Acclaimed music and culture shock.

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Jonathon
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Acclaimed music and culture shock.

Post by Jonathon »

I'm American. I remember the first time I saw acclaimed music, opened the greatest artist list and saw Blur ranked next to Sonic Youth, The Ramones, and The Band. My first instinct was "What in the hell is this band doing next to actual legends?"

For those of you who aren't aware, Blur is basically a one hit wonder in the United States, with a small modicum of moderate acclaim. Their albums aren't readily available at record stores, and they're more of a top 50 of the 90s than a top 50 of all time amongst U.S. critics. Reluctantly I dove into Blur's discography to see what all the hub bub was about, and I fell for them. Hard. Not top 50 acts of all time hard, but I would never have become a big Blur fan if it hadn't been for the culture shock of seeing them listed so high on this site.

So share your stories about a highly ranked band, album, or song that you were unaware of, and discovered off acclaimedmusic. I'm sure many of you have similar stories. :happy-partydance:
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Re: Acclaimed music and culture shock.

Post by Nick »

As an American I knew nothing of Blur before this website (well, other than the "woo hoo" song as I knew it back then). After seeing how high they were ranked, I had to listen to them. Now they're in my top ten artists of all time and are my second favorite artist of the entire 1990's (only behind Radiohead). Without this site there is no way that an American like myself would have ever heard more of Blur.
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Re: Acclaimed music and culture shock.

Post by Kingoftonga »

Primal Scream's Screamadelica. It has a minor following in the United States (where I'm from), but when I first looked at Acclaimed Music, I think that was the only album in the Top 100 that I didn't recognize. It seems to have been huge in the UK, though. I like it quite a bit, although I'm still hesitant to call it a "Top 100" album.

The Stone Roses also made very little impact in the United States, but I've always been a fan. As an American, it was nice to find Acclaimed Music and think, "Finally! A list that gives the Stone Roses the credit they deserve!"
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Re: Acclaimed music and culture shock.

Post by Jonathon »

Kingoftonga wrote:Primal Scream's Screamadelica. It has a minor following in the United States (where I'm from), but when I first looked at Acclaimed Music, I think that was the only album in the Top 100 that I didn't recognize. It seems to have been huge in the UK, though. I like it quite a bit, although I'm still hesitant to call it a "Top 100" album.

The Stone Roses also made very little impact in the United States, but I've always been a fan. As an American, it was nice to find Acclaimed Music and think, "Finally! A list that gives the Stone Roses the credit they deserve!"
I had that experience with both of those acts. I'm proud to say I also bought my copy of Stone Roses in London, so I have the original tracklisting and had the original experience. Though I love both "Elephant Stone" and "Fool's Gold", I think they ruin the natural flow of the album.

Massive Attack's Blue Lines is another one that was a bit of a culture shock. That album in the States is maybe a top 200-250. Seeing it ranked next to Zeppelin IV and Who's Next blew my mind.

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds are sort of a non-existent entity in the United States, but he's basically a universally recognized legend outside of it. I will say Nick Cave is maybe my one love that falls least in line with American critics. I consider him one of the best songwriters of the last 35 years.

I'd love to hear from someone who isn't American about their experiences with incredibly hyped American acts. I've seen several publications (AMG, Pitchfork) cite Pavement as the finest band of the 1990s, and Slanted & Enchanted is frequently ranked as a top 5 of that decade. Abroad they seem to be sort of a nonentity.

Wilco had sort of the same thing. Wilco's run with Jay Bennett in the band (Being There, Summerteeth, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and the 2 Mermaid Avenue albums with Billy Bragg) had many American critics calling them the best act in the country, and even the best rock band in the world. They seemed to have been met with more guarded enthusiasm in England though.
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Re: Acclaimed music and culture shock.

Post by PlasticRam »

I thought Kanye West was in the same class as like Katy Perry, Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga, but he ended up my 2nd fav artist of all time after discovering the site. Also there were opposite surprises, like 2pac being pretty low, Queen being pretty low etc.

The first time I heard Trout Mask Replica I had no idea what it was gonna be, and I actually liked it very much, as weird as it was.
I feel like that
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Re: Acclaimed music and culture shock.

