The Logic Off Topic list

Can I drop some thoughts in on this as a Brit?

1) I think one of the most important factors in British popular music is
that it is now a pretty pisspoor place for gigging musicians, as many
start-out local venues have closed the doors to gigs because of management
apathy or our dippy music performance licensing rules. Other venues simply
don't pay well, so that gigging seems like a heck of a lot of work for
little reward. This means that bands can form, with lots of good ideas, but
that they simply don't get the chance to polish their act, to gell together
as a unit, before thinking about recording and making it big. I'm well aware
that being a muso isn't a passport to worldly success in the States, but you
are a big enough country with enough venues of varying sizes to give a band
willing to put the effort into some travelling at least some chance of
reward. This means in the UK that acts with media savvy, flamboyance or on a
'wave of the moment' are far more likely to stay together and make a degree
of success, irrespective of basic talent or current skill levels; US bands
can have success while being, perhaps, more substantial, more craftsman-like
and with less glitz.

2) on the other hand, we don't suffer from the level of music radio station
formatting which is prevalent in the US, so that you can listen to our
national popular music station and still hear quite a range of stuff, though
it could always be improved. This means that musos in the UK wherever they
are have a broad range of influences, which makes for some interesting
musics.

3) UK cities are generally much more mixed in terms of neighbourhoods and
particularly in the education system, so that urban youth here mix in a
much more cosmopolitan way - this gives an even broader blend of influences.
Unfortunately, because of the issues I raised in point 1 above, most kids
getting into music don't see gigging as a practical way of developing their
ideas: they'd rather be a DJ or buy a computer setup for purely practical
reasons. The talent is out there, for sure - I've seen it in students I've
taught in recent years - but generations of live talent are being wasted.

As for all this stuff about the British class system, that sounds like yet
another item from the treasured cliche collection, along with Dick van
Dyke's 'cockney' accent in Mary Poppins and this bizzare idea that a lot of
Americans have that London has regular heavy fogs (they were serious smogs
resulting from the use of coal fires and died out in the late 50s/early 60s
after the introduction of clean air legislation) Every country has a class
system. - the British system is simply more visible and codified than most
and is in any case shifting all the time. I will be extremely pleased when
we ditched the royal family, which I reckon may happen in the next 10 years,
but what will all those US tourists do (Moms and Pops from the Midwest?
There's a nice cliche) who come over here to stand at the gates of
Buckingham palace to gawp at the guards in their fancy uniforms? They're
keeping it all going with those useful dollars in foreign exchange.

Most British musos come from white collar backgrounds as the industrial
workign class is shrinking in any case. A surprising number are from quite
posh backgrounds (and I'm not just talking about Genesis who formed at one
of the top public schools) and if thisa isn't mentioned perhaps it simly
isn't seen as important by them or anyone else here.

End of rant!

Tony Thompson