The song that “hooked” Jeff Beck into rock and roll
Tracing it back to a subatomic level, we could pin the British invasion of the American charts on the moment in 1957 when John Lennon first met Paul McCartney at an unsuspecting church fête in Woolton. It was undoubtedly a pivotal moment in the history of British rock music, but concurrently, countless stars-to-be, including Jeff Beck, were unwrapping Elvis Presley 45s and imitating Chuck Berry’s duck walk.
All British rock icons of the 1960s fell in love with the American founders of the previous decade in combinations that varied slightly, whomever you ask. If we were to ask The Rolling Stones, apart from jazz-aficionado Charlie Watts, they would side with the more blues-oriented artists of the rock and roll scene. Meanwhile, The Beatles seemed particularly obsessed with Eddie Cochran, Buddy Holly and Elvis Presley.
While The Beatles and The Stones ransacked the American charts, beating our transatlantic cousins at their own game, a bustling rhythm and blues scene spread across London. By the mid-1960s, London was the global epicentre for rock ‘n’ roll, and as Chas Chandler brought Jimi Hendrix to the UK from the US to reinvigorate his career, the British invasion seemed to reach its climax.
Throughout the early 1960s, while the Lennon-McCartney partnership honed its pop-writing skills, peripheral blues savants like John Mayall and Eric Clapton began to make their first moves. John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers and The Yardbirds may not have been the most popular of British bands in their time. However, they provided a school of sorts that spat out some of Britain’s finest rock guitarists, including Clapton, Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Peter Green and Mick Taylor.
This legion of guitarists would later contribute to the towering excellence of Led Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac, Cream and The Rolling Stones at their peak. A grounding in more traditional bands like John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers seemed to be a rite of passage for some before an embrace of pop. One notable exception to this pattern was Jeff Beck.
Widely known as the guitarist’s guitarist, Beck never quite broke through to popular acclaim. During his brief spell with The Yardbirds, he inched towards pop success with songs like ‘Heart Full of Soul’, but always seemed more comfortable and dignified on the fringes of the blues rock scene.
From a young age, Beck had been a keen admirer of Muddy Waters and BB King. Throughout his career with The Jeff Beck Group and as a solo artist, Beck honoured his roots influences with progressive compositional work. As a fan of jazz, especially that of Miles Davis, he also dabbled in the esoteric pastures of jazz fusion music.
Among his many famous admirers is Brian May. “Jeff was completely and utterly unique, and the kind of musician who’s impossible to define,” the Queen guitarist reflected while posting a tribute following Beck’s death in 2023. “And I was absolutely in awe of him.”
Although Beck remained mostly on the fringes in his personal output, his popularity among other artists saw him enter into frequent on-stage and in-studio collaborations. As much as he would shrink from the abrasive light of pop music, especially that of the 1980s, Beck had an ear for catchy melodies and enjoyed plenty of pop-rock music. After all, alongside Muddy Waters and BB King, a young Beck shook his hips to the revolutionary rhythms of Elvis Presley and Chuck Berry.
Speaking to the Express in 2014, the late guitarist remembered the very first pop artist to win him over. “When ‘Be-Bop-A-Lula’ came out, I was hooked,” Beck recalled, picking out the Gene Vincent classic. The 1956 debut single kicked off the rockabilly subgenre and inspired everyone, from Paul McCartney to Lux Interior. “My older sister made the mistake of leaving this album around, and I played it all day,” Beck added. “No other band so encapsulated refined rockabilly. When my mother told me to take it off, I knew it was my kind of music.”
