Brits Vs Yanks
 

Here is the ultimate music battle-since the beginning of time, which continent has made the best music-the Brits or the Yanks? Argue now...

I think the Americans do 'roots' music better such as blues , soul , country ... that sort of thing.

I think Britian does experimentation & pop better

I personally think the Brits do music better, and it's not just because I am British. I agree with Urban, the British are much more open to experiment, and this is where we win. The Yanks are to formulaic. For me the Brits win, hands down.

I agree the Brits are far more creative than the Americans on the whole.
But I would, I'm British.

Agree with Urban on the 'roots' issue. Anything by anyone else just doesn't sound authentic.

Urbans put it in a nutshell.

Interesting to see the slant the Colonials take on this.

croatia wins hands down....


























































:(

I would say that British music is better, but American music is more important for us to hear. British music seems to have a lack of bands discussing important issues, while America has the opposite-to many bands discussing important issues.

The Germans, obviously. Where would we be had it not been for Kraut Rock? Eh?

I'd agree with that one, or at least I'd say in Britain the bands that discuss important issues are mostly the unsigned ones who can't play the music properly.

I'd say that British and American bands both have a lot of qualities that the other group could learn from. To my mind the average standard of songwriting (meaning inclusion of good tune, harmonies, catchy rhythms) is better in the UK, but the level of performance - particularly singing - is much better in the US. There are too many British bands that I've seen perform live where the lead singer can't even sing his own tunes.

I would say British people would find British songwriting better. It relates to us more. You could give any American an Arctic Monkeys CD and they wouldn't have a clue what they're talking about. The standard of singing in the US is much better, but I do love Brits that have that British feel if you know what I mean. As if they have just come back from the pub. Not classy, but real cool.

I guess you're right about the songwriting. When I say about the musicianship its mainly the live performances that you see a big difference. The normal British style of singing works much better recorded than live, in my opinion. I suppose the difference is that Brits learn to sing in the pub or at football matches, Americans learn by singing the national anthem at school!

(Waits to be crucified).

Haha, yeah I agree with you there. Most live performances from Brits are badly sung but I actually like it that way for some reason. It gives the songs a real gritty edge. Take Oasis for example, when they perform live Liam can't sing at all but for some reason it still sounds brilliant. Same with Razorlight. Awful singing when live, but gritty and IMO great.

can anyone name an american solo artist that has made it big over here recently?

Or if you are american, can you name any british solo artists you've had big over there.

I can only think of Curtis 'Fitty Cent' Jackson over here. having said that he's hardly solo, hes always with that recluse "THE GAAAAAME-AH", Eminem And Dr.when-the-****-am-i-gunna-retire Dre. But i don't consider rap music, so it doesnt count.

I am going to have to say the Brits are better when it comes to overall music.
Here in the US we have our fair share af great musicians, but when you look at the bands that have made an overwhelming contribution to music, they are...Brits.

The Beatles
Radiohead
The Stones

Bands I like have a tendency to come from Europe too.

Belle and Sebastian
Shout Out Louds
Portishead
Radiohead

North America does have some of my favorite musicians too though

Elliott Smith
Bright Eyes
Neutral Milk Hotel (FROM GA WOOT! WOOT!) =)
Cat Power
EITS
GYBE!

I am going to retract my statements and say that we are equal.
North America produces brilliant singer/songwriters, post rock.

I am not able to come to a solid conclusions. :(

BTW. Great thread idea, one of your only good threads hobo....

the fact that im british means even if i have any individual opinion on this it'll be drowned and forced into the back of my head behin a patriotic craving for the ability to say "haha my countrys better than yours in any way possible"
so al i can do is try to back it up here...and sound as far from a c.u.n.t as i possibly can...so here we go.

the stereophonics -are nothing to be proud of!
the sex pistols - i hate them but they did some things right and god forbid probably influenced something.
manic street preachers - great band
the beatles - big pile of awesomeness.
iron maiden - epic!
funeral for a friend - naff but were voted best band in the world in kerrang a little while back and same with lost prophets.
erm...thats all that springs to mind, god i hope some sort of great point that i could make comes to my head in the next couple of hours, but for the moment i'll have to leave it at that.

i think thats bollocks personally. the british punk movement of the 70's was very important to hear as it provided a commentary on the social implications of the time. and since when has american music been all about addressing important issues? the "roots" music fair enough, but british folk does/did the same thing. in fact, id go as far to say if either industry is more important to listen to, its the british.

love the way most of the bands you've mentioned there are welsh, and im sorry but they arent particulary colossal bands on the grand scale of things with exception to the pistols, beatles and maiden.

