nationality and music

[purple]

I was thinking, with the Aussies talkin' 'bout their aussie albums and all, are we hyper-aware of our own nation's music (or under-aware of other nation's music)?

I mean: harkan's got relatively many aussie albums in his chart; joyofdivision's chart is an obviously British one; and mine is dominated by US albums.

Sure most of popular music is from the the States and U.K. (this could be debatable), but do people pay extra attention or have greater access to music from their own country, even in the age of the interwebs? Are we missing out on other nation's classics because we don't live in that country? thoughts?

[CellarDoor]

Euh - cannot relate to this post.
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I'll be your plastic toy.

[joyofdivision]

I am biased towards music that is in the English language, although if a band is good enough, I don't think it matters that much. I think to be successful across the world, it helps if the audience you are trying to appeal to can understand what you're singing about.

I think that if Sigur Rós had sung in English rather than Icelandic (or is some of it made up?), they would easily be one of the worlds biggest bands, but as it stands, they are probably still regarded as a cult band by many.

I also think that a lot of people are biased towards genres of music rather than where it was made.

[Applerill]

Well, as someone from Chicago, I have albums by Styx and the Smashing Pumpkins on my chart, and also have a love of Sufjan Stevens, Wesley Willis, and (of course) Charlie N. George.

[joyofdivision]

[albummaster]

Music has always crossed borders, but I think the internet has helped to break down national boundaries even more. For some 'world music' genres like salsa, it ls less of an issue as people expect to hear this in the local language. However, there still seems a barrier with 'foreign language' music and it seems more of a problem when it is 'pop' or 'rock' for bands to cross-over into the mainstream - how many non-English speaking rock-bands can you think of in the English-speaking mainstream?

I am sure are hundreds/thousands of fantastic albums from other parts of the world that we'll never get to hear about on this site because of this bias because this site is only in English and not everyone speaks English and can contribute their own angle.

I'm English, but I've learned a lot living in Spain and got into music I'd never of heard of if I had stayed in England. So, I think environment definitely contributes a lot to what you get to discover (from your friends, or just from the local culture and media.) I'd love to see more world music on BEA.

[CellarDoor]

But then I'm an imposteur.
I grew up in England. This had an important impact on my musical upbringing.

You'll have to ask cartoken about French artists (French rock is pretty dire imo).

Here's a list of acclaimed French artists I actually enjoy :
- M83
- Air
- Michel Berger
- Daft Punk
- Serge Gainsbourg
- Gong
- Françoise Hardy
- Jean-Michel Jarre
- Magma
- Michel Polnareff
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I'll be your plastic toy.

[ShaneSpear]

[purple]

and this thread reveals that everyone from Europe really comes from the U.K. ...

taking it all the way down to apple's level, I suppose I have a special place in my heart for the Butthole Surfers, which is the only decent band from San Antonio to have released albums

[Wombi]

the only reason I can give as to why I listen to so much uk and usa music (as opposed to Australian, not gonna go into why I listen to little non-english language artists (aside from the big one already mentioned) I think everyone has pretty much covered it) it's because Aus music is for the majority shite, I'm sad to say. Australians don't want to hear anything interesting or different and for the most part none of it is produced (and if it is then it would have to be independent as no label would give them a contract) bland is our product and it's served generously. Modular are pretty good and generally they only have quality releases but they are the exception (and even then none of their artists are really experimental in any way). So I listen to little Australian Music really (at least relative to everything else I listen to.