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Overpaid, Oversexed and Over There: How a Few Skinny Brits with Bad Teeth Rocked America
The Beatles landing in New York in February 1964 was the opening shot in a cultural revolution nobody predicted. Suddenly the youth of the richest, most powerful nation on earth was trying to emulate the music, manners and the modes of a rainy island that had recently fallen on hard times.
The resulting fusion of American can-do and British fuck-you didn’t just lead to rock and roll’s most resonant music. It ushered in a golden era when a generation of kids born in ration card Britain, who had grown up with their nose pressed against the window of America’s plenty, were invited to wallow in their big neighbour’s largesse.
It deals with a time when everything that was being done - from the Beatles playing Shea Stadium to the Rolling Stones at Altamont, from the Who performing their rock opera at the Metropolitan Opera House to David Bowie touching down in the USA for the first time with a couple of gowns in his luggage - was being done for the very first time.
Rock and roll would never be quite so exciting again.
The resulting fusion of American can-do and British fuck-you didn’t just lead to rock and roll’s most resonant music. It ushered in a golden era when a generation of kids born in ration card Britain, who had grown up with their nose pressed against the window of America’s plenty, were invited to wallow in their big neighbour’s largesse.
It deals with a time when everything that was being done - from the Beatles playing Shea Stadium to the Rolling Stones at Altamont, from the Who performing their rock opera at the Metropolitan Opera House to David Bowie touching down in the USA for the first time with a couple of gowns in his luggage - was being done for the very first time.
Rock and roll would never be quite so exciting again.
336 pages, Hardcover
First published September 17, 2020
75 people are currently reading
348 people want to read
About the author
David Hepworth
13 books217 followersDavid Hepworth is a music journalist, writer, and publishing industry analyst who has launched several successful British magazines, including Smash Hits, Q, Mojo and The Word, among many others. He presented the definitive BBC rock music program Whistle Test and anchored the BBC's coverage of Live Aid in 1985. He has won the Editor of the Year and Writer of the Year awards from the Professional Publishers Association and the Mark Boxer Award from the British Society of Magazine Editors. He is the radio columnist for the Saturday Guardian and a regular media correspondent for the newspaper.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews
May 30, 2024
4.5 stars
"The 7th of February 1964 [the Beatles arriving in New York City] was the D-Day of what the Americans would come to call 'the British Invasion.' This was an indication of how unusual it was for the recording stars of another country to suddenly become the biggest and most exciting names in the USA . . . It wasn't just a one-day or one-group affair. For a dizzy couple of years it was assumed that whichever band had most recently tumbled down the steps of a BOAC airliner and then onto TV's 'The Ed Sullivan Show' was possessed of some special magic that Americans could not hope to match." -- from the introduction
As a fan of music journalist Hepworth - I thought his previous works 1971 - Never a Dull Moment: Rock's Golden Year and Uncommon People: The Rise and Fall of the Rock Stars were both uniformly excellent - I could not wait to tear into one of his more recent efforts (which I chanced upon during a visit to a dependable used book emporium this month) with the pithily accurate title of Overpaid, Oversexed and Over There. Like his earlier books this is a collection of solid essays mostly focusing on influential rock music from the mid-60's, although here he stretches somewhat beyond that original 1964-1966 British Invasion - which saw acts such as the Beatles, the Dave Clark Five, the Rolling Stones, the Who, and the Animals storm the shores of America - into the arguable second (early 70's - featuring Led Zeppelin, David Bowie, Elton John and Black Sabbath) and third (circa 1983 - groups like Duran Duran, Culture Club, the Police, and the Clash) waves of this multi-decade attack on the airwaves and TV screens. I agree with some of the other GR reviewers that this book coasts a little on the charms of Hepworth's aforementioned earlier works, but standing on its own merits - as the author is both dependably knowledgable and a wordsmith - it was still a thorough, often humorous and very readable work about some eras in popular music that will likely never be repeated.
"The 7th of February 1964 [the Beatles arriving in New York City] was the D-Day of what the Americans would come to call 'the British Invasion.' This was an indication of how unusual it was for the recording stars of another country to suddenly become the biggest and most exciting names in the USA . . . It wasn't just a one-day or one-group affair. For a dizzy couple of years it was assumed that whichever band had most recently tumbled down the steps of a BOAC airliner and then onto TV's 'The Ed Sullivan Show' was possessed of some special magic that Americans could not hope to match." -- from the introduction
As a fan of music journalist Hepworth - I thought his previous works 1971 - Never a Dull Moment: Rock's Golden Year and Uncommon People: The Rise and Fall of the Rock Stars were both uniformly excellent - I could not wait to tear into one of his more recent efforts (which I chanced upon during a visit to a dependable used book emporium this month) with the pithily accurate title of Overpaid, Oversexed and Over There. Like his earlier books this is a collection of solid essays mostly focusing on influential rock music from the mid-60's, although here he stretches somewhat beyond that original 1964-1966 British Invasion - which saw acts such as the Beatles, the Dave Clark Five, the Rolling Stones, the Who, and the Animals storm the shores of America - into the arguable second (early 70's - featuring Led Zeppelin, David Bowie, Elton John and Black Sabbath) and third (circa 1983 - groups like Duran Duran, Culture Club, the Police, and the Clash) waves of this multi-decade attack on the airwaves and TV screens. I agree with some of the other GR reviewers that this book coasts a little on the charms of Hepworth's aforementioned earlier works, but standing on its own merits - as the author is both dependably knowledgable and a wordsmith - it was still a thorough, often humorous and very readable work about some eras in popular music that will likely never be repeated.
November 3, 2025
Having been a bit sniffy about David Hepworth in the past I’m delighted to report that I enjoyed this enormously. Admittedly I bought it from my local charity bookshop, so my high opinion and the fact that it cost me next to nothing might not be unconnected (book reviewing is a murky business; so many variables). But I mustn’t spoil it.
Actually, Hepworth is a witty and perceptive writer whose apparent flippancy gets you closer to the truth than an entire library of quasi-academic or sociological rock tomes. This one concerns a generation of young British upstarts, besotted by rock ‘n’ roll and blues, who took African-American coals to Newcastle (otherwise known as the USA) and triumphed.