Post by McJagger »

Whole genres have been ignored in countries. As an American, I've rarely heard trip-hop, 2-step, or Madchester on the radio. What I find interesting is when an act is ignored by its home country but embraced abroad. Scott Walker comes to mind.
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Re: Acclaimed music and culture shock.

Post by Romain »

For me, by far, Dylan and Springsteen are the U.M.O. (Unidentified Musical Object).

Except for the rock'n'roll lovers, they are, in France, for the best :
- Dylan : the guy who made two songs (Like A rolling Stone and Knock Knock on the heaven's door) and sing like a wonky chain saw.
- Springsteen : the guy who made one song (Born in the usa) and... nada.

So, for me, the success of these guys are incomprehensible. They are nothing in the cultural memory of my country. it's a very very strange phenomenon. For a comparison, it's like for an american, in the top 200, there were 25 songs by Johnny Halliday. WTF?

After that :
- Van Morrison : who ? Totaly unknown. They made a mistake, it's Jim Morrison isnt'it ;-)
- The band : which band ? Its a nam that ? Totaly unknown.
- Fleetwood Mac : what's this thing, after the IMac, Ipod, Fleetwood Mac...
- Hank Williams : who? Totaly unknown. It's a brand of cat food.. no?

And my best "discovering" is by far Neil Young. I love this guy and their songs.

(this is humor, I don't want to insult anybody... but make humor in english is not easy for me :mrgreen: )
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Re: Acclaimed music and culture shock.

Post by DocBrown »

It is terrible living in Canada, because we don't have access to Spotify... :angry-banghead:
No, actually it is great to be a music fan in Canada, because most of us (not me) live within radio distance of the U.S. border and can choose to listen to American radio, Canadian radio (where Canadian content rules regulate to protect the domestic music industry) or the pervasive CBC/Radio-Canada, which offers great alternative programming in two languages.

What we never hear, because Quebec has a strong popular music industry of its own, is French chanson, so thank you Nicolas, Romain et al for introducing me to the great musique of France, especially Serge Gainsbourg.

McJagger, great user name! :greetings-waveyellow:
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Jonathon
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Re: Acclaimed music and culture shock.

Post by Jonathon »

McJagger wrote:Whole genres have been ignored in countries. As an American, I've rarely heard trip-hop, 2-step, or Madchester on the radio. What I find interesting is when an act is ignored by its home country but embraced abroad. Scott Walker comes to mind.

Mercury Rev is another one. In Europe, Deserter's Songs is a frequent top 20 of the 90s. In the U.S., it rarely cracks top 100s.

I also find it fascinating when two countries love the same artist, but have a completely different view on that artist's work. R.E.M. seems to be universally acclaimed. In the United States, their I.R.S. years (The first five albums) are held up as largely superior to their Warner Bros years. The narrative is that (outside of the excellent Automatic For the People), they started to suck when they "Sold out."

You look at most European lists though, and R.E.M.'s 1988-1996 material takes precedence over the 1983-1987 material. I always figured that was due to IRS's inability to promote and sell R.E.M. abroad, as a small indie label. In general, independent music didn't translate as well across the pond until the age of the internet. The Americans had their indie acts, the Brits had their indie acts, and there was rarely an act that was universally agreed upon.
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Re: Acclaimed music and culture shock.

Post by McJagger »

I'd like to request the return of the list of top albums divided by critics' country of origin. It used to be on the front page, but was abandoned with last year's update. It was really interesting seeing where certain albums are most acclaimed. I remember seeing "Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake" in the top 200 if you only counted critics from the UK and Ireland. It would enrich the discussion in this thread, Henrik.
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Re: Acclaimed music and culture shock.

Post by Jonathon »

McJagger wrote:I'd like to request the return of the list of top albums divided by critics' country of origin. It used to be on the front page, but was abandoned with last year's update. It was really interesting seeing where certain albums are most acclaimed. I remember seeing "Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake" in the top 200 if you only counted critics from the UK and Ireland. It would enrich the discussion in this thread, Henrik.
If I had more computer skills, I would volunteer to do the lists for Henrik. I remember Yankee Hotel Foxtrot having a ranking of 81 of all time in the U.S., when it was like 167 on the big list. I can't even imagine how high it would be now that it's 71 of all time.
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Re: Acclaimed music and culture shock.

