which country is responsible for the worst music?

stelfox

Beast of Burden
i am fully aware that this thread may cause a spot of bother, but talking to a friend about this over the weekend, i've come to the conclusion that scottish music is almost entirely horrendous.

in order to state my case fully i call on you to view exhibit A: Deacon Blue *gasps of horror echo across the courtroom*
then, to prove that this nation has no regard for public decency whatever, exhibit b: Runrig (the use of bagpipes in pop music will NEVER be a good idea, the sole exception being dancehall's kashmir rhythm).
and, finally, the most damning piece of evidence of all, exhibit c) *pulls a copy of marillion's misplaced childhood album from suit jacket, holding between piched fingers, like a soiled diaper, as some more fainthearted members of the public gallery begin to faint*

so ladies and gentlemen of the jury, i ask you to take account of only what you have seen here today and do your duty. convict scotland of making the shittiest music ever (and yes that does include the blue nile, before anyone tries to say that they're any good).
 

stelfox

Beast of Burden
The Proclaimers.
Big Country.
Belle & Sebastian.
The Bay City Rollers.

God, all this makes wrapping a hard-boiled egg in meat and deep frying it seem like a cultural high water mark.
 

boomnoise

♫
for:

average white band
bmx bandits
mull historical society
delgados
arab strap
boards of canada
aztec camera
del amitri
franz ferdinand
travis
wet wet wet

against:

boards of canada
mogwai
orange juice
 

bun-u

Trumpet Police
I somehow knew this'd be about scotland. C'mon, they only have around 5 million mans & womans and they're also struggling to pull a decent football team together

For the motion
chemikal underground

Against
postcard records
 

john eden

male pale and stale
Marillion were only partly Scottish iirc, in the same way that Test Dept (in the "against" category, despite use of bagepipes) were only partly scottish.

Cards on the table time - I am apparently about 1/32nd scottish. I also used to own some Marillion albums. And still do own some Test Dept ones. :)
 

bassnation

the abyss
stelfox said:
i'm half scottish, by blood. i never owned a marillion record.

is that "never owned" as in "i've concealed them somewhere no visitor will ever find them and i'm now erasing the fact that i ever owned them from my memory in a stalin-like revisionist stylee" by any chance, dave?

;)
 

stelfox

Beast of Burden
no. though, to be fair, i don't really remember what marillion sounded like. i only remember that they were very, very bad.
 

reposed

Member
the country responsible for the worst music?? it's got to be scandanavian for a start. .

a handful *for* scotland. .

Electroscope
"Electroscope are the esoteric Scottish duo of Gayle Harrison and John Cavanagh. They are pretty much off exploring their own private obsessions in their own way in their own time and on their own. They use old analogue tape recorders rescued from skips to record quietish clarinet, keyboards and guitar. I hear very few groups that I can't throw in with a 'trend' or into a dismissive box. Believe me, Electroscope are one of the very few that I'd describe as unselfconscious, fascinated and odd. .... They are the real thing, a quietly individual group which sadly will go over most people's heads."
<www.thesoundprojector.com/exc_sp3_disc_den.html>

The Valves
"Edinburgh's finest. .
http://www.punk77.co.uk/groups/valves.htm

Richard Youngs
-- i'm cheating here because he's english, but glasgow has been his home for some time.. "
Lying somewhere between the warped psychedelia of The Bevis Frond and the minimalist folk of Robert Wyatt lies Richard Youngs, an Englishman who has been quietly putting out albums both solo and in collaboration with such like minded sonic explorers like Simon Wickham-Smith and The Vibracathedral Orchestra for the past 13 years. The noisy and aching sound of his music has attracted such labels as Siltbreeze and Table of the Elements to his cause, but has also managed to slip under the cultural radar for quite some time"
<http://www.indiepop.com/vol007/richard.php>
 

egg

Dumpy's Rusty Nut
teenage fanclub, jesus and mary chain. not too bad.

i realise I'm in for a kicking on that one.

I understand the argument and it's one I've made a few times meself, based on the fact that the majority of scottish bands that I remember value the technical side of musicianship above proper emotional connection.

but you can't damn a country by the amount of crap succesful bands it has. you should damn it by the amount of good bands it lacks. How many shit English bands are there? fucken loads. Probably more than Scots.

I'm in for canada. it's shit.

SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT.

I'd also like to see the following argument made by persons more knowledgeable:

France v Scotland
 

egg

Dumpy's Rusty Nut
Oh yeah and come on, what of any musical significance has Australia produced?

It's a cultural desert! :p
 

Ness Rowlah

Norwegian Wood
Scotland is forgiven for ever - for this is the land that gave us The Associates.

Anything good ever coming from Austria?
 

Ness Rowlah

Norwegian Wood
afrobongo said:
France ?
Belgium ?
Switzerland ?

or even worse:

The whole Eastern Europe.

Switzerland - Yello
Belgium - Telex, Mathilde Santing, Le Disques De Crepuscule
France - electronics like Air, Bernard Szajner and JM Jarre, ehh Plastic Bertrand (? - OK then)

Eastern Europe - got one record by an Estonian lady called Ingrid Karklins, which is OK in a Tori Amos, folkish sort of way
Those Bulgarian folk singers
Poland gave us the lead singer of Holy Toy (the best postpunk you never heard, I might do a write-up on
them with some sound samples once I can muster some energy. I have plans for some sort of round up
Scandivian postpunk article (to include the postpunk of Holy Toy and the new romantic Swedes of Lustans Lakejer and possibly Kai Martin&Stick )- another "future project" ...
 

Pearsall

Prodigal Son
afrobongo said:

Everyone always gives the French a kicking for antics like their undying love for Johnny Halliday, but they haven't been so bad on the musical front. I like some of the old school chanson people (Edith Piaf, etc.), plus Serge Gainsbourg, a lot of the mid-90's house (Daft Punk, Etienne de Crecy, Motorbass, etc.) plus they've made some good-to-great rap music over the last decade or so. And undoubtedly more stuff I can't remember.

The French ain't so bad.
 

Chef Napalm

Lost in the Supermarket
egg said:
I'm in for canada. it's shit.

SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT.
Easy there, Trigger. Look, I know that we gave the world Celine Dion, but her musical crimes are paltry when compared to those of **shudder** The Sensational Alex Harvey Band.

Plus, one has to take into account the contributions of Gordon Lightfoot, The Guess Who, Neil Young, and Hank Snow.

No, Mr. egg, Canada's not your whipping boy. IMHO, Japan is the only candidate. J-pop makes my skin crawl.
 
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