Britain And Music

It's amazing to think how so much great music has come from such a relatively small chuck of land.

One thing I can say about the UK is that their music culture is and has always been a thousand times richer than America's.

There is great music to have come from almost every part of the world, but it would seem that the UK is the nexus of musical culture and tastes.

 

Does this include Radiohead? Didn't you once say they were overated

I still love OK Computer, album was a masterpiece

 

Blues, Jazz, Big band, Rock & Roll---we haven't done too badly ourselves. I DO love a lot of the English bands--Procol Harum, The Moodys, Pink Floyd and many others from back in the day.

 

I think the argument is that different styles/muscians can mix it up together. Cross polination of ideas or whatever you can call it. European/Australian, even American musicians can work with British muscians quite easily in a connected ie small space.

Compare that to America, where the distances are huge and things seem fragmented according to race/social group, and geography.

Also Britain doesn't have a huge film industry to sap creative talent. And a lot of people traditionally went into music here, because there was fuck all else to do.

Having said all that, there are some unhealthy aspects to British music. For example its becoming ever more corporate shiny shit. And also its becoming increasingly alien sounding to much of the population.

 

This Is English music at its best We stole It off you and sold it back !
It started with the Blues
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWOuzYvksRw&feature=youtu.be&t=335

 

So true... wtf?...And why do Brits lose their accent when they sing?

 

Even Hendrix moved to England to develop.

Its funny too how British rockers went to LA (Ozzy Osbourne, Robert Plant, Billy Idol etc) But LA didn't really produce their own like them in that field in the same way.

I've seen Robert Plant out and about in England.

 

Not all of them.
Have you heard of the Arctic Monkeys, as an example.

I think American punks would sing in (unconvincing!) English cockney accents..!

 

1968, its coming up to 50 years since Led Zepplin released their first album

 

And a mention to Discharge as well

Especially that Hear Nothing... album, seems to have influenced so many metal bands to follow

Even though I don't think they really had any talent, that album, most songs are just two chords, and yet is highly addictive, they were just the first to right them I guess

 

Just the other day I got out my old Depeche Mode albums.

 

What in the fuck is that supposed to mean?

 

Not Jimi's idea. Mitch Mitchell talked him into it.

 

Because often in the US people decide whether they want to be musicians or involved in the film business.

In recent decades, the British film industry has been pretty small in relation to the US one.
So in Britain it can be a choice between being a muscian or doing some job like drving taxis.
There aren't a lot of opports for say film acting - unlike in America.

You could argue that America loses potential musicians to the film industry.

 

Radiohead are alright, but very overrated. The Bends and OK Computer are my two favorites from them. Everything Kid A and after is pretentious and gets unwarranted credit for being innovative when really it wasn't.

Led Zeppelin, however, are one British band I absolutely abhor. I cannot get into their music at all. They may have been outstanding musicians, but that style of music just does nothing for me. They really started the whole cock rock craze.

 

I don't know where you get that idea. Can you name some would be musicians that were drawn away by the film industry? (Please don't name any rap or hip hop people)

 

They had some good shit, but their hay-day was really even before my time,( I was 9 yrs old when their first record came out) so I wouldn't expect you, 20 some years my younger to have a clue about it. The vast majority of their catalog doesn't do much for me, but theres no denying Robert Plant is one hell of a musician. His solo stuff is top-notch as far as I'm concerned.

Zep was one of the British bands that studied the American blues masters, repackaged it and sold it back to us as rock. A lot of people in the west especially didn't get exposed to the blues guys because the radio didn't play 'race records' so in a way bands like Peter Greens Fleetwood mac, Zep, and the like were the only way we were exposed to the blues of Muddy waters, Howlin' wolf, and probably most importantly Willy Dixon. Dixon was an incredibly prolific composer that influenced an entire generation of blues and rock musicians.

 

That's just a conspiracy theory.... None of that really happened.

 

i prefer to think of britain and narrow gauge railways. they also have a larger number of preserved lines then any place its size. and one of the smallest parts of britain has the some of the greatest concentrations of them there. their food and architecture have reputations for being disasterous, but their really not that much worse then most places. of course i only know what i see in pictures, having never been there.
music well, the late 60s and early 70s, the british influence in popular music was strong. since about the mid 80s there's been a lot of interest in celtic music and modalities there of.

personally i'm happy to see indiginous music from all over the planet being added to the popular stew. and i suppose some of the pioneers of doing that came from britain too.

 

The exploited, the damned, pink floyd, subhumans and the clash and i do like radiohead. These are my fav british bands