Why is British Music Stagnant??

[Alex]

So I was looking at my music collection and realised I have very few British bands in my collection, of the those British bands I have they were bands that formed in the 90s or before. It got me thinking what's wrong with the current state of British music that I can't get into.

Well I have a theory the majority of modern British are 'Indie' and I think here lies the problem. I (don't know about anyone else) can't really tell the difference between one Indie band and another (Klaxons, Libertines, Arctic Monkeys etc) they all sound the same to me. It doesn't help that the majority of them lyrically are very similar as well. So you have similar music and similar lyrics which adds even more confusion.

 

[Mr. Steve]

I don't think it's much a problem of them being 'indie' (which, once they start to sell in records and ticket sales in the UK, they stop being indie, as a matter of fact) it's as much of the fact as to what their genre actually is. Garage Rock Revival was spearheaded by some bands, right? Those bands were The Strokes, The Hives, White Stripes, as well as other bands, correct? One can argue that these bands may sound alike (though, I'm pretty sure it can't apply in the White Stripes' category), and the second wave of acts that followed followed in their steps, and was actually headed by bands from the UK. Take a look at The Libertines and the Monkeys. They're alike, in some ways. And in the case of the Monkeys, they're trying to break out of that mold (Humbug is wholly different from Whatever People Say I Am), and make their own sound (teaming with Homme, getting James Ford to produce their fourth Album), and I can say it's an example of how British Music is trying to expand its horizons. You got to keep in mind that music doesn't stagnate. If it finds itself in that position, it will go the other way. Look at how Franz Ferdinand took their music direction. Muse is another band, Oasis, The Verve, The Monkeys with their third album and onwards.

Lyrically speaking, that's how British music goes. They're telling stories through the music. Turner did it and still does (have a listen at The Last Shadow Puppets. It's his side project with Miles Kane of The Rascals), Kapranos does it, The Vaccines (new band from the UK, coincidentally) is doing it. It's a bit how their music works: talk about something through music, which is wholly different from how US bands do it, though on can argue that it's been done in the States as well.

And not all the bands formed in the 90's. Some did, but got famous in the '00-onwards (because of The Strokes) The Libertines were formed in the 90's, but hit it big in '01. The Monkeys got famous in '02, Klaxons were formed in '05, and so on.