Post by GucciLittlePiggy »

Kingoftonga wrote:Primal Scream's Screamadelica. It has a minor following in the United States (where I'm from), but when I first looked at Acclaimed Music, I think that was the only album in the Top 100 that I didn't recognize. It seems to have been huge in the UK, though. I like it quite a bit, although I'm still hesitant to call it a "Top 100" album.
I had never even heard of Primal Scream until I saw them on this site. I had only recently begun to show interest in critical opinion but all I had really looked into were American critics. So when I saw Screamadelica at 88 (now 89) overall, I had to scoff. Not only did they seem to lack in commercial appeal (I was/am so naive to the world outside the U.S.) but they also seemed devoid of critical appeal, as I had yet to come across the name. Thankfully, though, I was more than open to musical discovery and I eventually gave the aforementioned album a listen. I fell in love with it. It's currently in my top 100, though it's possible it's worthy of top 50, I just haven't gotten around to making a firm decision. Additionally, I really enjoy XTRMNTR which I think may also be in my top 100. I still have yet to hear an average Joe mention the group aside from these forums, which is disappointing. They are one of many artists (Blur and Pulp, among other Britpop acts) that just don't get the attention they deserve on this side of the Atlantic, I find.

Acclaimed Music has turned me on to an astounding amount of music that I likely would not have heard without the site, including artists that I actually prefer to Primal Scream, though I think Primal Scream is my favorite artist that I hadn't even heard of before AM.
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Re: Acclaimed music and culture shock.

Post by GucciLittlePiggy »

Jonathon wrote:Massive Attack's Blue Lines is another one that was a bit of a culture shock. That album in the States is maybe a top 200-250. Seeing it ranked next to Zeppelin IV and Who's Next blew my mind.
Yeah, I had the same feeling. I had known they were an acclaimed act, but not that acclaimed. I have a question that maybe someone older than me could answer: were there really any British acts from the 90s that got a lot of commercial attention? Obviously in decades prior and even today there are a great number of crossover successes, but it seems to me that the 90s had very little. Maybe it was because of the stark contrast between Britpop and Grunge? It's no wonder that "Song 2" became one of maybe two hits for Blur in the U.S. when that was their attempt at an American, grunge-y sound.
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Re: Acclaimed music and culture shock.

Post by Jonathon »

GucciLittlePiggy wrote:
Jonathon wrote:Massive Attack's Blue Lines is another one that was a bit of a culture shock. That album in the States is maybe a top 200-250. Seeing it ranked next to Zeppelin IV and Who's Next blew my mind.
Yeah, I had the same feeling. I had known they were an acclaimed act, but not that acclaimed. I have a question that maybe someone older than me could answer: were there really any British acts from the 90s that got a lot of commercial attention? Obviously in decades prior and even today there are a great number of crossover successes, but it seems to me that the 90s had very little. Maybe it was because of the stark contrast between Britpop and Grunge? It's no wonder that "Song 2" became one of maybe two hits for Blur in the U.S. when that was their attempt at an American, grunge-y sound.
Oasis's (What's the Story) Morning Glory? was a legitimate hit, selling over 4 Million copies in the United States, and spawned major charting hits in "Wonderwall" (#8), "Champagne Supernova" (#20), and "Don't Look Back in Anger" (#55) . WtSMG is also the rare Brit pop album that gets a lot of press from the critics here, albeit as a sort of second tier classic, ranked far below Nevermind, OK Computer, Odelay and Slanted & Enchanted.

Beyond that Brit pop produced the occasional one hit wonder. The Verve were basically "Bittersweet Symphony", and Blur had hits in "Girls and Boys" and "Song #2". Pulp is a non-entity, with This is Hardcore as the only song or album that charted, peaking at 114. "Metal Mickey" by Suede hit #7 on the Modern Rock charts, but other than that song they did nothing here. Manic Street Preachers, according to Wikipedia have no chart performance in the United States. Not an album in the top 200, or a song in the top 100 of any rock chart.
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Re: Acclaimed music and culture shock.

