"New Beatles" Groups

[Steve M.]

Every one of these groups drew comparisons to the Beatles, either as a potential rival to the Fab Four, as a group to take the torch from the Beatles after their 1970 breakup, as a "Beatles" of their time, as a "Beatles" of their genre, or as a "Beatles" of their country. And some groups - vocal groups trhat sang other people's songs - were compared to the Beatles because twelve-year-old girls like them!

They include but are not limited to:

the Rolling Stones (called ersatz Beatles by writer Philip Norman for their early affectations and their recording of a Lennon-McCartney song - "I Wanna Be Your Man")
the Dave Clark Five ("when their single "Glad All Over" replaced "I Want To Hold Your Hand" at the top of the British charts, it was said that the Tottenham sound crushed the Mersey sound)
the Animals (for being the first group after the Beatles to have a number one hit in America - their cover of "House Of the Rising Sun")
the Byrds (George Harrison called them an "American Beatles,' and Roger McGuinn and David Crosby took all of their cues from the Beatles in forming the group, right down to their misspelled name and McGuinn's Rickenbacker twelve-string guitar)

the Monkees (obvious copycats)
Kenny Rogers and the First Edition (for their Sgt. Pepper-like "Just Dropped In to See What Condition My Condition Was In")
the Temptations (Daryl Hall called them the Beatles of Philadelphia)
the Buckinghams (the Beatles of Chicago)
the Bee Gees (Beatlesque ballads, most successful '70s group)
Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young (called an American Beatles, even though Graham Nash was British and Neil Young was Canadian)
Lindisfarne (called a seventies Beatles in the British rock press)
T. Rex (T. Rexstasy was once called a 1970s substitute for Beatlemaina)
the Eagles (called a seventies Beatles and an American Beatles for their hit singles and multiplatinum record sales)
Steely Dan (called the most strategically innovative group to follow the Beatles by writer Tim Riley)
the Allman Brothers Band (the Beatles of the South)
Led Zeppelin (the Beatles of heavy metal)
Pink Floyd (the Beatles of prog, or "art rock")
Kiss (at one time the biggest group in America, with a Beatlesque following and a Beatlesque lineup - the leaders were the rhythm guitarist and the bassist, the junior partners were the lead guitarist and the drummer; fans were called the "Kiss Army"; the only mainstream band in the late seventies whose members were all celebrities in their own right, even though they were always masked in public)

the Sex Pistols (the Beatles of punk)
Squeeze (the Beatles of New Wave)
XTC (ditto)
the Knack (promoted as a new Beatles by Capitol - yeah, right!)
the Go-Go's (the female Beatles)
Daryl Hall and John Oates ("I think we're the eighties Beatles," Daryl Hall told Rolling Stone in 1985. "If we were born twenty years earlier, maybe the world would have seen that." )

Split Enz, Crowded House (called "Beatlesque")
New Kids On the Block (because the girls liked them)
N' Sync (ditto)
the Backstreet Boys (megaditto)
Menudo (superditto, also called the Beatles of Puerto Rico)
Run-DMC (the Beatles of rap and hip-hop)
Oasis (the Beatles of the nineties, or at least nineties Britpop)
the Arctic Monkeys (one of their albums was overhyped as one of the greatest albums ever)

[Steve M.]

Also:

Badfinger (recorded Paul McCartney's "Come and Get It," Tom Evans and Joey Moland were from Liverpool, people thought "Come and Get It" was the latest Beatles single back in 1970)

A Flock of Seagulls (there were four of them, they were from Liverpool, and one of them was named Paul; there the similarities end! )

And . . .

Duran Duran (idiot editors at the Los Angeles Times and Rolling Stone compared them with the Beatles with headlines calling them the "Fab Five" )

[Steve M.]

Two more!

the Beau Brummels (first major American band to copy the Beatles, named themselves to strategically have their records put right after the Beatles's records in record stores because "Beau Brummels" follows "Beatles" alphabetically - "Laugh Laugh" was their big hit)

the Knickerbockers (from Bergenfield, New Jersey - the lead singer sounded so much like John Lennon that people in 1965 thought that their song "Lies" was the latest single from the Fab Four)

[Steve M.]

"Sons of Beatles" - groups that based their work on a single Beatles song

the Electric Light Orchestra (John Lennon called them a son of "I Am the Walrus." "If anyone wants to hear 'I Am the Walrus' music, go to ELO" - John Lennon)

Bread (pretty much a son of "Yesterday")

Chicago (their brass section made them a son of "Got To Get You Into My Life")

"Different schools of "Sons of Beatles" exist continually." - John Lennon

[Penny Lane]

I have to say that at the time(1964) The Dave Clark Five was the closest match. They wore matching suits, were English and their music was very similar. But It was The Beatles all the way for me!
Paul Paul Paul
Oh, and the other three were pretty good too!

[Steve M.]

Originally Posted by Penny Lane

I have to say that at the time(1964) The Dave Clark Five was the closest match. They wore matching suits, were English and their music was very similar. But It was The Beatles all the way for me!
Paul Paul Paul
Oh, and the other three were pretty good too!

[Steve M.]

Oh, yeah, the Police had been called an eighties Beatles a couple of times.

[Steve M.]

And then there were the Rowans.

The who?

Not the Who. The Rowans.

Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead said that they were the Beatles of California. Theey put out three albums between 1975 and 1977. Well, here's what rock critic Dave Marsh - who, by the way, abhorred, despised, loathed, and just flat out hated the Dead and most Bay Area bands - said about the Rowans:

"Jerry Garcia called this group of Marin County wimps the California Beatles when the boys' first album was released in the early Seventies. One presumes he was tripping at the time. The most godawful hippie mindlessness since It's a Beautiful Day."

[TheCars1986]

The Kinks?

[Steve M.]

Sure, why not? They had the songs to back them up.

[Steve M.]

How could I forget these guys? Creedence Clearwater Revival!

[Penny Lane]

Originally Posted by Steve M.

How could I forget these guys? Creedence Clearwater Revival!

Love 'Em!

[Steve M.]

Originally Posted by Penny Lane

Love 'Em!

They were an American Beatles, but what most people may not know is that none of CCR's singles ever became a number one hit. We live in a world that allows "You Light Up My Life" to infest the top of the charts for ten weeks but doesn't allow "Proud Mary," "Bad Moon Rising," "Green River" or "Lookin' Out My Back Door" to sit at the top for even one week.

The highest any of their singles got was number two.

[Penny Lane]

Originally Posted by Steve M.

They were an American Beatles, but what most people may not know is that none of CCR's singles ever became a number one hit. We live in a world that allows "You Light Up My Life" to infest the top of the charts for ten weeks but doesn't allow "Proud Mary," "Bad Moon Rising," "Green River" or "Lookin' Out My Back Door" to sit at the top for even one week.

The highest any of their singles got was number two.

That's hard to believe that they never had a number 1 song! They had so many great hit songs! I do know that one of their songs (I don't remember which one) did get to number 2 and was beaten out for the number 1 slot by "Sugar Sugar" by the Archies! SHEESH!

[Steve M.]

Originally Posted by Penny Lane

That's hard to believe that they never had a number 1 song! They had so many great hit songs! I do know that one of their songs (I don't remember which one) did get to number 2 and was beaten out for the number 1 slot by "Sugar Sugar" by the Archies! SHEESH!

By the way, here's a review of the Archies' 1971 compilation The Archies' Greatest Hits, by Paul Gambaccini in Rolling Stone, in its entiety:

"Lord, no. Contained within the grooves of this album are twelve convincing arguments against the capitalist system."