Wasn't around in the 80s and when I listen to it it all sounds dated to me. Don't get david Bowie nor Queen, in fact, especially Queen. A lot of their songs, in particular Bohemian Rhapsody, sound disjointed and lacking rhythm to me. But I just don't like old music, it may be a generation thing. having said that, there are obviously exceptions - mainly the American artists I mentioned. Maybe I should give them more of a chance. Freddie had pitchy vocals though, the music was better than the singing.
As for Michael Jackson and his influence on music videos, it don't even think Thriller is his best video, Billie Jean tops the list for me! Of course there were people before and after him, but he did have an influence on music videos.
Actually these days I would say it's a lot harder to stay at the top of the game for artists, due to the diversity of music and sheer number of artists around. They're always fighting to remain relevant.
Personally I find the Stones' comeback music absolutely embarrassing. Somebody should tell them 1991 was 25 years ago.
Do you mean the Stone Roses, or 'the Roses' as they are affectionately known? If so even fan reaction on their comeback song was mixed, but seeing it live it was almost unanimously declared as making sense. It was an arrow shot of intent. Beautiful Thing is very much an Ian Brown solo vocal (he's had years of massive success alone, going back to 1998) but this time backed by the best guitarist and rhythm section in the world right now, and all playing aiong together no-one can match them.
I don't think coming back and trying to ape sell outs like Coldplay with a Beyonce duet would have worked somehow lol, that's what made them special in the first place. Proper band, proper attitude, proper music.
There is good and bad in everything, I would say current mainstream UK music on the whole isn't very good but there is talent underground. We've reached an age where we have to be more pro-active about searching for outstanding music
I hope you are joking, because was an absolute pioneer in terms of music videos when MTV launched
Do you mean the Stone Roses, or 'the Roses' as they are affectionately known? If so even fan reaction on their comeback song was mixed, but seeing it live it was almost unanimously declared as making sense. It was an arrow shot of intent. Beautiful Thing is very much an Ian Brown solo vocal (he's had years of massive success alone, going back to 1998) but this time backed by the best guitarist and rhythm section in the world right now, and all playing aiong together no-one can match them.
I don't think coming back and trying to ape sell outs like Coldplay with a Beyonce duet would have worked somehow lol, that's what made them special in the first place. Proper band, proper attitude, proper music.
What you say may or may not be true, but none of the artists in the OP's post - Lana Del Rey, Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez, Fifth Harmony, Ariana Grande, Britney Spears, Iggy Azalea fit that bill either.
There are plenty of really good British bands and artists around. They may not be hugely succesful in the way that The Beatles, Zeppelin and the Stones were, but that's more because of the current obsession with bland corporate pop music and visual effects over content than any failing in the music itself.
Great post. You are right, there ARE still some great British bands around and while they might not fill Wembley Stadium they do regularly sell out the arenas and other venues such as the 02 group. And all of the following write their own material, play instruments and have vocalists who don't need Autotune:
Magnus
Thunder
King King
FM
No Hot Ashes
Romeo's Daughter
I could go on but that's just the ones I've seen recently.
I guess, looking back at this thread, that the real issue is that the UK is worse at doing pop music than the rest of the world. When people argue that the UK does still have decent UK music, they come up with Indie bands, in fact all the old bands/singers mentioned also tend to be rock rather than pop.
I guess, looking back at this thread, that the real issue is that the UK is worse at doing pop music than the rest of the world. When people argue that the UK does still have decent UK music, they come up with Indie bands, in fact all the old bands/singers mentioned also tend to be rock rather than pop.
So maybe it's just the UK isn't very good at pop.
i have no idea how you reach that bonkers conclusion.
the uk has lead the world in creating great new pop music from the beatles onward. we might have taken inspiration from america, but we took that and ran with it making many styles our own. our charts over the last 60 years have been the most varied as we embraced so many different styles.
we have influenced or lead nearly every style of popular music in that period (i say nearly because i dont think we did much for hip hop/rap that sort of style).
the only caveat id put on this is that currently we appear to have lost the plot, with the only acts around atm appear to be very generic and/or heavily inspired by older acts - lack of originality.
but apart from that - the uk is/has been the very best place for new, exciting, original, pop music since the beat boom of the early 60's - some may argue even earlier then that.
