The British Invasion Continues: The Who

Warm Up:
Show two versions of the Who performing “My Generation”: first, a live performance from 1965, and second, the final moments of their 1967 Monterey Pop Festival appearance.

List five words that come to mind as you watch the second video.


Guided Practice:
1) Compare the performances and discuss how the Monterey Pop example adds power to the song because the Who reinforce the song's message with a particular performance style.

1. In the Monterey Pop Festival performance, what happens at the end of the song? What do the performers do?
2. Why do you think the performers are doing this? Are they making some kind of statement? If so, what is it?
3. How old do the performers appear to be? Does their age have anything to do with the way they are acting? (Note: Members of the Who were between the ages of 20 and 23 during this performance.)
4. How does the audience seem to react? How do you imagine parents of people in the audience would have reacted?
5. Do the performers' actions remind you of any other performers you have seen? (Note: Different from the Beatles, the Who based their band identity not just on songs and recordings; they wanted their live act to be something entirely new. In effect, to fully understand the band you had to understand what they did in performance.)

Distribute Handout 1: The Who, “My Generation.” Inform students that they will work together to analyze “My Generation,” the song the Who performs in these videos, and one of the songs most closely associated with the band.

Have students work together to complete the activities on the handout, as described below. If they have access to their own computers, they will view the biography of the Who from this site and view the interview clip with Pete Townsend, the writer of "My Generation."

Students will complete Part 1 of the handout, which asks them to define basic terms used in the lesson and discuss the following questions:

1. What is a “generation”?
2. Do you think of yourself as a member of a particular generation? If so, what title would you give that generation and how would you define it? If not, why do you think being part of a generation is not important to you?
3. Who do you consider to be in your generation? Who is not in your generation? How do you feel about people who are not part of your generation?

Students will read this site's biography of the Who and discuss the following questions:

http://teachrock.org/resources/people/who/

1. When and where were the Who formed?
2. What type of music was the band best known for?
3. According to the biography, was what you just saw in the video typical for the Who?

View the short clip of “My Generation” drawn from a 1965 U.S. television appearance.

http://teachrock.org/resources/video/embed/the-who-my-generation-1965/

Follow along with the lyrics, underlining key words and phrases and taking additional notes as you listen. Discuss the following questions in groups:

1. Whom is the singer speaking to? (Who is “you”?) What is his message to them?
2. Who is the singer speaking for? (Who is “we”?) What is his message on their behalf?
3. When the singer says, “I hope I die before I get old,” what do you think he means?
4. Do you think he means this literally? Or might there be a figurative meaning?
5. Does “old” represent a physical age, a state of mind, or perhaps something else?
6. Why do you think this particular lyric has become widely known?
7. Do you think it was in any way irresponsible of the Who to sing this song to young people?
8. How does the music reflect the lyrics? What instruments do you hear?
9. What is the overall mood and tone of the music?
10. How does the band use music to emphasize the message of the lyrics?
11. Why do you think the singer stutters on certain words? What message might he be trying to convey?
12. Who do you think was the intended audience for this song?
13. Remember that the video you saw at the beginning of the lesson came at the end of a performance of this song.
14. Do the actions in the video reflect the message of the song? If so, in what way?
15. Based on what you know about what was happening in the mid- to late-1960s, why do you think this song resonated with so many young people?
16. Read the background information on the song on Part IV of the handout and discuss the following in groups:
17. According to Townsend, did “old” mean physical age?
18. According to these interviews, was the song from his perspective about age or about acceptance?

Watch the interview clip with Townsend, considering what he says about young people, fashion, and teenagers "all becoming one."

http://teachrock.org/resources/video/embed/pete-townshend-post-war-england/

1. Does Townsend’s explanation of the song change your understanding of it? Why or why not?
2. Why do you think the concept of youth is so important to him?
3. How might one’s feelings about the song change as one gets older?
4. Can the song still have meaning for those who are not teenagers or in their early 20s?

Working in pairs, compose new, updated lyrics for “My Generation,” reflecting your views about your generation in today’s America.

Each pair will present its lyrics to the class, and discuss the following:

1. In what ways do your lyrics focus on key events, ideas, complaints, or concerns related to your generation? Be specific, and quote your work.
2. What is the intended audience for your version of the song?
3. What message are you sending to those audiences? Again, be specific and quote your work.

Assessment:

Write a short paragraph summarizing how the Who’s “My Generation” give voice to the attitudes and concerns of young people in the mid-1960s?



Closure: Share paragraphs from above.

The British Invasion: Beatle-Mania

In 1964, the Beatles achieved an unprecedented level of success both in their home country of Britain and in the United States.  They amassed crowds of adoring fans that followed them wherever they went, a phenomenon often referred to as “Beatlemania.”

