bands/artists that sound too 'american' for british ears

I'm wanting to say I have the same problem in reverse, though I'm struggling to think of anything too British. Some metal I find too European, but that's not quite the topic, is it...

Don't believe there's any such thing as "too American for British ears"

Steve Earle

There's a particular twee American indie vocal style I can't stand - like that guy from Postal Service or The Polyphonic Spree.

There's a particular twee American indie vocal style I can't stand - like that guy from Postal Service or The Polyphonic Spree.
I live in my own private bubble, has this gone away yet?

I used to tell people I had a guilty little soft spot for early Death Cab, that is until I listened to it again for the first time in I don't know how many years. As it turns out, I'm a big fat liar.

Kid Rock?

Billy Ray Cyrus?

That's not too American, that's just too crap

Did Grand Funk hit over there?

Spoon. Well-liked in the US, way too American for anyone in Britain to muster up more than passing indiffernce.

Did Grand Funk hit over there?

No. I think we had Status Quo instead.

Garth Brooks, Dixie Chicks etc. could never have been big in UK.

Dave Matthews Band : Name Your Reasons Why They Are So Bad & Hated.

Bob Seger, especially with lyrics like this:

It's like a full force gale
An American Storm
You're buried far beneath a mountain of cold
And you never get warm
It's like a wall of mirrors
You charge `em at full speed
You cover up - you hear the shattering glass
But you never bleed
You never feel the need

Some American artists have roughly equivalent British ones who hoover up their potential audience.

I'm sure Bob Seger sold plenty of records in the UK

We had a thread about US acts that didn't make it in the UK (and vice versa) didn't we? Although that's not the same as sounding too "American" of course.

I think Garth Brooks is actually really popular in the UK. Fuck knows why though.

http://cache.viewimages.com/xc/1924619.jpg?v=1&c=ViewImages&k=2&d=17A4AD9FDB9CF19390335F8FA9CA92A6DEDF0772F60782489930FDCFC4C15FBB

He's not popular on any continent

He's not popular on any continent
What a funny claim.

Many a true word spoken in jest

Steve Earle

when i lived in manchester, a local irish folk-rock band used to do "johnny come lately" a lot, and one or two other earle songs. and the proclaimers did a nice version of "my old friend the blues."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/graphics/2006/09/05/ufnpap05pa.jpg

2 Garth Brooks In Pieces Feb 1994
11 Garth Brooks The Hits Dec 1994
22 Garth Brooks Fresh Horses Dec 1995
34 Garth Brooks Sevens Dec 1997

A lot of yr generic 90s massive selling post-grunge or AOR rock never makes it over here at all, Hoobstank, Hootie & The Blowfish, Matchbox 20, Creed, Dave Matthews etc etc.

Also Wilco, boring critical consensus pick in the States, largely ignored over here.

94 = the year jungle country blew up

I once swapped the Wikipedia sites for Crooks and Brooks, lasted a good day or so.

Also BUSH and SPACEHOG. Lol irony.

Eddie Money... Eddie Rabbit... Eddies in general

http://www.bbc.co.uk/insideout/yorkslincs/series7/i/eddie_waring_203.jpg

^^^ Twat

Eddie from Maiden is pretty big in the Ould Sod though.

"Hoobstank, Hootie & The Blowfish, Matchbox 20, Creed, Dave Matthews etc etc"

Youre lucky, that shit blows.

Are RHCP big over there? They seem quintissentially American.

What's up with Eddie W? "Oh, the poor lad..." (xp)

Are RHCP big over there? They seem quintissentially American.

I suspect they might even be bigger over here than in the US!

Are RHCP big over there? They seem quintissentially American.

They're massive here.

oops, xpost

Dave Matthews Band.

My friends, back when I was about 15 / 16, used to think I didn't like any music that was "too American". This wasn't the case at all; I just didn't like Pearl Jam and did like Primal Scream.

phish?

Also Wilco, boring critical consensus pick in the States, largely ignored over here.

-- Matt DC, Thursday, January 10, 2008 3:27 PM (10 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

cf pavement

And The Grateful Dead?

"They're massive here."

Didn't know that. Interesting. They're huge here too, obviously.

triple xpost

Interestingly I do like Pavement, Wilco, and Spoon.

Yeah, RHCP are fucking huge in the UK< disgustingly so.

I thought the Dead were popular there.

Smashing Pumpkins were considered the poster boys for this phenomenon by the British press right at the height of Britpop, they kind of ignored the fact they were pretty big over here as well.

I once swapped the Wikipedia sites for Crooks and Brooks, lasted a good day or so.

I used to do this with Marit Larsen and Martin Laursen. I think they thought I was stupid but well-intentioned.

I've never heard Pavement!

To be fair, LOADS of Pitchfork indie falls into this category.

People in the United States like Spoon?

I've never even heard of Spoon

Pavement were pretty big here years ago, way before Pitchfork or the internet. They were one of the main reasons I went to Reading Festival in about 91 or 92.

they didn't get in the top 40 till they got a push when blur's 'blur' came out.

has there been a massive hip-hop artist since Master P that just hasn't made any real impact Britside at all?

has there been a massive hip-hop artist since Master P that just hasn't made any real impact Britside at all?

-- blueski, Thursday, January 10, 2008 8:59 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

um ALL OF THEM!

hip-hop sells pretty badly here, no?

Who the hell is listening to Scissor Sisters?