I guess, looking back at this thread, that the real issue is that the UK is worse at doing pop music than the rest of the world. When people argue that the UK does still have decent UK music, they come up with Indie bands, in fact all the old bands/singers mentioned also tend to be rock rather than pop.
So maybe it's just the UK isn't very good at pop.
what about wham, duran duran and Frankie goes to Hollywood?
I'd agree in regards to take that, spicegirls and wet wet wet though
i have no idea how you reach that bonkers conclusion.
the uk has lead the world in creating great new pop music from the beatles onward. we might have taken inspiration from america, but we took that and ran with it making many styles our own.
I hope you don't take this the wrong way because I enjoy reading your posts and having a debate/discussion but are you sure you're not letting your patriotism affect your objectivity? I mean I love the UK and this thought only entered my head when I actually realised I could only count the UK artists I like on probably one hand, and the sudden realisation that all the acts through time I've appreciated have been 90% consisting of American, Australian and Canadian acts.
Can't argue with the Beatles though Rob, don't mind them.
what about wham, duran duran and Frankie goes to Hollywood?
Personally I find those acts cringeworthy with the exception of Frankie Goes to Hollywood as I don't know anything about them.
Spice Girls most certainly are an embarrassment from our music history, with the possible exception of that masterpiece 'Viva Forever' and Holler, both which mainly are forgotten. Girls Aloud are probably a high point where our girlbands are concerned, Sugababes not far behind. Shame the modern incarnation Sugababes 4.0 didn't last, they had so much potential and that Jade Ewen was an immense vocalist, see 'Thank You for the Heartbreak'.
Last year I heard loads of people talking about Pet Shop Boys, apparently a popular act for a time, well I listened to them and I literally thought they were awful beyond words. I suspected that they were probably British and a quick Google proved me correct.
Take That embarrass me too. I'm glad we've had One Direction, as much as they are ridiculed I think they've been our best export since The Beatles. Zayn as a solo artist is very layered too and extremely talented, I mean he comes across as a huge tw*t but I can't deny his talent, I really like his solo album.
Great post. You are right, there ARE still some great British bands around and while they might not fill Wembley Stadium they do regularly sell out the arenas and other venues such as the 02 group. And all of the following write their own material, play instruments and have vocalists who don't need Autotune:
Magnus
Thunder King King
FM
No Hot Ashes
Romeo's Daughter
I could go on but that's just the ones I've seen recently.
King King are superb live.
In a similar Blues Rock vein you could also add the likes of The Temperance Movement and Tax The Heat.
I hope you don't take this the wrong way because I enjoy reading your posts and having a debate/discussion but are you sure you're not letting your patriotism affect your objectivity? I mean I love the UK and this thought only entered my head when I actually realised I could only count the UK artists I like on probably one hand, and the sudden realisation that all the acts through time I've appreciated have been 90% consisting of American, Australian and Canadian acts.
.
not in the slightest.
no other country has had the variety and styles we have - past generations ran with new ideas and werent afraid to experiment.
you mention pop.... to which i take it as the broad umbrella term for popular music as opposed to 'pure' pop (as in manufactured acts).
now its ok not to like british acts, but just look how many great bands we have given the world after the beatles - the stones, kinks, who, yardbirds, small faces, anomals, dave dee, troggs, tremelos, love affair, t rex, slade sweet, roxy music, queen, glitter, sex pistols, jam, clash, buzzcocks, damned, specials, madness, squeeze, xtc, smiths, duran, spandau, wham, oasis, blur, stereophonics, supergrass, radiohead, to name but a few. you might not like them, but most of these are among the worlds best ever groups. they created new distinctive music , british youth creating music about british youth - and thats whats lacking nowdays.
we created or had a hand in creating genres like merseybeat, freakbeat, british r n b, psychedelia, glam, prog, punk, new wave, two tone ska, electronic music, indie, goth, madchester, rave, britpop, all forms of rock, uk garage, rockabilly, dance (all styles), northern soul, and more and thats ignoring the more twee pop styles and manufactured acts.
nah m8, we are/were world leaders in popular music for most of the last 60 odd years.
ps.... you cannot say the spice girls and take that arent good pop! just because you might not like them, they were hugely successful .