 By April 4, 1964, the group held the first five spots on the Billboard Hot 100 list of popular songs, with "Can't Buy Me Love," "Twist and Shout," "She Loves You," "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "Please Please Me" crowding the top of the charts.  No other act in history has achieved such a feat.   

Watch this trailer for A Hard Day's Night.  This comedy film depicts a fictionalized day in the life of the Beatles.  Although the film was released in 1964, you will be watching the trailer from the 2000 re-release.  Discuss as a class:

1) a) How do crowds and audiences react to the Beatles?

b) How are the adults depicted in the film?  Are they portrayed differently than the Beatles?

c) In what ways do you think the Beatles portrayed an image that a younger generation could identify with?

2)  Examine this picture of  the Beatles circa 1961 and the Beatles in 1964.  These are also available in Handout 1: Images of The Beatles.  Explain that prior to the filming of A Hard Day’s Night, the Beatles went through a long period of refining their image, working alongside their manager Brian Epstein to achieve their approachable aesthetic.  Students work in small groups to answer the following questions:

 a) How would you describe the clothes and mood in the first picture from 1961?

b) How would you describe the clothes and mood in the second picture from 1964?

c)What kind of image do you think the band is trying to present in each of the pictures?

d) How does the photograph from 1964 portray a higher sense of friendliness?

Discuss answers.

3) Examine the image of the Daily Mirror - February 8, 1964.  The image is also available in Handout 1: Images of The Beatles.  Explain to the students that this is the cover story from the Daily Mirror, a British-based publication, the day after the Beatles’ arrival in America.  As a class, discuss the following:​

 a) What key information can you discern from the text and images in this source?

b) Do you think the arrival of the Beatles in America was worthy of headline news? Why or why not?

c) How might this type of media coverage help build a larger fan base for the Beatles?

4)  Examine Handout 2: Beatlemania Timeline.  Underline any historical events that take place in America and they should place a star (*) next to any event that is related to the Beatles’ career.

 a) Are there any events on the timeline that you recognize?  If so, what?

b) The Beatles arrived in America in February 1964.  What was the most recent event that had transpired in the U.S.? 

c) What do you think was the general feeling in America at the time when the Beatles arrived?

4. Play video of the Beatles performing “She Loves You” on February 11, 1964.  This is from the Beatles’ first U.S. concert at the Washington Coliseum.  Two days prior, they had appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show and 73 million people (or 45% of American households with televisions) tuned in to watch.  After viewing, discuss the following in groups:

• What do you notice about the Beatles' performance?  How do they interact with each other on stage?

• How does this live footage compare with the trailer for A Hard Day’s Night?

• Describe some of the reactions in the audience. 

Discuss.

5. Distribute Handout 3: Brian Epstein and the Beatles.  The students will watch a video interview conducted with Brian Epstein as Beatlemania reached its peak.  Explain to the students that a rising tide of youth culture and the obsession with the Beatles was not welcomed by all.  Students should indicate on their handouts the perspectives of both the interviewer and Epstein.  Discuss in your groups the following:       

• Is Beatlemania evidence of mass hysteria?  What does Brian Epstein think about the word “hysteria”?  What does the interviewer think?

• How does the interviewer see Epstein’s role as the band’s manager? To what does the interviewer attribute the band’s popularity?

• How would you define the “commercial machine”?

1. Pass out Handout 4: Four Corners of Beatlemania.

2. In their seats, have the students complete the handout.  They must choose one factor which they believe is the most important reason for the rise of Beatlemania in America.  While they are completing the handout, the teacher will label four corners of the classroom, or four areas, with the following words: Talent, Personality, Media Coverage, and Historical Context.

3. After they have completed the handout, ask the students to get up and move to their chosen corner of the room.  Have the students in their groups discuss their reasoning for their choice.  They must come up with one reason, as a group, to share with the class.

Lets read Handout 5: Building the Beatle Image, published in the Saturday Evening Post in 1964.  Discuss the following in small groups then as a class:

    1) What are the five elements Packard describes as necessary for creating Beatlemania?    2) What elements might you add to Packard’s list?  What elements do you disagree with, if any?

Individual writing assignment:

Write one-two paragraphs explaining the following:

Have you ever been “obsessed” with an artist, an athlete, or an actor?  Why do you think people create strong attachments to celebrities?

American Blues Influences English Rock

ESSENTIAL QUESTION
OVERVIEW

In what ways did American Blues affect English musicians in the early 1960s?

"[Before the Beatles] The pop music in this country was very watery and weak, not worth talking about. Things like Cliff Richard."

