Why is it (music question)

[julius]

Why is it that the UK seems to produce so many world famous rock-stars? Disproportionate from it's population? 4 of the top 7 all time selling artists are British/UK.

Look at their roll call:

The Beatles
Pink Floyd
The Who
The Rolling Stones
Elton John
Eric Clapton
Queen (yes, Freddie Mercury wasn't born in the UK)
Duran Duran
Fleetwood Mac
Van Morrison
Led Zeppelin
Sex Pistols
The Kinks
The Clash
U2

And I'm sure others. It just seems funny to me (not like conspiracy funny, but "I wonder why that is the case" funny).

I wonder if there are other speaking albums that are comparable to some of the Beatles albums or Pink Floyds.

 

[GriLtCheeZ]

They adopted black American music before the "real Americans" did, so they had a head start.

 

[3RA1N1AC]

They speak english

 

[julius]

They speak english

I think there is more truth in that than people think.

For example (totally forgot about Phil Collins and Genesis). Phil Collins speaking vs Phil Collins singing.

It's funny how often singers can sing in "perfect English", but talk with thick (read: non American) accents.

 

[3RA1N1AC]

All of the pop stars now are Canadian...go figure...maybe its the allure of the mysterious foreigner

 

[julius]

All of the pop stars now are Canadian...go figure...maybe its the allure of the mysterious foreigner

I think that also plays a role (btw, when did you stop being the weird/creepy poster?)

like in Britain, the Beatles were popular, but they weren't nearly as popular as they were here.

 

[3RA1N1AC]

I think that also plays a role (btw, when did you stop being the weird/creepy poster?)

like in Britain, the Beatles were popular, but they weren't nearly as popular as they were here.

I've always been the same poster, as far as I know maybe our cycles synced up so you are feeling critical when I am feeling drunk

 

[3RA1N1AC]

I think there might be something to the marketing as well...by the time they hit the us market, they already have a following, but the record labels can kinda start from scratch with their image/ marketing as far as perception goes. And they might already have a decent catalog of material that is new to the states, whereas maybe they had multiple albums in their home country already

 

[MARIS61]

All British bands cite a heavy American influence, few break any new ground, and only a couple dozen ever made the big time. Currently their music scene is dying of atrophy. America has provided hundreds of groundbreaking rock bands and continues to do so. Britain will continue to follow our lead.

 

[3RA1N1AC]

Weak analysis as usual

 

[MARIS61]

If I had 4 hours to type band names I'd prove you wrong.

 

[julius]

If I had 4 hours to type band names I'd prove you wrong.

4 hours? are you on dialup or something? Took me 2 minutes to come up with my list.

 

[MARIS61]

4 hours? are you on dialup or something? Took me 2 minutes to come up with my list.

Kinda proves my point.

 

[TradeNurkicNow]

Mumford and Sons
Alt-J
Dan le Sac vs Scroobius Pip

 

[VanillaGorilla]

All British bands cite a heavy American influence, few break any new ground, and only a couple dozen ever made the big time. Currently their music scene is dying of atrophy. America has provided hundreds of groundbreaking rock bands and continues to do so. Britain will continue to follow our lead.

Such a tired act..

Sent from my banana using Tapatalk 4

 

[3RA1N1AC]

If only I had 4 hours to type American band names, then I'd be soooo right about something

 

[MARIS61]

3 of the top 4 are US artists.

Roughly 90% of the top 500 are US artists.

#1, The Beatles, have always said Elvis Presley was their biggest influence.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_music_artists

Scroll down.

 

[MARIS61]

Expand your musical tastes a tad, and the Brits fade away considerably.

http://riaa.com/goldandplatinum.php?content_selector=top-selling-artists

British musicians idolatry of American blues and rock artists, combined with cute haircuts and clever marketing aimed towards 13 year-old American girls, skyrocketed The Beatles and The Rolling Stones to stardom.

The same formula, but marketed towards teenage American boys who wanted to be guitar heroes, worked well for Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd.

Don't get me wrong, these are most definitely 4 of my favorite bands, and excellent musicians, but you'd never have heard of them without the mega-mass-marketing that brought them into your homes. There are thousands of more talented musicians than any of them that you will never hear of because they are not marketed.

 

[BLAZER PROPHET]

Maybe England is more receptive for clubs... where bands then could get started back then.

 

[MARIS61]

Maybe England is more receptive for clubs... where bands then could get started back then.

The Beatles had to go to Germany to be discovered.

 

[MARIS61]

Canada also had some biggies.

Canadian Music Hall of Fame Inductees

1978 - Guy Lombardo, Oscar Peterson
1979 - Hank Snow
1980 - Paul Anka
1981 - Joni Mitchell
1982 - Neil Young
1983 - Glenn Gould
1984 - The Crewcuts, The Diamonds, The Four Lads
1985 - Wilf Carter
1986 - Gordon Lightfoot
1987 - The Guess Who
1989 - The Band
1990 - Maureen Forrester
1991 - Leonard Cohen
1992 - Ian and Sylvia
1993 - Anne Murray
1994 - Rush
1995 - Buffy Sainte-Marie
1996 - David Clayton-Thomas, Denny Doherty, John Kay, Domenic Troiano, Zal Yanovsky
1997 - Gil Evans, Lenny Breau, Maynard Ferguson, Moe Koffman, Rob McConnell
1998 - David Foster
1999 - Luc Plamondon
2000 - Bruce Fairbairn
2001 - Bruce Cockburn
2002 - Daniel Lanois
2003 - Tom Cochrane
2004 - Bob Ezrin
2005 - The Tragically Hip
2006 - Bryan Adams
2007 - Bob Rock
2008 - Triumph
2009 - Loverboy
2010 - April Wine
2011 - Shania Twain
2012 - Blue Rodeo
2013 - k.d. lang

 

[3RA1N1AC]

 

[BLAZER PROPHET]

The Beatles had to go to Germany to be discovered.

OK, fair enough. Maybe England & Europe at that time...

 

[BlazerCaravan]

The Beatles had to do speed to be discovered.

Also...

 

[DaLincolnJones]

They adopted black American music before the "real Americans" did, so they had a head start.

look at the history of rock music and this proves to be true.

 

[jlprk]

It's because Americans walk around with war and meanness on their minds, while British prance around humming with a lilt in their step.

 

[chris_in_pdx]

COME ON MAN.... FUNK DAT!