Is British music better than American?

[Pyro Tramp]

I was just thinking about all my favourite bands and realised they were mostly British, which was quite a surprise as it always seems America leads the pack for most things. So anyway, you think that this is true?

Here's some British bands to consider:
The Clash
Sex Pistols
The Who
Rolling Stones
Led Zeppelin
Pink floyd
Black Sabbath
Deep Purple
Queen
Electric Wizard
The Darkness

I'm not really gonna make a point about pop music or any other genre as im not too hot on them, but as for rock music, i think Britain has a lot of good bands.

[susan]

i've liked a lot of british bands in my time..most of what you list above

but i do liike

the monkees
paul revere annd the raiders
bobby darin (some stuff)
billy joel
bruce springsteen
john cafferty annd the beaver brown band

i don't really see a difference..rock and roll is international in my opinion

[Caitlyn]

I like most of the British bands you listed Pyro… but America has given birth to such musicians as:

Elvis
Chuck Berry
Buddy Holly
Jerry Lee Lewis
Carl Perkins
Little Richard
The Doors
Nirvana
Jimi Hendrix
Bob Dylan
Alice Cooper
Kiss
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Steve Miller Band
Tool
Nine Inch Nails
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Creedence Clearwater Revival
Electric Light Orchestra
The Eagles
Van Halen
The Beach Boys
Steely Dan
Talking Heads
R.E.M
Grateful Dead
Ramones
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Blue Oyster Cult
Metallica
Pearl Jam
Kansas
Guns 'n' Roses
Allman Brothers Band
Stone Temple Pilots
Smashing Pumpkins
Green Day
Soundgarden
Jefferson Airplane
Rage Against The Machine
Sly and the Family Stone
Boston
Grand Funk Railroad
Simon and Garfunkel

Just to name a few…. So I personally think both the Brits and the Americans have produced some awesome musicians… it all just depends on your own personal taste in music...

[Blister]

Well, an advantage America has, is that is is much much much bigger than the UK, therefore, it will have more musicians.

[undercoverlover]

good point
i love british music, but the stuff i like is mostly modern bands. And actually 2 of my favourite bands are local bands, they're better than most commercial stuff out there. They're called Hi-Jinks and DV8, they rock completely.

Most british and modern music such as Franz Ferdinand, the thrills, sounds rubbish but i really liked Tabby from the X factor, the strokes, natasha bedingfield, estelle etc


I love american music too though, greenday rock my world all over the shop, the killers, the pixies, all-american rejects, jojo, classic MJ, Ashlee Simpson, Staind, Adema, Hoobastank, Linkin Park, Our lady peace, 3 days grace

[blibblobblib]

I personally much prefer British music, although i do agree America has given birth to legends....but then again so has the UK ;)

Some awsome new bands that are out over here at the mo that you should most definatly check out if you are a fan of The Strokes, Franz Ferdinand etc are--

SnowPatrol
RazorLight
Thrills
Killers
....
Thats all i can think of for now but they all make me stamp and shout and dance and stuff.

[SamsoniteDelilah]

I have long loved brit pop. The british new wave were the main thing that got me through the 80's. The music is more melodic and a little kinder to the ear than american music tends to be - speaking generally here, of course. The Police, Howard Jones, Culture Club, Erasure, Flock of Seagulls, Dead or Alive, Bronski Beat, Split Enz, The Clash, The Cure, Depeche Mode, The Eurythmics... yay!

[Pyro Tramp]

i forgot to add
The Beatles
Iron Maiden
Judas Priest
Motorhead
Thin Lizzy
Def Leppard

[undercoverlover]

SnowPatrol
RazorLight
Thrills
Killers


Knew i forgot some, i love snow patrol, their song Run just makes me melt

[Richard Hell]

I like most of the British bands you listed Pyro… but America has given birth to such musicians as:

Elvis
Chuck Berry
Buddy Holly
Jerry Lee Lewis
Carl Perkins
Little Richard
The Doors
Nirvana
Jimi Hendrix
Bob Dylan
Alice Cooper
Kiss
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Steve Miller Band
Tool
Nine Inch Nails
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Creedence Clearwater Revival
Electric Light Orchestra
The Eagles
Van Halen
The Beach Boys
Steely Dan
Talking Heads
R.E.M
Grateful Dead
Ramones
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Blue Oyster Cult
Metallica
Pearl Jam
Kansas
Guns 'n' Roses
Allman Brothers Band
Stone Temple Pilots
Smashing Pumpkins
Green Day
Soundgarden
Jefferson Airplane
Rage Against The Machine
Sly and the Family Stone
Boston
Grand Funk Railroad
Simon and Garfunkel

Just to name a few…. So I personally think both the Brits and the Americans have produced some awesome musicians… it all just depends on your own personal taste in music...

