British acts that sound(ed) typically American

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Tommy Steele
Brian Kidd
The Records
John Mayall
Fleetwood Mac
Foreigner

(+ arguably lots of 80s hair metal acts)

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 00:33 (twenty years ago)

And, of course, Bush

Plus Reef (or were they Irish)

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 00:34 (twenty years ago)

Geir, please fuck off again.

― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 00:34 (twenty years ago)

hahaha

― j blount (papa la bas), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 00:35 (twenty years ago)

ihttps://webspace.utexas.edu/shuak/pics/pwned.jpg

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 00:46 (twenty years ago)

http://c.myspace.com/00072/70/85/72075807_l.jpg

― green uno skip card (ex machina), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 01:26 (twenty years ago)

Led Zeppelin

― Jena (JenaP), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 01:43 (twenty years ago)

Haha I didn't even know Fleetwood Mac were British!!!

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Tuesday, 15 March 2005 01:44 (twenty years ago)

Fleetwood Mac and Foreigner are mixed bands.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 01:55 (twenty years ago)

Fleetwood Mac weren't originally. And they sounded just as American back then, just in a different way.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 02:31 (twenty years ago)

Hell, America was originally British, but I was making reference to the version of Fleetwood Mac that most people would recognize.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 02:36 (twenty years ago)

Hear that? RecogniZe.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 02:36 (twenty years ago)

Didn't Peter Green (original Mac) and John Mayall sing in British accents? They sure don't sound Amurricun to this old boy.

― lovebug starski (lovebug starski), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 02:40 (twenty years ago)

JOSIE'S ON A VACATION FAR AWAY
COME AROUND AND TALK IT OVER ...

(ps: i win!)

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 03:13 (twenty years ago)

that was the outfield, lest we forget

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 03:13 (twenty years ago)

The version of Fleetwood Mac that "most people" would recognise/recognize was still three-fifths British, which in a democracy is a majority, so...

― David A. (Davant), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 08:41 (twenty years ago)

...that version still sounded American, yes?

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 10:21 (twenty years ago)

green garside
busted

― lukey (Lukey G), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 10:36 (twenty years ago)

John Carter in any of his various guises (i.e. Carter-Lewis, Ivy League, Flowerpot Men, Kincade, First Class etc.).

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 10:43 (twenty years ago)

..that version still sounded American, yes?

I'm really not wanting to be argumentative here, but no. I first heard Rumours (note spelling!) when I lived in England, and we'd always known of them as a British (the instrumental "Albatross" was one of their top twenty hits, and I seem to remember that Santana's "Black Magic Woman" was originally a FM song) predominantly blues band. The version that imported Buckingham and Nicks was thought of, by us, in that time and place, as precisely that -- an English band who decided to import a couple of Yank hippies, resulting in mad psychodrama. What the fuck had happened to that Peter Green dude I had no idea, I was just a kid, but in terms of awareness and sound, they were definitely thought of as more English than American. As for hindsight, that's different. Buckingham's influence was great. Nicks's voice kicks ass (arse). But overall, it sounds like perhaps the most overtly transatlantic pop music ever recorded. So, a perfect amalgam of both cultures, then.

― David A. (Davant), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 10:51 (twenty years ago)

swervedriver

― cb, Tuesday, 15 March 2005 11:26 (twenty years ago)

lloyd cole. he even left england for new york.

― alex in mainhattan (alex63), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 11:56 (twenty years ago)

I always though Ash sounded quite American, but they're Irish too aren't they?

― kate/thank you friendly cloud (papa november), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 12:02 (twenty years ago)

green garside

Disagree. He had more in common with early 80s English funk/pop acts such as ABC, Culture Club etc. than he had with black American acts from the same era.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 12:07 (twenty years ago)

Radiohead circa "Creep"

― Mr. Snrub (Mr. Snrub), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 12:37 (twenty years ago)

green garside
Disagree. He had more in common with early 80s English funk/pop acts such as ABC, Culture Club etc. than he had with black American acts from the same era.

- Geir Hongro (geirhong@online.no), March 15th, 2005.

You never heard of Michael Jackson then?

You'd like him - he's not black anymore.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 12:42 (twenty years ago)

The Killers

― N_RQ, Tuesday, 15 March 2005 12:46 (twenty years ago)

pj harvey
90% of uk hip hop.

― titchyschneider (titchyschneider), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 12:57 (twenty years ago)

"Disagree. He had more in common with early 80s English funk/pop acts such as ABC, Culture Club etc. than he had with black American acts from the same era."

yeah, cos those artists had nothing to owe black american acts did they now?

― titchyschneider (titchyschneider), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 13:00 (twenty years ago)

Billy Ocean

― My Son Calls Another Man Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 13:01 (twenty years ago)

PJ Harvey sounds american? WTF!
With THAT accent?

― mei (mei), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 13:02 (twenty years ago)

And aren't the killers just ripping the same turn of the 80s brit sound the americans are?

