Hi, Iím Danny and this is my jukebox. Itís always full of great records and they all pertain to whatever theme happens to strike my fancy. Itís simple, when my fancy gets struck again, I come up with a new theme. And when I come up with a new theme, I change the records in the jukebox. This time around Iím filling it up with music from....

In case anyoneís forgotten, Rock & Roll was originally an American art form. It was American music derived from other American music. Yes, the blues, country and all that other good stuff belonged to us, gosh darn it. But just like the kid who has way too many toys, we took it all for granted and never really appreciated what we had stashed in our very own toy box. Those scruffy kids in England knew better and soon they were pinchiní our heritage and coming up with a new sound they could call their own. And we Yanks ate it up like crumpets.

There may be more obvious choices for this slot in the jukebox. "I Want To Hold Your Hand" was the number one record that ushered the Mop Tops over for their triumphant first American visit. "She Loves You" gave us the unforgettable "Yeah, Yeah, Yeah" refrain that somehow became synonymous with the bandís early success. But in my mind "All My Loving" is the perfect "Beatlemania" Beatles song. And to think it was only an album track!

The obvious choice, of course. Sometimes I forget the Stones were even a part of the British Invasion, since they were one of the few bands not trying to duplicate the pop sound of the Fab Four, instead just taking advantage of the wake left by their fellow countrymen. No doubt about it, this is a great f-word-ing record. If not the best, then surely one of them.

These are two songs that play a major role in the birth of the LakinLand nation."Do Wah Diddy Diddy" was the first pop song I can remember taking notice of and my obsession with it led to the best Christmas present I ever got: a portable monaural record player! Since "D.W.D.D." had already dropped off the charts and the local record store didnít have a copy of it, my parents instead got me "Sha La La," the brand new single by Manfred Mann!! (Complete with picture sleeve!) I canít prove this, but thereís a good chance that particular copy of "Sha La La" was the most played 45 in the history of recorded music. Second place would probably go to its b-side "John Hardy."

Another band that stayed true to their blues roots and didnít try to become Beatles Lite, the Animals were able to go all the way to the top of the pop charts with this song about a whore house. Well, they never came right out and said it was a whore house. And most of the naive American teenagers who bought this record didnít even know a whore house was. There, I think I said "whore house,í enough. Letís go on to the next record.

From the Animals to Hermanís Hermits - talk about opposite ends of the spectrum! (Yeah, I know we were actually talking about whore houses, but itís time to move on.) Anyway, the Animals were crude, rude and somewhat ugly and they sang about, well, you-know-what. These boys, on the other hand, were clean and cuddly and sang about walking home holding hands. Yet they were both produced by the same guy, Mickie Most. I have to confess that Hermanís Hermits, fronted by a very young Peter Noone, became my first real favorite group. They indeed were Beatles very Lite, but I was just a little kid at the time and it was a whole lot better than liking Fabian. By the way, this group was a much bigger success over here than in their homeland, and had a ton of hit records. (A ton meaning I donít know the exact number and Iím not about to look it up.) I chose this one because itís the most infectious of the lot, and I like the hand clapping and "baby, baby" part.

More strange bedfellows in the world of rock and roll. This outrageous band that used to smash up its gear at the end of its set opened up for Hermanís Hermits on one of their American tours. Not quite as wild as Hendrix opening for the Monkees, but a good second. "My Generation" is the obvious choice here, but I donít think itís aged as well as some of the other Who singles. The stuttering gimmick wears thin after a bit and then thereís that whole "hope I die before get old" thing. Only Keith Moon did that, and he was kinda old anyways. I like the spirit of this number and it goes into the jukebox instead.

Iím not so sure why the critics chose this band to pick on as being a rip-off of the Beatles. After all, they were one of the few groups that didnít follow the British Invasion guitar band formula. The main driving forces of the DC5 were a thumping drum beat and a throbbing saxophone. Add the keyboard and sweet husky voice of Mike Smith and it makes you wonder what all the nastiness was about. These guys didnít mean any harm and they churned out a nice collection of snappy hits singles. I picked "Glad All Over" for the juke box because it captures the essence of the group and has the best title.

Now weíre starting to get into that watered down "weíre riding the coattails of The Beatles" stuff that pretty much dominated the American airwaves (and my turntable) for a couple of years. This song wasnít good enough for The Beatles, literally. Paul McCartney wrote it and gave it to his girlfriendís brother to record with his partner. (After Billy J. Kramer already said "No thanks" to the offer.) Peter Asher was the brother who got lucky with this #1 gift and he went on to produce such artists as Linda Rondstadt and James Taylor, stealing the latter from Apple when Peter left work there to make it on his own. (And some people only made off with office supplies!)

Guitar riffs werenít exactly the order of the day back in 1964 and thatís what set this record apart from a lot of others cluttering the radio airwaves. Ray Davies wrote the song and itís repetitive lyrics and his younger sibling Dave provided the revolutionary guitar work. And the two of them made hit records and fought like brothers long before anyone ever heard of Oasis.