Excellant list Caity, I agree with 100%. :)

[linespalsy]

Nah. Even just taking old punk and rock stuff with the exception of Wire, Throbbing Gristle (along with later incarnations) and to a lesser extent Crisis (for the brits), you have Iggy and the Stooges, Motor City Five, Suicide, The Modern Lovers, The Talking Heads... Not to mention all those great and generally underappreciated California bands of the seventies and eighties like 100 Flowers, Gun Club, The Screamers etc. etc.

And while I'm just lukewarm on The Beatles, I love The Beau Brummels (though I like The Kinks just as much). I certainly tend to favor American rock over british.

~Edit~ oh yeah, Samsonite Delilah mentioned some good 80s british pop bands too, but I'd throw The The to the top of that list. ~Edit~

[Piddzilla]

I think the influence that America and Britain have on popular music worldwide is a circular. The Beatles and The Stones were extremely influenced by american music and so was Led Zeppelin. But then these bands grew larger than most american contemporaries. And it's always been like that. The impact that The Clash and The Sex Pistols had on american punkrockers now and then is and was enormous. But what did Strummer et al listen to while recording their first album? The Ramones of course! Who listened to The Beach Boys. Who listened to The Beatles. Who listened to Elvis, Roy Orbison and american female vocal groups. And I think Joy Division and The Cure have influenced lots of american bands of today.

I think I read somewhere that when Oasis were recording "Definately Maybe" Noel listened to "Nevermind" and heard how Kurt sang. Then when it was time for Liam to sing, Noel turned to the sound engineer and said: "That's it! Turn the volume up and let the **** scream!"... ;)

[Knoxville]

I just like what I like I don't really think about what country the bands come from, but now I want to do a test, I'm gonna get 20 of my Cd's from one of the piles in my room (I'm just gonna grab a pile) and let's see what we got.

1. David Bowie-UK
2. CKY-US
3. Scissor Sisters-US
4. Tom Jones-UK
5. Rem-US
6. Weezer-US
7. Weezer
8. Weezer (these three Cd's count as one choice)
9. Franz Ferdinand-UK
10. No Doubt-US
11. Paul Simon-US
12. Lacuna Coil-Italian
13. The Strokes-US
14. GG Allin-US
15. Duran Duran-UK
16. Rammstein-German
17. Jackass the Movie soundtrack-mixed
18. Marilyn Manson-US
19. Sheryl Crow-US
20. CKY

Quite a mixed bag there-just a personal experiment of mine.

[undercoverlover]

Nah. Even just taking old punk and rock stuff with the exception of Wire, Throbbing Gristle (along with later incarnations) and to a lesser extent Crisis (for the brits), you have Iggy and the Stooges, Motor City Five, Suicide, The Modern Lovers, The Talking Heads... Not to mention all those great and generally underappreciated California bands of the seventies and eighties like 100 Flowers, Gun Club, The Screamers etc. etc.

And while I'm just lukewarm on The Beatles, I love The Beau Brummels (though I like The Kinks just as much).

witht he exception of the beatles and iggy, ive never heard of any of those bands

[blibblobblib]

Knew i forgot some, i love snow patrol, their song Run just makes me melt
:yup:
I absoloutly love Chocolate as well....in fact the whole album is just awse.

Have you listened to Keane? Their quite similar and were around a little before Snowpatrol, "Somewhere Only We Know" is amazing.

[SamsoniteDelilah]

...Have you listened to Keane? Their quite similar and were around a little before Snowpatrol, "Somewhere Only We Know" is amazing.I woke up to that, yesterday. Beautiful song!

[SamsoniteDelilah]

witht he exception of the beatles and iggy, ive never heard of any of those bands
Look into The Talking Heads. You won't regret it.

[blibblobblib]

I woke up to that, yesterday. Beautiful song!
What a nice thing to wake up to. Watch the video if you can. Its pretty and wonderful....not the American release of the video tho, the Britsih one, its when they are all singing in a forest and little elfy things come to watch them and it makes their hearts glow...

[SamsoniteDelilah]

What a nice thing to wake up to. Watch the video if you can. Its pretty and wonderful....not the American release of the video tho, the Britsih one, its when they are all singing in a forest and little elfy things come to watch them and it makes their hearts glow...
...
Are you kidding me with this?
I'll have to look for the British one in February.

