Why did the world sleep on British 90's music? (best, builder)
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We can agree to disagree but how can there be "less competition" with more music availability and consumption? Practiacally everything that was even minutely popular in all these markets found some success in the UK. So you have the accumulation of everything produced in the US with the rest of english language music produced accross the world, even elements of Bhangra from India which weren't English based.
Because those don't typify British music to foreigners listening to it. You're making a futile argument.
Foreign artists in a bigger music market will be a smaller fish in a bigger pond. They stand more chance at being heard in a smaller, less diversified pond like the UK, rather than a larger, more diverse pond like the US. It takes more to break a larger music market than it does a smaller one. Hence, less competition in the UK. It's not that hard to understand.
You're talking in vague, figurative ways - "practically everything that was even minutely popular in all these markets was popular in the UK"? - what markets? All the countries you named? They found more success in the UK because the UK, being a smaller music market, is less self-sufficient with it's own music than the US is. On top of that, the UK's music scene has traditionally been much less able to produce original genres than the US was, because of all the diverse cultural folkways sharing musical influences in the US from the end of the Civil War to the contemporary era.
That doesn't mean the UK doesn't have a good, globally successful music scene, but you're comparing it to the US, the largest music market in the world, and a cultural hegemon and global superpower.
The foreign music styles being played from New York to Los Angeles hardly make a dent on the American music scene because 1) it's original music scene is robust - Reggae, for example, was partly influenced by American R&B, and so American music culture has diffused across the globe to such a degree that there's limited recognition of foreign artists' nationalities, even when they're successful here - because they don't play foreign-sounding music and 2) it's a much bigger country with way more cultural nodes, as I said. In the UK, the only global market is London, which is a primate city in the UK.
In terms of "toxic masculinity", rock music culture was probably far more aggressively and toxically masculine at the time in the US. Nu metal, grunge, hardcore punk, rap rock, groove metal, industrial, all of it attracted a particular kind of male personality, and by the end of the decade, douchebag culture peaked, with the riot at Woodstock 99, Korn, Limp Bizkit, backwards baseball caps, cargo shorts, and all those riots at college campuses over winning a sports game. That is kind of what I identify with late-90s/early 2000s culture
Because those don't typify British music to foreigners listening to it. You're making a futile argument.
Foreign artists in a bigger music market will be a smaller fish in a bigger pond. They stand more chance at being heard in a smaller, less diversified pond like the UK, rather than a larger, more diverse pond like the US. It takes more to break a larger music market than it does a smaller one. Hence, less competition in the UK. It's not that hard to understand.
You're talking in vague, figurative ways - "practically everything that was even minutely popular in all these markets was popular in the UK"? - what markets? All the countries you named? They found more success in the UK because the UK, being a smaller music market, is less self-sufficient with it's own music than the US is. On top of that, the UK's music scene has traditionally been much less able to produce original genres than the US was, because of all the diverse cultural folkways sharing musical influences in the US from the end of the Civil War to the contemporary era.
Yes the markets of the countries I mentioned - the main sources of english language music, wasn't it obvious? Well you got it eventually.
The sheer size of the US market and its various cultural nodes are good arguments. I agree with those as important variables as to why British and other English-speaking music artists didn't "Break America".
When I was a kid-to-teen in the 90's, there was a ton of British music on the radio, at least in Seattle and Boston. Off the top of my head, I can think of: Blur, Oasis, Lush, Bush, Prodigy, Suede, Republica, Sneaker Pimps, Massive Attack, Chemical Brothers, Radiohead, The Verve, and then of course you had some of the pop acts like Spice Girls, Robbie Williams, Jamiroquai, etc. It was actually fairly ubiquitous honestly.
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Originally Posted by pablofuerte
Of my friendship group, family and other people I met along the way only one person knew who Oasis and she was a bit of a music buff. Also my cousin in Chicago she was into Eurodance and 90s rave/techno. Apart from that 90's British artists were unheard of aside from a handful of breakthrough acts such as Seal, Spice Girls and maybe Joss Stone & Dido were just getting some airplay because of collabs.
In general the US-American public were fairly ignorant. None even imagined there could be a solid R&B/Urban scene in the UK spawnig sub-genres such as Garage, Dn'B and Dub Step. Was it a resurgence in US nationalism or just a cultural disconnect because Canada & Aus also seemed to follow suit to a certain extent.
The US didn't really experience any specific trend of nationalism during the 90's, except maybe at the very end towards 99 when the GOP ramped it up to try to get Bush elected. Honestly, it may have been one of if not the most outward-looking times in US history.
British hip hop didn't make as big a dent in the US market but that may be because it was on such a massive upswing domestically at the time... East coast/west coast etc.
In any case, no, the young population in the US definitely wasnt as ignorant or unaware as you make them out to be, at all.
Some of these groups were big on this side of the ocean, some weren't. Jamiroquia was pretty big, I remember him getting a lot of airtime on mtv, not so much here in Canada though . Seal, Mark Morrison, The prodigy, Gabrielle, Oasis were popular here. I thought Haddaway was form some where else, but He got a lot of play on the radio. In the early id 90s there was a lot of Eurodance stuff getting play on Canadian stations.
As far as Hip Hop goes, I don't recall hearing much at from Britian except for some British rappers living in the US. One group I remember from the UK are "stereo mc's'. Do they count as Hip Hop? There one big hit here wasn't really rap. It wasn't until the 2000s where I heard a bit more Hip Hop from the UK.
Now my question to you is, Did you hear any Canadian music over there during the 90s?
Not so much outside of Europe as far as I'm aware and nothing compared to the reach British music had in the 60's, 70' and 80's and even now post 2010.
you mean current British music is more popular ? It might be because I was a teen in the 90s but I'm not really aware of the current popular British scene and I still stand by my statement.
It might be because I was a teen in the 90s but I'm not really aware of the current popular British scene and I still stand by my statement.
You're talking from a 90's Italian kid's perspective.
Also in the 2010's 1 in 7 albums sold worldwide were by British artists & producers.
A banger like this did nothing in the US in the 90's again as an Italian growing up you wouldn't know this. This story is repeated time & time again in that decade and I'm not entirely sure why.
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