The Second British Invasion was a wave of acts from the UK that became popular in the American Top 40 from about 1982 - 1986.  It also expanded into Canada with some songs that missed out on the US Top 40 (though this was vice versa as well).

What were some of your favourites from this era?

One of my favourites was called 'Heartache Avenue' by The Maisonettes.  It failed to chart in America, but it reached #12 in Canada during the summer of 1983.  I could listen to this song all day ...

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Here's more British songs from 1983 that made the Top 40 in one country over the other:  Canada vs America ...


ARTIST / SONG Louise Tucker - Midnight Blue Flock of Seagulls - Space Age Love Song Phil Collins - I Don't Care Anymore Asia - The Smile Has Left Your Eyes Charlie - It's Inevitable Madness - It Must Be Love Dave Edmunds - Slipping Away Jim Capaldi - That's Love The Bee Gees - The Woman in You Def Leppard - Foolin' Paul Young - Wherever I Lay My Hat (That's My Home) Moody Blues - Blue World Freeez - I.O.U. Martin Briley - The Salt in My Tears JoBoxers - Just Got Lucky Bananarama - Shy Boy ABC - All of My Heart The Clash - Should I Stay or Should I Go Supertramp - My Kind of Lady Dire Straits - Industrial Disease Dire Straits - Twisting By the Pool The Drivers - Tears on Your Anorak Tears For Fears - ChangeTears For Fears - Pale Shelter (You Don't Give Me Love) Billy Idol - Dancing With Myself The Fixx - Saved By Zero The Fixx - The Sign of Fire Eddy Grant - I Don't Wanna Dance

CAN 7 - - - - - - - - 42 28 40 38 - - 7 13 40 - 18 18 31 13 15 39 45 - 15

US 46 30 39 34 38 33 39 28 24 26 70 62 - 36 36 83 - 45 31 75 - - 73 -- 20 32 53

The first was the 1960s, right? Like The Beatles and all that?  ???

The first was the 1960s, right? Like The Beatles and all that?  ???


Yes it was

Yes it was


1964 I remember.

The Second British Invasion was a wave of acts from the UK that became popular in the American Top 40 from about 1982 - 1986.  It also expanded into Canada with some songs that missed out on the US Top 40 (though this was vice versa as well).

What were some of your favourites from this era?



The first was the 1960s, right? Like The Beatles and all that?  ???
What about the invasion in 1812?  ;D

What about the invasion in 1812?  ;D


That was a political invasion, not a musical one. Ultimately, what was happening across the Channel was what caused the British to bail out.

That said, it wasn't as noticeable because in both 1980, we had both The Police' De Doo Doo Doo, Da Da Da Da and John Lennon's Just Like Starting Over, in both 1981 we had The Rolling Stones' Start Me Up and a few more Police hits. That said, it was MTV that was behind this "second British Invasion" since many early music videos were primarily done by British artists and it was those that helped build the channel, while over time, the channel became more diverse and this "invasion" faded out with the Hair Metal/Dance-pop explosion around 1986-87. That said, it tried to get off the ground as early as 1979 with The Clash, Elvis Costello, Dire Straits, M, The Buggles, Gary Numan, and even The Police. America though was becoming very conservative musically though and 1980, 1981, and part of 1982 tended toward more country/adult contemporary, and didn't start to gain ground until after Human League's Dare was released, and this was around the time MTV began to do its thing. They were also quicker to adapt to synthesizer technology compared to the orchestral/horn/Moog sounds popular in America. The peak was around the spring/summer of 1984, when around a third of the Billboard Hot 100 had singles by mostly newer British artists.

The biggest mystery though is why this movement faded quicker than the 1960s one did, since although the launch of the singer-songerwriter era around the time of the Beatles' breakup sort of put the original to an end of the first movement, but it never really faded too much since you still had the solo Beatles popular, the prog rock movement popular on FM radio, and new stars like Queen, David Bowie, and Elton John. It likely was due to the rise of urban music like rap, new jack swing, sappy adult contemporary ballads, and the rise of grunge/alternative rock, relatively little was produced in Britain. There really hasn't been a comparable invasion since.