James Beaty: OPINION: The Nashville Teens and Sir Douglas Quintet: What's in a Name

Mar. 5—Watching the PBS program "The British Beat" reminded me of a unique time in rock and pop music.

The program is a tribute to the The British Invasion — a time when a slew of British bands and solo artists came to the United States on the heels of The Beatles.

If the British bands and singers were thrilled to be in America, their then-largely teenage fans were obviously more than thrilled to have them here, going by the numerous hits the British singers and musicians suddenly began notching on the American charts.

Some of them even joined The Beatles to go on to rock immortality, such as The Rolling Stones and The Who, both of whom are of course still with us today, although not with their original lineups.

The Animals, the Kinks, the Zombies, the Yardbirds, the Moody Blues, the Hollies, Manfred Mann, Herman's Hermits, Gerry & the Pacemakers, the Searchers and The Dave Clark 5 were also among those who rode that initial wave across the Atlantic.

While those bands are well-known by many music fans, the British Invasion included a number of bands not so well-known today, such as The Tremeloes, Los Bravos, and the Bachelors.

Of course many other great British bands would form in the ensuing years, such as The Jeff Beck Group and Led Zeppelin to mention a couple of examples, but I'm talking about those first two years of The British Invasion, from 1964 to 1965. One could even include the Welsh powerhouse Tom Jones and Scottish folksinger Donovan among that initial wave.

Although it's hardly spoken of now, American journalists and music writers were puzzled when The Beatles first crossed the Atlantic for their major U.S. television debut performing live on "The Ed Sullivan Show."

The Americans were puzzled about why The Beatles spoke with an English accent distinctive to their native Liverpool, but when the sang, they sounded like Americans. Not only The Beatles, but almost all of the British bands and singers sounded like American when they sang.

They responded with a logical answer: They learned to play music listening to American rock 'n' roll artists and rhythm and blues artists along with blues singers and musicians. For the times, a surprising number of the British artists were also country music fans.

Even Petula Clark, the British pop singer who scored with hits such as "Downtown," "Sign of the Times" and "Don't Sleep in the Subway," sounded American when she sang.

British singer Dusty Springfield sang with such soul she sounded as if she could have originated from one of the U.S. southern states, not from West Hampstead in London. One of her biggest hits, "Son of a Preacher Man" came from her album "Dusty in Memphis." Another of her hits, "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me" was later covered by a bono fide Memphis resident, Elvis Presley.

Influences went far beyond music, of course, to hair styles, fashion, art and even the names of the groups.

It resulted in what I consider a hilarious situation — where some American artists battling back against The British Invasion tried to give themselves British-sounding names.

It worked both ways though — because some British bands gave themselves distinctively American-sounding monikers, such as Billy J. Kramer & The Dakotas — hardly a British-sounding name. The Searchers, who had hits such as "Needles and Pins" and "Love Potion No. 9," took their name from the John Wayne movie.

One of the best examples is the band "The Nashville Teens." An American teenager at the time might understandably have thought the group hailed from the great state of Tennessee.

Nope. The Nashville Teens began as a band in Surrey, England in 1962, two years before The Beatles ever traveled to America to launch The British Invasion.

They were among the many British bands that had already formed and spent countless hours onstage before getting the chance to perform and have their recordings issued in America after the breakthrough by The Beatles.

Their first — and biggest — hit even had an American-sounding title, "Tobacco Road." It kicked off with a pounding rhythm and blues beat with the lyrics, "I was born in a dump, mamma died and my daddy got drunk. Left me here to die or grow in the middle of Tobacco Road."

After a second verse about growing up in a rusty shack, the song suddenly changes rhythms, to a sort of boogie-woogie driving beat, as the band sings "but it's my home, the only life I've ever known." For an early British Invasion band, they certainly nailed that bluesy, rockabilly sound.

I later learned why. Before making their own records, they'd backed up American rockers such as Carl Perkins and Chuck Berry when they toured England.

They'd also served an apprenticeship playing in nightclubs in Hamburg, Germany, much as The Beatles did, when they were sometimes expected to play all night long, making them an extremely tight band.

They got so good, they were the backing band for an American rocker on what is widely considered to be one of the best live concert albums of all time: "Jerry Lee Lewis Live at the Star Club Hamburg."

"Tobacco Road" is a song written by American country music songwriter John D. Loudermilk, who'd written and recorded it in 1960. I first knew Loudermilk as the writer of the country song "Abilene," a hit for country singer George Hamilton IV.

But if some British bands wanted to sound American, there were also American bands who wanted a name that sounded British.

Take the Sir Douglas Quintet, a group with a name that sounds as if the band might hail from Britain — but the group hailed from San Antonio, Texas. Led by Doug Sahm and Augie Myers, the band scored a hit with "She's About a Mover" — which boasts a tough R&B sound far removed from England.

The Beefeaters was one of the original names, along with the Jet Set, of an American band consisting of Jim McGuinn, who later changed his name to Roger; David Crosby, Gene Clark, Chris Hillman and Mike Clarke.

They were saddled with the name The Beefeaters in a move to make them sound more like a British band — with the Beefeaters the unofficial name given to members of England's armed forces who guard the Tower of London.

The Beefeaters — the band — thankfully later changed their name to The Byrds.

I say thankfully because I am grateful I never had to see an album titled "Best of The Beefeaters."