I don't like cringey pop music and I would say they fall under that bracket. STEPS were also hugely successful (yes I like Lisa Scott-Lee) but not STEPS, S club were also successful, and Mr Blobby and Bob the Builder have been Number 1. I can't think of any US counterparts who rival the Spice Girls in the cringe stakes. To think during a similar era, if a little later actually (but not long after), the US gave us Destiny's Child which blow Spice Girls out of the water. Can't think of many other US girlbands off the top of my head.
Take That are like an earlier version of One Direction but with less personality and worse vocals - now they only really appeal to a very narrow market; middle aged women, probably people who have followed them their whole careers. Who knows, maybe I'll be the same if 1D have a comeback in 2030 lol.
None of those bands you mentioned appeal to me, the reason probably being generational and/or taste.
The only genre I have been interested in the UK mainly pioneering is Dubstep but that fell flat on its face pretty much as soon as it took off which is a massive shame. Madness are responsible for the emergence of No Doubt which is one of my all-time favourite bands but even then I'm less of a fan of their ska sound and prefer their reggae/dancehall Jamaican-influced stuff.
I guess, looking back at this thread, that the real issue is that the UK is worse at doing pop music than the rest of the world. When people argue that the UK does still have decent UK music, they come up with Indie bands, in fact all the old bands/singers mentioned also tend to be rock rather than pop.
So maybe it's just the UK isn't very good at pop.
What on earth are you on about?
Adele, Ed Sheeran, One Direction and Coldplay are amongst the biggest and best pop stars on the planet. The 1975 and Little Mix have produced two brilliant pop albums in the last year and Jess Glynne seemed to be everywhere in the same time with a whole string of no. 1 singles. Paolo Nutini, George Ezra, Paloma Faith..... No scene is perfect but British Pop has been at the forefront of pop music for about the last 60 years.
Adele, Ed Sheeran, One Direction and Coldplay are amongst the biggest and best pop stars on the planet. The 1975 and Little Mix have produced two brilliant pop albums in the last year and Jess Glynne seemed to be everywhere in the same time with a whole string of no. 1 singles. Paolo Nutini, George Ezra, Paloma Faith..... No scene is perfect but British Pop has been at the forefront of pop music for about the last 60 years.
I know this is definitely now down to personal taste but all of them can go and do one except 1D and Adele to be honest, Little Mix continue the Spice Girls tradition of cringe, Paulo, George and The 1975 I wouldn't consider as pop music, Paloma is great but not pop either. Ed Sheeran is 23 going on 40 and Coldplay, need I go there?
I don't like cringey pop music and I would say they fall under that bracket. STEPS were also hugely successful (yes I like Lisa Scott-Lee) but not STEPS, S club were also successful, and Mr Blobby and Bob the Builder have been Number 1. I can't think of any US counterparts who rival the Spice Girls in the cringe stakes. To think during a similar era, if a little later actually (but not long after), the US gave us Destiny's Child which blow Spice Girls out of the water. Can't think of many other US girlbands off the top of my head.
Take That are like an earlier version of One Direction but with less personality and worse vocals - now they only really appeal to a very narrow market; middle aged women, probably people who have followed them their whole careers. Who knows, maybe I'll be the same if 1D have a comeback in 2030 lol.
None of those bands you mentioned appeal to me, the reason probably being generational and/or taste.
The only genre I have been interested in the UK mainly pioneering is Dubstep but that fell flat on its face pretty much as soon as it took off which is a massive shame. Madness are responsible for the emergence of No Doubt which is one of my all-time favourite bands but even then I'm less of a fan of their ska sound and prefer their reggae/dancehall Jamaican-influced stuff.
but you cannot say british pop music is bad just because YOU dont like it! which i believe is the gist of this thread.
it doesnt matter whether you like it or not, the uk has been world leading for 60 odd years.
I know this is definitely now down to personal taste but all of them can go and do one except 1D and Adele to be honest, Little Mix continue the Spice Girls tradition of cringe, Paulo, George and The 1975 I wouldn't consider as pop music, Paloma is great but not pop either. Ed Sheeran is 23 going on 40 and Coldplay, need I go there?
bib... as far as im concerned, if they court the commercial singles chart - they are pop.
but you cannot say british pop music is bad just because YOU dont like it! which i believe is the gist of this thread.
it doesnt matter whether you like it or not, the uk has been world leading for 60 odd years.
