For a time The Searchers were the equal of fellow Liverpool band The Beatles. In 1963 their first single 'Sweets For My Sweet' went straight to #1 in the UK charts. Their second single 'Sugar And Spice' made #2 later that year. At the start of 1964 The Searchers followed The Dave Clark Five to the top of the charts with 'Needles And Pins', a Jackie DeShannon composition.
Why The Searchers are worth a mention in the pop music annals of history is the sound they made on record, the sound of jangling six string and twelve string guitars. It was the sound that inspired Jim McGuinn to form The Byrds, Tom Petty to write 'American Girl', Bruce Springsteen 'The Ties That Bind' and inspired later bands such as R.E.M, Green On Red and The Smiths.
Six months before The Byrds recorded a shortened version of Dylan's 'Mr Tambourine Man' the Searchers had recorded a versin of Malvina Reynolds' anti nuclear song 'What Have They Done To The Rain', making The Searchers the first band to record in a style that was to become known as Folk Rock.
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