"New Beatles" Groups

With the annual Beatles convention in the New York area (it's held in Secaucus, New Jersey, actually) coming up this weekend, I'd like to present a list of bands known for one reason or another as a "new Beatles."

Every one of these groups drew comparisons to the Beatles, either as a potential rival to the Fab Four, as a group that could possibly 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 that sang other people's songs - were compared to the Beatles because twelve-year-old girls liked them!

They include but are not necessarily limited to:

the Rolling Stones (the Stones of 1964 were called "ersatz Beatles" by writer Philip Norman for their 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 Beau Brummels (first major American band to copy the Beatles, named themselves to strategically have their records put right after the Beatles' records in record stores because "Beau Brummels" follows "Beatles" alphabetically - "Laugh Laugh" was their big hit)

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, like the one George Harrison played)

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)

the Monkees (obvious copycats)

the Easybeats (first Australian group to copy the Fab Four)

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)

Creedence Clearwater Revival (Beatlesque for their innovation and their consistent hits, though none of their singles ever made it to number one)

the Bee Gees (Beatlesque ballads, most successful '70s group; sometimes called the Beatles of Australia)

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

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 Beatlemania)

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 group had its own comic book series; 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)

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

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

Daryl Hall and John Oates ("I think we're the eighties Beatles," Daryl Hall told Rolling Stone in 1985 in regard to himself and John Oates. "If we were born twenty years earlier, maybe the world would have seen that." :-) )

Split Enz, Crowded House (called "Beatlesque;" either group could be called the Beatles of New Zealand)

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)

And then there have been groups that have been "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