Post by GucciLittlePiggy »

Jonathon wrote:
GucciLittlePiggy wrote:
Jonathon wrote:Massive Attack's Blue Lines is another one that was a bit of a culture shock. That album in the States is maybe a top 200-250. Seeing it ranked next to Zeppelin IV and Who's Next blew my mind.
Yeah, I had the same feeling. I had known they were an acclaimed act, but not that acclaimed. I have a question that maybe someone older than me could answer: were there really any British acts from the 90s that got a lot of commercial attention? Obviously in decades prior and even today there are a great number of crossover successes, but it seems to me that the 90s had very little. Maybe it was because of the stark contrast between Britpop and Grunge? It's no wonder that "Song 2" became one of maybe two hits for Blur in the U.S. when that was their attempt at an American, grunge-y sound.
Oasis's (What's the Story) Morning Glory? was a legitimate hit, selling over 4 Million copies in the United States, and spawned major charting hits in "Wonderwall" (#8), "Champagne Supernova" (#20), and "Don't Look Back in Anger" (#55) . WtSMG is also the rare Brit pop album that gets a lot of press from the critics here, albeit as a sort of second tier classic, ranked far below Nevermind, OK Computer, Odelay and Slanted & Enchanted.
I should have mentioned in my post about Oasis as I was aware of their success here. Are there any other notable commerical successes?

edit: I also know Radiohead had some minor success, not counting their surprise hit with "Creep," though they didn't really get big in the U.S. until Kid A was released if their Wikipedia discography page is to be believed.
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Re: Acclaimed music and culture shock.

Post by Jonathon »

GucciLittlePiggy wrote:I should have mentioned in my post about Oasis as I was aware of their success here. Are there any other notable commerical successes?

edit: I also know Radiohead had some minor success, not counting their surprise hit with "Creep," though they didn't really get big in the U.S. until Kid A was released if their Wikipedia discography page is to be believed.
- Radiohead has always had just below the radar commercial success. OK Computer is double platinum, but it's based more on reputation than on the strength of any singles.
- The Verve had a massive hit in "Bittersweet Symphony", that resulted in Urban Hymns selling 1.3 Million copies, but no one really took the album seriously beyond that song.
- Portishead went gold off the strength of "Sour Times", which peaked at #53 on the hot 100. Portishead also consistently scores with the critics, though not to the degree they do in their native England.
- My Bloody Valentine's "Only Shallow" was a very small blip on alt rock radio in 1992. Loveless's reputation has driven it to sales of roughly 300,000.
- Blur had two fairly strong performing singles, "Girls and Boys" and "Song #2". In the case of "Song #2", that translated to record sales. "Girls and Boys", on the other hand, failed to drive sales of Parklife.
- PJ Harvey sold roughly 1 Million albums during the 1990s, and had Alternative Rock radio top 10s in "Shela Na Gig" and "Down By the Water." Outside of Radiohead and The Smiths, Harvey is arguably the most beloved British act of the past 30 years amongst American critics.
- The La's had a Hot 100 hit in "There She Goes."
- Massive Attack basically sold like a high end Indie Band. Their commercial peak was arguably "Teardrop" being used as the intro music for the TV series House.
- Suede had a top 10 alternative rock hit in "Metal Mickey". Otherwise they're M.I.A.
- Pulp is completely missing in action commercially, as are the Manic Street Preachers.

To put into perspective how much this added up to in the end, Nirvana's Nevermind probably came close to single handedly outselling the entire Brit Pop explosion in the U.S. The movement never really broke out.
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Re: Acclaimed music and culture shock.

Post by Nassim »

Romain wrote: Except for the rock'n'roll lovers, they are, in France, for the best :
- Dylan : the guy who made two songs (Like A rolling Stone and Knock Knock on the heaven's door) and sing like a wonky chain saw.
- Springsteen : the guy who made one song (Born in the usa) and... nada.

