British Pop Music

We've come a long way since The Beatles!

Music is an essential part of Western culture. The need and appreciation for music is evident in the everyday lives of people for it is heard in movies, on television and throughout all forms of audio media. The majority of people also choose to listen to music for pleasure so it is not surprising that music can be an instrument of social influence and change. Music is a powerful form of communication. It can be personal, political, opportunistic, and can be self-expressive with therapeutic effects due to the release of emotion.

Pop music is an important part of British culture, not just as an expression of Englishness, but as a indicator of the multi-cultural nature of Britain today. The Beatles first arrived on the Liverpool music scene in the early 60's creating a craze among their fans known as Beatle Mania.

But there are many different kinds of music (musical genres) that have helped shape British youth and here are just a few.

BritPop

Britpop is a typical British form of Alternative Rock. Melody and choruses are essential to the Britpop sound. The music these artists make is quite diverse: groups such as Blur and Radiohead are more experimental, sometimes bordering on art-rock, while others, such as Oasis and Black Grape, produce a hard-rocking sound. In any form, Britpop has performed a unique type of rock and roll from the late '80s forward.

Garage

Garage music originated in the USA in the 1970s. The name 'garage' came about because it was all about young bands playing their own kind of music in their garages.

Glam Rock

Glam rock was a typically British phenomenon, a style of rock music popularised in the 1970s, which was characterised by the wild costumes and unusual stage acts of the performers rather than any particular aspect of their music. This was an antethesis to the music of Genesis and Pink Floyd whose music was often named 'art rock' by critics.

Grunge

Grunge is also popularly referred to as the Seattle Sound and the most famous Grunge group is probably Nirvana, the tragic American band of the 1980s. Although it became very popular in the UK with its fusion of punk, metal and alternative rock, its popularity was short-lived. When Kurt Cobain committed suicide in April of 1994, grunge music began its decline.

Hip Hop

Hip Hop originated in New York in the late 1970s. The youth culture of hip hop includes not just the music, but fashion, break-dancing and grafitti art.

Indie

Indie isn't so much a sound as a concept. Taken from the word independent it began as a revolt against pop, manufactured bands and the major record labels. The idea is to set up your own recording and distribution label free of long term contracts. For example, one of my favourite bands Coldplay, started as an Indie band.

Mods

I can't write a page on British Pop Culture without mentioning 'The Mods and The Rockers'. In the Sixties the music scene was said to be split along a North / South divide, the Northerners preferring rock music and wearing leather. In London it was rhythm and blues, blue beat and ska. While the Beatles were enjoying immense popularity and success among Britain's mainstream society in the early 1960's, the first-wave of Mods tried a different sound. They adopted modern jazz, which was a style of music originated in Black America, however as jazz grew in popularity, Mods began listening to Blues, Soul, Rhythm & Blues, and then moved on to Jamaican Bluebeat and Ska.

A Mod was a product of working class British youth of the mid-sixties. The Mod boys were dressed in suits, neat narrow trousers, and pointed shoes. The girls displayed a boyish image. They darkened their eyes and wore their hair short to fit a unisex type of culture. The most popular and revolutionary band who could be labeled as Mods themselves were the High Numbers, later renamed The Who. Their biggest enemy? The Rockers.

Punk

The word punk these days usually refers to followers of 'punk' culture and music. Punk Rock was started as a reaction against the mass commercialism of music. It began in New York in the early 1970's, then unknown artists like Patti Smith, the Velvet Underground, and the Dolls of New York with aggressive lyrics, confrontational performances and anger against consumerism. Malcolm McLaren came to the UK from America and teamed up with his friend Bernie Rhodes. In London they met and managed The Sex Pistols. Their anarchistic view of the world made them famous. They disapproved of the British class system and the exploitation of the working class. They used concert violence, fighting with fans. John Lydon became the figurehead for a disillusioned generation, The Sex Pistols proved that you did not need to be able to play an instrument to be in a band like The Clash, The Buzzcocks, Joy Division and The Stranglers.

Rockers

Rockers generally came from "up north" and opposed Mods as effeminate snobs because they had good jobs and dressed smartly. Mods saw Rockers as dirty and thick idiots as the stereotype of manual workers from rural areas. To the outsider Mods looked like nice but arrogant young chaps, whereas Rockers looked as if they were going to make trouble. Rockers enjoyed Rock and Roll, and their style consisted of jeans, boots and leather jackets. The Rockers were a British version of the Hell's Angels motorcycle gang. They lived for the present, with a tough, masculine, ‘bad boy' image.

