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10 Essential British Invasion Singles (That Aren’t by the Beatles or the Rolling Stones)
How a former folk singer, a homebrew Phil Spector, and the Duke of Wellington’s grandson helped make Swinging London.
Yes, the Beatles’s sudden enormous American success in early 1964 invented the whole idea of the British Invasion, and by 1965 the Rolling Stones acted like they were the rebellious bad boys. But treating those years as a two-band story means missing out on the mad scientists, the coronation pages, and the guys who stole some scaffolding to create their best song. Here are 10 records that aren’t “I Want to Hold Your Hand” or “Satisfaction” — and are every bit as great.
“Needles and Pins” — The Searchers
Never mind The Byrds. The true birth of folk-rock came when this Liverpool foursome transformed a minor 1963 hit for Jackie DeShannon (co-written by Sonny Bono!) into a chiming, shivery masterpiece. The jangly 12-string guitar riff directly influenced everybody from Jim McGuinn to George Harrison, but the song’s secret hook is the way guitarist Mike Pender and drummer Chris Curtis sing the title as “Needles and Pin-zuh.”