So, for me, the success of these guys are incomprehensible. They are nothing in the cultural memory of my country. it's a very very strange phenomenon.
I would not go as far, while they might not have as big an impact, they are well known in France.
Born in the USA and the River both reached the top 3 albums and you can often hear Dancing in the Dark or Hungry Heart on the radio.
Dylan and Springsteen both can fill great venues in France and you will never see them missing in a 60s, 70s or 80s list. For Springsteen while I'd say Born in the USA is the big album in most people's mind, Born in the USA still is the critics pick. And For Dylan I guess the big difference is that lots of people would put Leonard Cohen at pretty much the same level.
The other big difference would come from their 00s albums : the Rising and Modern Times didn't make any French list (whether it's EOY of EOD) and Love and Theft would only have support in Rock & Folk which is pretty much Rolling Stone but more passeist.

Something that really surprised me not in terms of acclaim but in terms of popularity is that in the US The Cure seems to be known for Friday I'm In Love, which didn't even chart in France. If you hear Cure on the radio (and on a rock station you would), it would most likely be Boys Don't Cry or Close to Me, possibly Lullaby, In Between Days or Just Like Heaven and least likely High or Why Can't I Be You? .

Regarding the differences between US and UK on brit-pop, France seems to be in between : Blur had a few charting songs but where not huge and every big hype of the UK since (the Libertines, Klaxons, Bloc Party, Arctic Monkeys...) were also big among French youth but never a global success.
I am a big too young to be sure but I don't see madchester of having a big impact in France... though Primal Scream and Happy Mondays were both in "the 50 artists of the 80s/90s" in Les Inrocks.

Based on this magazine, I'd say Pavement did not have the same status in the 90s as it had in the US as they only put them in a sort of "bands with one great album but not much else" category at the end of the book. Their status built with time among people my age, but they are still not huge.
I think the differences have really been reduced through the internet, at least among music fans, we get both the influence of big magazines and websites like Pitchfork and NME, and the social media hype hits us as well from UK and US, so even more than before I expect France to be a mix bag of both in terms of critical success (granted you're not a country artists, in which case no chance for you here)
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Re: Acclaimed music and culture shock.

Post by JimmyJazz »

McJagger wrote:I'd like to request the return of the list of top albums divided by critics' country of origin. It used to be on the front page, but was abandoned with last year's update. It was really interesting seeing where certain albums are most acclaimed. I remember seeing "Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake" in the top 200 if you only counted critics from the UK and Ireland. It would enrich the discussion in this thread, Henrik.
I second this suggestion. I remember going to this site for awhile and being very fascinated by such an interesting critical breakdown.
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Re: Acclaimed music and culture shock.

Post by Romain »

Nassim wrote:
Romain wrote: I think the differences have really been reduced through the internet, at least among music fans, we get both the influence of big magazines and websites like Pitchfork and NME, and the social media hype hits us as well from UK and US, so even more than before I expect France to be a mix bag of both in terms of critical success (granted you're not a country artists, in which case no chance for you here)
That is very true and an important thing.
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Re: Acclaimed music and culture shock.

Post by Romain »

JimmyJazz wrote:
McJagger wrote:I'd like to request the return of the list of top albums divided by critics' country of origin. It used to be on the front page, but was abandoned with last year's update. It was really interesting seeing where certain albums are most acclaimed. I remember seeing "Ogdens' Nut Gone Flake" in the top 200 if you only counted critics from the UK and Ireland. It would enrich the discussion in this thread, Henrik.
I second this suggestion. I remember going to this site for awhile and being very fascinated by such an interesting critical breakdown.
While keeping in mind that, if there are some differences between countries list, they are still lists of "music professionals" (critics), even introducing a huge bias with people of these countries.

For example, I'm sure 100% of critics in France known who is Neil Young and put some of their albums in the all times lists when maybe... 5 or 10% of the French people have ever heard his name in fact. Worse for Van Morrison for example, I can not imagine more than 0,5% of the population know who is he.
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Re: Acclaimed music and culture shock.

