OK, Let's Talk a Bit About Herman's Hermits, Really

THE POP MOMENT that made Herman's Hermits possible, the British Invasion of the mid-'60s, was anything but monolithic. Some of it was surly and aggressive, some of it fizzy and melodic; some turned backwards to Chuck Berry and Jimmy Reed, some was jazzy and eclectic. Every week, it seemed, brought a new variation on English pop: the scraping drive of the Kinks, the cool mystery of the Zombies, the tuneful jangle of the Searchers.