Rockers were mainly from the working class and despised any fashion. They each had the same hairstyle. Riding motorcycles was of the upmost importance, so they kept away from drugs and alcohol. The motorcycles were also modified in order to be in top racing form. Every Rocker had a ‘Triumph' or a ‘Norton', a brand of motorcycle. Their favoured music? Elvis Presley, the Rolling Stones, The Kinks, The Yardbirds, The Animals and The Trogs. Their biggest enemy? The Mods.

Ska

Ska comes from Jamaica. It became very popular there and then travelled across to the United Kingdom when people migrated for economic reasons from the West Indies during the 1950s and 60s. Ska music fuses elements of traditional Jamaican and calypso music with a rhythm and blues sound. It was welcomed by the British public, and quickly became a chart topper. Today Ska is still going but seems to be returning to its roots as more and more bands play traditional ska.

Soca

Soca orginated in Trinidad. It is a sort of fusion between Calypso and soul music. It is a lively, energetic mixture of rhythm, movement and the sort of lyrics that get the listeners into a carnival mood.

Techno

Derived from the word technology, the industrial, hard sound of techno, heavy, repetitive beats, yet again the DJ is king.

Learning English through Pop Music

Listening to pop music can be a good way to improve your English and study new vocabulary, not always good grammar though. You could buy some albums of British pop music and study the words of the songs (but note than most CDs bought in the UK do not include the words to the songs).

Some Interesting British Bands

The Animals	Formed way back in 1963, the Animals come from Newcastle in North-East England.
Ash	Irish, Belfast band Ash first got together in 1989 as the band Vietnam. They changed their name in 1992, and the rest as they say is history.
The Beatles	No comment.
Belle and Sebastian	No, they are not French. They are Scottish!
Blur	Originally called Seymour, the group was formed in London in 1989. By the mid-'90s they had been the most popular band in the U.K., continuing the English guitar pop tradition.
Coldplay	Coldplay have been compared to many different bands, however once you've listened to their work you'll realise they have a sound all their own.
The Cranberries	Out of Limerick, Ireland, in 1989, a group called the Cranberries appeared on the scene and went on to sell over 33 million albums across the planet.
The Darkness	Another London formed band. They are actually quite a hit in the US now and as long as they stay away from religion and politics they should stay that way.
Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich	Formed in 1958 they come from the West country, and probably have the silliest name in British pop history.
Dido	Lovely singer/songwriter Dido Armstrong. She was born in London on Christmas day in 1971, and what a lovely present for British Pop Music she is!
Echo and the Bunnymen	One of my own favourite bands of all time, Echo and the Bunneymen made its live debut at the Liverpool club Eric's at the end of 1978. They had a handful of British hits in the early '80s, while attracting a cult following in the United States.
The Fall	The Fall are, or at least have been, the best band in the world. With over 60 LPs, they must be one of the most prolific brits of all time.
Franz Ferdinand	It all started in Glasgow in 2001 and in April 2004 they became my favourite 'listen to in the car' band. Really good music! Makes you proud to be British.
Elton John	Singer, songwriter, pianist – is there no end to his talent?
Manic Street Preachers	Known as "The Manics" they are probably the only band to come from their hometown of Blackwood in Wales.
New Order	Mancunian group New Order virtually invented Techno. Born from the ashes of the pioneering postpunk, they brought musical beauty to dance clubs and alternative radio for more than two decades.
Oasis	Oasis go hand in hand (well not literally) with Blur and Suede as the top of the Britpop classics.
Queen	The famous glam rock group.
The Rolling Stones	What can I say? Best of the best.
The Sex Pistols	They rocked the British music scene and started the era of punk.
The Smiths	The Smiths was the most important and critically acclaimed UK band of the post punk era in the 1980s. By the late summer of 1987, they had disbanded, leaving lead singer Morrissey to start a solo career.
Sting	He is British, but he lives in Ireland now.
Suede	Britpop band Suede have sold more than three million CDs. Started in 1989, they have always delivered great music.
The Wedding Present	Known as the Weddoes, this band is one of our all time greats.

(www.learnenglish.de/culture/britishmusic.php)