Post by BleuPanda »

Acclaimed Music was my biggest introduction to music, so it's actually been a reverse problem for me. I really started exploring bands like Primal Scream and My Bloody Valentine around the same time as ones like U2 and Bruce Springsteen. Now I have the issue of talking about Screamadelica as some great album (it peaked in my top 10 albums and is currently #12) while no one around me has heard of it. I can't comprehend how all these UK-based acts are virtually unknown in Midwestern America. Luckily it has allowed me to introduce a lot of my friends to awesome music through my shock of their unfamiliarity.

My introduction to music through an international perspective has made it virtually impossible for me to differentiate between bands that are actually big where I live and ones I'm only familiar with because of the internet.
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Re: Acclaimed music and culture shock.

Post by Rob »

My biggest shock - besides my earlier mentioned surprise that Child in Time by Deep Purple was not only not a top 10 song - but still isn't in the top 6000, is that Supertramp isn't one of the biggest things to ever happen. I don't know their commercial success in The Netherlands exactly and I am also not sure how Dutch critics rate them, but among general audiences nowadays they seem to be among the most popular acts from the seventies around these parts, almost on par with Pink Floyd and probably trumping Led Zeppelin. Their song School is as big as you can get here (and it wasn't even a single!), while in the rest of the world apparently it's just another track on an album that at best is begrudgingly accepted as a second or third tier classic. I would have guessed that they would rank among the top 25 artists. Surely, at least the top 50. No, they rank 845! And for some mysterious reason the only song ranking in the top 6000, besides the ubiquitous The Logical Song is... Bloody Well Right? Seriously, the rest of the world doesn't get Supertramp ;)

More of a minor surprise is the lack of recognition for Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, who where a very influential and highly successful dance act across Europe and did much to define the genre for not just the 80's, but what followed after too. Why they have faded so much is a mystery, though. It can't be just that America never really caught on to them (If You Leave was the only hit there I believe, but was more of a minor song around here). Maybe they're a little to eighties, but even the recent eighties revival hasn't done much for them it seems. They have one album ranked currently at 2896 and two songs at 3865 (American hit If You Leave) and 4382 (signature song Enola Gay). It doesn't feel right.

There are also genres (and acts of course) that never caught on around here, while others where more popular. The Netherlands are very big on dance, but the blues is hardly big enough to get even a cult status, for example.
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Re: Acclaimed music and culture shock.

Post by Honorio »

Very interesting thread, Jonathon.

But I wouldn't center the discussion on the popularity of certain bands in the general public. Probably in Spain also less than 10% have ever listened to Neil Young. But this only proves the general ignorance on cultural matters on the Spanish population, something I'm afraid common to other countries and that it's even getting worse during the these Internet times.

Talking about the critics acclaim (and the resonance on the people that really like music and are not only casual listeners) in Spain the influence of the English critics (European if you want it) was much bigger than the American ones, at least during the 80s and 90s. Now the trend has changed a lot. My personal "cultural shock," the fact that surprised me the most when I found Acclaimed Music (and previously during the late 90s when I began to look myself for lists and I found the Pazz & Jop lists) was the wide acclaim of the early to mid 80s American alternative scene. I was then an avid reader of music newspaper and an active listener and bands like Hüsker Dü, The Replacements or The Minutemen were absolutely unkown to me at the time because they were overlooked by the Spanish press. Even R.E.M. began to being recognized as late as 1986 with "Lifes Rich Pageant." I should say that I invested a lot of time (unsuccessfully) trying to "get" the music from that scene (except for R.E.M.). Same for Pavement, I never got what the fuss is all about, but it was a band quite acclaimed by the Spanish critics and loved by the Spanish indie bands. In this case it's only my fault (or theirs?).