Although his books are often dismissed as mere nostalgia (not least by me, come to think of it) in some ways Hepworth is one of the great demystifiers of rock. There is a hoary old myth, beloved of rock fans of a certain vintage (excuse me while I beat my breast), that pop is contrived and artificial while rock is spontaneous and authentic. Hepworth explodes it in one sentence: ‘Authenticity is the one quality that everyone in rock and roll most urgently needs to fake’.
He understands that in rock and pop the music is never all that matters. So he treats us to an illuminating essay on the vital role played by hair in popular music: ‘Artists like Little Richard were 50 per cent hair, often literally’. When Ringo joined the Beatles John Lennon told him ‘the sideburns will have to go.’ One of the things that excited American youth about the mop-tops was that when they shook their heads their hair moved. In America hair was kept under strict control.
Discussing the British guitar heroes - Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page - Hepworth observes that they put as much effort into their appearance and stage moves as actually playing the guitar. It was music that ‘emanated directly from the groin’, a visual experience just as much as a musical one. I’ve long suspected that the true reason most rock critics were so condescending towards the wonderful Marc Bolan was less to do with his alleged lack of virtuosity on the electric guitar than the fact that diminutive and delicate Marc just looked a bit silly when posing with one, thereby inadvertently exposing the entire cock rock, macho strutting rigmarole for the laughable pantomimic nonsense it was. Hepworth is also surely correct that all this phallic posturing appealed enormously to boys and not a bit to girls. Despite all the hyper-masculinity on display the relationship between prancing idol and his adoring male fans carried distinctly homoerotic overtones.
For a brief period in the sixties England, at least according to Time magazine and Roger Miller, swung ‘like a pendulum do’. Antonioni’s film Blowup is the most entrancing depiction of Swinging London I know, even if what it was depicting was largely a fantasy. It’s a film I would like to live in. For me it’s all about style and seductive surface, but countless theses of soporific length have been devoted to its meaning. The general gloss seems to be that it is an existential study of the alienated, materialistic and empty existence led by the Rolls Royce driving, hedonistic and promiscuous fashion photographer played by dishy David Hemmings. Hepworth’s explanation for its popularity is slightly different: ‘Young men all over the world did not interpret David Hemmings as living a meaningless, loveless experience. They saw him as living the exact life they would have picked out for themselves if they only had been given access to the catalogue. On the basis of one viewing of Blowup they were happy to assume that photographers actually did spend their days straddling half-naked models, occasionally using the exhortatory mantra “give it to me, give it to me”….What more could anyone possibly want?’ This entertaining book is peppered with such apparently throwaway comments that contain more than a germ of truth: at once facetious and impossible to argue against.
Actually, Hepworth is a witty and perceptive writer whose apparent flippancy gets you closer to the truth than an entire library of quasi-academic or sociological rock tomes. This one concerns a generation of young British upstarts, besotted by rock ‘n’ roll and blues, who took African-American coals to Newcastle (otherwise known as the USA) and triumphed.
Although his books are often dismissed as mere nostalgia (not least by me, come to think of it) in some ways Hepworth is one of the great demystifiers of rock. There is a hoary old myth, beloved of rock fans of a certain vintage (excuse me while I beat my breast), that pop is contrived and artificial while rock is spontaneous and authentic. Hepworth explodes it in one sentence: ‘Authenticity is the one quality that everyone in rock and roll most urgently needs to fake’.
He understands that in rock and pop the music is never all that matters. So he treats us to an illuminating essay on the vital role played by hair in popular music: ‘Artists like Little Richard were 50 per cent hair, often literally’. When Ringo joined the Beatles John Lennon told him ‘the sideburns will have to go.’ One of the things that excited American youth about the mop-tops was that when they shook their heads their hair moved. In America hair was kept under strict control.
Discussing the British guitar heroes - Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page - Hepworth observes that they put as much effort into their appearance and stage moves as actually playing the guitar. It was music that ‘emanated directly from the groin’, a visual experience just as much as a musical one. I’ve long suspected that the true reason most rock critics were so condescending towards the wonderful Marc Bolan was less to do with his alleged lack of virtuosity on the electric guitar than the fact that diminutive and delicate Marc just looked a bit silly when posing with one, thereby inadvertently exposing the entire cock rock, macho strutting rigmarole for the laughable pantomimic nonsense it was. Hepworth is also surely correct that all this phallic posturing appealed enormously to boys and not a bit to girls. Despite all the hyper-masculinity on display the relationship between prancing idol and his adoring male fans carried distinctly homoerotic overtones.
For a brief period in the sixties England, at least according to Time magazine and Roger Miller, swung ‘like a pendulum do’. Antonioni’s film Blowup is the most entrancing depiction of Swinging London I know, even if what it was depicting was largely a fantasy. It’s a film I would like to live in. For me it’s all about style and seductive surface, but countless theses of soporific length have been devoted to its meaning. The general gloss seems to be that it is an existential study of the alienated, materialistic and empty existence led by the Rolls Royce driving, hedonistic and promiscuous fashion photographer played by dishy David Hemmings. Hepworth’s explanation for its popularity is slightly different: ‘Young men all over the world did not interpret David Hemmings as living a meaningless, loveless experience. They saw him as living the exact life they would have picked out for themselves if they only had been given access to the catalogue. On the basis of one viewing of Blowup they were happy to assume that photographers actually did spend their days straddling half-naked models, occasionally using the exhortatory mantra “give it to me, give it to me”….What more could anyone possibly want?’ This entertaining book is peppered with such apparently throwaway comments that contain more than a germ of truth: at once facetious and impossible to argue against.
October 4, 2020
An entertaining and dryly acerbic account of the ‘British Invasions’ of bands who sought to make it big in American during the 60s, 70s, and 80s. Anybody who has read any of David Hepworth’s recent music history titles will be familiar with the format deployed in “Overpaid, Oversexed, and Over There”, but also with Hepworth’s wry style of the perpetually-raised eyebrow.
“Overpaid …” covers a period where America was not just paying attention to British music and culture, but was completely in thrall to the sounds floating across from the other side of the Atlantic. It tells the stories of the canonical British groups who ‘cracked’ America (The Beatles, The Stones, Led Zeppelin, The Who), other, less-marquee names who also had huge success stateside (The Dave Clarke Five, Herman’s Hermits), and those British exports who crashed and burned when they attempted to bridge that Atlantic divide (The Animals, The Sex Pistols). Hepworth attempts to pinpoint exactly why certain British groups were so successful in America, and he describes how so many of their contemporaries floundered when they made the belated discovery that America is actually quite a large continent.
