Sincerest Forms Of Flattery: Three Beatle Soundalikes

I have a mild fascination with early rock 'n' roll copycats, the guys and gals who banked off of the very specific sound of particular trendsetters during the 1950s and 1960s.  This fascinations doesn't extend to today's music because everybody is blandly copying everybody else (also, get off my lawn).  But as we look way back at a time when rock sub-genres were new it is interesting to see what kind of bandwagons various musicians were jumping on.

The Beatles were the most popular band in the known universe.  They still are.  I just watched a documentary that described how the Beatles contributed to the demise of Russian communism.  The impact the Beatles had on global cultures was substantial.  It's no wonder then that many bands wanted to sound just like them.

A good example is a band called the Swinging Blue Jeans who, like the Beatles, were a four-piece band from Liverpool and, also like the Beatles, rode the Merseybeat wave to popularity in the early-to-mid 1960s.  Their most popular song, one you've certainly heard before and likely attributed it to the Beatles, was "Hippy Hippy Shake," released in late 1963.  Originally recorded by American singer/songwriter Chan Romero in 1959, the Beatles had actually performed the song live prior to the Swinging Blue Jeans' studio recording, though the Fab Four themselves never released it on any studio albums.

It's all there: the screams, the Buddy Holly-influenced guitars, the Lennon-esque larynx-blistering vocals (though Paul would do lead vocals when the Beatles performed the tune).  And you probably already know exactly what the band looks like.

Another Liverpudlian Merseybeat band, Gerry & The Pacemakers, shared more commonalities with the Beatles than just location and sound.  The Pacemakers, like the Beatles, were managed by Brian Epstein and had their songs recorded by George Martin.  In fact their first single, "How Do You Do It?," was originally recorded by the Beatles.  (The Beatles ultimately rejected the song as a single, choosing instead to release "Please Please Me.")

During the band's heyday they were the second-most popular band from Liverpool, though in retrospect they may be regarded as Beatle-Lite.  Their most Beatley song, and a favorite of mine, was a jumpin' little ditty called "It's Gonna Be Alright" from 1964 (or 1965, depending on what side of the pond you're on).

And yes, 1960s television variety shows were very bizarre.

There were tons of similar-sounding bands during that period of Merseyside influx, and it's likely the musicians were influencing each other rather than outright copying-and-pasting.  But sometimes it's obvious when somebody is doing their best to sound like somebody else. The Knickerbockers originated in New Jersey but they put on their Beatle boots and fake British accents for the 1965 song "Lies," their biggest (and only) hit. 

This is probably the best Beatles song the Beatles never wrote or recorded.  Dude sounds more like John Lennon than John Lennon does.

And you definitely already know what this band looks like.

Fabulous.