When analysing the popular music styles of Liverpool, many examples come to mind. However, one genre was born and bred here before spreading to the rest of Britain and the world. This was Merseybeat, and at liverpool-trend.com, we’re going to take a closer look at this iconic sound.
Basic Information
Merseybeat is a popular music genre that emerged in Liverpool in the 1960s. It quickly spread to other cities in the North West of England and beyond, even reaching the south. The style was particularly prevalent among teenage rock bands active between 1960 and 1964.
Sometimes the genre is simply called beat music, while other times it’s referred to as “southern English beat” or “Mersey beat.” Of course, calling it southern is geographically inaccurate, but it highlights just how popular the genre became in the south of the country, as well as across the globe.
Merseybeat is characterised by soaring vocal melodies, which links it to American doo-wop. The genre was a logical evolution from the English version of skiffle – a revived form of African-American folk music that found new life on the other side of the Atlantic. It is well-known that this genre had a significant influence on rock and roll.
The name “Merseybeat” evidently comes from a combination of “beat” (the musical pulse or quarter note) and the River Mersey, on which Liverpool – the hometown of The Beatles – is situated. By the second half of the 1960s, the more conservative Merseybeat had lost its potential for development and gave way to the more experimental style of blues-rock.
The Publication
Mersey Beat was also the name of a Liverpool music publication in the 1960s. It was founded by Bill Harry, one of John Lennon’s classmates at the Liverpool College of Art. The newspaper published news about local bands and the star solo artists who came to perform in the city.
The famous “Fab Four” worked very closely with Mersey Beat, which published numerous exclusive stories and photographs. It also printed creative works, including John Lennon’s early writings. The paper chronicled the history of The Beatles and even ran joke advertisements. The very existence of this publication shows that the Merseybeat genre was considered both interesting and promising.
History and Characteristics
Merseybeat first developed in and around Liverpool. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the genre blended elements of rock and roll, rhythm and blues, skiffle, music hall, and pop music. By 1963, the style began its triumphant march across Europe and went on to conquer North America. Merseybeat influenced the youth culture of the 1960s, particularly garage rock, folk rock, and psychedelic music.
Beat music is dominated by clean guitar sounds, strong and harmonious vocals, and songs that typically feature catchy melodies. The music has little in common with the “Beat Generation” – the literary movement of the 1950s.
For a time, the style was known as “big beat,” but the name was eventually shortened to just “beat.” The charts of that era were dominated by artists such as Tommy Steele, Marty Wilde, and Cliff Richard.
German anthropologist and music critic Ernest Borneman, who lived in England from 1933 to 1960, claimed that he was the one who coined the term in a column for Melody Maker magazine to describe the British imitation of American rock and roll, rhythm and blues, and skiffle.
The most defining feature of beat music was its strong rhythm, which used the backbeat typical of rock and roll and R&B. Alan Clayson described this rhythm as a driving, unvarying four-four beat on the drum kit in every bar, giving the compositions their energy and dynamism. The style was arguably forged in the clubs of Hamburg, where many English bands, including The Beatles, performed in the early 1960s.
As the rhythm guitar was dominant in Merseybeat, the playing style was broken down into a series of separate “chops” or strokes. This was very different from rock music, which is characterised by a more monolithic strum. It also meant that beat music could handle a wider range of time signatures and song structures than was possible in rock and roll. Typically, the line-up of a beat group included lead and rhythm guitars, a bass guitar, and drums. This was true not only for the legendary Beatles but for other bands as well.
Beat groups often had a dedicated lead singer. The verses and choruses in their songs featured tight harmonies. The genre shares much in common with doo-wop, particularly the use of nonsensical syllables in the backing vocals.
Popular Bands That Spread the Merseybeat Style
The most famous group to popularise the Merseybeat style was, of course, The Beatles. But there were many others:
- The Swinging Blue Jeans;
- The Spencer Davis Group;
- The Searchers;
- Gerry and the Pacemakers;
- The Hollies;
- Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas;
- The Merseybeats;
- Rory Storm and the Hurricanes;
- Freddie and the Dreamers;
- The Fourmost.
Also worth mentioning are The Troggs, a group whose work blended many styles, including Merseybeat.
It is clear that this alternative musical direction was very important and highly popular for its time. It was born and developed in Liverpool until the era of other genres dawned.
