Which country has bragging rights to the best bands of all time? In my teens and early 20’s it would have been England, hands down. Now, well, I personally think that the good old U S of A has the advantage.
England owned the 60’s, I think. Beatles, Kinks, Stones, Who, Zombies, The Pretty Things, The Animals, Spencer Davis Group, Yardbirds, Pink Floyd and, er, Donovan. Hard to beat, but then again the States had The Doors, Hendrix, The Band, Dylan, The Dead, The Beach Boys, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Santana, The Byrds, Zappa, Velvet Underground, Big Brother, and all that great Motown stuff. Oh yes, and the Monkees. I think I’m still gonna give it to England.
The 70’s are too close to call, with both countries developing excellent singers/ songwriters and some great bands. I have to call the “ME” decade a tie!
The 80’s? Probably the English.
The 90’s? Probably America.
The 00’s? Anyone’s guess.
Of course I like bands that come from all over the globe, but the absolute majority of great bands came and continue to come from America and England, I don’t even think that’s debatable.
What do you think? Have a favorite team? Think I’m not giving a fair shake to Canada, who surely dominates the alternative landscape of the new millennium? What about Sweden, Germany, Australia (some GREAT bands over there!) or Mexico?
How about the country that consistently produces the worst bands? I know what my pick would be...
3 hours ago
3 comments:
I've got to agree with your choices for 60s - 90s, but I'll have to recuse myself stating anything for the 00s... I honestly don't pay much attention to personal details of new artists very much, anymore.
Ah hell, I'll throw my vote behind the US, just 'cause of Bonnie "Prince" Billie!
If you're just looking at new bands that debuted in the past couple of years, I'd have to say it's hard to beat the UK right now -- they've got the Arctic Monkeys, Kaiser Chiefs, the Fratellis, Franz Ferdinand, the Kooks, the Wombats, the Courteeners, just to name a few that are turning out incredibly solid, clever, melodic, lively rock music. The US is too fractured a music market, and too dominated by hip-hop and rap, for new American bands to get any traction.
I agree on the hip hop and rap, Holly. Rap's artistic future died when Public Enemy broke up.
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