Ok so if it is down to personal taste then why don't I like UK pop music? I'm not racist against my own country, that would just be stupid haha, but there must be something about the style of the UK's pop music that is very different to American pop music.
bib... as far as im concerned, if they court the commercial singles chart - they are pop.
Fair point.
I do think to a certain extent we will champion our own acts because they are British, over supporting an imported act. Hell I even asked Radio 1 to playlist Jai Waetford and they haven't (probably because of him being Australian, I mean they're pretty much ageist so why not be racist too?)
Comments
What diversity?
I hope you are joking, because was an absolute pioneer in terms of music videos when MTV launched
Do you mean the Stone Roses, or 'the Roses' as they are affectionately known? If so even fan reaction on their comeback song was mixed, but seeing it live it was almost unanimously declared as making sense. It was an arrow shot of intent. Beautiful Thing is very much an Ian Brown solo vocal (he's had years of massive success alone, going back to 1998) but this time backed by the best guitarist and rhythm section in the world right now, and all playing aiong together no-one can match them.
I don't think coming back and trying to ape sell outs like Coldplay with a Beyonce duet would have worked somehow lol, that's what made them special in the first place. Proper band, proper attitude, proper music.
Obviously not appreciated by some!
What a massively patronising twonk you are.
Yeah. I've no idea why The Kinks, The Jam and The Clash are so poor either!
no he wasnt.
music vids were being produced by artists from bo-rhap onwards. he was one of many who were producing music videos.
please feel free to support your opinion with some documented facts and not just fans hyperbole.
Great post. You are right, there ARE still some great British bands around and while they might not fill Wembley Stadium they do regularly sell out the arenas and other venues such as the 02 group. And all of the following write their own material, play instruments and have vocalists who don't need Autotune:
Magnus
Thunder
King King
FM
No Hot Ashes
Romeo's Daughter
I could go on but that's just the ones I've seen recently.
So maybe it's just the UK isn't very good at pop.
i have no idea how you reach that bonkers conclusion.
the uk has lead the world in creating great new pop music from the beatles onward. we might have taken inspiration from america, but we took that and ran with it making many styles our own. our charts over the last 60 years have been the most varied as we embraced so many different styles.
we have influenced or lead nearly every style of popular music in that period (i say nearly because i dont think we did much for hip hop/rap that sort of style).
the only caveat id put on this is that currently we appear to have lost the plot, with the only acts around atm appear to be very generic and/or heavily inspired by older acts - lack of originality.
but apart from that - the uk is/has been the very best place for new, exciting, original, pop music since the beat boom of the early 60's - some may argue even earlier then that.
what about wham, duran duran and Frankie goes to Hollywood?
I'd agree in regards to take that, spicegirls and wet wet wet though
I hope you don't take this the wrong way because I enjoy reading your posts and having a debate/discussion but are you sure you're not letting your patriotism affect your objectivity? I mean I love the UK and this thought only entered my head when I actually realised I could only count the UK artists I like on probably one hand, and the sudden realisation that all the acts through time I've appreciated have been 90% consisting of American, Australian and Canadian acts.
Can't argue with the Beatles though Rob, don't mind them.
Personally I find those acts cringeworthy with the exception of Frankie Goes to Hollywood as I don't know anything about them.
Spice Girls most certainly are an embarrassment from our music history, with the possible exception of that masterpiece 'Viva Forever' and Holler, both which mainly are forgotten. Girls Aloud are probably a high point where our girlbands are concerned, Sugababes not far behind. Shame the modern incarnation Sugababes 4.0 didn't last, they had so much potential and that Jade Ewen was an immense vocalist, see 'Thank You for the Heartbreak'.
Last year I heard loads of people talking about Pet Shop Boys, apparently a popular act for a time, well I listened to them and I literally thought they were awful beyond words.
