How is Britain dominating right now? Besides Adele and Florence & the Machine, I can't think of another notable British musician that's huge in the States. And are you saying that the influence of the British people back in the 60s is still dominant today? or that the British artists have been consistently more influential than the American artists?Trivun said:I'm not saying the Americans didn't pioneer anything, my point was that the British have led the way for the past fifty years or so. Americans may have created rock and roll, based on blues, which itself was actually started by the older music of slave-era America (blues came about based on old slave songs and developed into a new genre later), but since the Sixties (and this isn't just six or seven bands here) the UK started pumping out newer stuff that was American-influenced and then overtook their overseas compatriots to develop newer styles that were more of an influence and sounded fresher and better in general. Cinsider that the US was taken by storm with certain styles such as Britpop and, more recently, dubstep, which were invented in the UK, even if tey were influenced by earlier foreign stuff. Not downplaying American influence overall, I was just saying that Bitish influence has been much greater and more pervasive since the Sixties, and although there's plenty of great US music that is truly original (see that some of my favourites there are Metric, who are Canadian, and The Gaslight Anthem and The Big Pink, who are American), British music continues to dominate at the moment. The USA may end up overturning that within the next few years, but as long as the British continue their amazing output I can't see it happening soon.Launcelot111 said:Forgetting that the US created rock and roll, much of good British rock found its roots in American blues, and that the US has been without question putting out the best rock since the 80s. Not saying British music didn't do anything, because they definitely did, but people give far too much credit to six or seven artists.Trivun said:And yes, plenty of those are British. I know the USA likes to claim most awesome things as being American, but truthfully, the UK has led the way in music ever since the Sixties at least. All good American rock finds its roots in British rock and pop, and that trend continues to this day. So yeah, the British bands are most definitely worth listening to
It doesn't help as well, you have to admit, that in a large part of America (mainly the South), and this is going by my experience of actually visiting and spending time in the country, the main music style is country music, which has a history of rarely being popular abroad (a few artists being the only exceptions - I can think of Dolly Parton, Shania Twain, and Taylor Swift as being the chief exceptions there, all of whom I do love anyway...).
I think you overestimate the influence of Britpop in the states- aside from maybe Blur and Oasis, the 90s were very, very America-centric in America. Many of the big British indie bands largely stay in the UK- Bloc Party and Arctic Monkeys and Kasabian and so on made at best a small ripple in American circles, though from what I understand, the British music press is pretty enamored with them.
Speaking from a personal viewpoint, I enjoy American groups more than British groups because British rock groups have gotten a little too samey, so I will disagree with you on Britain's "freshness," but from a music history standpoint, I really can't see how you can argue that British rock has been more creative than the truckloads of quality acts the US has put out since 1980. I can count on one hand the number of British bands I would consider influential. Who are you thinking of when you talk about this massive influence?
And what does your point about country mean? If British music is so pervasive, then why are so many people not listening to it and choosing country instead. Country and britpop are actually pretty good parallels- big in their mother country, but not much love across the pond.
