I was wondering if any of y'all could tell me what the perceptions of some of these artists are in British culture.
I imagine it's a lot different than what some people over here might think, and I'm just curious.
How have these artists (if they have) impacted Britishness on a large or small scale?
Muse
Kaiser Chiefs
Oasis and Spice Girls (how do people look back at "Cool Britannia" now?)
Arctic Monkeys
The Fall
The Kinks
UB40
The Clash
I know this sounds a bit like a convoluted essay assignment, but I've already passed all of my British Literature and Shakespeare courses in college, so this is really just for my own benefit.
Also, feel free to send this question back at me with some Yankee artists if you like.
I am by no means representative of my nation, but here goes:
Muse - thought their first album was okay in a Radiohead-lite sort of way, but otherwise consider them to be massively overrated
Kaiser Chiefs - yuk, and this comes from someone who is from West Yorkshire
Oasis - credit too them, got me into music as a teenager, but I find it pretty uncomfortable listening these days
Arctic Monkeys - ridiculously over-hyped in the mid 00s, never really liked
The Fall - never really got into them
The Kinks - one of my favourite bands from the 60s, still listen regularly
UB40 - my maths teacher was a big fan, can't get past the comedy value here
The Clash - good stuff, a bit like the Beatles for me, probably over-listened to them as a teenager so not so excited these days _________________ http://distranscontinuum.blogspot.co.uk/
Muse: big draw live and sales wise. Most serious music fans probably not over keen. Average joe music fan likes them. Middle.
Kaiser chiefs: shite. Most people hate them. The singer is an annoying C desperate to keep his shitty britpop alive, and goes on TV to help the cause, a britpop that was old hat when they hit big. Very averge joe beer monster music fan likes them. They buy 3 CDs a year, weller, Gallagher and the next Beatles comp. NME prob even hates them. Bottom.
Oasis: everyone (nearly) liked them in 94. Huge cultural impact (not saying it was all positive). They started to become stale by 97. I still look back and remember with honesty how I felt about them and don't let the shit stuff taint it. The cool brigade will tell you they were never that fussed on them even at the time even though they still dress like Liam now. Liam has had a quite remarkable comeback with a surprisingly fine solo record (see cool music press say its shit and NME say it's great). THE beer monster band and the band of the football terrace casuals. Pretty much still massive and held in high regard overall due to early stuff and they were a band that got many into music. See how absolutly massive they are when they reform. Top.
Artic monkeys: huge hype and popularity at the time and they were pretty good at the start. Still big I think? But for me they are really quite awful now and a bit emarrassing how poor they are when seen them on telly at Glastonbury. I don't think they have the love of people but they prob still arena size. In general are people that arsed by them? Like an even worse foo fighters to me. Boring as hell. Still get respect a bit for start. Middle.
The fall: only for music fans. Serious ones. People who loved peel. Not loved by the casuals and beer monsters. Held in high esteem by music press I guess. Higher than middle.
The kinks: loved by all (apart from wor lass who said even waterloo sunset is shit! Weird.) national icon. The very top.
UB40: hated them at school with the shit like rat in me kitchen and the awful covers. Does anyone care about them? Ask semi cool music fan if they like then and all will say they are shit but the early stuff is quite good. True. Below middle.
The clash: the most overrated band of all time. Almost universally loved by all music fans, beer monsters, average joe, the casuals and the music press and all media. Regarded as classic status along with people like kinks, smiths, oasis etc. I like them but I just don't get it. The very top.
Just culture wise then oasis have had by far the biggest impact since the Beatles. That's culture wise. The impact was massive in the 90s.
This is actually really helpful. I never understood the love for them on BEA, until I realized the love from the other side of the pond. Don't get me wrong Oasis still gets plenty of air play on radio stations and the mini-marts, etc.
As an American I kind of liked Oasis when they first came out, but had a REALLY short fuse.
Anyway, I'm curious about how people from the UK see (from a culture perspective, not necessarily end user)
U2 (yes I know they are Irish, so even more interesting)
Elbow
The Beautiful South (were they like a one hit wonder type or?)
Coldplay (especially post death and all his friends)
To be honest I didn't see these artists as uniquely British - like I was nearly shocked when I found out. Do other people from other countries have that happen... like, oh I didn't realize they were Canadian or Irish or Australian or American?
Donovan
The Specials
Van Morrison
Led Zeppelin
Is there an American band which is highly regarded by Americans, but other nationalities see them as trash. We'll use this site as defining "highly regarded", unless you can prove otherwise.
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
