NEWGUY562

Well the beach boys are one of the most influential artists of all time
pet sounds..all those sunny hits that made the kids happy..
smile...the influenced every group from the beatles to daft punk.

ladyislingering

I'm oddly unfamiliar with American popular music.. but when I think of America, I think of Buddy Holly and Elvis. They were two founding fathers of rock n' roll. (I prefer Buddy over the King but that's sort of irrelevant.)

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Electrophonic Tonic

I see how it is!

For the Beach Boys... Well, the only other bands I considered were the Doors and the Velvet Underground. I narrowed it down to those three because of the lack of good/important bands in the 1950's, those two were the best of the 60's, none of the 70's bands are good enough in my eyes, and I think it's still too soon to judge any bands that started in the 1980's or afterwards.

Initially I thought about who was the best out of those three, and the list came out like this. There was a definite order, but they're all very close.

1. VU
2. Doors
3. Beach Boys

But, then I thought about it a little more and my next thought about it was what qualities would I look for to represent my country and how relevant are they to my country.

The Velvet Underground are incredibly influential and have a tremendous, if small discography. Very much the same as the Doors, too. The Beach Boys have a vast, large discography that has a lot of quality but also some duds and misfires. In terms of relevance to Americans in general, the Beach Boys in their early days are uniquely American when they sing about cars, girls and summers on the beach. I also feel the genre of surf rock/music in relation to America is very close to the relation between British Invasion and the UK. It's something the world can easily identify with that country. And to see the Beach Boys grow into the band they became in the late 60's and early 70's and create music as deep and influential as the stuff the Doors and VU were making; makes me give my vote to the Beach Boys.

As for solo artist, I went through the same process with Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and Miles Davis. I'm not a huge fan of the Boss, but his sound is something that can be identified as uniquely American. Bob Dylan was very influential for his time and is as recognizable a name in music as you'll get. However, Miles Davis IS jazz and jazz is the most American genre of music, IMO.

Happy(,) Jack?

anticipation

fixed.

NEWGUY562

i totally agree with you on every level

Norg

for America ..... MIKE PATTON


because who else are u going to pick he ****z on everyone else Duh

Trollheart

Although they're certainly not my favourite band, nor am I particularly into their genre of music, I think someone like the Chieftains or maybe Christy Moore best typify Irish music.

Certainly, trad (traditional) as its name implies, looks back to and encompasses the heritage and shared history of the Irish people. We are a people who love looking back (though we like to say we are forward looking and thinking --- at least, our so-called government do! --- we're always saying "Wasn't like this in my day" and "I remember when...") and we're very very strongly linked to our past. A lot of that comes from the fact that conflict, particularly with the (damn) English, colours much of our history. But we didn't need the English to fight: we did that well enough on our own. North against south, king against king, province against province: the legacy of Ireland is steeped in blood and war, jealousy and revenge, and that old chestnut that just will not go away, religious sectarianism.

Now, I don't know much of the Chieftains, the Wolfe Tones or Christy Moore's music personally, but in general it's simple, traditional, usually either obliviously happy drinking songs, rebel songs or tales of long ago. It's music you can dance to, music you can have fun to, and to be honest, doesn't bear too much in the way of critical examination. Trad is not about to break any new ground or introduce any amazing new themes or sounds or innovations. Hey, it's trad, y'know?

But anyone coming to Ireland and heading to an Irish bar will hear trad music, or want to hear it, before the likes of U2 or even Rory. Yes, we have had our share of fantastic musicians over the decades, but trad is the one music form that is, I believe, eternally, undeniably and totally representative of my country.

Be the hokey!

Go on: tell me your fingers and feet aren't tapping to this...

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Trollheart: Signature-free since April 2018

Howard the Duck

Old Automatic Garbage (OAG) I suppose

they sing in English and Malay, 2 predominant languages here, although they don't really sing in Chinese or Tamil, but I can't think of any band that sing in all four, besides the Alleycats, which were more of a pub band

they also have a slightly Britpop sound, that harkens to our heritage as a colony



just some editing - in true Malaysian spirit, they also never rehearse and are truly sloppy live

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Malaise is THE dominant human predilection.

Urban Hat€monger ?

Guernsey

Um......

Well that guy who formed Dreadzone was born here.

Er.......

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Goofle

Have to agree with Sneer's post regarding Radiohead. Other than The Bends I have never been a huge fan for whatever reason, but they are the stand out choice.

I think Blur also deserve a mention. They made a conscious effort to try and make British sounding music around the time when America had taken over the charts (according to Albarn at least) and I think they did a good job of creating popular music that was also of genuine value.

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