U.K vs U.S.A

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tomaraya

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Jun 9, 2003
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one of the many arguments i've had with some friends over the years is which country beetween the U.K and the U.S.A has produced the better rock bands over the years.
both countries have a long and impressive list. i will list 6 from each nation just to get the ball rolling and fwiw i vote for the U.K as i am a major fan of the beatles and pink floyd. imo metallica are america's best.
the best imo of the:
U.K
1. the beatles
2. pink floyd
3. led zeppelin
4. black sabbath
5. rolling stones
6. queen

U.S.A
1. metallica
2. jimi hendrix
3. the doors
4. kiss
5. aerosmith
6. pearl jam

feel welcome to add any number of bands to back up your argument as to which nation comes out on top. my list is just an indicator,not a direct head to head competition.
cheers.:)
 
The USA wins hands down for me, I'm struggling to name 10 bands from the UK, but I could probably name 20 or so from the States.

UK

1. Siouxsie and the Banshees
2. Curve
3. New Order
4. The Creatures
5. Republica
6. Death in Vegas
7. Human League
8. Duran Duran (starting to struggle)
9. Lush
10. Transvision Vamp (scraping the bottom of the barrell with this one)

USA

1. Blondie
2. Concrete Blonde
3. DEVO
4. Wall of Voodoo
5. Sonic Youth
6. Jefferson Airplane
7. Rollins Band
8. Garbage
9. Breeders
10. The Dandy Warhols

Just out of Interest I'd probably rate Aussie Bands higher than the UK as well.

AUS

1. The Clouds
2. The Falling Joys
3. Midnight Oil
4. The Angels
5. The Divinyls
6. Grinspoon
7. Def FX
8. The Masters Apprentices
9. The Models
10. Mi-Sex
 

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UK
1.My Bloody Valentine
2.Ride (Early)
3.Boo Radleys
4.Smiths
5.Swervedriver

US
1.Flaming Lips
2.Velvet Underground
3.Pavement
4.Blondie
5.Wilco
6.Pixies

I think US wins hands down.

AUS
1. The Church
2. The Triffids
3. The Go Betweens
4. The Hummingbirds
5. Underground Lovers

NZ
1. Straitjacket Fits
2. 3Ds
3. Bailter Space
4. Verlaines
5. Galaxy 500?

NZ wins
 
As far as classic bands that were around in the 60's & 70's, the ones who will live on forever, I believe that that Brits had far more class than the Yanks.

I do also like a lot of American artists, but if I had to chose who I thought were better quality I'd have to go with England.
 
To me it has to be the UK by a mile, I can't see how any country can 'beat' a country who can list bands like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Small Faces, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Queen, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, The Jam, The Sex Pistols, The Clash, Joy Division/New Order, The Smiths, The Stone Roses, The La's, The Verve, Blur, Suede, Oasis, Radiohead, Manic Street Preachers, etc, etc, as their own.

My personal top 5 from each country would be:

UK

1. Oasis
2. The Stone Roses
3. Manic Street Preachers
4. Blur
5. Radiohead

USA

1. Jeff Buckley
2. R.E.M.
3. Nirvana
4. Ben Folds Five
5. Foo Fighters
 
Hmmmmm can't believe America's Band hasn't had a mention yet. :eek::p

The Beach Boys.

Tipping the balance heavily in the USA's favour. :D
 
I like to think I have eclectic taste & all that, but when it comes to these lists, I tend to have a pretty stock standard rock-critic dinosaur type list for who I reckon is THE best.

uk

Beatles (Not that they really ROCK as consistently as some, but they're clearly the best to me. You could take away their 30 best songs and their "Australia A" list of songs would still leave them at the top. So it's no contest... The Donald Bradmans of recent music.)

The Who

Black Sabbath

Pink Floyd

Motorhead

Led Zepplin


usa

Blue Oyster Cult

MC5

Love

Ramones

Hendrix

Mudhoney


it's hard to split the two teams... the us ones are mostly somewhat derivitive from the uk ones, but I like the us ones more. Too many impossible judgements too.... like "surely the stones are greater than the who" or "aren't the doors better than Mudhoney" etc. Favourites vs greats, quantity vs quality, grudging inclusion vs painful exclusions.

Love would be the most contentious inclusion probably, but I'll fight to the death over that one.
 
You could put in the likes of Cream, The Yardbirds (in fact Clapton in his many guises), the Kinks, Squeeze, Elvis Costello, The Style Council, Ian Dury and the Blockheads, Genesis (up to about 1985) to name a few missed out.

UK by a distance.
 
Originally posted by DaveW
The US, and by a fair margin.

