Quotes From British Invasion Rock Stars

Mick Jagger: "The past is a great place and I don't want to erase it or regret it, but I don't want to be its prisoner either."

Peter Noone: "Everybody gets to a stage when it's time to move on."

Marianne Faithful: "Rebellion is the only thing that keeps you alive."

Steve Winwood: "To make a living from doing something I love is fantastic. As long as people want to listen to me, I'll keep doing it."

Eric Clapton: "The blues are what I've turned to, what has given me inspiration and relief in all the trials of my life."

 Roger Daltrey: "Every generation of rock musician will understand that we wouldn't be anywhere without the support of teenagers buying the records." 

Eric Clapton: "The blues are what I've turned to, what has given me inspiration and relief in all the trials of my life."

Petula Clark: "There are definitely people who are stuck in the sixties and there are definitely people who think I am and it's just not true."

Eric Burdon: "Everything changes and, somewhere along the line, I'm changing with it."

Ray Davies: "If I had to do my life over, I would change every single thing I have done."

John Lennon: "If someone thinks that love and peace is a cliche that must have been left behind in the Sixties, that's his problem. Love and peace are eternal."

Cheap Trick Quotes

Robin Zander: "Music is religion, it's a spiritual thing that transcends everything."

Tom Petersson: "My all-time favorite live record is The Who Live At Leeds. I think that's unbeatable."

Bun E. Carlos: "I'm class of 1969. My favorite bands were The Beatles, Rolling Stones and DC5...then The Who, Jimi Hendrix and Cream."



Robin Zander: "One of the reasons we're called Cheap Trick is because there was a performance of Slade, and Tom looked at Rick or Rick looked at Tom and said something like 'These guys use every cheap trick in the book.'"

Rick Nielsen: "Our band is rock n roll. We were never just a studio band trying to make everything perfect. It was never supposed to be perfect. It was supposed to be cool."

Robin Zander: "When you're young and you don't know any better, getting signed to a major label is what you're after. But you're not really prepared for the business aspect of getting ripped off, because that's what's going to happen."

Rick Nielsen: "Even to this day, if it would have been, 'Hey Rick, you get to play with Elvis, you get to play with Paul McCartney, you get to play with Mick Jagger, or you get to play with John Lennon.' John Lennon is the only one I would have picked out of that bunch."

Bun E. Carlos: "I grew up in a musical family and I had an older brother and sister that would play music all the tim
e."

Famous Songs About Famous People

Going To California - Led Zepplin (1971): The lyric "...she plays guitar and cries and sings" is about Joni Mitchell.

Love Reign o'er Me - The Who (1973): Pete Townshend originally wrote this song about British singer Shirley Bassey, whom he had a crush on during his adolescence.

Killing Me Softly With His Song - Roberta Flack (1973): Supposedly inspired by a poem written by Lori Lieberman about singer Don McLean.


Shine On You Crazy Diamond - Pink Floyd (1975) This nine part song was inspired by former lead singer Syd Barrett, who ironically visited the studio while the group was recording. It took awhile to recognise him because no one had seen him for several years.

Hurricane - Bob Dylan (1975): A protest song about boxer Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, who Dylan felt was wrongly sent to prison in the late 60's.

Wonderful Tonight - Eric Clapton (1978): From the album "Slowhand", this song was written for George Harrison's ex-wife Pattie Boyd.

Empty Garden - Elton John (1982) Written and recorded after the death of John Lennon. The two artists were close friends, with Elton being named Sean Lennon's godfather.

Sweet Child O' Mine - Guns N' Roses (1987): From their multi platinum selling album "Appetite For Destruction". Axl Rose co-wrote this song about his then girlfriend Erin Everly, daughter of Don Everly of the Everly Brothers.

Black Velvet - Alannah Myles (1989): This song is a tribute to Elvis Presley and hit number one on the U.S. Billboard charts.