David Hepworth is quite strong on the socio-cultural elements of the story (particularly on how America and Britain remain, as that famous Irishman G.B. Shaw once said, “divided by a common language”). This cultural analysis never seems tacked-on or shoehorned into the musical criticism. Hepworth skilfully shows how - by taking the American form of rock’n’roll, turbo-charging it then selling it back to the Yanks - these Brits had an influence on everything from the advent of Stadium Rock to the speed at which the Sexual Revolution took hold across 60s and 70s America.
“Overpaid, Oversexed, and Over There” isn’t just chin-stroking, historical analysis; Hepworth has a lightness of touch and an eye for the absurd detail. He realises that completely unpredictable, random factors often lie behind the most stellar successes, not least in the case of The Beatles whose moptop haircuts Hepworth believes were key to their early conquest of America (“the most consequential creative decision they ever took ... it defined them against the entire adult population of an entire continent and invited their youth to join them in this revolution of the head”).
Fans of David Hepworth’s previous books will now that he is a dab hand at poking at the pretensions of narcissistic rock stars. “Overpaid …” continues that tone, whether Hepworth is describing the monstrous decadence of Led Zeppelin and their repellent entourage, or ridiculing the ludicrous preening of Rod Stewart. But it is also a terrific account of the cultural differences to fame, monetary success, and the concept of ‘selling-out’ that continue to split the music scenes of Britain and America.
“Overpaid …” covers a period where America was not just paying attention to British music and culture, but was completely in thrall to the sounds floating across from the other side of the Atlantic. It tells the stories of the canonical British groups who ‘cracked’ America (The Beatles, The Stones, Led Zeppelin, The Who), other, less-marquee names who also had huge success stateside (The Dave Clarke Five, Herman’s Hermits), and those British exports who crashed and burned when they attempted to bridge that Atlantic divide (The Animals, The Sex Pistols). Hepworth attempts to pinpoint exactly why certain British groups were so successful in America, and he describes how so many of their contemporaries floundered when they made the belated discovery that America is actually quite a large continent.
David Hepworth is quite strong on the socio-cultural elements of the story (particularly on how America and Britain remain, as that famous Irishman G.B. Shaw once said, “divided by a common language”). This cultural analysis never seems tacked-on or shoehorned into the musical criticism. Hepworth skilfully shows how - by taking the American form of rock’n’roll, turbo-charging it then selling it back to the Yanks - these Brits had an influence on everything from the advent of Stadium Rock to the speed at which the Sexual Revolution took hold across 60s and 70s America.
“Overpaid, Oversexed, and Over There” isn’t just chin-stroking, historical analysis; Hepworth has a lightness of touch and an eye for the absurd detail. He realises that completely unpredictable, random factors often lie behind the most stellar successes, not least in the case of The Beatles whose moptop haircuts Hepworth believes were key to their early conquest of America (“the most consequential creative decision they ever took ... it defined them against the entire adult population of an entire continent and invited their youth to join them in this revolution of the head”).
Fans of David Hepworth’s previous books will now that he is a dab hand at poking at the pretensions of narcissistic rock stars. “Overpaid …” continues that tone, whether Hepworth is describing the monstrous decadence of Led Zeppelin and their repellent entourage, or ridiculing the ludicrous preening of Rod Stewart. But it is also a terrific account of the cultural differences to fame, monetary success, and the concept of ‘selling-out’ that continue to split the music scenes of Britain and America.
August 27, 2021
An ok read, but not one of Hepworth’s best, a collection of well worn stories from the various waves of British musicians who have found fame, and sometimes, misfortune in the US.
In some early chapters, Hepworth starts to sound a bit of a dirty old Uncle, especially in audiobook form, sat in the corner, lasciviously wringing his hands, as he enthusiastically recounts stories of scrubbers and teenage sexual escapades.
In some early chapters, Hepworth starts to sound a bit of a dirty old Uncle, especially in audiobook form, sat in the corner, lasciviously wringing his hands, as he enthusiastically recounts stories of scrubbers and teenage sexual escapades.
March 6, 2022
In Overpaid, Oversexed and Over There, music writer David Hepworth traces the various waves of the British Invasion, from the Beatles' arrival in America in February 1964, to the moment in 1983 when British New Wave acts accounted for nearly half of Billboard's Top 40. Along the way, he considers a range of British artists, including the Dave Clark Five, The Who, Herman's Hermits, the Animals, Mott the Hoople, Led Zeppelin, Elton John, David Bowie, Rod Stewart, Roxy Music, Elvis Costello, and the Sex Pistols, among others. With his signature wry humor, Hepworth considers the profound culture shock that British artists encountered in the U.S., the extreme difficulty of making it big "over here," and of course, the irony of a bunch of Brits taking a quintessentially American ethos and music form, repackaging it, and selling it back to America.
This was great. I especially enjoyed Hepworth's exploration of how bands like the Who and Led Zeppelin invented the immersive, two-hour-plus rock concert as we know it today. I also liked his insight that Madonna was the figure who effectively marked the end of the twenty-year British-male heyday in pop music. The book did sag a little bit for me in its coverage of the mid-to-late seventies era, but that could be because I don't know or enjoy that era's musical acts quite as much as those who came earlier and later. I didn't love this quite as much as Hepworth's book about the year 1971 in music. The scope of Overpaid... is so much broader that it can't maintain the same intensity. Still, it's a fun read for fans of pop music history.
This was great. I especially enjoyed Hepworth's exploration of how bands like the Who and Led Zeppelin invented the immersive, two-hour-plus rock concert as we know it today. I also liked his insight that Madonna was the figure who effectively marked the end of the twenty-year British-male heyday in pop music. The book did sag a little bit for me in its coverage of the mid-to-late seventies era, but that could be because I don't know or enjoy that era's musical acts quite as much as those who came earlier and later. I didn't love this quite as much as Hepworth's book about the year 1971 in music. The scope of Overpaid... is so much broader that it can't maintain the same intensity. Still, it's a fun read for fans of pop music history.
September 19, 2020
Hepworth’s tale of the British Invasion in the 60s and his analysis of the course and varying levels of success of British pop and rock acts from 1964 to 1984 may be very familiar. What sets this book apart is the freshness that Hepworth brings: his writing is sparkling and personal; his anecdotes well chosen and manifold; his opinions strong and well argued. More, it’s the connections he observes and the lightness of touch with which he makes them that makes this book, well, sing.
