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UK -v- USA...Who produced the "best" bands???


TheGreek

Who makes the best music??  

57 members have voted

  1. 1. Who makes the best music?

    • United Kingdom
      39
    • United States
      18


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Hoping for an interesting debate and, possibly, pick up on some bands I may have missed...I've tried to compress 60 odd years of music into a couple of paragraphs so please be kind with your comments..."you numpty, you forgot about..."

It could be argued that originally, back in the late 50s/ early 60s, all the good stuff came from the States and the UK was churning out "imitators" - Elvis/ Little Richard/ Buddy Holly -v- Cliff/ Marti Wilde/ etc....Then the Beatles came along, swiftly followed by The Rolling Stones and The Who and the balanced shifted in favour of the UK - the good old "British Invasion".

While all this was going on in the Rock'n'roll scene Motown/ Stax / Atlantic was pumping out dance music which "changed the world". Britain didn't really have an answer to this..

Leaving Fleetwood Mac (American or British band??) and Hendrix aside, at the beginning of the 70s, the UK remained on top with bands like The Stones/ Sabbath/ LZ/ etc battling popularity with US bands/ mid American Rock till The Sex Pistols came along in the mid 70s and shook it all up by inventing Punk. Dance music became "disco" and sort of lost it's way??

The 80s was dominated by the aftermath of punk with The Stranglers and The Clash battling power ballads/Rock bands from both sides of the pond -v- (shamed to say it) SAW -v- New/ Post Romantic, eventually growing up into, what Wiki calls, "White European Dance Music" - Duran/ Spandau/ Wham/ Level 42, etc. Most of the best Indie music coming from the UK - Michael Jackson churning out finger clicking pop dance.

Late 80s/early 90s was club music fuelled by Ecstasy and bands which grew out of this - NO/ Stone Roses/ Happy Mondays/ The Smiths, etc - again,  with the possible exception of Prince, the best music being generated in the UK.

Late 90s/ early 21st century lead to "Brit Pop" - Oasis/ Blur/ Pulp, etc -v- grunge from Nirvana/ Pearl Jam/ RHCP, etc.

Again the US was pumping out dance music in the form of Rap, etc throughout this period.

Since the turn of the century, Music is probably the most diverse it's ever been but IMO popular music has become more disposable, "longevity" means 3 years or two albums, and producers dominating the music scene in the same way as SAW in the 80s.

...and breathe...

So, where is the power station for music? Is it the UK or the US

 

 

Edited by TheGreek
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I find it hard to side with one or the other but I have voted UK mainly for patriotic reasons.

Having said that, I recognise the stronger influences of North American music on what we've been doing at least as far back as the big band thing.  Thank you for posing the question.  I have long been interested in the British Northern Soul phenomenon where ten year old US records were harvested from storage bins in America by British DJs to underpin a unique cult of dancers in Britain.  I will be interested to see what responses there are in that area in particular.

Edited by SpondonBassed
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When? The pendulum has swung back and forth so many times. TheGreek has already listed many of the high points.

There was Rock and Roll, Blues and R&B, all high points in US music. The 60's and 70's studio bands in the US are my favourites. OK they may not be bands in the strictest sense but any road band that went out and gigged these songs is the top of my list. Any genre of music that could have been picked by the Blues Brothers is right up there.

British bands in the 60's were world leaders in popular music.

Then there was Cream and Jeff Beck who started Heavy Rock.

Then Sly and James Brown who started Funk. 

I can't pin-point one style or location. The US and UK have inspired each other.

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4 minutes ago, ahpook said:

Aaaah, if you ddn't see them back in the day you'll never understand what they really meant.

;)

Joking aside, for the purposes of the topic that is very true.  It's one of the reasons I want to see about the Northern Soul thing.  I'd expect a variety of opinion based of each correspondent's point of view during the various styles that came and went.

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I would probably have to say the States for me because I prefer the music that has come from those shores. If we are talking 50s/60s then Motown, Elvis, Chuck Berry, Little Richard etc. is more my cup of tea. Grunge is probably one of my favourite forms of music with groups like Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, Alice in Chains, Stone Temple Pilots, Rage Against The Machine and I will also include Linkin Park. 

Where Brit music for me was the best was 80's pop like Talk Talk, Duran Duran, Spandau Ballet, Culture Club, Depeche Mode. Nothing could beat 80's Brit pop.

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I voted UK, but I really don't like these binary choice only referendums! 😉

Moving swiftly on, I think @chris_b has summed it up pretty well. It's been an iterative process, with music from both sides of the Atlantic inspiring and influencing in equal measure..

Having said that, when Rolling Stone did one of those Top 100 Artists polls a few years back, I seem to recall that The Beatles, Stones and Zeppelin ere in the top 5!

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I feel that Britons have more edge (not that Edge!) in their music. Americans tend to be a bit too happy and politically correct. They just can not say that they feel bad in minor. As was said earlier, Motown is top as there are also other acts that can not be beaten but overall I like Sex Pistols over Mariah Carey.

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5 minutes ago, itu said:

I feel that Britons have more edge (not that Edge!) in their music. Americans tend to be a bit too happy and politically correct.

Really? Woody Guthrie, Dead Kennedy's, NWA?

Depends where you look.

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Going through my favourite bands, they worked out as:

GB - 31%

US - 59%

Other - 10%

So twice as many bands from the states as over here, but, as the US has a population five times larger than the UK, I voted patriotically for good old Blighty.

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34 minutes ago, itu said:

I feel that Britons have more edge (not that Edge!) in their music. Americans tend to be a bit too happy and politically correct. They just can not say that they feel bad in minor. As was said earlier, Motown is top as there are also other acts that can not be beaten but overall I like Sex Pistols over Mariah Carey.

Grammy song of the year 2019:

Childish Gambino “this is America”

brit awards single of the year 2019: 

calvin Harris and Dua Lipa “one kiss”

 

To to give one example. 

 

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Guest oZZma

Both. Depends on the period/genre. I voted USA because although I love lots of UK bands the genres I'm most interested in originated in the USA.

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3 hours ago, TheGreek said:

Hoping for an interesting debate and, possibly, pick up on some bands I may have missed...I've tried to compress 60 odd years of music into a couple of paragraphs so please be kind with your comments..."you numpty, you forgot about..."

 

So, where is the power station for music? Is it the UK or the US

 

 

Well, you missed every single one of my favorite US bands, so...Yel_wink.gif

Just for starters: Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Dead, Santana, Allman Bros. Band, Frank Zappa, Talking Heads, Ornette Coleman, Pat Metheny Band, Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, Charles Mingus, Buddy Rich, The Supremes, Johnny Cash, and the MC5.

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Ah well for instance UK has Bolt Thrower, the US has Obituary. Tit for tat really. Iron Maiden Vs Metallica?  

I think for most genres there is an equivalent genre overseas of similar influence, with acts carrying similar weight. Both inspiring the next generation artists on either side.

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My feeling is that the USA tends to focus more on the individual than the band, lots of famous signer/songwriters who get a lot more profile than admittedly great bands - from Dylan and the Band down.

The UK tends to have more profile for the band than individual songwriters. For example, the Beatles and the Stones, despite their songwriters being well known, are still better known.

 

If you want to get partisan about it, you could debate Birmingham and the Black Country vs. Detroit or Canterbury vs. Haight Ashbury (I think Seattle versus Manchester was covered above).

 

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