Go Go Mania!

The year 1964 was a watershed period in British music. Before that year, British popular music was barely heard outside of the U.K. But when the Beatles achieved American success, a seemingly endless number of British bands and singers were suddenly able to crack the American market.

By the end of 1964, some enterprising filmmakers decided to create a cinematic year-in-review to highlight this new wave of British music talent. The result was “Pop Gear,” a strange but jolly little production that serves as a celluloid time capsule for that remarkable musical year.

The features opens with footage from a November, 1963 Beatles concert in Manchester – She Loves You
…and continues with
Little Children – Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas
Make Him Mine – Susan Maughan
Juliet – The Four Pennies
The House of the Rising Sun – The Animals
A Little Loving – The Fourmost
He’s in Town – The Rockin’ Berries
Have I the Right – The Honeycombs
Rinky Dink – Sounds Incorporated
World Without Love – Peter and Gordon
Walk Away – Matt Monroe
I’m Into Something Good – Herman’s Hermits
Humpty Dumpty – Tommy Quickly and the Reno Four
Watcha Gonna Do – Billie Davis
My Babe – The Spencer Davis Group
Tobacco Road – The Nashville Teens
What In The World’s Come Over You – The Rockin’ Berries
For Mama – Matt Monroe
Black Girl – The Four Pennies
William Tell – Sounds Incorporated
Google Eyes – The Nashville Teens
Eyes! – The Honeycombs
Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood – The Animals