RIP Shadows drummer Tony Meehan

Cliff Richard and the Shadows was the band everyone loved in England before
the British Invasion. Tony only played for them for a couple of years, but
he was on a lot of their hit singles.
I bring up his name because the band Tony played in was NOT what the
Beatles aspired to be. They always felt that they could do better than
Cliff and company, especially outside of England. Which is why they
deliberately waited until they topped the charts in America before they
came here. They knew that British musicians rarely headlined RnR shows that
played in the US and were, in fact, not very successful here before 1964.
Ironically, when the British Invasion began introducing the world to many
different UK singers and bands, the Shadows weren't one of them, at least
so far as gaining a foothold in the US was concerned.

So let me ask an objective question- were the Shadows too provincial for
American ears? I haven't heard much of their stuff, so I'm not using the
word in a derogatory sense. I'm just wondering what held them back.

PS We miss you, George.
.

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