Tribute To Ringo Starr

Ringo Starr has one of the most iconic name and face in rock & roll history. Here are a few facts about the most underrated member of the Beatles.

Born in Liverpool, England

Real name is Richard Starkey.

Ringo is left handed but plays a right handed drum set.

Joined the Beatles as their drummer in 1962.

Oldest member of the Beatles by birth but youngest by duration.

The song Octopus's Garden was written by Ringo.

The songs Hard Day's Night and Tomorrow Never Knows were titled after phrases that Ringo had coined.

Appeared on an episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus.

Starred in several films including Candy (1968 with Marlon Brando), The Magic Christian (1969 with Peter Sellers), 200 Motels (1971 with Frank Zappa) and Caveman (1981 with Dennis Quaid and Barbara Bach).

As a solo artist Ringo had two U.S. number one hits; Photograph and You're Sixteen (both 1973). He also had five other top ten songs.

Ringo's son Zak is also a drummer and has played for both the Who and Oasis.

Married former Bond girl Barbara Bach (The Spy Who Loved Me).

Appeared in the children's TV series Shining Time Station.

First formed Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band back in 1989, a group of rotating guest stars that still tour to this day. Past tours have included Dr. John, Levon Helm, Billy Preston, Billy Squier, Randy Bachman, Peter Frampton, Sheila E. and Roger Hodgson.

Biggest British Invasion Bands

The biggest bands that helped make the British invasion of mid-sixties the musical event of the decade.

1. The Beatles: The biggest music act of all time and the first major pop artist to come out of England. The Beatles were responsible for not only changing the musical landscape but pop culture and therefore world culture.

2. The Rolling Stones: Easily the second most successful band to emerge from England during the sixties. After the Beatles broke up in 1970 the Stones continued, earning themselves the nick name "The World's Greatest Rock & Roll Band".

3. The Who: Famous for playing their music loud and smashing their instruments, the Who peaked creatively and commercially with the albums Tommy (1969) and The Who's Next (1971).

4. The Moody Blues: This band became big combining classical music and rock especially on the album Days Of Future Past (1967).

5. The Animals: Second group, after the Beatles, to have a number one single in the U.S. (The House Of The Rising Sun).

6. The Kinks: With songs like You Really Got Me and All Day And All Of The Night, the Kinks were the forefathers of both punk and metal music.

7. The Yardbirds: This group spawned such guitarists as Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page, giving birth to future mega groups Cream, Derek And The Dominos, Jeff Beck Group and Led Zepplin.

8. The Hollies: The Hollies had hits all through the sixties and into the seventies. One time member Graham Nash quit in the l968 to form the super group Crosby, Stills And Nash (Later Young).

9. The Spencer Davis Group: The Spencer Davis Group had big hits with I'm A Man and Gimme Some Lovin'. Future superstar Steve Winwood was the band's keyboardist, lead singer and main songwriter.

10. Manfred Mann: This group's biggest hit during the sixties was Do Wah Diddy Diddy (Bill Murray sings this song in the movie Stripes). More than a decade later, as Manfred Mann's Earth Band, they had a number one hit with Bruce Springsteen's Blinded By The Light.

Great Songs About Summer

Summertime Blues - Eddie Cochran (1958): Co written and produced by Eddie Cochran himself, this single went to #8 on the Billboard singles chart in July of 1958. The Who released a version on their Live At Leeds album (1970).

Wipe Out - The Surfaris (1962): A number two hit for the Safaris, later remade by the Fat Boys & the Beach Boys.


Surfer Girl - The Beach Boys (1963): This single, written and produced by Brian Wilson, along with B-side Little Deuce Coupe went to #7 during the summer of 1963. The song was inspired by the Disney tune When You Wish Upon A Star.

Summer In The City - The Lovin' Spoonful (1966): Written by John Sebastian's brother Mark, this was The Lovin' Spoonful's only number one hit. John Sebastian would later write the theme to the TV sitcom Welcome Back Carter.