There is plenty of familiar stuff: the Beatles on Ed Sullivan etc but also some well observed rumination on the importance of hair and teeth (yes really) in the success of pop stars. Hepworth is also especially good on the importance of bands and the English psyche. This is not an encyclopaedia although his knowledge is definitively encyclopaedic but he wears his knowledge lightly and never makes you feel inadequate.
This is a personal and discerning view told with guile and panache. It’s a book full of insight and joy. Is Hepworth our best music writer? I don’t know but he’s doing a terrific case for the prosecution. Superb.
There is plenty of familiar stuff: the Beatles on Ed Sullivan etc but also some well observed rumination on the importance of hair and teeth (yes really) in the success of pop stars. Hepworth is also especially good on the importance of bands and the English psyche. This is not an encyclopaedia although his knowledge is definitively encyclopaedic but he wears his knowledge lightly and never makes you feel inadequate.
This is a personal and discerning view told with guile and panache. It’s a book full of insight and joy. Is Hepworth our best music writer? I don’t know but he’s doing a terrific case for the prosecution. Superb.
January 7, 2021
I must admit to being a fan of David Hepworth's writing, having read his last four books, I was eagerly anticipating reading this one also. In this book he examines the bands that left England's shores to find fame and fortune in America starting with the Beatles in 1964 through to Boy George and culture Club in the mid eighties. He charts the success of a few of these bands and also the many failures who evenutually had to return home with their tails between their legs and the excuses of how America 'just didn't get them' ! Many of these stories were familiar to me but Hepworth's slightly mocking and easy style of writing still drew me right in and there were also lots of tales that were new to me too. I was just a young boy when the first British Invasion of America took place and although I can still recall the Beatles first foray across the Atlantic, I was unaware of the impact made by The Dave Clark Five, whose stomping, beat driven pop made quite an impression on the 7 year old me. Another story that Hepworth recounts, that was also unfamiliar to me, was the story of The Animals and in particular that of singer, Eric Burdon, who sounds like a particularly unlikeable figure. Also scattered throughout the book are little titbits which Hepworth drops in every now and again which highlight what other familiar names were doing at a particular time, such as, Terri Garr and Toni Basil being dancers on 'Shindig' back in the sixties.
Hepworth highlights what the successful bands did to make them a success and also points out what went wrong with the many bands that tried to 'cross the pond' and failed. His arguments are always well grounded and based on the huge amount of research that must go into trying to produce such a comprehensive overview of this topic. For me this was another throughly enjoyable read that both enlightened and entertained me, by a music writer and critic that I never tire of reading.
Hepworth highlights what the successful bands did to make them a success and also points out what went wrong with the many bands that tried to 'cross the pond' and failed. His arguments are always well grounded and based on the huge amount of research that must go into trying to produce such a comprehensive overview of this topic. For me this was another throughly enjoyable read that both enlightened and entertained me, by a music writer and critic that I never tire of reading.
October 8, 2021
Igjen har David Hepworth skrevet en veldig fin bok om pop og rock. Denne gangen er temaet den engelske populærkulturelle invasjonen av USA, en invasjon som startet med The Beatles sitt besøk på Ed O'Sullivan show i 1964. Bakteppet den gangen var at England var kulturelt tilbakestående, USA var et fyrtårn resten av verden så opp til. Inntil The Beatles kom og snudde opp ned på alt. I kjølvannet av dem kom Rolling Stones, Herman's Hermit, The Hollies, Led Zeppelin, David Bowie, Elton John...... Forfatteren beskriver en invasjon som varte i 20 år, inntil Madonna og Bruce Springsteen tok tilbake tronen på vegne av USA.
Hepworth skriver med kunnskap, stort hjerte og glimt i øyet. Anekdotene er mange og gjør at boka er et skattkammer for enhver som liker historiene og menneskene bak musikken. Vi får lese om Eric Burdon fra The Animals, som brukte de siste 24 timene før sitt bryllup i 1967, til å reise rundt og ha sex med sju ekskjærester. Folkesjela blir utmerket beskrevet. For eksempel den engelske trangen til å bruke humor i alle situasjoner og lene seg på holdningen "Keep Calm and Carry On". Det ligger mye overlevelse i en slik holdning.
Hepworth skriver med kunnskap, stort hjerte og glimt i øyet. Anekdotene er mange og gjør at boka er et skattkammer for enhver som liker historiene og menneskene bak musikken. Vi får lese om Eric Burdon fra The Animals, som brukte de siste 24 timene før sitt bryllup i 1967, til å reise rundt og ha sex med sju ekskjærester. Folkesjela blir utmerket beskrevet. For eksempel den engelske trangen til å bruke humor i alle situasjoner og lene seg på holdningen "Keep Calm and Carry On". Det ligger mye overlevelse i en slik holdning.
January 6, 2026
I cannot fault David Hepworth’s knowledge, an enjoyable read covering many artists and genres and their experiences in breaking in to the US Music. I found a bit of a heavy read at times I would say that more of a reflection on my reading and not the book.
July 9, 2023
an amazing exploration of the musical British Invasion and the evolution of music in the 60s till the 80s.
hands down a fascinating read!
hands down a fascinating read!
September 17, 2020
With his fifth book in as many years, its apparent that Hepworth’s mix of opinionated argument underwritten by detailed research topped up with some good natured mocking of his subjects is proving popular. This time, Hep turns sets his sights on the ebb and flow of how British musicians changed American music but in turn how the biggest market in the world changed them.
For serious fans Hepworth’s research may not be breaking any new ground but the fun comes from how he stitches it all together, and focusing on just one artist is an oversubscribed market. Yes, there’s all the stuff we’ve heard before about the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show, how Brian Jones wanted to be called Elmo, but as familiar as this might be, it’s the picture that Hepworth paints around them that makes it an engaging read.
Starting from the premise that British groups gave the US the first real “bands”, replacing all the “Bobbies” that were at the top of the US charts at the time (Vee, Rydell, Vinton, Goldsboro, Darin), he manages to knit this to how The Dave Clark Five’s (leader Dave “untroubled by modesty from an early age”) barrack room stomps were filled the vacuum left by the Fab Four (seven chart singles and 4 LPS in 1964 alone) tapping into a very male predilection for larger than life sounds that would later be repeated by Kiss. “Glad All Over” to “Detroit Rock City” in a few steps. Who else would have come up with that?
