Question:
Suppose the world was going to explode (tons of people dead, eyeballs popping out everywhere and fire all over the place, children screaming, people stabbing each other in the absense of law...ok not the point) and you had to choose between the total music output from artists based in the UK or the US from 1954 to present, which would you choose? Why?

Choices:
USA
UK

 

UK. Best of classic rock (the kinks, led zep, beatles, stones) and punk (wire, clash). A bit tougher when it comes to hardcore, folk/country, early rock, techno/electro and hip-hop. But on balance I'd have to take UK.

Tough one, but if only for the Beatles, first-wave punk, new wave, and Britpop, I'll go UK. Regretfully leaving out the Byrds, The Beach Boys, american punk, US college rock, my beloved Replacements...

That's a really tough one, though. I'm conflicted about my choice.

Assuming that influences stayed intact on modern day bands (can't imagine what music would sound like today without the influence of the Beatles, Led Zep, Rolling Stones, the Clash, etc), I would have to go with the U.S.

Plus, if you leave out the U.S., rap would a barren wasteland ruled by The Streets and Dizee Rascal. No Outkast, Public Enemy, Jay Z, Kanye, De La Soul, Dre, etc.

Also, how could we lose the jazz contributions of Miles, Coltrane, Bird, Mingus, etc?

I don't care for most country music, but that scene would be wiped out.

Finally, I listen to music from the last few decades far more than anything from the 50's - 80's. So while there would be no Radiohead, I could get by. A few other reasons to go with the U.S.:
White Stripes
REM
Replacements
Pixies
Prince
Rage Against the Machine
Nirvana
Jane's Addiction
Husker Du
Sonic Youth
Beastie Boys
Beck
RHCP (some probably don't agree with this)
and the list goes on...

I know there's a ton of great American Music, but the fact that the UK spawned The Rolling Stones and Radiohead is enough to make me crown them the winner.

I tried to phrase it in a way so that the interconnectedness of the two was not an issue. For example, suppose there were only two artists under consideration, one from the US and one from the UK. Further suppose that the UK one came first and the American artist was more or less a carbon copy yet they somehow did it better. Then, by the way I hoped to phrase the question, you'd pick the US.

U.S., for sure. Blues, jazz, and more great rock than people realize. (Admittedly most Great rock bands were British--Zeppelin, the Beatles, and all the others that deservedly get repeated ad infinitum--but the U.S. has borne some great rock too. We had the VU, Dylan, the Pixies, the Ramones, Wilco, the Lips, etc. The U.S. isn't as barren for great rock music as people sometimes think it is.) We can also claim the contributions of American popular and orchestral composers like Leonard Bernstein.

U.K or U.S.A.? Wow that is tough- great question. I'll say that the U.K.'s top 5 or 10 is better than The U.S.A.'s, but the U.S.A. is much, much deeper and with greater versatility.

Good point.

This one is easy for me.

Definately America

I would take Motown, Atlantic, Stax/Volt, country music and jazz over all the british rock bands in a second. The fact that you get a bunch of great American rock bands on top of it is the icing on the cake.

I should say U.S because of Elliott Smith...but I couldn't go against the U.K, could I?

Delta country blues and great jazz are enough for me to choose USA.

More radicals/ innovators from America - Captain Beefheart, The Mothers of Invention, Harry Partch, John Cage, John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, Woody Guthrie, 'Frisco psychedelia, Louis Armstrong, Jimi Hendrix, Duke Ellington, Link Wray, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, The Doors ...goes on. It is a younger country after all.

Rock-wise Britain gave us the Soft Machine, Kinks, Black Sabbath, Henry Cow, Hawkwind and the Pink Floyd, for which I'm very grateful.

This has got to be one of the most interesting topics that I'll ever avoid. I could spend hours on this one, really.
But. UK has the seminal bands (and punk) and the more refined groups (most of my top-of bands aren't from the US- though many aren't from the UK either).
As for the US- we made sh*t happen, man. We moved through with the new ideas. Plus we have better folk artists.
And and and...

Hmm...

I couldn't give up Dylan or Joni Mitchell, or all the recent stuff from the USA in 90s and 00s. Even if it meant sacrificing the Beatles and the Stones and all those bands.

quote:

Joni Mitchell

I don't know if this will change your calculus any, but I think she's Canadian, Bob.

Well, is it country of origin that matters, or country they wrote music out of? She was on an American label, right?

Even so, I'd still stick with US. Jimi Hendrix is there too.

I could make a fair decision if someone would send me the total music output from artists based in the UK or the US from 1954 to the present.

I'd probably choose America on the basis of hip-hop and certain sub-categories of "indie rock".

I would be begrieved to leave Radiohead behind, though. I might have to wait until I get home and have a quick look over my CDs to come to a conclusion.

US all the way - American music has it covered. Without it we wouldn't have a lot of the great UK artists anyway - The Beatles and The Rolling Stones both grew out of US generated Rock & Roll, Blues, and Folk - Bob Dylan reportedly taught Lennon how to fingerpick on guitar! And how about modern classical like Reich and Glass - their music is a blueprint for a lot of dance and sample based music. And Jazz! Miles, Herbie, John Coltrane - the list is endless. Then you have Pavement, Nirvana, Dinosaur Jr. I should stop there - this could get tedious. My mind is made up - if it wasn't for Pink Floyd! Damn it!

quote:

Originally posted by Panda:
US all the way - American music has it covered. Without it we wouldn't have a lot of the great UK artists anyway

I think that the topic question just assumes that the country not chosen wouldn't have its musical output preserved in this post-apocalyptic scenario. Nothing about one country's influence on the other being negated.

I'm still set on America, though.