[jrs]

I like most of the British bands you listed Pyro… but America has given birth to such musicians as:

Elvis
Chuck Berry
Buddy Holly
Jerry Lee Lewis
Carl Perkins
Little Richard
The Doors
Nirvana
Jimi Hendrix
Bob Dylan
Alice Cooper
Kiss
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Steve Miller Band
Tool
Nine Inch Nails
Red Hot Chili Peppers
Creedence Clearwater Revival
Electric Light Orchestra
The Eagles
Van Halen
The Beach Boys
Steely Dan
Talking Heads
R.E.M
Grateful Dead
Ramones
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Blue Oyster Cult
Metallica
Pearl Jam
Kansas
Guns 'n' Roses
Allman Brothers Band
Stone Temple Pilots
Smashing Pumpkins
Green Day
Soundgarden
Jefferson Airplane
Rage Against The Machine
Sly and the Family Stone
Boston
Grand Funk Railroad
Simon and Garfunkel

Just to name a few…. So I personally think both the Brits and the Americans have produced some awesome musicians… it all just depends on your own personal taste in music...



Ditto Cait'.....Literally!

[Piddzilla]

You like Dinosaur Jr? Superchunk? Archers of Loaf? Then you should check out the British band Niccokick. Only one thing.... They're from Sweden. :dizzy:

[Nitzer]

Most of the time yes. Although all my fav. bands are American.

[chicagofrog]

i don't know. same thing as above (Nitzer), but i can't forget my first faves were British (Cocteau Twins, Wolfgang Press, well, as good as everything 4AD...)...

[AboveTheClouds]

This is totally impossible.... especially for the metal scene...

[Nitzer]

This is totally impossible.... especially for the metal scene...

Pfft metal...

[undercoverlover]

:yup:
I absoloutly love Chocolate as well....in fact the whole album is just awse.

Have you listened to Keane? Their quite similar and were around a little before Snowpatrol, "Somewhere Only We Know" is amazing.



I can't believe i forgot keane, i love bedshaped, the first time i heard that i melted into my chair it was beautiful, i like all of their songs and i just got their album. I like the fact that they dont use guitars, it gives them a different sound

[AboveTheClouds]

Pfft metal...

Grow up.

[blibblobblib]

...
Are you kidding me with this?
I'll have to look for the British one in February.
i never kid. Never. Check out the video if ya can, you can probably download it off the net. I say its the British one coz i could have sworn i saw the US video and it was the band singing and dancing in a street somewhere. ( so unoriginal ;) )

[SamsoniteDelilah]

I can't believe i forgot keane, i love bedshaped, the first time i heard that i melted into my chair it was beautiful, i like all of their songs and i just got their album. I like the fact that they dont use guitars, it gives them a different sound
You've inspired me. I think I'm going to get their album. I love the way they use the piano. That percussive stuff is soooo nice!

blibby, I will keep an eye out for that video. I'm on dial-up at home and it took me about 6 tries yesterday to download the audio on the song, so I'm feeling disinclined to try a huge file. Maybe I can catch it when I'm in the UK in Feb. :)

[undercoverlover]

oh do get it sam its b e a utiful

[Nitzer]

Grow up.

When I will I still won't like it.

[AboveTheClouds]

That because you like psuedo punk rock

[Nitzer]

That because you like psuedo punk rock

Das right.

[undercoverlover]

what in the world is psuedo punk rock?

[Nitzer]

what in the world is psuedo punk rock?

just punk rock generally since he seems to hate it so much.

[Sedai]

Actually, Sweden has a TON of good Psy-trance artists.

Atmos
S-Range
Hux-Flux
Logic Bomb
Phoney Orphants
Antix

A lot of my favorite psy comes out of Sweden.

As for Rock and Metal, I love music from all over the world.

Denmark brings us Opeth.

England brings us many great acts like:

Radiohead
Supergrass
Porcupine Tree
many of the great artists already listed like The Beatles et al.

USA:

Tool
King's X
D-Space
Joe Satriani
Steve Vai
NIN
Soundgarden
Queensryche
Pantera
IndiaDrop

I like listening to music from all over the place, and feel no need to cite one counties music as being better than another. Also, There is no correct answer, or facts, about this issue. Tis purely subjective, just like film.

[AboveTheClouds]

Actually Sweden brough us Opeth Sedai, along with many other of Mikael Akerfeldt's (The lead singer of Opeth) such As his one album stint in a band called Katatonia and his other band BloodBath. :)

As for me calling it pseudo punk rock.. well let me see

psuedo= fake

so I must be talking about fake punk rock

Real Punk rock is as follows

Broken Bones
Gang Green
Riot 99
Discharge
The Subhumans
Career Suicide


And your sad excuse of Punk rock is stuff like NoFx, The Distillers, Rancid and the like, and where did you get the fact that I hate punk..... I love punk, I have a bunch of punk records on vinyl, cd and tape. Not to mention a number of punk shirts to go with my metal shirts..... Sorry if i'm sounding like an elitist, but I am :)

[Nitzer]

Sad excuse? GG Alin is considered "real punk" and i wouldnt listen to that retard even if they paid me. For you information I hate distillers and rancid. Nofx and Bad Religion all the way!

