which country is responsible for the worst music?

[Ness Rowlah]

IMHO, Japan is the only candidate. J-pop makes my skin crawl.

no expert on this - but I liked Sandii&the Sunsetz and this Bonnie Pink tune is sort of in the same tradition.

It's synthetic and sweet and innocent, but I prefer this to any "indie" band with
jangly guitars and sounding a bit like the Cure/Coldplay ;-)

 

[Eric]

IMHO, Japan is the only candidate. J-pop makes my skin crawl.

agreed---the quantity of hideous pop coming out of Japan is massive. but they have their upside too: Boredoms, endless noise crap, goodt homegrown reggae (Papa B, Mighty Crown & a million other lower profile soundsystems & djs/singers), techno/house scene ... why point fingers only there? to me any of Korea/HK/Taiwan would be an easier sell. they have all the crap Jpop style stuff and none of the redeeming features.

I nominate Korea!!

 

[Melmoth]

ireland: U2, sinead o'connor, afro-celt sound system, hothouse flowers, daniel O'donnell, showbands, ash, microdisney, fatima mansions, van fucking morrison.

 

[mms]

scotland?
scotland?

what about australia??
anti
inxs
jason donovan
concorde dawn
angry anderson
that cancer bird who does the advert
savage garden
midnight oil
anyone else practically

for
the bad seeds

 

[Omaar]

why point fingers only there? to me any of Korea/HK/Taiwan would be an easier sell. they have all the crap Jpop style stuff and none of the redeeming features.

I nominate Korea!!

In its defense, Taiwanese Pop (T-pop?) has some pretty class acts like Richie Jen and Jay Zhou.

Some languages are not really good for hip-hop. I'm not fond of Italian rap. Still, better than trying to fake american english I guess.

 

[Omaar]

scotland?
scotland?

what about australia??
anti
inxs
jason donovan
concorde dawn
angry anderson
that cancer bird who does the advert
savage garden
midnight oil
anyone else practically

for
the bad seeds

I think Concord Dawn are from NZ. They are still pretty awful. Savage Garden are particularly ghastly. OZ has a pretty shit hard rock scene from what I hear.

 

[baboon2004]

France? - how could anyone mention France in this context??

Austria - Kruder & Dorfmeister, Fennesz, Stereotyp....

Eastern Europe - Bartok, Part, Tchaikovsky, etc etc.

Australia sucks - right on.

New Zealand?

Ireland is pretty bad, but sinead's a positive, not a negative. My Bloody Valentine too.

 

[baboon2004]

And Belgium - Jacques Brel, all the early 90s hardcore stuuf

 

[carlos]

i'll stick up for Australia here...

Australian stuff i own and like:

Radio Birdman
The Scientists
The Saints
The New Chirsts
The Sick Things
Buffalo
AC/DC
The Easybeats
SPK
Feedtime
Birthday Party / Nick Cave
Bloody Fist Records

late 70s / early 80s punk stuff is top notch

 

[mms]

i'll stick up for Australia here...

Australian stuff i own and like:

Radio Birdman
The Scientists
The Saints
The New Chirsts
The Sick Things
Buffalo
AC/DC
The Easybeats
SPK
Feedtime
Birthday Party / Nick Cave
Bloody Fist Records

late 70s / early 80s punk stuff is top notch

ok i'll give you ac/dc
i was so pleased you didn't say dead c as i'm convinced they are just made up by the wire.

here are some more
natalie umbruglia
danni minogue
mental as anything
the avalanches
jet
crowded house
dr robert fom the blow monkeys
men at work.

 

[carlos]

i was so pleased you didn't say dead c

dead c = NZ i think...

 

[mms]

dead c = NZ i think...

yeah yeah they keep on changing the story over at wire hq.

 

[afrobongo]

France? - how could anyone mention France in this context??

someone who lives in France.

And who keeps forgetting the Versailles Boys are french.

