"American bands are best"
Discussion
So it says here...
http://entertainment.uk.msn.com/music/features/art...
Now the thing is, this bloke sites the white stripes and (going domestic for a second) the office as cultural mile stones. Do we really trust his judgement?
I think it's true to say a lot of British bands are doing a retrospective at the moment. In fact it's quite ironic that the indie scene came to prominence in 60's inspired cool Britania. Now we have 90's inspired come backs from the Manics, The Verve and er, Take That. Led Zepelin maybe making a (brief) reappearance and an ageing bloke from some 1960s liverpudlian band is unleashing a dubious mandolin song on us in those iPod ads.
But, there's a lot of good stuff out there. I personally can't stand the 'northerner than thou' arctic monkeys or the unbelievably arrogant Kasabian, but there's no doubt they appeal to many people. The Fratellis fall into the usual 'the' band cliches, but seem to be quite good and The Automatic are a force to be reckoned with live. Muse are simply awesome on stage, produce interesting music and can really play. As for dance acts, the majority of international DJs hail from this country, as do acts like Faithless, Groove Armada and the Chemical Brothers.
On a local level, there is some awesome talent on display. Even open mic nights in London reveal a lot of people who can outplay plenty of professional bands.
Whilst I'm a huge fan of the Killers, I'm not sure I'd say bands like the White Stripes and The Strokes are really much of a threat to UK talent these days.
http://entertainment.uk.msn.com/music/features/art...
Now the thing is, this bloke sites the white stripes and (going domestic for a second) the office as cultural mile stones. Do we really trust his judgement?
I think it's true to say a lot of British bands are doing a retrospective at the moment. In fact it's quite ironic that the indie scene came to prominence in 60's inspired cool Britania. Now we have 90's inspired come backs from the Manics, The Verve and er, Take That. Led Zepelin maybe making a (brief) reappearance and an ageing bloke from some 1960s liverpudlian band is unleashing a dubious mandolin song on us in those iPod ads.
But, there's a lot of good stuff out there. I personally can't stand the 'northerner than thou' arctic monkeys or the unbelievably arrogant Kasabian, but there's no doubt they appeal to many people. The Fratellis fall into the usual 'the' band cliches, but seem to be quite good and The Automatic are a force to be reckoned with live. Muse are simply awesome on stage, produce interesting music and can really play. As for dance acts, the majority of international DJs hail from this country, as do acts like Faithless, Groove Armada and the Chemical Brothers.
On a local level, there is some awesome talent on display. Even open mic nights in London reveal a lot of people who can outplay plenty of professional bands.
Whilst I'm a huge fan of the Killers, I'm not sure I'd say bands like the White Stripes and The Strokes are really much of a threat to UK talent these days.
I'm a huge fan of hard rock and metal, I think both countries would be pretty much equal really. The US has also probably made some bands and people an awful lot more successful than they would have been if confined to the UK.
Clangy, depressing guitar music = UK
Hip Hop/Rap = US
Pop = the US edges ahead I think (Britney, Madonna, J-lo, Rihanna, Beyonce etc)
Blues = US
Dance = UK
I think for the last 30 years the US easily produces the best rock music. (I'm excluding bands formed before then such as AC/DC and all the NWOBM stuff obiously) The UK just doesn't seem to do good rock music unless it's aging stars from the 60s/70s.
Clangy, depressing guitar music = UK
Hip Hop/Rap = US
Pop = the US edges ahead I think (Britney, Madonna, J-lo, Rihanna, Beyonce etc)
Blues = US
Dance = UK
I think for the last 30 years the US easily produces the best rock music. (I'm excluding bands formed before then such as AC/DC and all the NWOBM stuff obiously) The UK just doesn't seem to do good rock music unless it's aging stars from the 60s/70s.
kiwisr said:
Plotloss said:
The United Kingdom is easily the most musically rich nation in the history of mankind.
Depends on your viewpoint, German and Austrian composers have a fair contribution to musical history.Plotloss said:
The United Kingdom is easily the most musically rich nation in the history of mankind.
For the Americans, who do have moments of genius it has to be said, to argue anything else is deluded.