[undercoverlover]

never heard of any of these bands, are there any 'real punk rock bands' that are a bit commercial that i might have heard of, so i know the kind of stuff you guys mean

[AboveTheClouds]

Sad excuse? GG Alin is considered "real punk" and i wouldnt listen to that retard even if they paid me. For you information I hate distillers and rancid. Nofx and Bad Religion all the way!

But they're not punk rock.......

[Nitzer]

But they're not punk rock.......

nofx and bad religion? of course they are. and gg allin is punk.

[AboveTheClouds]

NoFx isnt punk.. Bad religion is more punk then they are, but they still don't qualify as punk

[Pyro Tramp]

Let's not forget the Spice Girls.....they'd rip NoFx to shreds

[undercoverlover]

they'd sh.it them up real good

[Richard Hell]

Although "American" music has offered us excellant bands like, Nirvana , Jimi Hendrix Expierence,and many many more. I think British artists cleaned it up and made music more slick. It wasnt until Henrix began to tour around England before forming the Expeirence, and Britian also gave us the greatest band of all time, Led Zeppelin, and the greatest punk band ever, the sex Pistols.
But between the two, American music is way better then British, we invented most of the genres of music out, so what if Britian rejuvenated Rock music, but we invented it. We gave birth to bands that invented and revolutionized music, like the Ramones, who invented Punk, Hendrix who gave birth to Hard rock, Black Flag turnd punk into "Hardcore Punk", Nirvana who invented Grunge and Bands like Rage Against the Machine, and Pearl Jam who took rock and made it political.

[susan]

just a quick thought...most early british artists (including the beatles) copied the american rock and roll style and covered much from the doo wop period (50's music)

[undercoverlover]

who did the beatles copy then?

[Richard Hell]

who did the beatles copy then?

Various Doo Wop groups, I wouldnt say they copied, but the did take a little of there music from that and rolled with it.

[susan]

who did the beatles copy then?

twist and shout by the isley brothers was one

chains of love, please mr postman and others....

[Richard Hell]

I hate say it but the sexpistols also copied, they took riffs and chords from bands like Cream.

[Pyro Tramp]

Well, just because they copied, doesn't mean they aren't good. For me Sex Pistols have had a much bigger impact and wider spreading influence than Cream, who i dont think i've ever heard. Also, i dont think the Sex Pistols were at all about sound, it was attitude and their relevance in the current social and political era. To be fair, they couldn't play their instruments for *****.
Personally i dont think theres anything wrong with taking a style and using elements of it. Is it fair to say The Beatles COPIED doo-wop groups? The Beatles are obviously better if you couldn't even name any bands (or just chose not to) and while they 'used' other genre, they led a whole new one themselves.

[susan]

acatually the cream and the sex pistols were both british bands..when i meant copy or cover songs i meant that they drew inspiration from older bands...in this case american doo wop groups from the 50's...a lot of british bands of the 60's drew their inspirationn from american groups...that's all...

[Richard Hell]

Hey same here...

[SamsoniteDelilah]

oh do get it sam its b e a utiful
I got this yesterday and love it!
Thanks for the recommend!

[rjmcfc86]

Kasabian are one of the best bands in the UK at the moment, along with the already mentioned Franz Ferdinand, Snow Patrol and Razorlight. There's Keane aswell who are amazing but may well be out of topic with this being 'rock'.

No mentions for Oasis neither? *THE* band of the 90s.

BTW, somebody mentioned The Killers under 'British'... they are from Vegas... and The Thrills are Irish :D

[Richard Hell]

Kasabian are one of the best bands in the UK at the moment, along with the already mentioned Franz Ferdinand, Snow Patrol and Razorlight. There's Keane aswell who are amazing but may well be out of topic with this being 'rock'.

No mentions for Oasis neither? *THE* band of the 90s.

BTW, somebody mentioned The Killers under 'British'... they are from Vegas... and The Thrills are Irish :D

Oasis could have been the next Beatles, if they got there **** together

[undercoverlover]

oasis are good but i dont think they're all that, some of their songs sounds kinda the same. I liked champagne supernova, right here right now, thats about it really

[Richard Hell]

oasis are good but i dont think they're all that, some of their songs sounds kinda the same. I liked champagne supernova, right here right now, thats about it really

I like Stop crying your heart out.

[Piddzilla]

I think Oasis have made one really good album, Definately Maybe, but after that I don't think they have done anything special except for a song here and there. Some Might Say that ended up on What's the Story Morning Glory is one of my favourites. But I love the entire first album. Kind of like the Nevermind the Bollocks of the '90s.