Are there any English bands which don't sound "English" or address the subject of Englishness?

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One reason I've not been contributing too much to the other thread is that I think almost any band from England has something of 'Englishness' about it.

― Tom (Groke), Friday, 13 September 2002 10:21 (twenty-three years ago)

blur. the jam. the kinks.

neil landstrumm. christian vogel. surgeon

― gareth (gareth), Friday, 13 September 2002 10:30 (twenty-three years ago)

obviously the first 3 address englishness. but they do not sound english. the second 3 don't address englishness either, but perhaps do not attempt to

― gareth (gareth), Friday, 13 September 2002 10:31 (twenty-three years ago)

Bush?

― dave q, Friday, 13 September 2002 10:33 (twenty-three years ago)

the clash

― haha (mark s), Friday, 13 September 2002 10:34 (twenty-three years ago)

Def Leppard - oh wait, Joe Elliot can't sing, scratch that one

― dave q, Friday, 13 September 2002 10:34 (twenty-three years ago)

I'm not sure Roxy Music could have come from anywhere but England, but to me they sound something like an international pop.

― Tim (Tim), Friday, 13 September 2002 10:36 (twenty-three years ago)

the Soft Boys?

― jel -- (jel), Friday, 13 September 2002 10:38 (twenty-three years ago)

Autechre.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Friday, 13 September 2002 10:43 (twenty-three years ago)

In what way don't Blur the Jam or the Kinks not sound English? Blur and the Kinks even quote from Music Hall traditions - you don't get more native English popular music than that.

Tom, did something go awry with my first reply to this? I thought it was posted ok.

― jon (jon), Friday, 13 September 2002 11:11 (twenty-three years ago)

So Solid Crew

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Friday, 13 September 2002 11:13 (twenty-three years ago)

Jon - never saw yr reply.

Dom - SSC sound very English, unless London suddenly isn't part of England.

― Tom (Groke), Friday, 13 September 2002 11:19 (twenty-three years ago)

It started with a Joke. Or an attempt at one. I suggested U2, Big Country, Television, Shakira, Les Negresses Verts and The Trolls. The last was made up but I think I might form a band to pursue all this called 'The English Trolls'.

... not worth reposting, except it led me to a thought - another appraoch to your question? - if you were told any of the above came from England, would you then hear the same music as a comment on/expression of Englishness?

The problem I've got is that I can't even begin to do the mental gymnastics involved in imagining Stuart Adamson or Tom Verlaine being straight outta slough.

― jon (jon), Friday, 13 September 2002 11:56 (twenty-three years ago)

Slick Rick.

― Tim (Tim), Friday, 13 September 2002 12:12 (twenty-three years ago)

That one dirty Slick Rick song I downloaded has a very English sensibility - it's the most courteous and genteel hip-hop song about anal sex I've ever heard!

― Tom (Groke), Friday, 13 September 2002 12:18 (twenty-three years ago)

That was me being flip and rubbish earlier on.

Honest answer: Scratch Perverts.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Friday, 13 September 2002 12:21 (twenty-three years ago)

There was a Swedish teen-pop band called "Troll" though...

― Siegbran Hetteson (eofor), Friday, 13 September 2002 12:40 (twenty-three years ago)

The Outfield

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 13 September 2002 12:42 (twenty-three years ago)

Led Zeppelin almost.

― James Blount (James Blount), Friday, 13 September 2002 12:52 (twenty-three years ago)

Led Zeppelin is English but that was *erased* by the Americans. (Somehow that doesn't sound right.) It all depends on the ears of the listener. To me Sugababes don't sound very English (or maybe - they try to sound American) but that could be because I don't get the *cues*.

― nathalie (nathalie), Friday, 13 September 2002 13:02 (twenty-three years ago)

In what way don't Blur the Jam or the Kinks not sound English? Blur and the Kinks even quote from Music Hall traditions - you don't get more native English popular music than that.

well, its a spin off from the other thread. these bands sound like 'england', not england. its an england i have seen on television a few times, but i have never been there or seen it

― gareth (gareth), Friday, 13 September 2002 13:09 (twenty-three years ago)

I think the Jam sound just like bits of the Arndale Britain stuff you've (excellently) covered, Gareth.

― Tim (Tim), Friday, 13 September 2002 13:16 (twenty-three years ago)

Fleetwood Mac (late 70's edition).

― James Blount (James Blount), Friday, 13 September 2002 13:24 (twenty-three years ago)

re led zep -
I once found Stairway to Heaven on the karaoke machine in a small city in China. I couldn't believe my luck and put it on. We were in a private 'banqueting room' that was done up in a fake European style - baroque fake plasterwork; reproduction of the Haywain over a plastic fireplace.

it was one of those moments when everything just seems right. I certainly believed the songs ounded English then. it had a deeply relevant private meaning, and hardly anything in the lyric would have made the faintest sense even if translated. A spring clean for the may queen, indeed.

there was a lot of shoegazing while the karaoke did a fully synthesied version of the long instrumental bit in the middle ...

