The World's Top Five Rock Bands are all British?

[ClashCityTele]

The Beatles were a pop group who had an 8 year recording career & didn't tour for the last 4 years of that.

I would replace them with the Jimi Hendrix Experience. They were a rock band. They were 2/3 British & formed in London...England.
And they toured for as long as the Beatles.

Then again my top 5 favourite British bands are:-
The Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Damned, The Fall & Motorhead.

And from the US of A:-
The Ramones, The Doors, The Stooges/Iggy Pop, Nirvana & Husker Du.

Rest of the World:-
Sepultura, The Saints, Refused, Rammstein & Bob Marley & The Wailers.

 

[ClashCityTele]

No, the island of Ireland is not part of the British Isles.

The UK is the United Kingdom of Great Britain (the largest of the British Isles) and Northern Ireland.

I wouldn't suggest asking someone from the Republic of Ireland if they consider themselves British.

The Edge is British.

 

[ClashCityTele]

This all depends on peoples interpretation of - World, Top, Rock, Band & British.

For a while the UK punk band, UK Subs, were half Japanese, whereas the band Half Japanese were American.
Also, the band, the Subs are Belgian!!!

 

[omahaaudio]

#2 best selling rock band of all time.

That’s objective and a fair measure.

Your point of view is subjective.

So what?

It's an objective measurement of subjective opinion.

Who ever said that it wasn't? This entire thread is based on being subjective.

 

[Cloodie]

According to business insider US album sales to date (2023)

1. The Beatles — 183 million units

2. Garth Brooks — 157 million units

3. Elvis Presley — 146.5 million units

4. Eagles — 120 million units

5. Led Zeppelin — 112.5 million units

6. Michael Jackson — 89 million units

7. Billy Joel — 85 million units

8. Elton John — 79 million units

9. AC/DC — 75 million units

10. Pink Floyd — 75 million units



16. The Rolling Stones — 66.5 million units

The Who - not in the top 50

The 50 best-selling music artists of all time

Taylor Swift, whose upcoming Eras tour crashed Ticketmaster, is now among the top 25 biggest music artists ever.

www.businessinsider.com

Worldwide album sales rather than just the US would be a better indicator.

Garth Brooks at number 2 is an indication of the issue here.

 

[Jim622]

If America was top dog, like you say, it should cherish it's so called inventions better! If you don't treat it right, it will go to the neighbours, like a mistreated cat. You clearly have no idea of European culture.

I think prog rock is more influenced by European classical and folk music.

Out of Punk came post punk and other styles, it grew.

Indie rock probably isn't invented anywhere. You could call the first albums (eg Pipers at the gates of dawn) of Pink Floyd indie rock but The Velvet underground (John Cale British) also can be seen as Indie. But it's also psychedelic rock, which is not an American invention. It just popped up when people were freeing their minds because the times were changing everywhere.

I think the German invented techno with Kraftwerk, which turned into the electronic music of OMD, Depeche Mode, etc. The Americans just used the same equipment to make beats for already existing music. The real roots of electronic dance might be Italian. Giorgio Moroder made the first steps according to some.
The industrial sound came predominantly from Germany (listening tip Einstürzende Neubauten) and was incorporated into Hardcore and Hardstyle house by the Dutch.

Fun fact
Rage against the machine was inspired by the Dutch band 'The Urban Dance Squad'

But the US has some very big Artists whose influence is still present

Elvis
James Brown
Neil Young
Hendrix (ok ignoring the experience)
George Clinton
BB king
Nina Simone
Miles Davis
Dick Dale
Link Wray
etc

Neil Young is not an American

 

[Festofish]

Dis-a-gree.
Aerosmith
Alice Cooper
Cheap Trick
Grand Funk Railroad
Steely Dan

 

[Festofish]

Neil Young is not an American

He’s not British so he qualifies.

 

[PoorNoodle]

Neil Young is not an American

He’s North American…

 

[fenderchamp]

The Beatles
Led Zeppelin
The Rolling Stones
Pink Floyd
The Who

???

Not to take away from any of the musicians listed but..

After thinking about this post for a bit now, and trying to describe what, exactly is wrong with this idea, I think this.

The category itself "rock band" is the problem. Rock bands became a popular concept at the time of the British Invasion.

Segmenting "Rock Bands" into their own category, of course, ignores all the American (largely African American) influences, without which, none of these guys would have started playing hard rock.

What differentiates "rock bands" from any and all of the their predecessors and influences other than a timeline?

If one scratches out "rock bands" and substitutes "musicians" this premise shows itself as the rotten, shabby idea that it really is.

You used to be so amused
At Napoleon in rags and the language that he used
Go to him now, he calls ya, ya can't refuse

Love and Theft

 

[Len058]

but also turn their noses up at americans as "uncultured" or dumb or take some "yeah but we understood/did it best" paternalistic attitude like that.