-- Pete Townsend of the Who on British popular music in the early 1960s

This lesson looks at the Blues scene in England that prefigured the British Invasion. Though young people there were able to hear Bill Haley, Buddy Holly, the Everly Brothers, Little Richard, and other artists associated with early American Rock and Roll, the music they could call their own, British popular music, sometimes left them dissatisfied. As Pete Townsend describes in the epigraph above, he was among those who found the home offerings "watery and weak."

But if one thing marked the U.K. at that time, it was a respect for American music. Yes, for Rock and Roll -- but also for the Blues tradition. Artists who had never left the States came over to England, France, and Germany and found themselves welcomed and celebrated. American Bluesmen like Big Bill Broonzy found they could have careers in Europe when in the States they had little going on. Starting in 1962, the European interest in American Blues was fed by the American Folk Blues Festival, an annual touring festival that brought Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Sonny Boy Williamson, and many more to European audiences intermittently over the next few decades. In the audience for those first shows were future members of the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, and other major acts of the 1960s and 1970s.

Central to this lesson is a comparison of Cliff Richard and the Shadows, as an example of early 1960s British popular music, with the Blues that a young person in the U.K. might have seen at an American Folk Blues Festival. Students will get a chance to consider what the Blues might have meant to musicians like Cyril Davies, Alexis Korner, and Long John Baldry, all key figures in the British Blues explosion.

Today we will be watching two clips and taking notes about what you see, withholding your immediate response until both clips have been shown and you are able to do a focused comparison. 

1) Watch Cliff Richard and the Shadows performance of "The Young Ones" from 1962. 

2) Next watch the clip of Big Mama Thornton, with Buddy Guy, performing "Hound Dog."

Write a comparison of the two performances, either in columns or in sentence form. Questions to address:

How do the artists sound different?

How do they look different?

Which performance has more energy?

If you were a young person growing up in England, which performance might be more exciting and why?

Share answers to group.

Now watch the first minute or so of the interview with the Who's Pete Townsend, from which the epigraph above is taken. Answer the following questions:

How does Townsend describe the British popular music of the early 1960s, before the Beatles hit?

What is his characterization of Cliff Richard?

What does Townsend say about the music and culture of the States as an alternative to what he and others felt was "watery and weak" in English music? 

Next, read "Long John Meets John Lee Hooker," the Rock's Back pages article from 1964 in which American Bluesman John Lee Hooker meets young British Bluesman Long John Baldry. 

Lets break into groups of three to answer the following questions about the article:

1) How would you describe the relationship between the two musicians?

2) How old was Long John Baldry when he started listening to American Blues?

3) What seems to be Baldry's relationship to American Blues music?

4) What would you say are the differences between the two men?

5) How did Baldry come to know so much about John Lee Hooker?

6) Why do you think Hooker matters so much to Baldry?

Share their answers with the class.

Many American Blues performers came to England during the 1950s and 1960s and that Long John Baldry and others got to see many of them in concert.

One series of traveling performances, called the American Folk Blues Festival, would visit France, Germany, and England for many years, starting in 1962. Members of the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin attended some of these shows, as did Long John Baldry. What follows is a clip from one of those shows:

Watch Muddy Waters performing "Got My Mojo Working" as a part of the American Folk Blues Festival.

What do you think Long John Baldry might have liked about the performance, based on the article you read.

After discussing the answers,  watch Baldry perform the same song with Cyril Davies. 

Discuss the following questions:

1) What do Davies and Baldry borrow from Muddy Waters' version of "Got My Mojo Working"?

2) What is different in Baldry and Davies' version of the song?

3) How does the Davies/Baldry performance differ from what you saw of Cliff Richard earlier?

4) How would you say their version of "Got My Mojo Working" is a reaction to the kind of Pop played by Cliff Richard?

Formative Assessment: S. write a short paragraph summarizing how they what they think the American Blues brought to young people in England?

Closure: S. share paragraphs from above.

Present Projects

Explain what your project was about and what you learned...

Group Projects: Due Thurs. Apr. 14

Students will work in groups to create a research project.

Topics may include:

1) Various artist discussed this six weeks: Muddy Waters, T-Bone Walker, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Robert Johnson, Les Paul, BB King, Ray Charles, Chuck Berry, Laverne Baker, Ahmet Ertegun, Elvis Presley, Johnnie Cash, john Lee Hooker, Grand Master Flash, The Jordanaires, Sam Cook, Little Richard, The Southern Tones

2) How did the electric guitar transform Blues music from the 1940s forward?

3) How did Bo Didley help form the roots of hip hop? Discuss his use of repeated rhythms, lyrics that were about himself, and very few chords.

4) How did Gospel music influence R and B and hip hop? Discuss how artistis changed from gospel to pop. Explain how gospel samples are used today.

Students will work in small groups.

The reports must include:

One page of writing,

A visual,

And at least one list of lyrics by the artist.