Good Day Sunshine - The Beatles (1966): Written and sung primarily by Paul McCartney, this song was released on the album Revolver.

Summertime - Big Brother And The Holding Co. (1968): This song was written in 1935 by George Gershwin for the musical Porgy And Bess. The Big Brother version, featuring Janis Joplin on vocals, can be found on the album Cheap Thrills.

School's Out - Alice Copper (1972): Alice's ode to the end of school went to #7 on the Billboard singles chart. This song is also a big hit in pop culture and has been featured many times in movies, TV shows and video games.

Saturday In The Park - Chicago (1972): One of the biggest hits Chicago had during the 70's and was inspired by a walk through New York's Central Park.

Summer Breeze - Seals & Croft (1972): Breakthrough hit for the duo Seals & Croft.

Boys Of Summer - Don Henley (1984): The biggest hit off Don Henley's Building The Perfect Beast album. This song was co written by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers guitarist Mike Campbell.

Summer Of 69 - Bryan Adams (1984): Written by Bryan Adams and his song writing partner Jim Vallance (Aerosmith, Heart). The title was inspired by the movie Summer of 42.

Beatle Women

Cynthia Powell: She met John Lennon at the Liverpool college of art in 1957. They were married from 1962 to 1968 and had a son together, Julian. During the early days of Beatlemania they kept their marriage a secret.

Jane Asher: TV and movie actress who was Paul McCartney's girlfriend (and later fiance) from 1963 to 1968. Her brother is Peter Asher, who was a member of the singing duo Peter And Gordon (Paul wrote songs for them).

Maureen Cox: Ringo's wife from 1965 to 1975. They had three kids together, including Zak Starkey who grew up to play drums for the Who and Oasis.

Patti Boyd: Model and later author, who was married to George Harrison from 1966 to 1977. The two met on the set of the film A Hard Day's Night (1964). Later she married Eric Clapton, who had written the song Layla for her.

Yoko Ono: The most famous (or infamous) of all the Beatle women. An avant-garde artist and activist who was married to John Lennon from 1969 until his death in 1980. The two had a son together, Sean Ono Lennon.

Linda Eastman: Linda was a photographer, who photographed many famous musicians (Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin etc). Before meeting Paul her favourite Beatle was John. Linda and Paul were married from 1969 until her death in 1998. They had three kids together, including fashion designer Stella McCartney.

Barbara Bach: While making the movie Caveman (1981) Ringo Starr met former Bond girl Barbara Bach. They married a year later and have been together ever since.

Olivia Harrison: Olivia was a secretary at A&M records when George Harrison met her. They were married from 1978 until his death in 2001 and had a son, Dhani.

Each Beatle had flings with famous women (some possibly rumours)

John Lennon: Ronnie Spector.

Paul McCartney: Piggy Lipton, Rosanna Arquette, Christie Brinkley.

George Harrison: Joey Heatherton.

Ringo Starr: Shelley Duvall.

Pete Townshend Quotes

"I don't really know any other musicians like me. I grew up backstage with my dad who played in a post war dance band, so I always feel at home at a venue."

"It's not the fact I was brilliant, I am brilliant."

"The day you open your mind to music, you're halfway to opening your mind to life."

"Rock & roll might not solve your problems, but it does let you dance all over them."

"Keith Moon is not interested in Jazz and won't ever be a Jazz drummer because he's more interested in looking good and being screamed at."

"I needed to give back, give back, give back. I felt guilty about my success. I felt uncomfortable about how easily I had been delivered this extraordinary life I had."

"Who's Next is a great record, but it's a compromise. It could have been greater if people's attention span was longer and if vinyl allowed more time."

"The Who By Numbers is high on Roger's list of best ever Who records. He was a real editor on it. I delivered 35 demos and he chose the tracks we'd include."

"What the English like to do is to face reality with a glass of port and a tear and fade off like Basil Rathbone into the sunset."