Are Yanks and Brits quite far apart in general music tastes?

[Barking Spiders]

By chance I came across this

https://business.yougov.com/content/42773-what-are-top-5-favorite-music-genres-us-and-uk

 

Seems thereabouts maybe. Think about it. In the late 70s-mid 80s, Hair Metal (in which I include Van Halen) and the AOR stuff from Boston, Journey etc were both a big deal in the US but meant practically nowt in Blighty, which was more into New Wave, New Romantics, synth pop, dance and the like. Some might say but what about NWOBHM? It was only ever a niche thing in Blighty. Then in the late 80s-mid 90s thrash,  Grunge, post-Grunge and Nu-Metal were where it was at Stateside whereas the UK mainstream was more preoccupied with Madchester, Rave and Britpop. Even going back to the 70s when all the huge British classic rock bands were at their peak, it was in North America where they hit the big time massively whereas success in the UK was much more modest. I had a quick butchers at some UK rock acts that are a far bigger deal in the US than at home e.g. Ozzy Osbourne, Def Leppard, Bush and Bad Company. One thing about the graphic that 's surprising is that in the UK, Country music ranks at 21%! Maybe the decimal point should move left one space. Classical looks a bit high considering the BPI's annual sales stats. And not sure why Soul & R & B are separate. I thought R & B was just another term for Soul.

[badger]

"country" over here probably means your Gran liking John Denver.

[Cliff Edge]

 Country music in all its forms has been popular in the UK for many years. I don’t find that percentage strange. 

[Angel]

We often seem far apart on comedy so I don't see why we wouldn't be on music, speaking in extremely general terms of course.

[EliasMooseblaster]

It's a shame this is only for a single snapshot in time - you're quite right to mention different decadal trends, as I suspect they'd paint a much more interesting picture! Blues, for example, would have been huge in this country in the '60s and early '70s, but has dwindled to a niche interest in more recent decades; I think it's fair to say it's had a more stable (albeit small-ish) audience in the US. I'm sure EDM trends would be interesting, too - I'm no expert, but I think I'm right in saying that neither Garage nor Grime really translated their success across the pond.

[dclaassen]

I can tell you that our prefereces for classic rock are a lot different. I was playing with a group of guys my ages (all Brits, except me) and asked if they do any Seeger....they did not know who that was. Lots of differences in music from the mid-60's to at least the 80's. 

 

Also, country music...what is the deal with Country Roads? Nobody would play that as a country song in the states (remember what Charlie Rich did with JD's CMA announcement), but folks go wild for it here....and they've never even been to West Virginia. 

[Mykesbass]

Something that survey shows is that US likes music overall more than UK.

 

My observation on this, having been in record company telesales for 4 years in the early 80s, is that the UK's music tastes were highly polarised back then. Dance music was king all across the home counties, and across the south in general. From Luton upwards we couldn't sell dance music for love nor money except in a few larger cities. Even then there was a split in BPM, with northern cities preferring up tempo tracks, and south going for slower stuff. Midlands and North East was great for selling all types of rock.

[Barking Spiders]

3 hours ago, EliasMooseblaster said:

It's a shame this is only for a single snapshot in time - you're quite right to mention different decadal trends, as I suspect they'd paint a much more interesting picture! Blues, for example, would have been huge in this country in the '60s and early '70s, but has dwindled to a niche interest in more recent decades; I think it's fair to say it's had a more stable (albeit small-ish) audience in the US. I'm sure EDM trends would be interesting, too - I'm no expert, but I think I'm right in saying that neither Garage nor Grime really translated their success across the pond.

 British rap aka Grime and most UK originated dance/electronica stuff (Garage, drum n' bass, breakbeat) has never broken through in the US, though I spose Dubstep sort of did albeit  an American version. It's also kind of peculiar that while Black Sabbath, Led Zep and Judas Priest are credited as pioneers of hard rock/metal, no such major scene/genre has ever come out of the UK unlike in N America with Grunge, Post Grunge, Nu Metal and Thrash.