Someone mentionned Plastic Bertrand though !!!!!!!

I mean...

 

[Omaar]

ok i'll give you ac/dc
i was so pleased you didn't say dead c as i'm convinced they are just made up by the wire.

here are some more
natalie umbruglia
danni minogue
mental as anything
the avalanches
jet
crowded house
dr robert fom the blow monkeys
men at work.

yeah dead c are from NZ too, and crowded house are really as well.

 

[Omaar]

ok i'll give you ac/dc
i was so pleased you didn't say dead c as i'm convinced they are just made up by the wire.

I can report a confirmed sighting of them playing support for sonic youth in Wellington, just to dispel any rumours ...

 

[jwd]

i'm not going to take stelfox on re: scotland, suffice to say anyone who knows me knows of my love for scottish music (though the stuff stelfox mentioned is completely crap, true.)

australia: umm, okay. extradition. master's apprentices. go-betweens. the scientists. feedtime. hoss. sunset strip. small world experience. the moles. severed heads. spk. laughing hands. ed kuepper/laughing clowns. primitive calculators. voigt 456. the apartments. lighthouse keepers. essendon airport. makers of the dead travel fast. tame omearas. minimum chips. the particles. hi-god people. solids. dworzec. the cannanes. chris smith. pateras/baxter/brown. oren ambarchi. the necks. robbie avenaim. the lost domain. dne. ugly ugly ugly. the saints. the birthday party (bad seeds my ass - everything after the first three records is bollocks, "deanna" excepted.) the bee gees. lobby lloyde.

all the above are great. i don't buy the ac/dc thing though. they're boring.

mms, i love you, but your disbelief re: the dead c is entirely too predictable. i do like your theory though. so when i saw them live twice last month, i was probably actually watching the ben watson group, right?

 

[martin]

Scotland gave the world The Gallowglass Ceili Band, Ivor Cutler and the "Ha! Ha! Funny Polis" EP, which is one of the best snarly youthful copper-bashing punk-rocking 7 inches I've ever had the pleasure to slam on my turntable. That alone cancels out the aforementioned perpetrators.

I'd say the worst places for music are Wales and New Zealand.

 

[droid]

ireland: U2, sinead o'connor, afro-celt sound system, hothouse flowers, daniel O'donnell, showbands, ash, microdisney, fatima mansions, van fucking morrison.

You forgot David Holmes, Boyzone, Westlife, The Corrs and (shudder) B*witched..

I know it looks bad, but the balance has been redressed slightly from the underground over the last few years...
Theres Techno and Electro: Decal, Americhord, D1 (David O' Donoghue, Rob Rowland, Donnacha Costello). Electronica + Ambient from the likes of Front End Synthetics, Daniel Figgis, Ambulance, The Fear and Fallt.
D+B from Naphta, Bassbin, Looney Tunes, Subtle Audio etc...

...and loads more upcoming labels and artists.

And even though Ive never been a huge U2 fan - they did make some brilliant records back in the day, plus there's the Pogues, Horselips, The Frames and er Thin Lizzy...

Ill stop now.

 

[droid]

That said we also RULE Eurovision! And I suppose that is the closest thing there is to a 'who can make the worst music' competition... Johnny Logan, Dana... and, jesus christ - The Fucking Nolans!!

 

[jwd]

Scotland gave the world The Gallowglass Ceili Band, Ivor Cutler and the "Ha! Ha! Funny Polis" EP, which is one of the best snarly youthful copper-bashing punk-rocking 7 inches I've ever had the pleasure to slam on my turntable. That alone cancels out the aforementioned perpetrators.

I forgot about Ivor Cutler, good call that one. What's the story with "Ha! Ha! Funny Polis" - who's it by etc. etc.??

I'd say the worst places for music are Wales and New Zealand.

Can't argue with Wales (Manic Street Preachers, 'nuff said) but I won't start on the wealth of amazing stuff from NZ.