Originally Posted by Comus

A good local scene always manages to spread and influence the entire country, and if the scene is good, there will be enough variation to make every band stand out and be great. Look at the Canterbury style bands in the 70's. Soon enough it became a "sound" more than a scene, and such a massive amount of albums came from it. Same with the Black Metal scene in Norway once the influences of Bathory started spreading. Most of the bands there came from the same areas. Although let's not forget that Norway is around four and a half million people, so roughly the size of a metropolitan city in the US in regards to population.

If there was say a massive blues or jazz influenced scene in a large city or area in the US or the UK it could mean massive things for music. The style gets popular, is varied and spreads and eventually creates new and more experimental things, with luck anyways.

Also at the moment I like me a few American bands that are still active but about the same amount of British bands. However that number combined is dwarfed by artists from Scandinavia alone.