[EliasMooseblaster]

18 minutes ago, Barking Spiders said:

 British rap aka Grime and most UK originated dance/electronica stuff (Garage, drum n' bass, breakbeat) has never broken through in the US, though I spose Dubstep sort of did albeit  an American version. It's also kind of peculiar that while Black Sabbath, Led Zep and Judas Priest are credited as pioneers of hard rock/metal, no such major scene/genre has ever come out of the UK unlike in N America with Grunge, Post Grunge, Nu Metal and Thrash.

Weirdly, I wonder whether Grime suffered from a similar issue that stopped a lot of old-school prog rock groups getting breaking through stateside - it's "too British". Granted, the artists are typically from very different demographics, but just as Gabriel-era Genesis, Soft Machine, etc might have sounded too eccentric to (most) American ears, what (admittedly little) I've heard of Stormzy or Tinie Tempah is so evocative of the run-down corners of British cities, I can imagine it sounding a bit alarming to a foreign audience.

[Barking Spiders]

18 minutes ago, EliasMooseblaster said:

Weirdly, I wonder whether Grime suffered from a similar issue that stopped a lot of old-school prog rock groups getting breaking through stateside - it's "too British". Granted, the artists are typically from very different demographics, but just as Gabriel-era Genesis, Soft Machine, etc might have sounded too eccentric to (most) American ears, what (admittedly little) I've heard of Stormzy or Tinie Tempah is so evocative of the run-down corners of British cities, I can imagine it sounding a bit alarming to a foreign audience.

100% for sure, they rap in a very Roadman style. A band like Def Leppard was always going to fit in with that hair metal/stadium rock scene going on over there. Conversely, bands like Madness, Blur, The Jam, Happy Mondays and Pulp were probably also too 'English' sounding for US ears. Dunno why as we don't not listen to US bands because they sing in American accents. Maybe they're more insular than us.

[Dan Dare]

On 21/02/2024 at 17:09, Barking Spiders said:

not sure why Soul & R & B are separate. I thought R & B was just another term for Soul.

 

R&B originally stood for Rhythm and Blues. Very different animal from soul and a world apart from what R&B currently stands for.

[Russ]

6 hours ago, EliasMooseblaster said:

Weirdly, I wonder whether Grime suffered from a similar issue that stopped a lot of old-school prog rock groups getting breaking through stateside - it's "too British". Granted, the artists are typically from very different demographics, but just as Gabriel-era Genesis, Soft Machine, etc might have sounded too eccentric to (most) American ears, what (admittedly little) I've heard of Stormzy or Tinie Tempah is so evocative of the run-down corners of British cities, I can imagine it sounding a bit alarming to a foreign audience.

Tinie Tempah did OK for a while in the US - he had his music used in WWE wrestling for a bit. But Stormzy, Dizzee Rascal, etc had no success whatsoever.

 

You're right, it's pretty dark, plus It's not "aspirational" like modern American hip-hop, which seems to mostly be about the accumulation of money, drugs, fancy cars, "cribs", b**ches and so on. A lot of old hip-hop was a lot closer to what grime is now, with lots of social commentary, but you don't hear much of that kind of thing any more. 

Edited February 22 by Russ
Typo

[Barking Spiders]

26 minutes ago, Russ said:

Tinie Tempah did OK for a while in the US - he had his music used in WWE wrestling for a bit. But Stormzy, Dizzee Rascal, etc had no success whatsoever.

 

You're right, it's pretty dark, plus It's not "aspirational" like modern American hip-hop, which seems to mostly be about the accumulation of money, drugs, fancy cars, "cribs", b**ches and so on. A lot of old hip-hop was a lot closer to what grime is now, with lots of social commentary, but you don't hear much of that kind of thing any more. 