Hepworth’s narrative is pinned to a timeline that stretches from the early 60’s to the mid-1980s and his interest shifts as time advances. As the sun set on Chad & Jeremy’s (vanguard of the “Oxford Sound” apparently) US popularity, America starts to get under the skin of British musicians. The Who tour 12 times in 13 years just trying to establish themselves nationally (rather than just the East and West coasts), Graham Nash leaves The Hollies seduced by weed, women and Laurel Canyon, and Nick Lowe’s disastrous jaunt with Brinsley Schwartz leads to the revelation that even with identical gear, they were never going to sound like The Band, because they weren’t as good musicians.
Before long, some have written off the UK (step forward Dave Coverdale and Rod Stewart) in order to be “Big In America” a tag line which goes from denoting admiration to simply saying “sell-out”. By this stage Hepworth maintains UK radio remained all about enthusing it’s audience, in the US it was determined not to do anything to alienate them, with consultants available to help bands find radio friendly keys to record in.
Punk – “profoundly English” - comes along as a saviour, and it’s part of the job description to dismiss the US as barely worth gobbing on whilst secretly gagging to take the next flight to JFK.Nearly all of them tour there anyway (“bands are like sharks, if they don’t keep moving, they die) to little avail. Bob Geldof with the benefit of hindsight “We came in on the back of five hit singles and a number one and though America was going to fall prostrate at our feet. In fact, America didn’t give a fuck about us”.
Hepworth closes with the assertion that the second British invasion occurs in the 1980s led by Culture Club with The Police, Madness, Duran Duran and Kajagoogoo in close pursuit. My guess is that Hep has far less affinity for the music of this era, as there is far less depth of discussion here.
There are a few bands missing in action. The Kinks barely get a mention, perhaps because they were banned from the US for a few years, but otherwise seem obvious candidates for British interest in the US. The Monkees are described as much a successor to Herman’s Hermits as they are The Beatles, but there’s no mention of The Osmonds, Jackson 5, Bay City Rollers or Take That.
But that’s a fairly minor quibble. The book is so packed with anecdotes, facts and opinions that at times it was hard to take it all in. It will make you laugh and could well prompt the occasional shout of “no”! It’s a brisk ride with barely time to catch your breath. Give it a go.
For serious fans Hepworth’s research may not be breaking any new ground but the fun comes from how he stitches it all together, and focusing on just one artist is an oversubscribed market. Yes, there’s all the stuff we’ve heard before about the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show, how Brian Jones wanted to be called Elmo, but as familiar as this might be, it’s the picture that Hepworth paints around them that makes it an engaging read.
Starting from the premise that British groups gave the US the first real “bands”, replacing all the “Bobbies” that were at the top of the US charts at the time (Vee, Rydell, Vinton, Goldsboro, Darin), he manages to knit this to how The Dave Clark Five’s (leader Dave “untroubled by modesty from an early age”) barrack room stomps were filled the vacuum left by the Fab Four (seven chart singles and 4 LPS in 1964 alone) tapping into a very male predilection for larger than life sounds that would later be repeated by Kiss. “Glad All Over” to “Detroit Rock City” in a few steps. Who else would have come up with that?
Hepworth’s narrative is pinned to a timeline that stretches from the early 60’s to the mid-1980s and his interest shifts as time advances. As the sun set on Chad & Jeremy’s (vanguard of the “Oxford Sound” apparently) US popularity, America starts to get under the skin of British musicians. The Who tour 12 times in 13 years just trying to establish themselves nationally (rather than just the East and West coasts), Graham Nash leaves The Hollies seduced by weed, women and Laurel Canyon, and Nick Lowe’s disastrous jaunt with Brinsley Schwartz leads to the revelation that even with identical gear, they were never going to sound like The Band, because they weren’t as good musicians.
Before long, some have written off the UK (step forward Dave Coverdale and Rod Stewart) in order to be “Big In America” a tag line which goes from denoting admiration to simply saying “sell-out”. By this stage Hepworth maintains UK radio remained all about enthusing it’s audience, in the US it was determined not to do anything to alienate them, with consultants available to help bands find radio friendly keys to record in.
Punk – “profoundly English” - comes along as a saviour, and it’s part of the job description to dismiss the US as barely worth gobbing on whilst secretly gagging to take the next flight to JFK.Nearly all of them tour there anyway (“bands are like sharks, if they don’t keep moving, they die) to little avail. Bob Geldof with the benefit of hindsight “We came in on the back of five hit singles and a number one and though America was going to fall prostrate at our feet. In fact, America didn’t give a fuck about us”.
Hepworth closes with the assertion that the second British invasion occurs in the 1980s led by Culture Club with The Police, Madness, Duran Duran and Kajagoogoo in close pursuit. My guess is that Hep has far less affinity for the music of this era, as there is far less depth of discussion here.
There are a few bands missing in action. The Kinks barely get a mention, perhaps because they were banned from the US for a few years, but otherwise seem obvious candidates for British interest in the US. The Monkees are described as much a successor to Herman’s Hermits as they are The Beatles, but there’s no mention of The Osmonds, Jackson 5, Bay City Rollers or Take That.
But that’s a fairly minor quibble. The book is so packed with anecdotes, facts and opinions that at times it was hard to take it all in. It will make you laugh and could well prompt the occasional shout of “no”! It’s a brisk ride with barely time to catch your breath. Give it a go.
August 26, 2025
This is the fifth David Hepworth book I’ve read (or rather listened to via Audible). He really is the best and most irreverent chronicler of the music that our generation (the baby boom) grew up with.
As an old and endearingly cynical journalist, who has worked for most of the big UK music papers, he has seen it all - been to all the press junkets, interviewed all the ‘legends’ (often in their less-than-legendary moments) and developed a clear-eyed understanding of how the business works.
For all that, Hepworth remains a fan and communicates real fondness for some of the more human stars - or almost-stars - alongside a subtly communicated disdain for the ones who were careerist self-promoters, changelings and social climbers.
Hepworth’s musical territory is always essentially the same but he frames it differently each time - in this case choosing the ‘British invasion’ of the USA which began in glory with The Beatles in 1964 and ended in sad dissolution with The Sex Pistols 14 years later.