Well I learned about Pop-art like Andy Warholl and Roy Lichtenstein in art history. A lot of people from Europe will agree about the influence American pop culture has on Europe.
But when you start with an angry attitude, don't expect us to roll over without a fight.
We're used to seeing the good and bad of our neighbours. Looking at cars we know Germany makes reliable cars, France comfortable cars, Italy makes beautiful cars and the Dutch make the machines that produce the microchips for them all.

When somebody says 'top dog' we're more than happy to disagree and point out your flaws.

 

[goonie]

The Beatles were a pop group who had an 8 year recording career & didn't tour for the last 4 years of that.

When The Beatles formed, rock did not exist, but they played a central role in its creation.

The Beatles started out playing a mixture of pop and rock and roll - with a bit of country thrown in. In the mid to late 60s, they took all those influences and helped create rock. Their relatively short recording career is irrelevant. How many bands create truly great music for more than 8-10 years anyway?

I must say it's a very peculiar sort of revisionism that seeks to discount the importance the Beatles. But increasingly common with the passing of time.

 

[blowtorch]

Blue Moon Boys
Ramones
AC/DC
KnuckelDrager
#1 of course is The Kinks

 

[thesamhill]

I love these threads! Lol

The world's top 5 rock bands are as follows:

NASA
Harry Potter
The Pontiac Vibe
Brunch (the mimosa/bloody Mary era)
Footy Pajamas

Anyone who disagrees is a filthy relativist.

Also, I hereby fully agree with the TDPRI membership's overwhelming majority beliefs that:

A) the Beatles had a huge influence on modern music,

And

B) modern music sucks.

I totally "C" your point and you don't have to bring it up anymore

 

[blowtorch]

grandpa music is relevant only to grandpas

 

[Kandinskyesque]

I think the Young Family are from Scotland actually, though the band formed in OZ. Still I am voting with ya for AC/DC and they ain’t Brits exactly.

It's just a well worn out, wind up that us Scots like to do with Aussies when the subject of AC/DC, Men at Work or Jimmy Barnes comes up.
They're all as Aussie as Kangaroos and Koalas.

For the record, Bon Scott, JM Barrie (Peter Pan author), and William Davidson (father of the Davidson brothers and he also built their first shed), were all born within 10 miles of each other in Angus Scotland.
So we Scots are claiming Disney and HD bikes too

The best argument I ever heard regarding a musician's provenance was in a pub where a Geordie (somebody from Newcastle) and a Glaswegian got into a debate about Mark Knopfler (Glasgow born, grew up in Newcastle).
It was like watching two drunk bald men fighting over a comb.

 

[fjblair]

Pink Floyd doesn't belong on that list. Not because they aren't legendary, but because PF is not like the others.

 

[chris m.]

Pink Floyd doesn't belong on that list. Not because they aren't legendary, but because PF is not like the others.

 

[ClashCityTele]

The best argument I ever heard regarding a musician's provenance was in a pub where a Geordie (somebody from Newcastle) and a Glaswegian got into a debate about Mark Knopfler (Glasgow born, grew up in Newcastle).
It was like watching two drunk bald men fighting over a comb.

I thought he was Hungarian!

Dave Vanian of The Damned is often quoted as being born in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, when in fact he was born in Newcastle Upon Tyne but relocated when he was a baby. He keeps very quiet about it, but whenever the Damned play Newcastle, we always chant 'Vanian's a Geordie, Vanian's a Geordie' as well as 'Sensible's a w****r, Sensible's a w****r' of course.

Alex Kapranos (Scottish musician with the Scottish rock band Franz Ferdinand) is half Greek, was born in Gloucestershire, spent 7 years in Sunderland, then moved to Glasgow. Work out that one.

 

[Kandinskyesque]

I thought he was Hungarian!

Dave Vanian of The Damned is often quoted as being born in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, when in fact he was born in Newcastle Upon Tyne but relocated when he was a baby. He keeps very quiet about it, but whenever the Damned play Newcastle, we always chant 'Vanian's a Geordie, Vanian's a Geordie' as well as 'Sensible's a w****r, Sensible's a w****r' of course.

Alex Kapranos (Scottish musician with the Scottish rock band Franz Ferdinand) is half Greek, was born in Gloucestershire, spent 7 years in Sunderland, then moved to Glasgow. Work out that one.

Knopfler's dad was Hungarian, he worked in the Clyde shipyards as an engineer and moved the family to Tyneside when Mark was 12.

I discovered a few years ago that I was born in the same small maternity unit as the Knopfler brothers not that it bestowed any greater fretboard skills on me.
Stranger still, I was reading Billy Connolly's biog last year and he was saying that around 10 years ago while in conversation with Mark Knopfler, they discovered that Billy used to deliver the Knopfler's milk when Billy was a teenager.

Regarding the Damned, our old roadie in the 90s roadied for the Damned (and Auntie Pus) in the 70s/80s.
Old Joe our roadie looked like Joey the Lips from the Commitments and spoke like the roadie from Waynes World II. His weed addled stories were legendary.

He'd finish off every story with...
"As sure as I'm standing in front of you. I can assure you that Scabies will never get a seat in my van again!"

I never found out why the animosity between him and Scabies.