A lot of Norwegians, for starters. "I Don't Feel Like Dancing" spent around half a year in the Top 20 singles here.

there's a guy on a S. London tram that makes a fortune selling hip-hop...

has there been a massive hip-hop artist since Master P that just hasn't made any real impact Britside at all?

-- blueski, Thursday, 10 January 2008 20:59 (16 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

Mims, T-Pain, Rich Boy, every single Southern rapper...

way up at the top:

There's a particular twee American indie vocal style I can't stand - like that guy from Postal Service or The Polyphonic Spree.

Perhaps I should've specified US rappers huge at home but no top 40 hits in the UK.

There's a particular twee American indie vocal style I can't stand - like that guy from Postal Service or The Polyphonic Spree.

But it isn't the vocal style that is twee, it is the genre. The vocal style I would say isn't particularly twee at all - influenced by Neil Young, not hitting the notes properly= not very twee to me.

I don't like that vocal style myself either. Flaming Lips and Grandaddy would have been better with more "normal" singing voices.

Postal Service/Polyphonic Spree are not twee (the genre)! Geir doesn't know what he's talking about shock...

I *liked* Tripping Daisy!!!

jeez, i grew up in the northeast - maine, to be exact - and the only thing bigger than country up here is, well... nothing.

If you were born and raised in the Northeast, country music and shit like Lynyrd Skynrd is pretty exotic.

I'm not sure if Buffalo counts as the NE but it's NY state and I don't get this impression at all. I graded 3 different papers on Skynyrd songs last summer.

I'd always assumed Pavement were bigger in the UK than in the US, actually.

What about Boston/Styx/Kansas/Journey/REO Speedwagon-type stuff? Never figured that that was as big in the UK (considering that Boston is among the 10-20 best-selling albums ever in the US IIRC).

(I've no doubt, mind you, that Bosnywash culture is different from upstate NY culture.)

What about Creedence?

yeah, country music is huge in any rural part of the US, including the rural parts of the Northeast/New England

there are no country radio stations in NYC,

not any more, at least. and assuming you don't count the country ('country') that gets played on WFUV.

So my question here is: what is "America"?

"Europe," but shinier and newer

I think this comes down first to accent and differing conceptions of the pastoral.

and the suburb

is RHCP big because of how denatured Kiedis' voice is?

ie he almost sounds britishes?

Los Lobos

Elvis

;)

A lot of classic rock radio in the U.S. is relatively little-known in the U.K.

Or if it's known, its very rarely heard on the radio.

Maybe I'm listening to the wrong stations, but even Radio 2 can't play Fleetwood Mac more than once a week, Creedence once a month, etc.

whines, whether Fogertian, Tweedian or Malkmusian, just don't play in the UK

(which isn't to say that Wilco doesn't suck)

there are no fratboys in the UK, are there?

no rednecks either

What are chavs? I was over there for two weeks and having never heard this term before then started asking around--no one could agree and I still have no idea.

I'm surprised no one's said Goerge Thorogood. I think he's too American for some Americans. Also, I was hoping this thread wouldn't get so objective, I just wanted to hear Brits complain about acts being too American for them.

A chav is kind of like a British redneck, but not really the same at all. Uncultured working class people basically, though it sounds horrible to put it like that. It's a hugely contentious word over here.

I think Zep sound too American for most British ears. Reunion hype not withstanding, they never used to get played on the radio at all.

No way, they've a fairly cult appeal, but they're totally beloved.

is RHCP big because of how denatured Kiedis' voice is?

Wrong

what is "America"?

"Europe," but shinier and newer

Haha, wrongest

I've always thought of Zepplin as universal in every country everywhere, an assumption I never thought consciously.

I think he's too American for some Americans.

haha

Anthony Kiedis' voice really sounds British to you?

And is Led Zeppelin really a cult phenomenon in the UK??

(How could they sound too American? Just because of the blues influences they share with like every British rock band of that time period? The English folk elements and accent are pretty hard to miss. But I'm not British of course.)

You never heard zep on radio at all. Maybe things will change with the reunion hype.
Theres no classic rock radio here like in the states. At least now theres a few small digital stations playing it.

Anthony Kiedis' voice really sounds British to you?

in a weird way, maybe. the way he pronounces words - even when speaking - can be very mannered and overdone in a way that i think might make his 'voice' more appealing overseas

Am I a bad person for thinking Californication's quite a good album? Everything they've done since is wank, obviously (though I have a soft spot for Can't Stop).

Digging my own grave here.

like movies with stars of different nationalities or with dialogue minimized, i think there are certain kinds of music that have greater appeal across the english-speaking ('english-speaking') countries and can open up much bigger markets for acts outside their home country - it's sort of the australian (bee gees)/canadian (celine dion) spot in between the US and UK. if i were cynical, i'd say the chili peppers have increasingly sought to appeal to that global market.

Am I a bad person for thinking Californication's quite a good album?

Yes

Thought so.

You never heard zep on radio at all.

That's not true at all!

You never heard zep on radio at all.
and...
Theres no classic rock radio here like in the states.
But...how did I hear Dude (Looks Like A Lady) on the radio over there?

Wait, maybe I'm too young. Mid/late '80s are classic to me.

Steven Tyler derives in no small part from a rather well-known British voice, of course.

RHCP are one of the worst things ever to happen to music and this thread is silly.

this is the same reason why Dizzee and his ilk are never gonna be hits here. Oasis and Gwyneth's hubby made it big in the US in part by slowing things down enough to stretch out long vowel sounds to produce more merkin-sounding whining.

"This is ouuurrrr country"