If thereís one word that best described this group it was "silly." Their songs werenít the best, almost rejects really, but they sure knew how to sell them. The lead singer was a wacky guy who used to jump up and down, laugh like Woody Woodpeckerís uncle and do a dance that was later called "The Freddie." Actually, it looked more like a spaz trying to do jumping jacks, but the kids loved it so much that this song went all the way to the top of the charts. (I liked it, too, and for awhile these zany guys actually gave Hermanís Hermits a run for their money as my favorite group.)

The band with a revolving door and a sign over it that said "Guitar Gods." Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page all took up residency with these blokes at one time or another, yet none of them had much to contribute to this record, which was recorded as Slowhandís swan song but featured no lead guitar. Graham Gouldman, who also supplied songs to the Hermits cannon and wound up in 10cc, wrote "For Your Love" for these Birds and it broke the top ten on both sides of the Atlantic, providing the band with the pop credibility they were looking for. That was enough to send Clapton packing and he took off to dedicate himself to the blues, a journey that years later found him being produced by Phil Collins.

This Brian Epstein managed group is the one that had the good fortune of taking a Beatlesí hand-me-down and turning it into a hit record. The song was "How Do You Do It" and the Fab Four did it very poorly because they wanted to do the song theyíd written for the occasion. ("Love Me Do") "Ferry Across The Mersey" was written by Gerry himself and is one of the better ballads to come out of the British Invasion. Also their biggest hit.

When I think of the British Invasion, I usually conjure up the image of an all male pop group, not a solo girl singer. An exception has to be made for Dusty Springfield, who had a lot of nice hits in the sixties, including one in America before the Beatles did. Dusty later shed her pure pop image and went on to record the soulful "Dusty In Memphis" album while this song went on to also become a hit for the Bay City Rollers.

A catchy tune that explained to uninformed teenagers just how things were meant to go between the two sexes. "The purpose of a man is to love a woman, and the purpose of a woman is to love a man." Simple enough. Eric Stewart, another future member of 10cc, was the bandís guitarist.

Perhaps this single isnít really a good example of a British Invasion song because it never really did invade America. Not recorded by this group, at least. A cover version recorded by a band from Chicago called The Shadows of Knight became the hit on this side of the big pond, even though it was clearly inferior to the original. The song, which became a rock and roll standard and was later covered by Patti Smith, was written by Van Morrison, who was Themís lead singer at the time.

This record came out a little after the first wave of the British Invasion but spiritually still belongs with this collection. Written by Graham Gouldman, I remember "Bus Stop" as an album cut by Hermanís Hermits, but the brilliant harmonies of the Hollies make this the prefered version. Graham Nash provided part of those harmonies and would leave the band in a snit when they didnít think his new songs fit into their pop driven repertoire.

A great record by a group nobody would ever hear from again. The thumping drum beat is is similar to that of the Dave Clark Five, only it was being played by a girl. File under, One Hit Wonders.

The Searchers charted in America, but only had one top ten hit. In the mother country, however, they were top twenty mainstays. This song would be covered by other artists including the Ramones and was co-written by some guy named Sonny Bono.

Billy J. got the privilege of recording Lennon & McCartney throw-aways, but this wasnít one of them. Just a silly, stupid song about a horny guyís plea for his girlfriendís younger siblings to leave them the heck alone so he can do some smoochiní.

The Beatles were the group that sang "yeah, yeah, yeah" and on this record, the Zombies became the ones that sang "no, no, no." Quite possibly the most underrated group of the British Invasion, they had several top notch singles during their short life span. This and "Sheís Not There" being the best of the lot, and this one being my favorite. Band member Rod Argent, who wrote their hits, went on to modestly front a group named after himself (No, not Rod) and gave the music world such pap as "Hold Your Head Up."

The British Bob Dylan, as he was tagged by the critics, didnít really hit his stride until after the initial burst of the British Invasion and his best stuff really belongs with a collection of trippy or psychedelic music. This song doesnít really fit well along side a lot of the bouncy tunes in this jukebox either, but Donovan has to be included and this is a wonderful heartfelt song about the pangs of unrequited love.

A folkier version of Peter & Gordon, I guess, only they didnít have the advantage of the greatest song writing team in pop music history feeding them leftovers. Their records may have been a smidgen on the tepid side, but they were nice clever lads and this tune is a rather catchy one. In an effort to boost their careers, Chad & Jeremy spent most of their time stateside and in addition to appearing on the usual teen music programs ("Shindig," "Hullabaloo") they acted in other American TV shows as "fictional" pop singers, such as The Redcoats on "The Dick Van Dyke Show." ("Do you know what we call that in England?"  "A chair!")

Your selections...

All right, luv or mate (depending on your sex), what records do you think are missing from this fab jukebox? Let me know before you drop in your shilling. (Donít worry, itís a vintage jukebox, so youíll still get three plays for that sum.)