America vs Britain

I had a conversation with a friend who has past by the way side many years ago about the relative merits of the music that comes from America and the music that has come from Britain.

His comment was that since The Beatles and The Stones there has not been anything that the Brits could rightly say came from British shores. I have wondered about this ever since, I have wondered about other things as well , but this has stuck in the mind. Is it right? Does everything come from America? If so does that mean that all the good music comes from America, on the idea that everything that is not an original idea is derivative and therefore a pale imitation of the original. Well certainly in the case of U2 this is true, but does it hold generally?

If we take the beginning of rock and roll and compare over time , how does each country fare?

Well America gave us Jazz, and it gave us the Blues. In so far as traditional music evolved into the terms that we know. No one really came up with the blues is my point. There wasn't a genesis moment and everyone went , wow , that must be called Blues. It became the form that we know in America though. There is a commonly held perception that the British took the blues and turned them into Rock and Roll.

Which is rubbish. Rock and Roll in it's infancy is Chuck Berry

it is Little Richard

I properly love that video. The big guy can dance. Nothing of any real interest came from this period from the UK. The Shadows maybe. I know that this is a gross implification, But i want to talk about the more interesting music.

The British took blues and took this rock and roll and came up with The Beatles, the Yardbirds, Cream, Traffic etc. Definitely a huge time for British music.

Do you know this song by Traffic? This is awesome

or this one? Which is blind faith which is Steve Winwood and Eric clapton and Ginger baker (from Cream)

Anyway the point being that the British had it at this stage. It really was very British at the time. The Americans fought back quickly though with The Doors, The Beach Boys. not to mention the whole pyschadelic scene, Janis Joplin. this is a great song by Janis.

That is a live performance. Imagine those little people on Pop idol being able to actually sing like that. That said I think you would have to give the late 60s to the Brits. Very hard to come up with an argument as to why not.

The 70s is a difficult one to call. On one side of the fence you have Pink Floyd, on the other you have The Eagles.You have Tom Petty and Bruce Springsteen, i will write more about Bruce, but listen to this song and tell me he isn't cool

That said though, the Brits had Led Zeppelin, Sabbath, David Bowie, Elvis Costello, The Clash, Iron Maiden.

This is a great maiden song. I know a lot of people are not massively into maiden, but this was taken in Mumbai, you can feel the crowd excitement as the concert opens

OK so the Brits take the 70s. also let's not forget the Americans invented disco. You know they had I hate disco rallies and burnt disco records in baseball stadiums full of people? Can you imagine that level of unification about music now? Very funny laughing at it now. But people really believed in it. I found a disco sucks t-shirt which I have lost somewhere. They had t-shirts!

It takes a very patriotic Brit to claim the 80s though. Honestly, there was some great music in the 80s coming from Britain, The Cure, the Smiths, The Cult , starting to struggle here. Madness. Plus let's not forget all the new Romantics, like Duran Duran , Echo and the Bunnymen, and the start of electronic music proper with Human League, Gary Numan, haircut 100, however

From the Americans you have, Guns and Roses, Public Enemy, Ice-T, Ice Cube, Janes Addiction, Metallica, Slayer, Husker Du, The Pixies, Dead Kennedys, De La Soul, and this is before we mention , the hair bands, Michael Jackson, and the proper beginning of modern hip hop.

I love that song. it makes you want to dance. dance like a white guy whose had too much to drink and has too much to prove.

So , it is about a tie now. Which is interesting.

So the Nineties, well it looks reasonably close on paper. You have grunge, you have brit pop, You have the electronic breakthrough into the mainstream. Scratch a little deeper though and it becomes clear this is another pretty clear victory for the Americans. You have , Nirvana , Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, beck, Beastie Boys ( i know technically 80s but their best work is 90s) Dj Shadow, Smashing Pumpkins, Tool, Rob Zombie. Eninem, tu pac, Notorious BIG, Sir mix alot, Sonic youth. I have had a lot of trouble picking a song by any of these artists because there are simply so many great songs to choose from.

But here is AIC, because today it was announced that Mike Smith, the bassist, died. RIP

The brits had some very good music in this period as well. Sure there was Oasis, Blur, Suede, but there was also Massive Attack, Aphex twin, Radiohead (who span two decades) The Cure (again) , The Prodigy, therapy? , the mighty Boards of Canada (they're Scottish), Stone Roses, but when it comes down to it, you have to say that the Americans have it. Which poses a question in itself. Is it a coincidence that both countries have a back to back victory? Obviously it is just my opinion awarding the points here, so it is very subjective. You may want to claim that the inspired music of the mega couple Bobby Brown and Whitney makes all other arguments obsolete. I would have to ask you to leave, but you are entitled to your opinion.

The point being that maybe because so much good music came before that it inspired the very next generation and a half to greater heights. Maybe they identified more with the musicians and as such found it easier. Maybe not though. Because look what happened in the 80s to British music. Can the same be said of the 00s and American music?

Well, not really. As I have said time again, the digital revolution has changed the playing ground a great deal. The advent of Internet radio has meant that much more than before you can listen to anything. Really, I am listening to a New York radio station as i write this and this is pretty normal. What does it mean for the great intercontinental fight we are discussing here? Well not much really, as it seems that this is a pretty even fight.

On the British side we have Radiohead (again) Artic Monkeys, these guys are far better than you think. Listen to this,

We also get, Primal Scream, The Libertines, Amy Winehouse (it is a good album even if she is a mess) , Dizzee Rascal

Then on the American side you have, The White Stripes, Queens of the Stone Age, Foo Fighters, Outkast, The Shins, Interpol, The Bravery, My Chemical Romance, (yes i am a fan)

The list does go on almost endlessly, but which is better? it is hard to argue against either on this front. We have had an overwhelming run of American music in the last 15 years. Everyone wants to be African American and sing what is now called RnB. I thought honestly that RnB was Roberta Flack, not Rhianna. Still what do i know?

I know that giving it a tie is a cop out. But i honestly think that neither is a clear winner here. Which rather annoying makes it 2.5 all. So maybe my mate was wrong.

As a footnote, i wish to apologise for all of the brilliant music I have left out. But there is only so much I can put into a post. Also to those bands who changed our lives and didn't come from either place. Well done, we love you even more just for that!!