Why do the Brits out rock us?

[stevezapp]

while were brushing our teeth they're play'n their guitars.

 

That's a common misconception.

 

We look after our remaining teeth.

[Rocky4]

I think the best band ever is The Clash' date=' and they are from Britain but grunge bands like Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, Nirvana is really good so i think America can make some good tunes too.

:-) (the smilies on this site sucks)[/quote']

 

I never understood the hoopla with The Clash. I can't stand anything they did. Just my opinion

[The Mick]

 

I never understood the hoopla with The Clash. I can't stand anything they did. Just my opinion

 

Than you sir are my Nemesis. ;)

[The Mick]

 

That's a common misconception.

 

We look after our remaining teeth.

;) same here.

[Homz]

This will piss you off.

 

 

The Sex Pistols suck. How this group of morons got into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame is beyond me. They suck so bad it sounds like they are playing their guitars with chain saws. Suck, suck, suck, suck. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[The Mick]

I like the Pistols but I'm under no illusion that they are a good band. However they had a huge impact for a band with one studio album.

[80LPC]

We almost lost one of our Brit rockers to germ research : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0tAOIQiz-8&feature=related

[Rocky4]

 

Than you sir are my Nemesis.

 

 

Yeah, well, you really let me down the other night when I was getting double teamed by gutarest and droge1 in Kurt Cobain forum. I needed a little support.

[Homz]

It is my opinion that Jimmy Page was the key to the whole post Beatles UK invasion. Page played on nearly every studio album from about 65 through 70. He and J.P. Jones were prolific. I simply think the British invasion other then the Stones and the Beatles might not have happened at all without Page. There is of coarse others to commend also, but Page was the key.

[The Mick]

I'm wishy washy on the Cobain thing

[The Mick]

 

 

Yeah' date=' well, you really let me down the other night when I was getting double teamed by gutarest and droge1 in Kurt Cobain forum. I needed a little support.[/quote']

I'm wishy washy on the Cobain thing

[milod]

Actually...

 

To say the Brits out-rock Americans is pretty much subjective and a value judgment.

 

Here's the deal I noticed immediately with the Beatles, for example, and that's the old "music hall" thing that stayed alive rather longer in the UK than in the US. That probably kept some older concepts of harmony going.

 

Americans "rocked" more than anybody else in the world up into the 1950s. Whether you're talking Artie Shaw or Count Basie, Miller or ... you name 'em.

 

Then in the '60s we had a lotta kids "discovering" different types of music. That goes for the US and the UK especially since we are separated by a common language.

 

American "rock" was actually closer to blues traditions than what was coming out of the UK in a lot of ways, but marketing got involved.

 

Hell, why isn't BB "THE" rocker? Because he wasn't a cute young white kid with a fluffy hairdo and a cute accent.

 

Nothing at all against a lot of excellent Brit musicians - many of whom seem to find the US a better place and marketplace to live when they have enough cash to make the switch.

 

But let's face it, the 60s was a time of looking for "white" musicians who played "black." At least kinda-sorta.

 

I was there. You played "real" blues, and forget it. Too "Black."

 

Play a "music hall" affectation of blues with a funny accent and you made money. There was one point in time when a band I was playing with actually talked about faking Brit accents and how it'd increase bookings.

 

Heck, guys like Welshman Tom Jones simply played "Elvis" and previous American singers. Listen to some old Duprees. Listen to Elvis' guitarist. There was plenty of "real" stuff going on. But the Americans of that era were doing more "real" jazz and blues, or folkie small-venue music, and the marketers saw an opportunity to push a new post-war "sound."

 

Artists and styles like Django and Edith Piaf were too complex. What could we find that was pretty plain, that high school kids could copy as easily or more easily than Chuck Berry?

 

Me, I was never an Elvis fan. Preferred John Lee Hooker and Harry James and Duke Ellington and any Chicago blues where white and black were working together constantly increasing the power, or something with fatter chords - or British folk ballads or bluegrass.

 

Marketing. It's all marketing. Magic Slim is as good a blues electric player as anybody. But not as pretty as John and Paul and Ringo and George. Or as "cute" as the "Animals."

 

Sorry. I think Clapton's great and I'm in awe of a lot of the younger pickers' speed capabilities. But I'll take BB if I only have one guy to listen to. Or Albert King or a dozen others.

 

The Brits were talented white young pickers and singers and "fit" a marketing paradigm that was well considered for the time and place - and that left a large body of work for you younger folks to listen to.

 

Roy Buchanan is white and didn't fit the marketing pattern. BB is black and didn't, nor did a lot of American pickers and singers both black and white who didn't "catch" and have the time and money to develop.

 

Hell, I think Clapton is a far better guitar picker at 60 than he was at 25. More versatile, too. But don't tell me the cash didn't help, and that came from marketing. But without his "background" as a highly-marketed "Brit Rocker," do you really think he could get by with "Down and Out" acoustic style? Not....