At the beginning of 1964, the Beatles arrived in the USA and subsequently changed the course of popular music. Until then, folk music had been perhaps the most popular genre among college-age audiences. I wrote about that genre in my blog article, The American Folk Music Revival in 1963.
Before folk music disappeared from the hit parade, however, an Australian group named The Seekers released a series of hits that combined folk and pop. The Seekers were hugely popular during 1964-1965. The Wikipedia article about The Seekers analyzes their popularity as follows:
Australian music historian, Ian McFarlane described their style as "concentrated on a bright, uptempo sound, although they were too pop oriented to be considered strictly folk and too folk to be rock." The distinctive soprano voice of [Judith] Durham, the group's vocal harmonies and memorable songs encouraged the British media, including the national broadcasting agency on radio and television, the BBC, to give them exposure, allowing them to appeal to a broad cross-section of the young British folk, pop and rock music audience.
Baby and Lisa Houseman -- like all college coeds -- surely loved The Seekers almost as much as The Beatles.
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