Times are a changing people... who knows, maybe tomorrow Mr Sensitive will make an intelligent post and madeinNY will take her head out of sabrinas arse!

hehe i was hoping someone would notice that first part:D, i know not collossal, but im not thinking grand influential bands like maiden. i was just listing whatever bands came to my head, they all count for something.

One can only hope

i still say it's croatia....

Bob Dylan
Jimi
Robert Johnson
Tom Waits
(if we count Canada as america) Neil Young
Talking Heads
Johnny Cash
Metallica
Dead Kennedys
PJ Harvey
The White Stripes
Queens of the Stone Age

This was just a listing, I think we do a pretty decent job

this thread is biased against croatia...i am vexed..

I prefer american personally. Pretty much all my favorite bands are from here, with the exception of like a few (Damned, Million Dead etc..). I really don't think either is better, cause I mean croatian music pwnz them all, hands down.

Pssh werd. Beat fleet all the way...

Urban, Adidasss..................one word.......................SEVERINA!!!! :love:

PJ Harvey is from England

I like bands from both countries, and I've seen bands from both countries live. Don't know what it is, British music just seems to be a bit better to watch being performed. Bands like The Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster and Winnebago Deal are just so entertaining without trying to be. There's nothing pre-thought out or anything, just raw and a damn good gig.

Plus, The Smiths are british. The Smiths win.

I was listening to Squeeze's Singles 45s and Under last night, so

Britain wins!

Wait...but then I listened to The Pixies' Doolittle, so

America wins!

In my opinion, it's a draw. I don't even know or care who comes from where. As long as its got a good beat and you can dance to it, I'm there.

i think we are equal!

Yeah I forgot PJ was a puddle jumper. Anyway, this argument is usually stupid but since the whole first pages was Brits slagging statesmen and one atlantian defector, I figured I'd throw out what we're good for.

America turns out alot of bands in a short period, its sort of like birth, you release a million bands, one has to get pregnant off success.

and to you arrogant folk who said "well we have these guys, so we win" let me just say

Radiohead
The Smiths

America Wins.

David Bryne is from Scotland ;)

Talkingheads aren't.

David Byrne is Talking Heads. ;)

Well, I'm from a different era, so my comment are kept to what I know about. It was mentioned earlier that Yanks wrote about the issues more than the Brits. Well, going back to the time of the British Invasion (yes, that deserves to be capitalized), Yanks were in the midst of Vietnam, so, in all fairness to the Brits, the Yanks had a lot more social issues to write about.

So, anyway, doing a short list of what I listened to in my teens:



Brits:

Queen
Zep
The Who

Yanks:

Aerosmith
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Ted Nugent


Hmmm.....sounds to me like I win.

Yanks:

Dead Kennedys
Ramones
The Germs
Robert Johnson
Son House
SRV

Brits:
Sex Pistols
UK Subs
and wait, the Brits have no accomplished bluesmen
but they do have Super Furry Animals

ahem norway but yes britain just for jethro tull

As I have said before, to me British music is much more relevant to me personally while American music is probably much more relevant to people from America. I'm not saying I prefer British music just because it's British, but in my record collection there's twice as many British artists as there are American artists.

I think that the British are best at making music too, partly because I'm English.

But why aren't all the Americans supporting their own music??
Even they probably already know that it's crap..........

(I'm only kidding!!) :laughing:

So here's a few artists (in no particular order of quality or success), that should support the theory that the Brits make fantastic music.

1. Prodigy
2. Pink Floyd
3. The Cars
4. Bruce Hornsby & The Range
5. Chris Rea
6. Franz Ferdinand

That'll be all for now.....

Franz Ferdinand? FRANZ FERDINAND? You have added Franz Ferdinand to that list yet dismissed all of the other, much, MUCH better musicians out there? Are you clinically insane?