The story is as much, if not more, about the clashes of cultures and expectations than it is about the music. For instance, while The Beatles’ Ed Sullivan experience is a well trodden story, Hepworth breathes new life into it by showing how much of their instantaneous success in America was due to sheer luck. He also highlights - for a jaded digital generation where everything is instantly available - how exotic and other worldly America appeared to English boys still living in a spartan post-war economy.
What’s also striking about the book is how, in retrospect, all this happened in such a comparatively short window. Within three years of The Beatles’ stumbling into fame through low-fi TV exposure and 20-minute sets in a country who had never seen anything like that before, British bands like The Who were mounting military-style tours of America with increasingly big sound systems and 2-hour concerts that pummelled audiences into submission.
So much of the success, or lack of success, of one artist or another came down to different cultural readings on either side of the Atlantic. Herman’s Hermits, for instance, a mediocre pop band in the UK, became huge ‘stateside’ because the younger sisters of the girls who screamed at The Beatles needed an act safer and less threatening to fawn over. The Dave Clark Five, another band who had limited success in the UK, found a big adolescent male audience in the US mid-west for their less-than-subtle military-style stomps.
Luck and serendipity struck again in the 70s. Elton John made it literally overnight when his US record company, using industrial strength hype, somehow convinced the few dozen industry in-crowders who turned up at his debut show at the Troubadour in LA that this 22-year-old short, prematurely balding cover-band pianist and singer was the Next Big Thing out of England.
Likewise David Bowie - an intensely ambitious, nerdy shape-shifter and chancer - in the space of a few months in 1971 recast himself from faintly embarrassing hippie folkie to hip art rocker. This was after he toured America all on his own, without a band and without playing concerts. Most people with less self belief would have fallen flat on their faces in such circumstances, but Bowie astutely made sure he was seen hanging out with all the right people - the Velvet Underground, Tim Hardin, the Stooges etc; Bowie got lucky, essentially and returned a rock god.
This is a great book, almost as good as Pop Stars, which is my personal favourite. With his brilliantly told anecdotes, full of richly observed detail, David Hepworth makes you want to open Spotify and listen to The Animals all over again or The Hollies or The Who’s Live at Leeds. You come away from it all thinking what an incredibly fertile period that was - as skinny English boys with bad teeth somehow achieved the musical equivalent of selling coal to Newcastle and getting away with it.
What killed it? Too much money, too much premeditated ambition, and talent spread too thinly. But what an era!!
As an old and endearingly cynical journalist, who has worked for most of the big UK music papers, he has seen it all - been to all the press junkets, interviewed all the ‘legends’ (often in their less-than-legendary moments) and developed a clear-eyed understanding of how the business works.
For all that, Hepworth remains a fan and communicates real fondness for some of the more human stars - or almost-stars - alongside a subtly communicated disdain for the ones who were careerist self-promoters, changelings and social climbers.
Hepworth’s musical territory is always essentially the same but he frames it differently each time - in this case choosing the ‘British invasion’ of the USA which began in glory with The Beatles in 1964 and ended in sad dissolution with The Sex Pistols 14 years later.
The story is as much, if not more, about the clashes of cultures and expectations than it is about the music. For instance, while The Beatles’ Ed Sullivan experience is a well trodden story, Hepworth breathes new life into it by showing how much of their instantaneous success in America was due to sheer luck. He also highlights - for a jaded digital generation where everything is instantly available - how exotic and other worldly America appeared to English boys still living in a spartan post-war economy.
What’s also striking about the book is how, in retrospect, all this happened in such a comparatively short window. Within three years of The Beatles’ stumbling into fame through low-fi TV exposure and 20-minute sets in a country who had never seen anything like that before, British bands like The Who were mounting military-style tours of America with increasingly big sound systems and 2-hour concerts that pummelled audiences into submission.
So much of the success, or lack of success, of one artist or another came down to different cultural readings on either side of the Atlantic. Herman’s Hermits, for instance, a mediocre pop band in the UK, became huge ‘stateside’ because the younger sisters of the girls who screamed at The Beatles needed an act safer and less threatening to fawn over. The Dave Clark Five, another band who had limited success in the UK, found a big adolescent male audience in the US mid-west for their less-than-subtle military-style stomps.
Luck and serendipity struck again in the 70s. Elton John made it literally overnight when his US record company, using industrial strength hype, somehow convinced the few dozen industry in-crowders who turned up at his debut show at the Troubadour in LA that this 22-year-old short, prematurely balding cover-band pianist and singer was the Next Big Thing out of England.
Likewise David Bowie - an intensely ambitious, nerdy shape-shifter and chancer - in the space of a few months in 1971 recast himself from faintly embarrassing hippie folkie to hip art rocker. This was after he toured America all on his own, without a band and without playing concerts. Most people with less self belief would have fallen flat on their faces in such circumstances, but Bowie astutely made sure he was seen hanging out with all the right people - the Velvet Underground, Tim Hardin, the Stooges etc; Bowie got lucky, essentially and returned a rock god.
This is a great book, almost as good as Pop Stars, which is my personal favourite. With his brilliantly told anecdotes, full of richly observed detail, David Hepworth makes you want to open Spotify and listen to The Animals all over again or The Hollies or The Who’s Live at Leeds. You come away from it all thinking what an incredibly fertile period that was - as skinny English boys with bad teeth somehow achieved the musical equivalent of selling coal to Newcastle and getting away with it.
What killed it? Too much money, too much premeditated ambition, and talent spread too thinly. But what an era!!
February 24, 2026
You know what you're getting with a Hepworth book. This guy knows his music history. An enjoyable and educational read
June 5, 2022
I've always thought (with some bias) that people born in the early 50's had the best appreciation of 'popular' music. Young enough to have experienced the likes of the Beatles at an innocently impressionable age then old enough to have experienced the phases of hippy-ism, anti-establishmentarianism, 'punk-ism' and a truckload of other -isms before being too set in their ways.
David Hepworth falls into this category and as such, there is no other music writer who can tell me things I already knew yet make me feel like I'm hearing it for the first time. The guy is just so persuasive, sweeping statements and bold assumptions notwithstanding.
In this highly entertaining and informative book Hepworth examines the British Musical invasion of the U.S.A. in the early sixties and all the transatlantic influences that followed through to the early 80's. In his opinion it all started with the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show. It's hard to argue against the effect it had on millions of young people around the world (including our Aussie T.V.) Skinny Pommy bands followed suit from the sublime (Hollies, Stones, Animals) to the ridiculous (Herman's Hermits, Freddy and the Dreamers).
