Why are the English so good at music-making?
- Thread starter Nani Nana
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France and Sweden have especially good music industries but in general I think that in the UK people tend to take a greater interest in music and maybe are a little more open minded towards new sounds.
For instance Britain is mainly known abroad for it's Brit-rock stuff, and guitar music in general. But you've also got sub genres like Garage, Drum and Bass, Dubstep on the go.
The English language is a definite help, but maybe tastes are just different in places like Germany. There is definitely some sort of dance music love going on which doesn't translate as popularly to English speaking countries.
For instance Britain is mainly known abroad for it's Brit-rock stuff, and guitar music in general. But you've also got sub genres like Garage, Drum and Bass, Dubstep on the go.
The English language is a definite help, but maybe tastes are just different in places like Germany. There is definitely some sort of dance music love going on which doesn't translate as popularly to English speaking countries.
Of the trio, only Hendrix himself was American. Noel Redding and Mitch Mitchell were English.
???
Oh and I can't agree with the last part of the sentence, just have a look at the taste on this (mainly British) forum, it's very middle of the road. And there are plenty of examples of new sounds emerging from countries similar to Sweden, such as the Norwegian black metal, and noise music, and all the weird stuff from Finland. (Pillory?) I would guess that a lot of the avant garde music of today is coming from Japan. And Germany has been important to the development of industrial, neofolk and krautrock (obviously). Of course the latter countries aren't generally comparable to Sweden, but they are similar in that they aren't UK. In short, I do not believe that people in the UK take a greater interest in music or are more open minded. And if they were, I would suggest that new things are usually more likely to occur in countries with larger populations partly because there will be a much bigger potential for subcultures to emanate.
T. Rex 86th?
And PJ Harvey not included. Well done.
I'd have to point out that the best music being made by talented young British musicians is electronic and not commercially wide spread. If you base modern music on day time play lists you'll only ever get the dross.
I'm gonna say because Radiohead were better.
I'm going to have to disagree with that. Elgar and Vaughan-Williams are up there with some of the greatest classical composers of all time. Not to mention Arnold, Britten, Delius, Holst, Tallis, Byrd... We have a great history of classical composers, it's only really Germany and Russia who put us to shame. But then they put every country to shame, especially Germany whose record of classical composers is, frankly, ridiculous. Mozart, Bach, Brahms, Wagner, Beethoven, Schumann...it's just greedy is what it is.
I feel this is tantamount to spam, I really do
Good points. And whereas Britain could be seen to have not so much invented Metal and Punk but at least first put the genre's on the map, it was largely American bands in the shape of Metallica and Neurosis for the former and Black Flag and the Dead Kennedys for the latter that perfected them.
A good point, well made.
i keep asking myself this question
maybe if i bump this thread some new people will come in and provide their own gloss on this issue
maybe if i bump this thread some new people will come in and provide their own gloss on this issue
Because Pink Floyd are English and they trump all.
indeed but its telling that for example it was Englands/UK picking up on some of these things like hendrix, ska, rocksteady and reggae that introduced them to the rest of the world.