I dunno if there is an actual answer to this....but one or two of yer might find it as puzzling as me.... My fave music genre is good ol' fashinoned guitar-based rock and it's always been a facination to me that the UK has consistently produced a huge amount of excellent rock bands.....especially facinating when you consider the roots of rock hail back to those deep south american bluesmen, who's culture was a million miles away from here in good ol' blighty I'm not knocking music from other countries, gods know i enjoy bands from all over the world, but it can't be denied that when it comes to rock, the brits do it as good, if not better, than anyone........and given our relatively small size and traditional "stiff upper lip" attitude I find it surprising..... So why us? What was it about rock that tickled the brits fancy so much? And why.....do we do it so well?
yunno what i totally agree... if you look at the BEST bands ever, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, King Crimson, Radiohead, Muse, etc... they're all british... (ok maybe i'm slightly biased about some of them) but i get your point and agree with it Jaz
The UK does produce excellent bands.... but in my humble opinion south africa produces truly amazing original music.... better then uk music but hey
i seem to remember the Rolling Stones/The Who/Led Zep and a few others saying they were directly influenced by the delta Bluesmen in the US....which makes it even more intrigueing.....how that music took off so well here
Thats what i was getting at, i would of hoped it was a bit obvious.. but Paul never took the bait hehehehe [darn you Paul].. I think Uk groups take influences from all over the world and amalgamate them the best. 'We' borrowed influences [with the deepest respect] and created something the world has never seen.. Just like we are deemed to make the best TV..
chillin matty lad ............ thought bait was meant for fish . ah another great group springs to mind ..................marrilion
I'm trying to think of some modern UK rock bands who mention the delta blues musicians as big influences, but can't think of any. I'm out of touch Add Eric Clapton, Chris Rea and Keith Richards to the list, though.
Having lived in the US for most of my life and then over here the last several years, I have some theories on this. The first is simply population; England is, compared to the US at least, very densely populated. Most things are generally more crowded; the competition for jobs is greater overall, and in the music industry it's the same. To rise above other bands, you truly have to be something; I've seen bands just starting out in London that would kill most of the bands back in my hometown (Dallas), and probably because if they want to get somewhere here, they have to work very hard to get it. The second sort of coincides with the first, in that there is an insatiable thirst for music in this country. You can see it in all the festivals, and all the great live music venues here. There seems to be a constant drive to here something new and different , and I think that drives the local musicians. Bands that are different tend to break in the UK first, sometimes years before going back to the US (See Jimi Hendrix). Obviously, the US produces some good, and great, bands. Mostly from the big cities but not always so; I just think that it's the combination of the music-hungry audience and the musician who is keen to make it, and not dream too much about the so-called "rocknroll lifestyle", but instead work on their craft. just a thought...
Oh, on points that trombonebleu brought up...rock 'n' roll was all post-war. After the war, most of the people who had lived through it all just wanted to settle down and live a quiet life, which was then rebelled against by te younger lot. Um, Richard Thompson talks about it in the BBC documentary Solitary Life. I'll have to see if I can find my copy and get the exact quote...but basically, all the kids heard this exciting new music and shat themselves with joy. Then some kids got into the music before that (first-gen blues players like Robert Johnson), and it all went a bit "wheeeey".