Take That embarrass me too. I'm glad we've had One Direction, as much as they are ridiculed I think they've been our best export since The Beatles. Zayn as a solo artist is very layered too and extremely talented, I mean he comes across as a huge tw*t but I can't deny his talent, I really like his solo album.
King King are superb live.
In a similar Blues Rock vein you could also add the likes of The Temperance Movement and Tax The Heat.
not in the slightest.
no other country has had the variety and styles we have - past generations ran with new ideas and werent afraid to experiment.
you mention pop.... to which i take it as the broad umbrella term for popular music as opposed to 'pure' pop (as in manufactured acts).
now its ok not to like british acts, but just look how many great bands we have given the world after the beatles - the stones, kinks, who, yardbirds, small faces, anomals, dave dee, troggs, tremelos, love affair, t rex, slade sweet, roxy music, queen, glitter, sex pistols, jam, clash, buzzcocks, damned, specials, madness, squeeze, xtc, smiths, duran, spandau, wham, oasis, blur, stereophonics, supergrass, radiohead, to name but a few. you might not like them, but most of these are among the worlds best ever groups. they created new distinctive music , british youth creating music about british youth - and thats whats lacking nowdays.
we created or had a hand in creating genres like merseybeat, freakbeat, british r n b, psychedelia, glam, prog, punk, new wave, two tone ska, electronic music, indie, goth, madchester, rave, britpop, all forms of rock, uk garage, rockabilly, dance (all styles), northern soul, and more and thats ignoring the more twee pop styles and manufactured acts.
nah m8, we are/were world leaders in popular music for most of the last 60 odd years.
I don't like cringey pop music and I would say they fall under that bracket. STEPS were also hugely successful (yes I like Lisa Scott-Lee) but not STEPS, S club were also successful, and Mr Blobby and Bob the Builder have been Number 1. I can't think of any US counterparts who rival the Spice Girls in the cringe stakes. To think during a similar era, if a little later actually (but not long after), the US gave us Destiny's Child which blow Spice Girls out of the water. Can't think of many other US girlbands off the top of my head.
Take That are like an earlier version of One Direction but with less personality and worse vocals - now they only really appeal to a very narrow market; middle aged women, probably people who have followed them their whole careers. Who knows, maybe I'll be the same if 1D have a comeback in 2030 lol.
None of those bands you mentioned appeal to me, the reason probably being generational and/or taste.
The only genre I have been interested in the UK mainly pioneering is Dubstep but that fell flat on its face pretty much as soon as it took off which is a massive shame. Madness are responsible for the emergence of No Doubt which is one of my all-time favourite bands but even then I'm less of a fan of their ska sound and prefer their reggae/dancehall Jamaican-influced stuff.
What on earth are you on about?
Adele, Ed Sheeran, One Direction and Coldplay are amongst the biggest and best pop stars on the planet. The 1975 and Little Mix have produced two brilliant pop albums in the last year and Jess Glynne seemed to be everywhere in the same time with a whole string of no. 1 singles. Paolo Nutini, George Ezra, Paloma Faith..... No scene is perfect but British Pop has been at the forefront of pop music for about the last 60 years.
Didn't realise 80s was recent. Michael Jackson has been going since the 70s actually, and Madonna is early 80s. Kylie is 80s. Need i go on.
I like his opinions about Coldplay and Rihanna.
I know this is definitely now down to personal taste but all of them can go and do one except 1D and Adele to be honest, Little Mix continue the Spice Girls tradition of cringe, Paulo, George and The 1975 I wouldn't consider as pop music, Paloma is great but not pop either. Ed Sheeran is 23 going on 40 and Coldplay, need I go there?
but you cannot say british pop music is bad just because YOU dont like it! which i believe is the gist of this thread.
it doesnt matter whether you like it or not, the uk has been world leading for 60 odd years.
bib... as far as im concerned, if they court the commercial singles chart - they are pop.
Ok so if it is down to personal taste then why don't I like UK pop music? I'm not racist against my own country, that would just be stupid haha, but there must be something about the style of the UK's pop music that is very different to American pop music.
Fair point.
I do think to a certain extent we will champion our own acts because they are British, over supporting an imported act. Hell I even asked Radio 1 to playlist Jai Waetford and they haven't (probably because of him being Australian, I mean they're pretty much ageist so why not be racist too?)