End of British Dominance?

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Britain has been a perfect environment for the development of rock and roll across the last century because of its powerful youth subcultures, early racial acceptance, and tendency to be avant-garde musically and artistically.  With the dawn of the new millennium, Britain seems to finally be losing its edge in the rock music scene. 2002 marked the first year since 1963 at the beginning of the British Invasion that no British act had a single in the United State’s top 100 single chart (4). Part of this might be due to an increasingly strict British society described by Richard Morrison as reminiscent of “McCarthy’s anticommunist purge in the early 1950’s” which “demonized non-conforming individuals” paralleling the 1950’s which smothered American rock and roll leaving it stagnant during that period (5).  Additionally, the overall American music scene has drastically changed.  The genres of hip-hop and rap have become mainstream musical forms that attract a similar audience of rebellious youth and people demanding social reform.  The society of the United States has also become more liberal reflecting a musical landscape more conducent with the production of rock and roll in this country. American bands have also adopted tricks that early British bands used such as using (in the American Bands case) faux British accents or dressing in a British manner. American music managers have begun to sell and bill certain bands as responses to British counterparts such as the American Blue Oyster Cult as a way to combat the British Black Sabbath. Nevertheless, Britain has left a lasting impression on the history of music in the United States and continues to produce great rock music for the world such as through the modern bands of Coldplay, Radiohead, and the Arctic Monkeys. 


(4)- "BBC News | MUSIC | UK Acts Disappear from US Charts." BBC NEWS | News Front Page. Web. 21 Apr. 2010. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/1946331.stm>. 

(5)- 5. "Teenage Culture Can Be Safe, Legal  and Still Thrilling | Richard Morrison - Times Online." Times Online | News and Views from The Times and Sunday Times. Web. 21 Apr. 2010. <http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/richard_morrison/article2300402.ece>.