Originally Posted by sarramkrop

If you talk specifically about rock or pop music and this forum, you'd be right, and in fact I've never been too keen on many rock n roll or pop bands that haven't got an american/anglosaxon blueprint on them, but then there's a huge wealth of electronic music (from early experiments to Industrial, glitch etc) or modern compositional music (something that the English are particularly bad at) that has little to do with rock and pop. Traditional folk, jazz, you name it.It depends on what your tastes are like and more specifically the degree of interest in music that you have in general, simple as that. Personally I find that the Japanese rock out better than both the Americans and the Britsh put together, these days. The Australians or the New Zelanders also come up with interesting variants of the rock formula sometimes. But if push came to shove and I had to choose between UK or USA, the Americans win hands down, if only because the sheer size of the place has made it possible for so much good music to come out of it over the years. There's also the age-old story that way too much British music happened simply because either the press or the sheep that took it too seriously felt that things that haven't changed the musical landscape as much as first thought, HAD to happen, rather than let things happen naturally. Ultimately music can be one those things that can age rapidly or aquire a timeless status like anything of variable quality, but the Americans (with its sheer number of ethnics,traditions and sceneries) have much more to choose from. And let's face it, the Americans don't brag half as much as the English about their own achievements, that's something that I have noticed on a number of occasions, be it on this forum or elsewhere.

edit - Pookie and demonrail666

Originally Posted by _slavo_

The BARDO POND.

Originally Posted by Пятхъдесят Шест

I'm so glad the two of you mentioned China.

China has the potential (and people) to revolutionize everything in the next ten to twenty years, and this includes music. We might as well throw India into the mix as well, the advancement of Eastern European countries (albeit at a much slower pace) should factor into the future of music and art too.

This is sort of off topic.

Originally Posted by Glice

I was actually thinking about this last night - I generally don't think about things on this forum away from the forum - and I came to a similar conclusion. India already has an enormous trance scene - Delhi and Goa trance, which is very different to the Ministry of Sound type trance. Also, it's kind of why I mentioned Bhangra. It sells by the absolute bucket-load over here, thanks to the large British-Indian/ Pakistani populations, but so far as I know there's not much spill-over into 'mainstream' (which in this case might as well mean non-South Asian) culture. I've heard some people referring to Desi as a genre, but then others say it's just Bhangra with a different name - either way, I think I'm not alone in being horrifically ignorant of this music.

India and China are at a similar point now to where Japan was earlier in the last century - growing to be a large player in global economics. It really wouldn't suprise me if either country suddenly became the hot spot for exciting music; it wouldn't surprise me if they already are. But then, it could also be the case that everyone jumps on Senegalese hip-hop (which is already, as far as I can make out, splitting quite majorly with its American template). Actually, in the latter case, I think a lot of French chaps are jumping on African hip-hop in French and it's doing big business. Couldn't be sure though.

So yeah, those are some thoughts.

Edit: I forgot to mention - I think you can only really suggest America/ UK as having the 'best' music if you're referring to rock/ pop. If you're into Dance music, in whatever form it comes, I think it's incredibly unlikely you'd look to Britain, unlikely you'd look to the US since the early-90s and much more likely you'd be looking towards South-American countries or continental Europe. The old rock slant of the forum in full effect in this thread.

Originally Posted by Glice

Aye, fair point. I'd like to point out that the Chinese hip-hop I've heard has been, without exception, appalling.

Chinese hip-hop .

Originally Posted by Glice

MC Hot Dog
LMF (I actually quite like this one)
MC Sha Zhou - this is, brilliantly, called straight outta Qingdao.

Originally Posted by Cantankerous

led zeppelin blatantly ripped off from american blues artists

Originally Posted by Toilet & Bowels

i've seen those bhangra clun night posters (or at least that's what i presume they are) around london but i've never heard a note of the music, i keep meaning to look that stuff up on the internet.
if chinese hiphop is anything like japanese hiphop then it probably
stinks, generally i can't get into people rapping in foreign languages anyway though.

Originally Posted by sarramkrop

Let alone other languages (never heard a single hip hop crew that rapped in other languages that I like) , I find it real hard to like hip hop that isn't american.

Originally Posted by demonrail666

Some foreign lang Rap is Ok. I mean I've listened to a lot of it from America and Britain where I haven't understood a bloody word, and still enjoyed it. .

Originally Posted by SynthethicalY

So where do you think innovative music is being made right now? I just want to know so I can have some pointers.