ENGLAND VS AMERICA

Mr. Teatime · Post by **Mr. Teatime** » Wed Jan 12, 2005 7:04 pm

In terms of entertainment, England has a disproportionate amount of talent and contributions, IMO. With music, we have The Beatles, Queen, a load of bands.... films - well, not so much... TV and comedy, we have Monty Python, Fawlty Towers... The Office...

Agree/disagree? The music thing is interesting. A lot of world-class talent has come from Britain in the last 50 years.

Kashluk · Post by **Kashluk** » Wed Jan 12, 2005 7:11 pm

Bleh. Both have their good moments. I generally appriciate British TV-comedy over American but I also generally appriciate American music over British. So.

THEY BOTH SUCK, OMG

S4ur0n27 · Post by **S4ur0n27** » Wed Jan 12, 2005 7:32 pm

Depends on your tastes.

Dan · Post by **Dan** » Wed Jan 12, 2005 7:35 pm

I actually thought about it too.

It seems that in music the british were more productive (talking about 60s-70s era). Compare english and american prog as an example, and also other classic rock bands.

Spazmo · Post by **Spazmo** » Wed Jan 12, 2005 8:38 pm

Looking over my Winamp playlist, there is a shitton of British stuff there. The Who, ELP, Queen, Stones, Yes, Supertramp, The Police, Pink Floyd, The Moody Blues, Zepplin, King Crimson and ELP, Jethro Tull, Iron Maiden, Clapton, ELO (I think), the Dire Straits (I think), Deep Purple (I'm pretty sure), David Bowie, the Clash, Bad Company and more. Obviously, the British can generally be credited with sort of inventing English and the culture of that language, but they've been kicking ass in rock and roll as much as or more than the Americans.

atoga · Post by **atoga** » Wed Jan 12, 2005 8:41 pm

I think it's a generally accepted truth that Britain can school America, culturally.

Dan · Post by **Dan** » Wed Jan 12, 2005 8:45 pm

Yeah, there's good American bands as well, but the sheer numbers (and the best groups) are in England.

requiem_for_a_starfury · Wed Jan 12, 2005 8:51 pm

The British music scene is dead, it's all manufactured bands, you barely see anyone who plays an instrument any more. I get really embarressed when the latest teeny bop sensation tries to crack the American market, do we really want these people representing us to the rest of the world?

Should never of given little kiddies so much pocket money, what ever happend to being seen and not heard?

Same for tv, reality tv brings in the viewers so that's all the tv companies are interested in now, we used to produce some good drama serial's but they are few and far between these days and those that are any good tend to be one off shows. America is now the leader in dramatic serials, West Wing, CSI, Las Vegas etc etc. The only decent British serial on these days is Shameless.

The only talent we still produce are the actors and technicians, but most of them are working on foreign productions.

Interesting you have England vs America, but don't mention Britain to the last. British by birth, English by the grace of dog, eh Mr Teatime?

Mr. Teatime · Post by **Mr. Teatime** » Wed Jan 12, 2005 8:56 pm

Heh, I'm not really loyalist at all, maybe subconsciously I am.

Anyway, I agree with your assessment. Mostly current british TV and music is utter shit, and I avoid it at all times. My favourite bands are ones that were formed decades ago.

Kashluk · Post by **Kashluk** » Wed Jan 12, 2005 8:59 pm

CSI...

Haha. *giggles* Hahahaha. HAHAHA.

HA!

I just watched an episode where they found a man with two DNA's and a bone growth malfunction or osme shit, so he had a unicorn spear growing out of his forehead, to be the murderer.

It's a ridicilous show. It's all about style, got dull after the first season, really. The same goes pretty much to Las Vegas as well. And West Wing? Honestly, I don't give a shit. I'd have to start paying a lot more attention in American politics to stretchen my attention span wide enough for that show.

You son of a dog.

Post by **King of Creation** » Wed Jan 12, 2005 9:03 pm

England definitely has got the classics in terms of music...My favorite band is Queen. I don't know about the music scene now in England, but there are some really great ones from the US that are around now. Some great films have come from England too, but I think its pretty obvious that America has the leg up there. Comedy TV shows, England hands down. But all other TV, America pretty much dominates.

Subhuman · Post by **Subhuman** » Wed Jan 12, 2005 9:04 pm

Music is the only thing the Brits can do better than the Americans.

requiem_for_a_starfury · Wed Jan 12, 2005 9:10 pm

Kashluk wrote:CSI...

Haha. *giggles* Hahahaha. HAHAHA.

HA!

I just watched an episode where they found a man with two DNA's and a bone growth malfunction or osme shit, so he had a unicorn spear growing out of his forehead, to be the murderer.

It's a ridicilous show. It's all about style, got dull after the first season, really. The same goes pretty much to Las Vegas as well. And West Wing? Honestly, I don't give a shit. I'd have to start paying a lot more attention in American politics to stretchen my attention span wide enough for that show.

You may mock but they're tens times better than anything similar being made for British TV.

Our music scene hayday was of the late sixties, seventies and early eighties. Ever since the record producers started manufacturing bands to appeal to the kiddie audience then the British music industry has been slowly strangled.

atoga · Post by **atoga** » Wed Jan 12, 2005 9:17 pm

British TV still has some contemporary goodness. The Office, for one.

Kashluk · Post by **Kashluk** » Wed Jan 12, 2005 9:24 pm

Monty makes up for a century of shit on TV.

Mr. Teatime · Post by **Mr. Teatime** » Wed Jan 12, 2005 9:41 pm

There's actually a load of classics in comedy over the past few years in England. The Office and The League of Gentlemen are the two greats that spring to mind.

Post by **King of Creation** » Wed Jan 12, 2005 9:41 pm

Kashluk wrote:And West Wing? Honestly, I don't give a shit. I'd have to start paying a lot more attention in American politics to stretchen my attention span wide enough for that show.

Blasphemy! West Wing is extremely good. If more people watched that show in the US, I guarantee that people would stop being so stupid about the political process.

POOPERSCOOPER · Post by **POOPERSCOOPER** » Wed Jan 12, 2005 9:51 pm

Is England TV overloaded with Reality TV shows like the US?

RAK · Post by **RAK** » Wed Jan 12, 2005 9:56 pm

Music is the only thing the Brits can do better than the Americans.

You are, in my opinion, incorrect. Let's see: Cars.

Right now, the only American car that I'd consider buying is the Dodge Viper SRT/10. Why only that one? A lot of American cars of this era have shitty build quality (Chevys and stuff USED to be good, but not in this generation) and most Chryslers are plain shit, IMO.

Compare that with British cars right now. OK, they don't make many, but what they do have is regularly good quality. Look at the Aston Martin DB9. That's a good car. Actually, there's a custom-built car made in Britain, called the Atom, which has 600HP per tonne and can go around the Top Gear test track almost as fast as the Ferrari Enzo. Did I mention that it's only Ãƒâ€šÃ‚Â£27,000?

Mr. Teatime · Post by **Mr. Teatime** » Wed Jan 12, 2005 10:07 pm

RAK wrote:Did I mention that it's only Ãƒâ€šÃ‚Â£27,000?

So keep those DAC donations rolling in.