Hepworth fleshes out these tales of stardom-seeking like his life depends on it. Some are inspirational, others are downright embarrassing. It's all great fodder for the reader.
Sometimes you may want to yell out "Enough already!". Or "Bull shit!". Did he really say that Joan Baez and Janis Joplin were the only women performing at Woodstock. (Grace Slick and Melanie may disagree).
Let's hope David Hepworth keeps churning out incisive and entertaining essays on popular music and
its myriad genres. I'd rather read him than have him as a dinner guest. Imagine someone saying "Climate change is a burden on the animals" then Hep intercepts with "Did I tell you the story behind San Franciscan Nights?" No one would get a word in edgeways! Err, sorry about that...
David Hepworth falls into this category and as such, there is no other music writer who can tell me things I already knew yet make me feel like I'm hearing it for the first time. The guy is just so persuasive, sweeping statements and bold assumptions notwithstanding.
In this highly entertaining and informative book Hepworth examines the British Musical invasion of the U.S.A. in the early sixties and all the transatlantic influences that followed through to the early 80's. In his opinion it all started with the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show. It's hard to argue against the effect it had on millions of young people around the world (including our Aussie T.V.) Skinny Pommy bands followed suit from the sublime (Hollies, Stones, Animals) to the ridiculous (Herman's Hermits, Freddy and the Dreamers).
Hepworth fleshes out these tales of stardom-seeking like his life depends on it. Some are inspirational, others are downright embarrassing. It's all great fodder for the reader.
Sometimes you may want to yell out "Enough already!". Or "Bull shit!". Did he really say that Joan Baez and Janis Joplin were the only women performing at Woodstock. (Grace Slick and Melanie may disagree).
Let's hope David Hepworth keeps churning out incisive and entertaining essays on popular music and
its myriad genres. I'd rather read him than have him as a dinner guest. Imagine someone saying "Climate change is a burden on the animals" then Hep intercepts with "Did I tell you the story behind San Franciscan Nights?" No one would get a word in edgeways! Err, sorry about that...
July 30, 2023
Another excellent read on my Kindle. I enjoyed Abbey Road and the one about 71 so I thought I'd buy this... six quid is a tad on the pricey side and I wish such books were on Kindle Unlimited thereby making the subs better VFM - it's hard to get through ten quid's worth of books in a month when each one is a couple of quid. There should be pricier books on there don't you think?
Anyway, to this book replete with learned research, first-hand experiences, great snaps and comprehensive index, not to mention very readable, DH does it again. OK we know stories of excess, failure and other shenanigans - well you should if like me you read the NME cover to cover back then - but he has once again found some new (to me) stuff that had my jaw dropping or smiling by turn.
One little point and it is not a criticism, perhaps a bit more on the electronics that made much of this invasion possible could enlighten too. What I mean is that Jim Marshall and co created the means for electric rock to really get going... I don't know what goes into a PA but those walls of Marshalls were de rigueur for live rock and have been ever since... I wave the flag because their factory is about two miles from me... wonderful place. It amuses me to think about how Hitler was able to reach to the back of the theatres with the advent of more powerful PA systems... not to mention radio tech. Some of this comes up in his Abbey Road book BTW.
So I highly rate this book and look forward to more from him!
Anyway, to this book replete with learned research, first-hand experiences, great snaps and comprehensive index, not to mention very readable, DH does it again. OK we know stories of excess, failure and other shenanigans - well you should if like me you read the NME cover to cover back then - but he has once again found some new (to me) stuff that had my jaw dropping or smiling by turn.
One little point and it is not a criticism, perhaps a bit more on the electronics that made much of this invasion possible could enlighten too. What I mean is that Jim Marshall and co created the means for electric rock to really get going... I don't know what goes into a PA but those walls of Marshalls were de rigueur for live rock and have been ever since... I wave the flag because their factory is about two miles from me... wonderful place. It amuses me to think about how Hitler was able to reach to the back of the theatres with the advent of more powerful PA systems... not to mention radio tech. Some of this comes up in his Abbey Road book BTW.
So I highly rate this book and look forward to more from him!
July 9, 2021
Every detail in this book is just delicious. I ate it up! Every word devoured! I was born in 1951, the Beatles on Ed Sullivan was culture changing. I was the perfect age to take it all in. I knew all about all the young Brits who invaded and remade rock and roll music. A baby boomer growing up in Canada, I had access to all the singles, the albums, even some of the tours. The Beatles famously made a plane refuelling stop in Winnipeg! It was their only appearance here. The Rolling Stones and many of the one or two hit wonders also did shows here.
I absorbed every detail in this majestic work as I know all of the artists, all of the music and many of the anecdotes. There is so much new information about those times and the influences on succeeding generations of rock musicians. Congratulations David Hepworth on your knowledge, insight and research into this History of the time of my life.
I have the many of vinyl records that are mentioned. I have been listening to them as I have been reading and the gems are still there. A lot of great music was made and recorded and those of us who were paying attention at the time bought the records.
I absorbed every detail in this majestic work as I know all of the artists, all of the music and many of the anecdotes. There is so much new information about those times and the influences on succeeding generations of rock musicians. Congratulations David Hepworth on your knowledge, insight and research into this History of the time of my life.
I have the many of vinyl records that are mentioned. I have been listening to them as I have been reading and the gems are still there. A lot of great music was made and recorded and those of us who were paying attention at the time bought the records.
October 5, 2020
David Hepworth is, for me, one of the most consistently entertaining writers on popular music around. Each new book is something of a treat, and 'Overpaid, Oversexed and Over There' is no exception. It covers the so-called 'British invasion' of rock and roll artists who enjoyed unprecedented success in the USA, spearheaded by the Beatles in 1964, and continuing across the next decade and beyond. From savvy beat groups like the Dave Clark Five and Herman's Hermits to rock behemoths such as Led Zeppelin and the Who, it traces the highs and lows of the British acts who sought to be 'big in America'... some of whom failed, some of whom succeeded beyond their wildest dreams.
Hepworth has an array of great stories at his disposal, but also weaves them together into a convincing narrative of how the British experiences of the American market evolved over time, and how and why some cracked it and others didn't. For anyone with even a passing interest in the artists or the era of music concerned, there's so much to enjoy here.
