Re: [L-OT] British bands
2001-10-30 by John Matthews
[observations from the colonies] eh?? what are you on? The bands I mentioned were all from the 1960's, unfortunately, mediocrity seems to be the rule of the day today. The best songs (guitar bands etc) we hear on British radio at the moment mostly seem to come from the US. > Somehow, the UK has allowed all-in-sundry to access markets not any more they dont- the bean counters have taken hold of the music biz here as well. The 1990's were excellent for music here- largely due to the indie bands from relatively small independent labels, which have sadly been swallowed up by the major record companies, corporate blandness results. It took the Beatles and the Stones to make the US realise what they had got as far as culture, as Britain did not have the same the same attitude in the 1960's to black music as a lot of Americans did in the 1960's. To Britons, good music is good music regardless of the colour of the musicians skin, that is why, I think, Hendrix was more easily accepted in the UK than the US. oh dear, am I opening a can of worms here??? ----- Original Message -----
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From: David Eager <oink@...> To: <logic-ot@yahoogroups.com> Sent: 30 October 2001 05:11 Subject: Re: [L-OT] British bands [observations from the colonies] > > > John Matthews wrote: > > > I think its because we ( in the UK, I am speaking as an Englishman on > > this) > > have one foot in the US and the other in Europe, plus Britain's > > colonial > > past puts British bands and musicians in a unique position to be able > > to > > absorb more varied culture and create more original music from these > > influences (look at the mixed influences of the Beatles, Stones, and > > Led > > Zeppelin for example). > > > > I'm not so sure the UK has a mortgage on creativity, it's just that > marketing, distribution and , most importantly, music consumers there > make it much easier for creative artists to breach the barricades of > mediocrity. Historically US markets and media have been dictated to by > corporations who choose the music which will have a place in the sun. > Somehow, the UK has allowed all-in-sundry to access markets, and, > consequently, if successful there, produce enough sales for the US > corporations to 'adopt' them and introduce them to the american market. > Just look at blues and soul music in the 60's. Imported from the US > underground and re-exported back to the US mainstream. > And individual artists like Hendrix, Talking Heads etc, who had to go > with British labels to make their way to market. I'm sure there are many > more examples that can be added to the list. > > In other words there is more pressure on american artists to conform, > even if they have genius hidden away in their road cases somewhere. > Because they know they have to fit the template to eat. > > [the preference of the british music press for artists who are more from > leftfield is probably is a big factor too] > > > Dave Eager > > > > > > Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ > > >