Pulp's "Common People" named best britpop song.

[Syt]

Nana Mouskouri - Song for Liberty
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTo0Inuvlxk

Childhood trauma coming back to haunt me. Nana Mouskouri was a regular guest on German television.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSwKYYucyTI

And the horrible clapping on all those interminable junk music shows. AAAARGH!!!!

You know, I always thought it was normal for people of my parents' generation to like that, and Volksmusik, and Schlager. Later I realized that in fact they were the exception.


Anyways, I prefer the original, "Va Pensiero", from Verdi's Aida:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzdDf9hKfJw

[MadBurgerMaker]

Pedal Spice.

[PJL]

Going back to the original topic, the list was complied from a shortlist of 40 songs chosen beforehand. The full list can be seen here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0400kk4/live

Generally speaking the list is a good representative of the era, with the notable exception of Paul Weller's 'The Changing Man' which shouldn't have been included.

[Norgy]

Number 25 - Dodgy - Staying out for the summer

Way too low for such a perfect pop song.

[Monoriu]

Nana Mouskouri - Song for Liberty
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTo0Inuvlxk

Childhood trauma coming back to haunt me. Nana Mouskouri was a regular guest on German television.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSwKYYucyTI

And the horrible clapping on all those interminable junk music shows. AAAARGH!!!!

You know, I always thought it was normal for people of my parents' generation to like that, and Volksmusik, and Schlager. Later I realized that in fact they were the exception.


Anyways, I prefer the original, "Va Pensiero", from Verdi's Aida:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzdDf9hKfJw

I love Nana Mouskouri.  She singing Let it Be -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPSD9Bon-2Y

I didn't realise that Song for Liberty and Va Pensiero share the same melody.  I in fact have both on my playlist.  Va Pensiero = excised. 

[Sheilbh]

However, our advantage in Hip Hop, R&B, Motown and Jazz is near total.

Oh undoubtedly. Though having said that I do think an asterisk should be put on Soul just for Dusty in Memphis, which I think is a perfect album

I always find American rock a bit butch for me.

[Capetan Mihali]

I do think an asterisk should be put on Soul just for Dusty in Memphis, which I think is a perfect album

However, our advantage in Hip Hop, R&B, Motown and Jazz is near total.

But the British have always been the best appreciators of that music.  Of American music generally.  Northern Soul obviously, re: Motown/soul, but also the extreme subcultural devotion to country ("C&W"), Dixieland ("trad jazz"), Chicago house, etc., etc.  Not including the oft-retold tale of the 60s subculture interest in blues, rockabilly, hell even "skiffle."

[Admiral Yi]

But the British have always been the best appreciators of that music.  Of American music generally.  Northern Soul obviously, re: Motown/soul, but also the extreme subcultural devotion to country ("C&W"), Dixieland ("trad jazz"), Chicago house, etc., etc.  Not including the oft-retold tale of the 60s subculture interest in blues, rockabilly, hell even "skiffle."

What in the world are you basing this one? 

[Sheilbh]

But the British have always been the best appreciators of that music.  Of American music generally.  Northern Soul obviously, re: Motown/soul, but also the extreme subcultural devotion to country ("C&W"), Dixieland ("trad jazz"), Chicago house, etc., etc.  Not including the oft-retold tale of the 60s subculture interest in blues, rockabilly, hell even "skiffle."

What in the world are you basing this one? 

The examples he gives - Northern Soul which was a subculture in England of dance halls playing soul way into the late 70s. It was noticed when football fans from the North would come down to London and raid the soul shops but they weren't interested in any of the modern stuff which was smoother, more well arranged and a bit slower. They want the uptempo, often pretty brassy old-school tracks from the sixties and were really into Tamla Motown and specific regional recording studios. They were all about collecting really rare singles and obscure labels.

Similarly in the 50s and 60s in the UK (when the US was moving on) there was a big revival of interest in Dixieland jazz and obviously the Stones were originally Blues geeks and the Beatles were originally a skiffle band. Chicago House kicked off the summer of love over here

[The Brain]

But the British have always been the best appreciators of that music.  Of American music generally.  Northern Soul obviously, re: Motown/soul, but also the extreme subcultural devotion to country ("C&W"), Dixieland ("trad jazz"), Chicago house, etc., etc.  Not including the oft-retold tale of the 60s subculture interest in blues, rockabilly, hell even "skiffle."

What in the world are you basing this one? 

Free?

[Warspite]

If we're spilling into other genres, electronic music comes to mind. And the Yanks don't stand a chance: Massive Attack, Chemical Brothers, The Prodigy, Fat Boy Slim ...

Considering our massive advantage in hiphop, r&b, country and jazz, I think it behooves the Brits to keep the focus on rock.

I also think Britain has squandered its early advantage by having few bands of import emerge since 1980 and even fewer since 1990. Britain's top 4 rock bands of the 90s aren't even as good as Seattle's top 4 rock bands of the 90s. Radiohead and Oasis are ok, but hardly worthy of iconography. Considering this is a country that gave the world the Beatles, the Stones, the Who, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath, Elton John and David Bowie all in the span of about a decade, they can do much better.

Blur and Radiohead are important bands even if I'm not the biggest fan of the latter. Seattle's top four rock bands of the 1990s were ultimately a musical dead end - who is really influenced by grunge these days?

I think one of the problems these days in comparing the influence of bands is that the music scene is so fragmented that you don't really get pan-cohort "must listen" albums. When I was younger, Pearl Jam was my favourite band but I sure knew the words to all the Nirvana songs (even if I knew not what they meant) as well as all the other big groups of the early 1990s. So a big band would have more of an effect on a larger number of listeners. But now everyone tends towards their own niche and there are very few broadly listened-to rock albums. So an exciting and incredibly experimental band like Late of the Pier, who in another era may have become The Next Big Thing, remain in their hipster audience niche. I think the Strokes were the last rock band to have a generational impact, and that was their 2001 album that did it.

There's also the point that really Europe as a whole got bored with guitar-based music and creative talent seems to go into the electronic genres. So in East London where the exciting stuff happens, it's all about snyths, snyths and more synths. Fucking hipsters.

[Sheilbh]

John Cage was right, 'we live in a time I think not of mainstream, but of many streams, or even, if you insist upon a river of time, that we have come to a delta, maybe even beyond delta to an ocean which is going back to the skies.'

[Eddie Teach]

There's also the point that really Europe as a whole got bored with guitar-based music and creative talent seems to go into the electronic genres. So in East London where the exciting stuff happens, it's all about snyths, snyths and more synths. Fucking hipsters.

Yeah, here it's mostly hiphop. /sigh

Also, I'd say in a way grunge was Rock's swan song. The relative handful of bands still producing great *Rock* music(White Stripes, Muse, Black Keys, Three Days Grace et al.) definitely seem to be strongly influenced by it.

[Josquius]

However, our advantage in Hip Hop, R&B, Motown and Jazz is near total.

I wouldn't be too sure on hip hop.
Traditionally that was America all the way, no contest at all, but lately American stuff has been quite roundly crap whilst there has been some quite good stuff in Europe. I can't stand anything American from the past 10 years or so, have to go back another 10 years or so for the awesome stuff. Some British rap is a bit of a guilty pleasure for me though.

There's also the point that really Europe as a whole got bored with guitar-based music and creative talent seems to go into the electronic genres. So in East London where the exciting stuff happens, it's all about snyths, snyths and more synths. Fucking hipsters.

Yeah, in American exchange students i've encountered that. They're into the generic mundane club music that everyone is into yet speak as if they're regarded as weird for this.
It would be interesting to experience a country where rock is the norm.

[Eddie Teach]

I can't stand anything American

We know.