― mei (mei), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 13:03 (twenty years ago)

yeah, cos those artists had nothing to owe black american acts did they now?

Yes, but they still sounded British. Dizzee Rascal sounds very much typically British too.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 13:12 (twenty years ago)

Excuse me Geir, but Tommy Steele?!??!?!!

― My Son Calls Another Man Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 13:15 (twenty years ago)

Not to mention how Rolling Stones and Animals sounded extremely English in spite of having almost exclusively American influences.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 13:15 (twenty years ago)

are the killers american or british?!

― titchyschneider (titchyschneider), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 13:16 (twenty years ago)

Well, Tommy Steele had nothing English about his music. Other than Lonnie Donegan and The Shadows, no English act did before The Beatles.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 13:16 (twenty years ago)

Terry and Jerry, The Boothill Foot-Tappers.

Now, I come to mention, they don't sound very American.

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 13:19 (twenty years ago)

Oh shut up Geir

― My Son Calls Another Man Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 13:20 (twenty years ago)

Geir, have you heard 'Little White Bull' (from the film 'Tommy The Torreador')? Wasn't that one of his biggest hits? It's probably the song he's most remembered for here and there's just *no way* it sounds American. Dunno about his earlier stuff though.

― NickB (NickB), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 13:40 (twenty years ago)

Radiohead circa "Creep"
-- Mr. Snrub

i disagree. to me, Pablo Honey was their most british sounding album.

― AaronK (AaronK), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 13:42 (twenty years ago)

Lyrically, "Creep" was very American-sounding. And it had this grunge-thing to it that made it sound otherwise very American too.

Reminds me to add Stiltskin.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 13:43 (twenty years ago)

Other than Lonnie Donegan and The Shadows, no English act did before The Beatles

Disregarding the fact that that entire statement is a load of horseshit, Lonnie Donegan wasn't English. Also, still on the geographical pedantry side, Ash are British (Northern Ireland being part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) and Reef aren't Irish (they're from the West Country, aren't they?)

― ailsa (ailsa), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 14:57 (twenty years ago)

Def Leppard

― paulhw (paulhw), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 19:49 (twenty years ago)

Quote myself: (+ arguably lots of 80s hair metal acts)

This covers Def Leppard, I guess. :-)

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 19:57 (twenty years ago)

The version that imported Buckingham and Nicks was thought of, by us, in that time and place, as precisely that -- an English band who decided to import a couple of Yank hippies.

You got me. The only version of F-Mac you hear on American radio is the Buckingham-Nicks version.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 19:58 (twenty years ago)

The Killers are American, which is why they sound American.

― dmun, Tuesday, 15 March 2005 22:32 (twenty years ago)

Napalm Death

― Steve Gertz (sgertz), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 22:49 (twenty years ago)

Some of you people have no idea what Americans sound like.

― nabisco (nabisco), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 22:52 (twenty years ago)

Also, still on the geographical pedantry side, Ash are British

Which is why I posed it as a question rather than a statement.

― kate/thank you friendly cloud (papa november), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 23:01 (twenty years ago)

http://www.nic.fi/~nallew/pics/billy.jpg

― Fa Fa fa FA, Fa fa Fa fa FA Fa (poop), Wednesday, 16 March 2005 07:03 (twenty years ago)

Foreigner [is a] mixed band.

Heh heh...clever (& 100% accurate) band name, that!

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Wednesday, 16 March 2005 07:40 (twenty years ago)

green gartside
Disagree. He had more in common with early 80s English funk/pop acts such as ABC, Culture Club etc. than he had with black American acts from the same era.
- Geir Hongro (geirhong@online.no), March 15th, 2005.
You never heard of Michael Jackson then?

You'd like him - he's not black anymore.

Oh, that's mean. I think Scritti Politti post-"The 'Sweetest Girl'" sounded increasingly American with each album. Songs to Remember sounds half-British due to the lover's rock but there's a lot of Prince and funk and Stax! Cupid and Psyche 85 sounds like their answer to Simple Minds' Sons and Fascination...it evokes imagery of American urban architecture to me. What little I've heard of Provision and Anomie and Bonhomie sounds very American, too. Provision seems as it it's practically a soundtrack for Stateside department stores.

For the longest time, I thought "Creep" was by Filter!

― Quit glaring at Ian Riese-Moraine! He's mentally fraught! (Eastern Mantra), Thursday, 17 March 2005 02:59 (twenty years ago)

Oh, and Scrits sound nothing like ABC or Culture Club. ABC's not bad, a but a bit too trashy and urban sophisticate...not enough deconstruction. Culture Club have more in common with The Bronski Beat than Scritti Politti, and I don't think The Bronski Beat sound much like Culture Club!

― Quit glaring at Ian Riese-Moraine! He's mentally fraught! (Eastern Mantra), Thursday, 17 March 2005 03:01 (twenty years ago)

Radiohead circa "Creep"

Really now?! "Oym a cripe... Oym a weer-dew..."

