Skiffle

Skiffle was a major part of the early careers of some musicians who later became prominent in other genres, including the Quarrymen (who were later renamed the Beatles), Tony Sheridan and Rory Gallagher.

[1] Improvised jug bands playing blues and jazz were common across the American South in the early decades of the 20th century.

Skiffle was a relatively obscure genre, and it might have been largely forgotten if not for its revival in the United Kingdom in the 1950s and the success of its main proponent, Lonnie Donegan.

[1] Donegan's fast-tempo version of Lead Belly's "Rock Island Line" was a major hit in 1956, featuring a washboard (but not a tea-chest bass), with "John Henry" on the B-side.

[1] It was the success of Donegan's "Rock Island Line" and the lack of a need for expensive instruments or high levels of musicianship that set off the British skiffle craze.

[1] However, the British rock and roll scene was starting to take off, producing home-grown stars like Tommy Steele, Marty Wilde and Cliff Richard and the Shadows (themselves originally involved in skiffle).

By February 1958, Pete Murray, host of Six-Five Special, noted a trend of groups wishing to "play down that word skiffle", considering it limiting.

As a result, it has been seen as a critical stepping stone to the second folk revival, blues boom and the British Invasion of the US popular music scene.

[7] Sales of guitars grew rapidly, and other musicians were able to perform on improvised bass and percussion in venues such as church halls and cafes and in the flourishing coffee bars of Soho, London, like the 2i's Coffee Bar, the Cat's Whisker and nightspots like Coconut Grove and Churchill's, without having to aspire to musical perfection or virtuosity.

[1] A large number of British musicians began their careers playing skiffle in this period, and some became leading figures in their fields.

[13] Most notably, the Beatles developed from John Lennon's 1957 skiffle group the Quarrymen;[14] Paul McCartney was added after a few months and George Harrison joined in 1958.

"[16] During summer 1970, the skiffle-like song "In the Summertime" by British band Mungo Jerry reached the top of the charts in several countries around the world.