uk rock versus us rock

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dominic

Beast of Burden
something that i have gotten wind of around here is that brits perceive american rock as superior to uk rock. evidently, american bands have better drummers, and they rock more intensely. or at least, this is my understanding of how the story goes.

HOWEVER, i have always in the main preferred uk rock bands to their american counterparts. my bloody valentine, happy mondays, associates, durutti column, that petrol emotion, loop, wire, cranes, joy division, ladytron (really the one perfect gem, "destroy everything you touch"), and so forth. the only american bands that i have any particular affinity for, post-1975 or so, are ultra vivid scene (really one person, kurt ralske) and gun club. and sometimes mazzy star. and the swans.

so, does anyone have an opinion on this matter or wish to enlighten me?
 
M

mms

sometimes
currently for me 90% of the actual bands i like come from us and canada, fairly popular ones that is, british music seems to have been swallowed by blokey indie rock, in terms of actual rock.
 
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dominic

Beast of Burden
i am pretty tepid on most new american bands that i come across. have never really properly investigated the avant-folk or noise bands. there do seem to be a lot of good artsy bands coming out of texas for some reason . . . . but so much of this stuff comes out on cd only, that i never buy it or, consequently, listen to it. yes, i am a vinyl person, which goes at least halfway toward explaining why i live so much in the musical past
 
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noel emits

a wonderful wooden reason
I don't have a particular preference for American rock over other kinds, but as a form native to America there is a certain thing, yes a kind of Authenticity, that only native born fluent American speakers can bring to it. It isn't necessary to have this thing to rock but it is very difficult to fake or replicate.

Most of the British bands you mention are the kind that don't make the mistake of trying to sound American, and so they work on their own terms. In fact most of those groups are only vaguely rock anyway. TPE don't count because they are Irish, and part American. ;)

It's interesting how Ultra Vivid Scene, while not actually being very ROCK, is very fluent in the classical language of Rock, in the same way that groups like Oneida, Dinosaur Jr, Buffalo Tom and Ariel Pink are, for instance.
 
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fokse vektaire xeven

fokse vektaire xeven

Arab Nazi
The Americans stole the march on ROCK some time ago- lets say in the 80s sometime- in terms of sheer extremity, volume, dissonance and deconstruction. Though they are somewhat rivalled by the Japanese- as Gene Vincet said, "Give the japs a tin can and they'll give you back an autmomobile"...

The bar is now set so high on how distorted / overblown / extended the rock form can become that there's no easy way back... perhaps this has something to do with what you're asking? Though i should say that some of your examples don't have much to with anything I'd consider rock!
 
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dominic

Beast of Burden
fokse vektaire xeven said:
Though i should say that some of your examples don't have much to with anything I'd consider rock!
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rock = real people playing traditional instruments (guitar, bass, drums, maybe keyboards) -- but not necessarily exclusively, i.e., synthesizer or computer-generated effects are okay -- and in a way that is not especially funky or country-twangy
 
fokse vektaire xeven

fokse vektaire xeven

Arab Nazi
dominic said:
rock = real people playing traditional instruments (guitar, bass, drums, maybe keyboards) -- but not necessarily exclusively, i.e., synthesizer or computer-generated effects are okay -- and in a way that is not especially funky or country-twangy
Click to expand...

I suppose we've got different definitions- to me Ladytron aren't rock at all, neither are the Durutti column...so we're probably talking at cross purposes. My definition isn't as broad as yours, I'd find it hard to draw a specific one up, but i suppose (to use an awful cliche) it comes down to "attitude" :eek:

dominic said:
so this is the whole dinosaur jr/sonic youth/husker du/minutemen thing?

i suppose the minutemen are pretty good . . . .
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yes, the US underground of the late seventies/ early 80s and how it fed into what would eventually be near the mainstream (briefly!) by the early 90s. More recently there has been Bulb/Load etc, or even In The Red and so forth...("Shitgaze" anyone? ;) )

An appropriate contrast between what UK and US rock have to offer might be that between the whole Homosexuals/ Cold Storage thing and the "No Wave" rock underground in NYC at the same time...same zeitgeist, similar ideas but the American shit just clamours for your attention in a whole different way...effectively perhaps the English national character doesn't lend itself so well to rocking out. There's much more of a tendency to be understated and/ or playful.
 
Mr. Tea

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
fokse vektaire xeven said:
The bar is now set so high on how distorted / overblown / extended the rock form can become that there's no easy way back...
Click to expand...

I can't help but think of Mogwai when I read this: a band who, while in some ways are very un-rock (I can't quite bring myself to say 'post-rock') in other ways crank everything all the way up to 11 - in between the quiet bits, obviously - and rock like total bastards.
 
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petergunn

plywood violin
dominic said:
HOWEVER, i have always in the main preferred uk rock bands to their american counterparts. my bloody valentine, happy mondays, associates, durutti column, that petrol emotion, loop, wire, cranes, joy division, ladytron (really the one perfect gem, "destroy everything you touch"), and so forth. the only american bands that i have any particular affinity for, post-1975 or so, are ultra vivid scene (really one person, kurt ralske) and gun club. and sometimes mazzy star. and the swans.
Click to expand...

out of all the bands you listed, only the Gun Club "rock"...
 
N

noel emits

a wonderful wooden reason
dominic said:
rock = real people playing traditional instruments (guitar, bass, drums, maybe keyboards) -- but not necessarily exclusively, i.e., synthesizer or computer-generated effects are okay -- and in a way that is not especially funky or country-twangy
Click to expand...
That was a particularly un-rock list of rock bands you had there but I think it would be disingenuous to pretend not to be able to see how they could be described as such, or sit in the Rock section, on er iTunes.

So just a thought then, and not wanting to get into the differences between rock, Rock and ROCK* ;)

Rock = Hyperblues :cool:

* and not forgetting RAWK!
 
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STN

STN

sou'wester
I know, I know, just venting. If I didn't think it was a joke I would have kept quiet as I am very non-confrontational, polite and unrocking.
 
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