Music (written in Tennessee, the home of US music)

Music is important in life, imagine (not meant as a reference to John Lennon) a world without tunes, without lyrics or the memories attached to hearing something you’ve not heard for a while, music can bring untold joy and also extreme sadness, it's both a sign of celebration and lamentation. One of the things both America and Britain have in common is a shared love of music and musical artists, with both singing in English, they are easily able to cross the Atlantic and perform to audiences and it’s not even possible to decide who makes the better music, America has Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Elvis (only needs one name, you know I don’t mean Costello) and Michael Jackson, Britain has The Beatles, The Stones, Led Zeppelin and Elton John, both have sold millions each side of the pond, both have sold out arenas too and both have legions of fans not just in these two countries but around the world.

   It’s all good having mainstream artists crossing over in 2011, it’s easy to have access to them in this day and age with music TV channels, the internet and an untold amount of radio stations specializing in every type of music you can name and even more that you can’t.

Elton John

   The start of modern music as we know started in late 40’s/early 50’s America, growing from predominately black church gospel music, jazz and blues (though no-one should ever discount classical music, most modern classical music devised nowadays is used as movie soundtracks). the world famous Sun Studios was opened in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1950 and artists like B.B. King, Johnny Cash, Elvis (Presley not Costello remember) and Jerry Lee Lewis made records, other acts like Bill Haley & The Comets, Buddy Holly and Chuck Berry were also producing songs which are still played and loved over 60 years later. From this new sound of ‘rock and roll’, many aspiring artists heard something which resonated in a post war Britain, people like Keith Richards, John Lennon (ironic that an American killed John Lennon in New York, or was he aiming for Yoko and she ducked?) and Pete Townsend heard this new sound and were inspired to learn how to play guitar (before it was mainly the banjo or piano that was learnt on British shores) and they spent many an hour trying to tune into the infamous pirate radio station Radio Luxembourg to hear the new songs by these artists that belonged to them, not their parents, this was a huge catalyst for the post war generation to step out the shadows (Cliff Richard stayed with them) and have their own lives and culture.

   In the mid 60’s, Britain had a wave of artists and bands that were inspired by this movement, we’ve all seen famous images of The Beatles landing in New York in 1964 (The extent of Beatlemania in the United States is evidenced by their single and album sales. "The Beatles had the Number One single for 59 weeks during their six and half years spanning ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’s’ first appearance at the top on 1 February 1964 and Let It Be LP's last Number One Week, 4 July 1970. In the same period they topped the LP charts for 116 weeks. In other words they had the Number One single one out of every six weeks, and the top album one out of three). Over the decades countless artists have crossed over, though I’m not sure about American artists, certainly British artists are deemed to of truly made it once they have ‘broken the States’ which means made a name for themselves over there (for that reason Robbie Williams is a loser).

   In recent years American artists before they have become mainstream in their homeland have gone to the UK, made a name and become popular which has then transferred back, I remember The Killers supporting British Sea Power (remember them?) above a pub in my hometown of Lincoln (England) in 2003, this was a venue probably as big as the room your reading this in, it held about 80 people and was very cramped. The Killers and Kings Of Leon come to mind as bands who felt and knew they had talent, they knew they could move onto a bigger stage but felt undervalued in their home countries so tried in the UK, a country they wanted to spend time in and play to fans they knew would adore them. I feel the UK is more cutting edge in musical tastes, people want to be trendy and music bible NME (New Musical Express, a weekly music magazine) help people discover new bands and give them a platform, though America is a HUGE country so touring and making your name to a larger population isn’t as easy to do, ultimately good talent always shines through (except Justin Bieber, seriously, WTF?).

There are only two differences I can see between these two musical cultures, first is live music, I have been to gig in London on a Saturday and the following Friday I went to one in Nashville (aka Music City USA), it seems as Britain is a far smaller country than the States, artists don’t have to travel far to tour in comparison so quality and quantity is huge, in the UK, I live over the road from the famous Wedgewoodwatch through each song and applaud at the end. It’s not that either audience is more appreciative, it’s more about the energy, maybe I need to go see more in different venues across the States, it’s a perfect excuse to.

   The other difference is country music, it’s a regional thing, and it’s historically about things affecting the lives of people in the southern States, like farming, barn dances or….ticks! (Brad Paisley(?) had a no.1 hit in the States with a song about Ticks!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3tiPndMqxLQ  ). Artists such as Mr. Tickman Paisley, Taylor Swift and Toby Keith are household names and sell records in huge volume but overseas, they don’t do so well as it’s a style and of content people can’t relate to, a top London thinks a tick is something put in a box if something is correct, not some literally blood sucking parasite (I did get a tick a few weeks ago in my leg and had to pull it out with tweasers, I don’t think I can ever get used to the bugs here, because of so many bug bites my legs look like the opening scene from Saving Private Ryan). To me it seems almost uneducated and painful to have to hear but having delved into it more, it seems pre 1980(ish) it had huge meaning and content but since then, the artists seem awful corporate cookie-cutter recycled garbage which is what country isn’t meant to be. Music evolves though and as I don’t like it, I can just tune into another station.

Ultimately when people are asked to name a favourite artist, band, song or album, they automatically bunch American and British artists together, I’d say Johnny Cash, Oasis, Nirvana and The Beatles and not even think of the nationality of either. Movies in the UK are either American or British, music is simply music and that is in my opinion, the closest bond the two countries have.