rivals, the success of The Beatles dwarfed that of Gerry and the Pacemakers, though they did have a few songs top the UK charts and make it across the Atlantic.

Chad & Jeremy had a sound no one else entirely captured, with softly sung, folk-influenced songs that were both enchanting and inoffensive. From 1962 to 1968, the duo topped the charts with singles like "Summer Song," "Before and After" and "Willow Weep For Me" before breaking up. The two artists remained in entertainment, reuniting periodically between stints of acting, producing, and recording solo.

The Tremeloes were a London-based beatnik band, and when Decca Records was on the hunt for someone with their vibe, they picked The Tremeloes over The Beatles because The Beatles lived too far away. In the end, it wasn't all bad as decisions go, because The Tremeloes had hits with "Silence is Golden," "Here Comes My Baby" and "(Call Me) Number One."

Marianne Faithfull was performing in London coffee houses in the early 1960s and taking part in the London social scene when she was discovered. She would go on to record hits, including her biggest hit, "Come and Stay With Me," and "This Little Bird," before health and drug use conspired to damage her voice. Her comeback album, which was a massive hit for her, was "Broken English," released in 1979.

Despite sounding like the name of an investment management company, The Spencer David Group was a huge success story for its native Birmingham. Its hits "Gimme Some Lovin'" and "I'm A Man" were in both the U.S. and UK top tens, and band member Steve Winwood would go on to have a solo career in addition to being a member of two other major bands.

As Wayne Fontana and The Mindbenders, the band achieved a number one chart-topper in the U.S. (number two in the UK) with "The Game of Love," but would, without Wayne Fontana, go on to achieve a number two hit in the UK and U.S. with "A Groovy Kind of Love." After the band broke up in 1968, the members went their separate ways, with Grahame Foote going on to join Herman's Hermits.

Freddie and the Dreamers' frontman Freddie Garrity was a firecracker. He has no illusions about the image cut by his band, none of whom had movie idol looks, but he and his band's music were fun, and he used his tiny frame and natural comic timing to turn concerts into performance art, something he later turned into an acting career. Their major US hit was "I'm Telling You Now," which reached number one on the charts in 1965.

The Honeycombs were a London-based band formed by friends who were in other careers at the time. Still, a chance meeting with a pair of songwriters turned them into a professional outfit, with "Have I The Right" and "I Can't Stop" charting in the U.S. at five and 48, respectively, and "Have I The Right" and "That's The Way" charting in the UK at one and 12 respectively.

Cliff Richard and The Shadows were the first "real" British rock band, setting the stage and preparing British tastes for the likes of The Beatles. Cliff Richard and The Shadows eventually went their separate ways, with Richard becoming increasingly interested in drawing thematic material from his religious faith, and The Shadows interested in experimenting. Cliff Richard records to this day, but The Shadows' last album release was in 1990.

In addition to The Move's notable hits, they were the subject of a lawsuit over a promotional cartoon of the Prime Minister of the time in bed with a woman who was not his wife. The PM sued and won. The result was that all the royalties from the song promoted with the image would be donated to the unfortunately named "Spastics Society" and "The Amenity Funds of Stoke Mandeville Hospital."

The strangely named Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich was named for the bandmates' nicknames and was one of the early British rock and roll bands. They had lots of pop-rock songs that charted, but none so well as "The Legend of Xanadu," which was number one in the UK and New Zealand, and charted in the U.S., though not well.

When it came to diversity, The Equals were without equal. Very few rock bands were made up of black and white members, but The Equals were. They were friends from an English council housing estate, and their biggest hit was "Baby Come Back," which charted at number one in the UK, and 32 in the US. However, their impact wasn't just on music, but on societal expectations for the tolerance of ethnic differences as well.

Petula Clark spent her formative years during WW2 hiding out in Wales with her family, far from the danger of cities. There, she honed her acting and singing chops, eventually performing on BBC radio, and in time, as a pop performer. Her 1964 single "Downtown" remains her greatest enduring hit, reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S., and reaching number one in Canada, New Zealand, and West Germany.

The Hullaballoos were a band that Roulette Records, their label, processed into a made for TV product, styling themselves after various fads that made their way across the Atlantic. While the band had some success, it didn't last long after becoming The Hullaballoos. Before they were The Hullaballoos, the group was called Ricky Knight and The Crusaders.

The Fortunes were one of those lucky bands to meet in high school. Formed in 1961, the group would go on to record lots of hits, some of which, including "You've Got Your Troubles" (their biggest hit), managed to chart in the U.S. Noted in part for a constantly changing lineup, The Fortunes continue to perform to this day, though their one constant, band leader Rod Allen, died in 2008.

Love Affair wasn't around for long, appropriate given its name, but it found considerable success in that time, with "Everlasting Love" reaching 13 on the Billboard Hot 100. Their notable achievements and flops were both covers, with "Everlasting Love" being the cover of a song by an American artist, and "She Smiles Sweetly," while not technically a cover, was written by Keith Richards and Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones.

Love Sculpture was a perfectly respectable British rock band producing modest pop hits. Still, when they released a fast cover of "Sabre Dance," a movement from a ballet composed by Aram Ilyich Khachaturian, it became a weird underground hit and went viral, making them famous in the UK, and seeing them tour, performing the piece around the world.

Georgie Fame and The Blue Flames are best known for the R&B music they made with their titular lead singer, but that's not the whole story. Originally, the bandleader was Billy Fury, a prolific songwriter with a performing style similar to that of Elvis Presley, complete with the accompanying parental backlash. In 1961, Fury and The Blue Flames went their separate ways, and a new age dawned for both.

The New Vaudeville Band wasn't started by high school chums or dreamed up by a record executive. It was created by Geoff Stephens, a songwriter, to record one song, "Winchester Cathedral" (not to be confused with "Cathedral" by CSNY). He did it for a laugh, but the song was a hit, a big hit. It reached number one in the U.S. and provoked a tour, which meant having to actually create a band since all the musicians on the recording were day players who just worked on studio recordings.

The Remo Four were Liverpool boys and part of The Beatles cohort, but they started coming apart early on. They lost their first original band member shortly before signing in 1963, and by 1970 the band had shed and gained several more and disbanded.

The Moody Blues remain one of the iconic prog-rock bands of all time, having crossed over to America in the 1960s, but their best-known hit came on their "Days of Future Passed" album in 1967: "Nights in White Satin." In America, some people misheard the words, thinking it was "knights" and not "nights," coming up with all manner of theories about the true meaning of the song. In the end, it was all really about nice bedsheets.

Tom Jones always had an amazing voice. Performing with other musicians in Wales quickly gave way to a record deal and trans-Atlantic success with "It's Not Unusual" in 1965. By 1967, Jones performed in Las Vegas for the first time, and continued to do so for decades, even having his own television show for three years!

Crazy, right? The Troggs famously recorded the song "Wild Thing", making it a hit (among other singles of theirs like "Love Is All Around"), which made an appearance in the film "Major League" as the "walk-up" music of one of the characters, a convention which crossed from the film to actual major league baseball. The band would become a model for other garage bands the world over, but also an American baseball tradition.

Status Quo went by many names over the years, not limited to the above names! Its major hits were "Pictures of Matchstick Men" and "Down Down," the former of which charted in the U.S. as well as the UK. Their boogie rock style never really earned them a U.S. following as it earned them a UK following, but the band has continued to work to this day.

Founded by musicians who loved and understood art in both music and performance, The Who was lead by Roger Daltrey (who also acts in film and television) and legendary guitarist Pete Townshend. The Who epitomized an early form of what would become Prog Rock.