We don't invent much, just improve on the basic template. Only exception I can think of is Jungle.For the Americans, who do have moments of genius it has to be said, to argue anything else is deluded.
Plotloss said:
kiwisr said:
Plotloss said:
The United Kingdom is easily the most musically rich nation in the history of mankind.
Depends on your viewpoint, German and Austrian composers have a fair contribution to musical history.From Germany for example, check out:
Ellen Allien
Modeselektor
Smash TV
Schneider TM
Lali Puna
Tocotronic
Console
Barbara Morgenstern
etc.
Other mainland Euro countries have great acts, just most people haven't heard of them
crank_case said:
kiwisr said:
Dance = UK
I wouldn't be so sure about that!Lets see, where did this music come from?
Disco - US
Electro - Germany (first wave) via NY (second wave)
Techno - Detroit
House - Chicago
EBM - Belgium
Italdisco - guess
Rave - UK
Speed Garage = UK
Electro = US (Planet Rock)
It all depends on your personal musical stance I am very much into "jazz funk" ( if there is such a thing!) bands such as Tower of Power (my personal all time gods!!), Funkadelic, Parliament, Sly, Bootsie Collins et al. The Yanks deffo have the edge there but as to whether or not we brits have innovated perhaps not, but by god we are the best interpreters - the biggest selling bands in the world are brits - Stones, Beatles, Led Zep, Floyd, The Whoetc. In my day job I have worked in Germany, Spain & France & in the main per capita of population the music in general is absolutely dire & unlistenable - who can forget The Goombay dance Band, Boney M, Plastic Bertrand, Golden Earring etc Loads of Brit bands who should have been mega - Ian Dury & the Blockheads, XTC, Sensational Alex Harvey Band, JTQ etc Incidentally a band worth checking out from my area (N/East) are "Odd Shaped Head" they have a web site if you google "power pop" at it`s best!!
Out right it's all a matter of personal taste and very difficult to call over thousands of years and several continents! But what I was getting at was the original article slammed UK acts, in preference for a number of NME favoured drain pipe jean'd stripey top wearing "the" bands. Just thought it was style over substance.
Do think the great thing about the UK music scene is variety. Not only can you find anything from classical music to thrash here, you could probably hear most of that spectrum played in the same venue over the course of a month and it could be a low key 'grass roots' place behind a pub somewhere, not the royal albert hall.
Do think the great thing about the UK music scene is variety. Not only can you find anything from classical music to thrash here, you could probably hear most of that spectrum played in the same venue over the course of a month and it could be a low key 'grass roots' place behind a pub somewhere, not the royal albert hall.
sk2540 said:
I think from a Rock & Metal point of view England was easilly the best in the 70's, but in the 80's Germany & America left us standing. I would not say that America was any better than Germany though!
I would say that in the last 10 years the Nordic countries have really been the ones excelling in rock and metal.crank_case said:
Plotloss said:
kiwisr said:
Plotloss said:
The United Kingdom is easily the most musically rich nation in the history of mankind.
Depends on your viewpoint, German and Austrian composers have a fair contribution to musical history.From Germany for example, check out:
Ellen Allien
Modeselektor
Smash TV
Schneider TM
Lali Puna
Tocotronic
Console
Barbara Morgenstern
etc.
Other mainland Euro countries have great acts, just most people haven't heard of them
Led Zep
The Beatles
The Stones
Floyd
The Who
The Jam
The Clash
etc etc etc etc
Personally the British acts that appear on the radio & television these days are so depressingly awful it's untrue, the only bands you hear that are any good are the ones that have been around for ages like Iron Maiden or The Who.
I'm sure there's just as much new music that's wonderful but you really have to hunt it down these days as stumbling across something good just doesn't happen any more.
I listen to a lot of 'Post Rock' these days which I love to bits however nearly all of it comes from across the pond.
M.
I'm sure there's just as much new music that's wonderful but you really have to hunt it down these days as stumbling across something good just doesn't happen any more.
I listen to a lot of 'Post Rock' these days which I love to bits however nearly all of it comes from across the pond.
M.
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