NP: From Sixties research. What was the first 'British invasion" song, so to speak, to hit #1 in the US?

[rich]

reminds me of related electronic instrument used by one of my favorite
bands, This Heat in the late 70s. that was a maestrovox

http://120years.net/the-maestrovox-victor-harold-ward-united-kingdom-1952/

and for you folks, the cut, Twilight Furniture should be on any
Pynchon-related soundtrack

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bbD22M-xWc

Surveying the twilight furniture
Telescope pressed to patched eye
Love is blind, so we are told
Don't pull the wool over our eyes
Shuttered eye, metal eye
Eye and brain, I and brain
Shapes policed and disinfected
Searchlights stop towers and dead sky
Tommy guns, typewriters aimed and loaded
Fountain pen and a .35
Careless talk costs lives
Careless love costs lives
Cease-fire ends at midnight
Curfew starts at ten
Unclear vision [as soon]
Nuclear vision [our friend]
We must shake him by the hands



On Wed, Mar 13, 2019 at 4:20 AM Mark Kohut <mark.kohut at gmail.com> wrote:

> "A clavioline sounded across the sky. It had never happened before".
>
> The very first image which Telstar relayed was that of an American flag
> flying in the wind at the ground station at Andover in Maine. The launch of
> Telstar caused enormous excitement worldwide. Britain, like many other
> countries, experienced “Telstar mania”. Although it was primarily an
> American project there was British involvement as its General Post Office
> was part of the multinational agreement to develop transatlantic satellite
> communications. And what really fixed the satellite’s name and place in
> history was a space-age instrumental pop record.
>
> Telstar by The Tornados, featuring a picture of the satellite on its cover,
> became a huge hit, staying at No1 for five weeks and also became the first
> record by a British group to get to No1 in the US.
>
> The track, which featured a clavioline – an unusual electronic keyboard
> instrument – sold more than five million copies worldwide and had famous
> admirers. It was later listed by prime minister Margaret Thatcher as her
> favourite pop record. “Telstar was just the right title for a time when
> people were becoming conscious of sudden scientific advances,” pop
> historian Tony Jasper writes.
>
>
> Kennedy's Telstar announcement
>
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-j_xoETaiww
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>