 

I'm a fan of the Golden Age of hip hop which pretty much petered out by the late 90s but most of the stuff released over the last couple of decades has been largely vacuous and basically $hyt3 with a few exceptions such as Run the Jewels who are keeping the spirit of Public Enemy MK I alive. 

[Newfoundfreedom]

Judging by that list it would appear that I'm American. 

 

Most of the stuff listed on the Brit side I can't stand. Especially the late 80's early 90's Manchester crap like Oasis, The Happy Mondays, Stone Roses etc. They were all rubbish (of course only my opinion) Whereas a lot of the band's mentioned stateside are amongst my favourite bands of all time. 

 

While most of my classmates were listening to Oasis I was listening to Alice Cooper. 

 

[BassTractor]

In my limited experience, and coarsely speaking, Brits value quirkiness a little more, and Yanks value nice flow a little more.

[SteveXFR]

11 hours ago, Angel said:

We often seem far apart on comedy so I don't see why we wouldn't be on music, speaking in extremely general terms of course.

 

Comedy just doesn't translate. Every time I try watching a septic comedian, the audience are in hysterics and I just don't get it. There are a few exceptions but they are few and far between. I don't think our colonial friends get British comedy either.

[Musicman666]

quite a generalisation i know but i always considered the brits trying to be a bit different whereas the yanks try to conform, and i don't think country music has ever really been as widely accepted in the uk although i can see there has recently been a push to promote it..yikes.

[SumOne]

US mainstream market seems to me generally more macho/conformist. 

 

UK Ska was quite political/anti establishment, the US stuff was a bit more for the Bro's. US hip hop has generally been more macho and boastful. Queen's 'I want to break free video' pretty much killed their US career but didn't do them any harm in the UK (or most of the rest of the world). 

 

Not so much US popularity for bands along the lines of Erasure, Pet Shop Boys, Pulp, Suede, The Cure. They'd be considered too sissy and odd for a lot of the US market that go for more conformist stuff like Country music that doesn't do so well in the UK. 

[White Cloud]

Other than a shared language I don't think Brits or American's have much in common at all.

[tegs07]

The USA is such a huge and diverse place that there is a market for a very diverse range of music.

Pretty much every new artist that grabs my attention is from the USA and this is across a wide spectrum of genres.

 

I found on every visit I make to the USA that my preconceptions are proven wrong. I would totally disagree with the macho/conformist argument. 

Mainstream fodder is invariably rubbish whatever continent you live in.

[Cato]

1 hour ago, SumOne said:

 

Not so much US popularity for bands along the lines of Erasure, Pet Shop Boys, Pulp, Suede, The Cure. 

 

I'm not sure about the others but The Cure are pretty big in the US.

 

US sales make up just under a third of The Cure's 30 million or so career album sales and in 2023 they played to over half a million people on the sold out North American leg of their 2023 tour.

[tegs07]

1 hour ago, SumOne said:

Not so much US popularity for bands along the lines of Erasure, Pet Shop Boys, Pulp, Suede, The Cure. They'd be considered too sissy and odd for a lot of the US market that go for more conformist stuff like Country music that doesn't do so well in the UK.

Take a trip to places like Seattle, Nashville, Portland or Brooklyn. You might revise your opinion.

[SumOne]

4 minutes ago, tegs07 said:

Take a trip to places like Seattle, Nashville, Portland or Brooklyn. You might revise your opinion.

I'm talking in massive generalisations (and have lived in the US) 

[tegs07]

Just now, SumOne said:

I'm talking in massive generalisations (and have lived in the US) 

If you are working off massive generalisation then the UK is just about XFactor tosh and insipid Beatles rehash bands.

[SumOne]

2 minutes ago, tegs07 said:

If you are working off massive generalisation then the UK is just about XFactor tosh and insipid Beatles rehash bands.

Yeah, I'm not saying  in generalised terms one is better than the other. But if generalising (which is what this is all about), my view is that the UK tastes are for slightly more quirkiness, US a bit more conservative and macho/boastful.