British Invasion

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It occurred to me that with so many UK addresses around here, ya'll might have some interesting insight to something that has been bugging me. What is it about British culture that has us Americans so enthralled? We've had two British invasions so far ('60s and early '80s) that I know of. All my American girlfriends are as crazy as I am for a guy with a UK accent. If I were to list my favorite musicians, they're almost ALL British. And I'm not.

And yet, America doesn't allow ANY other culture's music to be played on the radio (except maybe Latin American music, but only because our population is increasingly Latino).

So why is this?

― jigue (jigue), Thursday, 6 May 2004 12:14 (twenty-one years ago)

Well I'm English and most of my favourite music is american... maybe the grass is just always greener.

― oats (oats), Thursday, 6 May 2004 12:24 (twenty-one years ago)

You secretly want to be recolonised.

― hmmm (hmmm), Thursday, 6 May 2004 12:26 (twenty-one years ago)

oats nails it

― stevem (blueski), Thursday, 6 May 2004 12:30 (twenty-one years ago)

But if the grass were always greener, why wouldn't we have more foreign countries represented in our mainstream media?

In the 80s we had bands from Germany, Australia, and Sweden topping the charts, but English musicians FAR outnumbered all of them combined...

Personally, I think it has something to do with British "charm." Charm is a foreign concept in America, and we like it. :D

― jigue (jigue), Friday, 7 May 2004 14:34 (twenty-one years ago)

well, um, americans tend to like music that's sung in english for reasons that are probably obvious. and americans tend to like music that sounds like their own for equally obvious reasons. and almost all the british pop music we listen to is influenced by, and rooted in, our own. so basically we're just hearing slightly different versions of ourselves. which seems to me to be a natural human instinct.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Friday, 7 May 2004 14:39 (twenty-one years ago)

OK, let's get this out the way first. Does any America out there want to try and differntiate between what they mean by "the UK" and "England" because usually when Americans are talking about "the UK" or "Britain" they are talking about England. It's no great shame. Londonders and Cosnervative voters make the same mistake.

― CRW (CRW), Friday, 7 May 2004 14:50 (twenty-one years ago)

you are British and you speak English

― stevem (blueski), Friday, 7 May 2004 15:35 (twenty-one years ago)

To Americans from a cultural perspective "UK" sorta means all those English-speakers across the Atlantic who have funny accents. And yeah, in many ways they're ALL adorable accents... But most of those accents we hear are English... but not necessarily. Many are Scottish, etc. and they're all adorable... though most of the musicians are English...

Which is why I used "UK" "Britain" and "England" all interchangeably... Culturally they're similar from over here and I didn't want to exclude bands that might have been "UK" but not "English".

― jigue (jigue), Friday, 7 May 2004 15:48 (twenty-one years ago)

You're all colonials, you're indistinguishable to us from Canadians, Australians, South Aficans and New Zealanders. Your accents all sound the same.

― Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 7 May 2004 16:06 (twenty-one years ago)

Tee hee! Really?

OK, Canadians sound like Americans... but Aussies? South Africans sound like British folks to me, and there are SO MANY English accents it's not funny!

― jigue (jigue), Friday, 7 May 2004 16:20 (twenty-one years ago)

"To Americans from a cultural perspective "UK" sorta means all those English-speakers across the Atlantic who have funny accents. And yeah, in many ways they're ALL adorable accents... But most of those accents we hear are English... but not necessarily. Many are Scottish, etc. and they're all adorable... though most of the musicians are English...

Which is why I used "UK" "Britain" and "England" all interchangeably... Culturally they're similar from over here and I didn't want to exclude bands that might have been "UK" but not "English"."

I am American and please DO NOT include me in this view. Replace "UK" with "Black America" and you will see how awful this statement reads. Am I being too uptight? Maybe. Just because white England helped invent colonialism is not an excuse to act like the ugly American.

I like a ton of British music because it is damn good regardless of nationality.

A recent review that I read used all these terms as equals and I had a problem with it because it the called Them (with Van Morrison) British but they are Irish.

― Justin Farrar (Justin Farrar), Friday, 7 May 2004 16:34 (twenty-one years ago)

All my American girlfriends are as crazy as I am for a guy with a UK accent.

Orlroight darlin, howsabout a bit of how's yer father?

I am not actually British.