― joseph cotten (joseph cotten), Thursday, 17 March 2005 04:29 (twenty years ago)

Well, Green also sounds very British as a singer, and certainly nothing like African American music. Besides, when I think of American music I mainly think of stuff such as country/blues. Typical American roots music. The funk is more of an African thing.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Thursday, 17 March 2005 12:37 (twenty years ago)

Phoebe-One

And Geir, lemme guess, the soul in Green's voice comes from Rod Stewart, no?

― BARMS, Thursday, 17 March 2005 12:46 (twenty years ago)

Catherine Wheel when they released teh album with Delicious on it

― re (rde), Thursday, 17 March 2005 12:52 (twenty years ago)

Do not feed the Nordic white supremacist troll.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Thursday, 17 March 2005 12:52 (twenty years ago)

I don't hear much "soul" in Green's voice (which is a reason why I like it btw)

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Thursday, 17 March 2005 14:06 (twenty years ago)

It's quite a nice afternoon, isn't it? Definitely a portent for spring; warm and sunny.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Thursday, 17 March 2005 14:07 (twenty years ago)

Catherine Wheel's a pretty good call. They do sound rather American.

I think Green sounds very soulful on some songs, actually, but in a classic sense and not a Michael Bolton sense. He stopped sounding British as soon as he started singing in a higher register around Cupid and Psyche 85, too.

― Quit glaring at Ian Riese-Moraine! He's mentally fraught! (Eastern Mantra), Friday, 18 March 2005 00:47 (twenty years ago)

The Rolling Stones always comes up in my mind first as a British act that sounds very American.

― Bimble... (Bimble...), Friday, 18 March 2005 02:35 (twenty years ago)

What American band did they sound like?! Blues influence by itself doesn't make them typically American-sounding when there's too much else there, especially given the British blues-rock scene in the 60s.

Can't see Zeppelin either. The accent's too obvious if nothing else, not to mention the massive English folk influence. If they fit in with anyone, it would have been with UK bands like the Jeff Beck Group/Yardbirds/Cream (even Sabbath/Purple were UK). You could maybe even make a case that some bands from North America who emulated them copped English accents. At least someone like Freddy Mercury didn't sing in as obvious an English accent though there may have been more musical giveaways with Queen.

What about Dire Straits?

― sundar subramanian (sundar), Friday, 18 March 2005 05:09 (twenty years ago)

Well they certainly aped an American accent, for starters. The whole package just struck me as very American.

― Bimble... (Bimble...), Friday, 18 March 2005 05:14 (twenty years ago)

BUSH

― latebloomer: damn cheapskate satanists (latebloomer), Friday, 18 March 2005 05:17 (twenty years ago)

(we're not limiting the discussion to GOOD bands, are we?)

― latebloomer: damn cheapskate satanists (latebloomer), Friday, 18 March 2005 05:18 (twenty years ago)

I already mentioned Bush.

Obviously, British acts trying to sound anything else than British is never a good thing anyway, so... :-)

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Friday, 18 March 2005 10:35 (twenty years ago)

At least someone like Freddy Mercury didn't sing in as obvious an English accent though there may have been more musical giveaways with Queen.

Queen were heavily influenced by Music Hall, and their tongue'n'cheek glam approach was also very Not-American.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Friday, 18 March 2005 10:36 (twenty years ago)

four years pass...

So I've been sent this horrible horrible piece of post-nu-emo nonsense to review by a band from fucking Edinburgh, where all the songs are about "freeways" and "backyards" etc. And it got me thinking about how badly British rock music needs to do more than just rip off American music. I remember when Bush came out amongst the post-Kurt grunge bands and were pretty much the only UK band in the mid-90s to do much, but mostly because they just sounded like Stone Temple Pilots or whoever. This stuff made Bush sound like Chas'n'Dave.

What other British bands in pop history have made it by mimicking the Yanks? And are there many US bands doing the opposite?

― the next grozart, Monday, 25 May 2009 20:48 (sixteen years ago)

sorry, typed the question and realised this thread exists already.

― the next grozart, Monday, 25 May 2009 20:49 (sixteen years ago)

sundar mentions Dire Straits upthread. There was even a Spitting Image spoof song called "UK of A" or something.

The Monkees did have Davy Jones, a real live Britisher, but on the other hand they were styled after British Invasion bands and probably still would have been had someone else been cast in Jones' place.

― snoball, Monday, 25 May 2009 21:03 (sixteen years ago)

we have back yards in sheffield, fwiw.

― caek, Monday, 25 May 2009 21:17 (sixteen years ago)

― Eazy, Monday, 25 May 2009 21:22 (sixteen years ago)

British band sure, but Errol Brown's from Jamaica.

― everything, Monday, 25 May 2009 21:33 (sixteen years ago)

This thread is arse. Or is that ass.

― ecuador_with_a_c, Monday, 25 May 2009 23:02 (sixteen years ago)

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