Hepworth has an array of great stories at his disposal, but also weaves them together into a convincing narrative of how the British experiences of the American market evolved over time, and how and why some cracked it and others didn't. For anyone with even a passing interest in the artists or the era of music concerned, there's so much to enjoy here.
October 21, 2022
Always enjoyed Mr Hepworth's writing, possibly because he's just a year older than me and he clearly evokes a time and a place I remember well. However, I suspect even he will be just about at the point when he feels there's little else to say or write about it that hasn't already been covered. Not sure I learnt an awful that was new, certainly the era of the early Beatles and Stones has been well-covered. Might have been beneficial if he had delved further into why some well-known bands didn't make it big in the US whereas some of the 'lesser lights' like Savoy Brown slogged round and round the states till they cracked it.
His '1971' book is probably the best point of entry for newcomers and will almost always lead to interesting discussion over the odd pint or two!
His '1971' book is probably the best point of entry for newcomers and will almost always lead to interesting discussion over the odd pint or two!
December 17, 2024
oh dear dreadful cheap shallow magazine-writing platitudes and generalizations based on false ideas about the importance of a few cliques in Soho Carnaby St and Hampstead boudoirs as if it all were a cultural movement Swinging Long Done .... Jeezuz
Anybody who was alive in those years will learn nowt. Maybe the target audience are the youngsters trying to hoodwink them about a golden past that never really existed if not for a few high-society types
Awful. All been done to death elsewhere
Only redeeming feature are a few observations about US vs UK attitudes but even that is overplayed
Bailing after only 104 pages into the skip it goes
Anybody who was alive in those years will learn nowt. Maybe the target audience are the youngsters trying to hoodwink them about a golden past that never really existed if not for a few high-society types
Awful. All been done to death elsewhere
Only redeeming feature are a few observations about US vs UK attitudes but even that is overplayed
Bailing after only 104 pages into the skip it goes
October 24, 2021
David Hepworth continues to cement his position as one of the best writers about music and culture around. His sardonic wit is again ever present as he charts the twenty year period where British pop & rock artists dominated the charts ‘over the pond’ - from the Beatles captivating Americans on the Ed Sullivan show in 1964 to Boy George hogging the headlines in 1984, Hepworth describes how the Brits did it.
This book is a constant joy - the anecdotes and potted histories always entertaining. Especially noteworthy is the small section on Eric Burdon, who frankly is a bit of an arse.
This book is a constant joy - the anecdotes and potted histories always entertaining. Especially noteworthy is the small section on Eric Burdon, who frankly is a bit of an arse.
June 11, 2025
I'm surprised that this book has not made more of an impact
It is written with such insight and such a deeply analytical approach to the 'British Invasion' phenomenon and the psychology of both the bands, fans and society on both side of the herring pond that it makes for compelling reading. It is also written with wry humour, something that carries the reader along through the very few passages that may be of less interest, depending on ones taste in music and probably current age...
A great read for all music fans of a certain age [and it's a very wide age category!]
It is written with such insight and such a deeply analytical approach to the 'British Invasion' phenomenon and the psychology of both the bands, fans and society on both side of the herring pond that it makes for compelling reading. It is also written with wry humour, something that carries the reader along through the very few passages that may be of less interest, depending on ones taste in music and probably current age...
A great read for all music fans of a certain age [and it's a very wide age category!]
January 3, 2023
A clear and concise narrative, starting in 1964 and ending in 1985. Only 21 years but as Hepworth demonstrated in each chapter, the range and quality of rock and pop artist during that time was impressive. The most shocking revelation was just how big Hermann's Hermits were in the States and that Pete Townsend of the Who ( their support act) witnessed a mother and daughter leaving their leads singer's bedroom after a good night's servicing!!
June 24, 2023
A mine of information about the British Invasion of the 60s and 70s ( the Beatles, Dave Clark Five, Freddie & The Dreamers, Herman's Hermits, The Yardbirds, The Stones, Led Zeppelin, Elton John, Bowie etc), a nostalgic journey back in time to when British music ruled the waves. It wasn't to last, of course, and the Americans got their own back with Bruce Springsteen et al. David Hepworth is a highly knowledgeable and entertaining writer, I enjoyed this and his previous books very much.
September 22, 2020
Wonderful account of the music I grew up with
Great insight into the similarities and differences between the UK and USA in terms of life and popular music. Explains well how the music of both countries reacted to and complemented one another. Joins the dots between so much that I have read elsewhere.
Great insight into the similarities and differences between the UK and USA in terms of life and popular music. Explains well how the music of both countries reacted to and complemented one another. Joins the dots between so much that I have read elsewhere.
April 22, 2022
Rock journalist pat excellence David Hepworth traces the way British bands made it big in the USA in the so called British invasion. Starting with The Beatles in early 1964, followed by The Dave Clarke Five , The Stones and many more, Hepworth explores the success and failures of the period and beyond.
June 12, 2023
A lightweight book on the British music invasion of American in the 1960s, kicked off by The Beatles. Just enough detail for the hardcore fan of 60s music, er, me. But this is quasi history with no interviews of any or the participants, merely a retelling of events from secondary sources. And to pad out the book a summary of events post the 1960s.
February 2, 2021
David Hepworth continues his fine run od books, this time with a look at the British in America.
Focuses largely from the breakthrough of The Beatles to the second MTV-led invasion, this is typically entertaining, well informed and with cogent analysis.
Focuses largely from the breakthrough of The Beatles to the second MTV-led invasion, this is typically entertaining, well informed and with cogent analysis.
February 25, 2021
4 stars. Highly entertaining look at the British musical invasion of America in the 60s, and its ongoing effects over the next couple of decades. Lots of interesting stuff that I didn't know or hadn't drawn the dots between. Will be checking out more of David Hepworth's books I think.
March 1, 2021
David Hepworth knows his stuff, finds interesting nuggets of trivia and most importantly is a very good writer. If you are a classic rock fan of a certain age this is practically a compulsory purchase.
March 2, 2022
Given the topic, I was always going to enjoy this book. Hepworth doesn't cock it up.
A lot of it I knew, but there were some interesting things I did not know about, such as the huge success of the Dave Clark 5 and Herman's Hermits in the US, despite being of little note in the UK.
A lot of it I knew, but there were some interesting things I did not know about, such as the huge success of the Dave Clark 5 and Herman's Hermits in the US, despite being of little note in the UK.
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