About the American critics olverlooking completely the Brit-Pop in favour of the Grunge scene it's only partially true. Look at the Top 10 of the Pazz & Jop Poll of 1995:
1. PJ Harvey: To Bring You My Love
2. Tricky: Maxinquaye
3. Moby: Everything Is Wrong
4. Elastica: Elastica
5. Neil Young: Mirror Ball
6. Foo Fighters: Foo Fighters
7. Bjork: Post
8. Bruce Springsteen: The Ghost of Tom Joad
9. Yo La Tengo: Electr-O-Pura
10. Oasis: (What's the Story) Morning Glory?
Half of the choices were British (or British-related like Björk). The most glaring omission was Pulp's "Different Class," nowhere to be found on the Top 40 of the Pazz & Jop Poll.
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Re: Acclaimed music and culture shock.

Post by Rob »

Honorio wrote: But I wouldn't center the discussion on the popularity of certain bands in the general public. Probably in Spain also less than 10% have ever listened to Neil Young. But this only proves the general ignorance on cultural matters on the Spanish population, something I'm afraid common to other countries and that it's even getting worse during the these Internet times.
I'm not quite convinced of this. Music has become more readily available now and that includes music that previously would have been very hard to find. If I'm correct it was no less than Neil Young himself that remarked a few years ago that all of a sudden young people started showing up again at his concerts and he thought the availability of his work on the internet was a guiding factor in that. Perhaps I can find the interview. It makes some sense. However, it's hard to find out how much increase or decrease in exposure the internet has given to certain acts, especially older ones.
Harold
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Re: Acclaimed music and culture shock.

Post by Harold »

Honorio wrote: Look at the Top 10 of the Pazz & Jop Poll of 1995:
1. PJ Harvey: To Bring You My Love
2. Tricky: Maxinquaye
3. Moby: Everything Is Wrong
4. Elastica: Elastica
5. Neil Young: Mirror Ball
6. Foo Fighters: Foo Fighters
7. Bjork: Post
8. Bruce Springsteen: The Ghost of Tom Joad
9. Yo La Tengo: Electr-O-Pura
10. Oasis: (What's the Story) Morning Glory?
Half of the choices were British (or British-related like Björk). The most glaring omission was Pulp's "Different Class," nowhere to be found on the Top 40 of the Pazz & Jop Poll.
Different Class finished at #10 on the 1996 Pazz & Jop poll. It didn't make an impact in the U.S., critical or otherwise, until the year after its initial release at home.
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Honorio
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Re: Acclaimed music and culture shock.

Post by Honorio »

Harold wrote:Different Class finished at #10 on the 1996 Pazz & Jop poll.
Oops, I haven't noticed that, sorry.
Rob wrote:
Honorio wrote:it's even getting worse during the these Internet times
I'm not quite convinced of this. Music has become more readily available now and that includes music that previously would have been very hard to find.
You're right, of course. I meant that it was supposed that the wide availability of every kind of music on the net would have set people free from the (harmful) influence of the massive radio and TV music channels. But sadly it's not the case, at least for Spanish young people nowadays. I got two teenagers children and the music that they (and their friends) listen is the same kind of shitty, commercial-radio-influenced music that most of the people on my high-school listened to when I was a teen. Not surprising anyway.
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Matski
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Re: Acclaimed music and culture shock.

Post by Matski »

Jonathon wrote:I'd love to hear from someone who isn't American about their experiences with incredibly hyped American acts. I've seen several publications (AMG, Pitchfork) cite Pavement as the finest band of the 1990s, and Slanted & Enchanted is frequently ranked as a top 5 of that decade. Abroad they seem to be sort of a nonentity.

Wilco had sort of the same thing. Wilco's run with Jay Bennett in the band (Being There, Summerteeth, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and the 2 Mermaid Avenue albums with Billy Bragg) had many American critics calling them the best act in the country, and even the best rock band in the world. They seemed to have been met with more guarded enthusiasm in England though.
From the UK and am a fan of both, particularly Pavement who are probably my favourite act of the 90s. I'll admit I was never as into either of them during their heyday but I was many years before I signed up to this site. Pavement were never a household name to the extent that Blur are/were but they do still have a strong underground following here. IIRC, their Brixton reunion shows sold out fairly quickly.

As for their popularity in the media, it's a similar story to those above. I do remember reading articles where Pavement were often name-checked and praised but they weren't as a highly rated in EoYs as they were in the US. At least not until the turn of the decade and the widespread use of the internet...
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