Stadium rock would become the golden ticket for British acts in America. ibid.
Cream would become the first British rock band to conquer America. ibid.
On 2nd January 1969 Led Zeppelin arrived in California. ibid.
Stereo FM would build a new audience for the new music. ibid.
Pink Floyd would come to own the airwaves. ibid.
[Jethro] Tull were out there and they took America by storm. ibid.
In ’73 Led Zeppelin were on top of the world. ibid.
Not all of our exports went down so well, notably glam rock. ibid.
The California Jam was Woodstock without the mud or hippies. ibid.
1975 would herald the arrival of Rick Wakeman. ibid.
British Prog triumphed in the home of razzmatazz. It just kept getting bigger. ibid.
Nobody could have predicted the stellar rise of sixties’ R n B act Fleetwood Mac. ibid.
Paul McCartney returned to the US with his new band Wings. ibid.
In the seventies a new generation of British rock fans came, saw and conquered. ibid.
In the post-Punk era a new wave of Brits would wage war on a country still enthralled to long-haired rock guys. How the Brits Rocked America III: We’re the Kids in America
The [Sex] Pistols did not begin to have the same impact in America as in England. ibid.
The next to wage war was Elvis [Costello] and his comrades in 1978. ibid.
The [Boomtown] Rats went home with their tails firmly between their legs. ibid.
Only a handful would enjoy later success. ibid.
The Police became the first new wave act to break through in America. ibid.
MTV was America’s first truly nationwide music network. ibid.
Duran Duran led a second British invasion in 1982. ibid.
Culture Club – the best charting singles band since The Beatles. ibid.
Emerging from the underground was the nascent sound of Hip-Hop. ibid.
The Cure would become prime exporters of a British melancholia. ibid.
None would endure the enduring success of The Cure and Depeche Mode. ibid.
One band would trump them all ... U2 created a new stadium sound. ibid.
Coldplay and Adele are our current ambassadors. ibid.
Dusty in the sixties was as big as you could get. Tom Jones
I think you do have to suffer for your art. Amy Winehouse
In 1949 American company RCA Victor introduced the seven-inch vinyl RMP record. The Joy of the Single, BBC 2012
The sound quality of the seven-inch vinyl single was made for radio. ibid.
Slade’s love of the seven-inch would help make them the singles band of the seventies. ibid.
Part of the joy of the single has always been the primitive ritual of putting it on. ibid.
By 1984 the possibilities for the single seemed limitless. ibid.
By 1987 the record industry had been invaded by small shiny things. ibid.
By the ’90s it was the twelve-inch vinyl single that was the darling of the dance floor and the DJ. ibid.
A memory stick isn’t able to hold real memories. ibid.
The unsung hero in popular music’s epic history is not a performer or a band or even a song – it’s this: the long-playing album. When Albums Ruled the World, BBC 2013
Bob Dylan: Freewheelin’: here were thirteen songs that tackled love, war, peace and race. ibid.
Sergeant Pepper: the world’s first concept album. ibid.
This album music was becoming a category of its own. ibid.
Led Zeppelin were the biggest grossing act in the world. ibid.
Marvin Gaye: What’s Going On? …. Motown’s biggest selling LP. ibid.
David Bowie: Ziggy Stardust. ibid.
Elton John who scored seven consecutive number one LPs in the US in the early seventies. Only The Beatles ever surpassed this feat. ibid.
This was Progressive Rock: 1972 Yes … double albums became triple albums. ibid.
The album sleeve became a symbol of their identity. ibid.
Pink Floyd’s 1973 album The Dark Side of the Moon … fourteen years in the Billboard top 200. ibid.
Mike Oldfield: Tubular Bells … the album was released in May 1973 … the album upon which Richard Branson built his empire. ibid.
1975 Queen began recording their fourth album – A Night at the Opera. ibid.
‘Best Of’ albums by the Carpenters, the Stylistics and Abba were the the UK’s highest sellers in ’74, ’75 and ’76. ibid.
1975: Frampton Comes Alive! The album became the biggest selling record of 1976 in America, and the biggest selling live rock album of all time. ibid.
Live albums, best of collections and bankable megastars kept the industry growing. ibid.
Polished melodic rock was becoming a feature of the American charts. In 1977 The Eagle’s Hotel California was knocked off the number one spot by the biggest selling album of the year: Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours. ibid.
In 1977 The Sex Pistols released their debut album Never Mind the Bollocks. ibid.
1977 also saw debut albums from The Stranglers, The Clash and The Damned. ibid.
In 1979 … record company profits crashed by almost a quarter. ibid.
MTV was launched in 1981 … a new approach to selling music … The era of the video had arrived. ibid.
Thirty years ago something arrived on the British music scene that changed our whole approach to Pop. It’s the compilation album: That’s What I Call Music goes from strength to strength. The Story of Now, ITV 2013
The Best of Top of the Pops: ‘Nowhere on this record does it tell you they’re not the original artists’ ... Top of the Pops records ran for 17 years from 1968. ibid.
Compilations ... K-Tel and Ronco who made their name selling cheap household gadgets. ibid.
Virgin: Tubular Bells & Sex Pistols & Phil Collins & Human League & Culture Club & UB40 et al. ibid.
1983: Now I; 1984: Now II ... Now had a serious rival: The Hits Album. ibid.
Forty years ago in millions of living rooms across the British Isles a strange alien creature was beamed on to our television screens. With bright red hair and multicoloured space suit his unearthly appearance shocked the nation. David Bowie and the Story of Ziggy Stardust, BBC 2012
Ziggy Stardust heralded a new era of rock music. ibid.
He even tried his hand at a children’s novelty record: The Laughing Gnome: The Gospel According to Tony Day. ibid.
Bowie’s plan to create his famous alter ego was beginning to take shape. ibid.
Ziggy turned Bowie into stardust. ibid.
Donated to Mott the Hoople: All the Young Dudes. ibid.
Bowie produced Lou Reed’s Transformer album. ibid.
Rainbow Theatre ... Combined rock music with exotic costumes, theatrical lightning, choreography and mime. ibid.
Glam Rock had exploded. ibid.
Aladdin Sane went straight to the top of the UK charts. ibid.
Seven ground-breaking albums in as many years. ibid.
Now people want to be an individual. And I think there’s a lot of searching to find the individual within oneself. David Bowie: Finding Fame, BBC 2019
And I spent all those formative teenage years adopting guises and changing roles and just learning to be somebody. ibid.