― DV (dirtyvicar), Friday, 7 May 2004 16:37 (twenty-one years ago)

the use of 'adorable' ends up somewhat patronising too, tho i dispute the 'same difference' with regards to UK/Black America due to the racial context and nature of that's tagged with the latter

― stevem (blueski), Friday, 7 May 2004 16:38 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah. I don't want the metaphor to be taken too far. I just thought interchanging them exposed how insulting words like "adorable" and "funny accents" sound.

― Justin Farrar (Justin Farrar), Friday, 7 May 2004 16:41 (twenty-one years ago)

I'll screen "Nil by Mouth" tonight, have a couple pints, and get back to you on all this.

― eddie hurt (ddduncan), Friday, 7 May 2004 17:22 (twenty-one years ago)

No insult intended. I guess I just feel a bit provincial when I hear English accents, as they sound... not funny... but unusual to my ears. But in a nice way that makes me feel all funny inside. Maybe that explains it.

And how is "adorable" insulting?

― jigue (jigue), Friday, 7 May 2004 17:43 (twenty-one years ago)

I suppose it's kind of infantilizing. Babies are adorable. Not so much adult men and women.

― Broheems (diamond), Friday, 7 May 2004 17:56 (twenty-one years ago)

A recent review that I read used all these terms as equals and I had a problem with it because it the called Them (with Van Morrison) British but they are Irish.

They were from Northern Ireland, therefore they were British. And as Proddies, I imagine they would might well have preferred to be thought of as British.

― Dadaismus (Dada), Sunday, 9 May 2004 12:56 (twenty-one years ago)

Jehovah's Witnesses should come under a separate category to regular Prods.

― noodle vague (noodle vague), Sunday, 9 May 2004 13:03 (twenty-one years ago)

Well that's true but let's just say they were not from the Nationalist community

― Dadaismus (Dada), Sunday, 9 May 2004 13:04 (twenty-one years ago)

Seriously though, isn't this whole thing down to exoticism? I'm guessing that in part our American cousins find Britishness somehow sophisticated, in the same way that we have lots of wannabe Americans here in the UK. The fact that we speak something resembling a common language makes this perceived sophistication accessible.

Of course we all know that all Brits are not Noel Coward any more than all Yanks are Dorothy Parker, but there's a lot of playful fun to be had with fantasies of abroad.

Innit?

― noodle vague (noodle vague), Sunday, 9 May 2004 13:07 (twenty-one years ago)

Sitting watching an edition of Trisha the other day with an American friend of mine I was moved to ask him if he still believed the British to be unsophisticated, reserved and understatedd

― Dadaismus (Dada), Sunday, 9 May 2004 13:13 (twenty-one years ago)

Oops! Should read:

Sitting watching an edition of Trisha the other day with an American friend of mine I was moved to ask him if he still believed the British to be sophisticated, reserved and understated

― Dadaismus (Dada), Sunday, 9 May 2004 13:17 (twenty-one years ago)

Is there a more pleasurable guilty pleasure in the world than Trisha?

― noodle vague (noodle vague), Sunday, 9 May 2004 13:20 (twenty-one years ago)

i dont understand american stereotypes about the british, just annoying, not necessarily this thread, but. anyway

and yeah "adorable" is insulting in a patronising, looking down kind of way.

― half dread, Sunday, 9 May 2004 13:35 (twenty-one years ago)

Whereas the British have no stereotypical opinions of any other country's inhabitants.

― noodle vague (noodle vague), Sunday, 9 May 2004 13:37 (twenty-one years ago)

Yes and British people don't patronise Americans ALL the time? Ha ha.

― Dadaismus (Dada), Sunday, 9 May 2004 13:38 (twenty-one years ago)

yeah but those stereotypes are true. and americans patronise themselves. im going to sleep. fuck..

― half dreead, Sunday, 9 May 2004 13:44 (twenty-one years ago)

Mind you, you know that rubbish about Americans not understanding irony, ahem...

You're all colonials, you're indistinguishable to us from Canadians, Australians, South Aficans and New Zealanders. Your accents all sound the same.
-- Dadaismus (kcoyne3...), May 7th, 2004.

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Tee hee! Really?
OK, Canadians sound like Americans... but Aussies? South Africans sound like British folks to me, and there are SO MANY English accents it's not funny!

-- jigue (i_vega...), May 7th, 2004.

Sorry jigue

― Dadaismus (Dada), Sunday, 9 May 2004 13:45 (twenty-one years ago)

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