Seattle alone has produced more worthy bands than the UK over the last 10-15 years.
Click to expand...

not questioning your post as everyone is entitled to an opinion,just asking that if you were to look beyond the last 10 - 15 years would your opinion remain the same.
fwiw, if the time frame was purely locked into the last 10 - 15 years i would agree with you but taken as a whole i cant say that the us has produced as many influential bands than the u.k.especially when the "rock" sound was first being developed the uk wins hands down.in terms of quality and influence i just cant see this top 5 from the uk being beat.
1. the beatles
2. pink floyd
3. led zep
4. black sabbath
5. rolling stones

just with those 5 bands alone you have the foundation that most rock music was built on. the only us act that is comfortable in that company imo is jimi hendrix and even he developed his sound in england during the sixties.
sorry to all the beach boys fans out there. i just dont rate them.
 

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Yes great bands, but before my time and hence not what I've ever been into...

I look at my CD collection and see 85-90% US music. So I would go into bat for the US on this argument.

But looking back at the initial post, perhaps I didn't consider the question properly.
 
It's all a matter of tastes and opinions.

There is a plethora of talent on both sides of the Atlantic

U.K

Beatles
Rolling Stones
Pink Floyd
Queen
Cliff Richard
Sex Pistols
Wings
Eurythmics
David Bowie
Coldplay


U.S

Elvis Presley
Chuck Berry
Little Richard
Bob Dylan
Tom Petty
Michael Jackson
Beach Boys
Bruce Springsteen
James Brown
The Eagles
Van Halen
Metallica

I am leaning towards the British on the name "The Beatles" alone
 
Originally posted by tomaraya
not questioning your post as everyone is entitled to an opinion,just asking that if you were to look beyond the last 10 - 15 years would your opinion remain the same.
Click to expand...

Good comment. There were eras when either country would have dominated. Myself, being a fan of the new romantic era, would have to pick the UK.

By the mid-eighties, however, the quality of pop music coming out of Oz was better than anything from overseas, I reckon.
 
Originally posted by tomaraya

sorry to all the beach boys fans out there. i just dont rate them.
Click to expand...

It's all a matter of choice, however a little album by the name of 'Pet Sounds' inspired much of the awesome music that came in the latter part of the 60s, particularly from the Beatles. And vocally, they are miles ahead of anyone.

Brian Wilson was also way ahead of his time, setting benchmarks such as being one of the first to demand full control over where and what the group recorded, and also produced and arranged all of their stuff. And if he didn't, another member of the band did.

Unfortunately too many people only hear the surf/car tunes and dismiss them as pretty light-weight. But ANY of their post-Pet Sounds albums can pretty easily blow away that theory. If you take in their entire career, from 1962-1996, there are very few bands who can boast such a diverse and consistently good catalogue.

And before anyone jumps on me for being biased, may I just say I am a very big Beatles fan and quite fond of most 60s groups, just because I don't talk about them as much doesn't mean I'm not into them. ;)
 
What the brits are great at are progressive rock.
Yes.Genesis ELP.King Crimson,Camel,Gentle Giant.Pink Floyd.Jethro Tull-all ****ing awesome bands (awesome musos with no image conscious bull**** in sight.

American bands-The Eagles,Little Feat,Smashing Pumpkins,Miles Davis,Beck,Wilco,Granddaddy,.
All those bands from the Seatlle era which were awesome-Alice in chains,dinosaur junior,sonic youth,helmet,janes addiction,the posies,soundgarden,faith no more.

And the greatest bands on earth today like Tool,A perfect circle uk-Muse,radiohead.

draw really cause you can not compare them.
 
Originally posted by lioness22
It's all a matter of choice, however a little album by the name of 'Pet Sounds' inspired much of the awesome music that came in the latter part of the 60s, particularly from the Beatles.
Click to expand...

Yes, we all know about pet sounds.

I've yet to hear any band that has gone out and picked up a guitar from inspiration after listening to any Beach Boys stuff.

However, my mate told me that Kraftwork used some lyrics in one of there songs on their Autobahn album. But that's not the same.
 
Originally posted by M29
Yes, we all know about pet sounds.
Click to expand...

People mostly know OF Pet Sounds, never heard it. OR anything after it.
Originally posted by M29

I've yet to hear any band that has gone out and picked up a guitar from inspiration after listening to any Beach Boys stuff.
Click to expand...

Can't think off the top of my head of any, I do know that there are a few who have actually been inspired by Carl Wilson's guitar riffs........

and since the Beach Boys were more of a vocal group, and I could name dozens of bands who have credited Brian Wilson directly with their vocal style/arrangements/production, and their influence on every Beatles album since 'Rubber Soul' is glaringly obvious.........I think it's safe to say that they are one of the most influential groups ever. :)
 
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