― jon (jon), Friday, 13 September 2002 13:52 (twenty-three years ago)

Foghat

― Arthur (Arthur), Friday, 13 September 2002 15:38 (twenty-three years ago)

unless pronounced "fuffet"

― mark s (mark s), Friday, 13 September 2002 15:40 (twenty-three years ago)

How so the Soft Boys not sound British?!?!

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 13 September 2002 17:11 (twenty-three years ago)

Red Monkey

― donut bitch (donut), Friday, 13 September 2002 17:27 (twenty-three years ago)

Liverpool's Lllllladytron... (as I will always remember them, seen as how the first time I heard Playgirl was one of those weeks when the Session in The Nations people sat in for Lamacq - this was how Huw Stevens introduced it. Many monrings on the tube, it'd come round and I'd chuckle. This is all for another time, though.)

― Mr Swygart (mrswygart), Friday, 13 September 2002 19:41 (twenty-three years ago)

red monkey are extremely english sounding (crass / gang of four???) and I'm sure address the subject somewhere even if from an obtuse point of view.
that horrible fucking pop punk shite Trucks don't seem to either wnat to sound anything other than southern californian and probably address the subject of burritos and 3/4 length shorts more than the union jack.

― simon 803 (simon 803), Friday, 13 September 2002 20:21 (twenty-three years ago)

What about a lot of these post-Beck style bands - Delakota, Delta et al?

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Saturday, 14 September 2002 10:25 (twenty-three years ago)

― Gen (Gen), Saturday, 14 September 2002 12:25 (twenty-three years ago)

It could be argued that late 70s Fleetwood Mac didn't sound English because they'd become a California band by then.

I'll say maybe the Stones, because (1) their influences were so overwhelmingly American, (2) Jagger affected somewhat of a faux-Southern drawl and (although this doesn't have as much to do with the question) (3) their influence has been more acute in the States than in the UK, as far as I can see.

Also, maybe Sabbath for reasons 1 and 3.

― wl, Saturday, 14 September 2002 15:38 (twenty-three years ago)

No, A sound like Def Leppard...

― Mr Swygart (mrswygart), Saturday, 14 September 2002 17:01 (twenty-three years ago)

I don't even like the Stones much, but I think WL reads them wrong

― robin carmody (robin carmody), Saturday, 14 September 2002 17:27 (twenty-three years ago)

A don't address the subject of Englishness, though. Thei whole ethos is to sound as American as possible and pick up on the post-nu-metal crowd. They reference Palm Springs on their album and they're from Essex etc.

― Gen (Gen), Saturday, 14 September 2002 18:23 (twenty-three years ago)

Not so sure about that. Their whole Manga-obsession stuff (from the days of 'A vs. Monkey Kong') is very English teenage boy style - plus which, would a band from anywhere other than England have named an album How Ace Are Buildings?

― Mr Swygart (mrswygart), Saturday, 14 September 2002 19:17 (twenty-three years ago)

Their whole Manga-obsession stuff (from the days of 'A vs. Monkey Kong') is very English teenage boy style

Actually, that's just typical of teenage boys in general.

A don't address the subject of Englishness, though. Thei whole ethos is to sound as American as possible

Therefore subconciously adressing the subject of Englishness (loss of national idenity in an Americanized society- just like Blur, only they either don't realise it or actually enjoy it)

― Daniel_Rf, Saturday, 14 September 2002 20:28 (twenty-three years ago)

I think WL reads them wrong

Enlighten me. I was just throwing something out there -- more towards them not sounding British than them not addressing British issues.

― wl (wl), Saturday, 14 September 2002 23:32 (twenty-three years ago)

OK, so I'm still kinda curious about how I misread the Stones. This is where I don't act defensive no matter what.

― wl (wl), Monday, 16 September 2002 18:26 (twenty-three years ago)

Can't speak for Robin but surely loads of the Stones' softer stuff - Lady Jane, Their Satanic Majesties..., Ruby Tuesday - sounds very very English. The stuff people think of when they say 'Stones' might not (I don't listen to them so I don't know) but they've explored Englishness at some point in their career certainly.

― Tom (Groke), Monday, 16 September 2002 18:30 (twenty-three years ago)

they've explored Englishness at some point in their career certainly

Thanks for that. I was definitely thinking more along the lines of their more rocking or blues/country-oriented stuff.

― wl (wl), Monday, 16 September 2002 20:14 (twenty-three years ago)

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