American music vs British music: What´s better?

American music of black origin has been an incredible force over the last 100 years, Armstrong, Waters, Redding, Franklin, Green, Ross, Brown, Gaye, Jacksons, Prince, Dre, Cube, Flav, Shakur, DMX, Jay-Z. Though for those saying hip-hop was an American art form, I'd like to point out how important Caribbean-born DJs were in creating the Bronx beat. British music of black origin hasn't been nearly as influential though Massive Attack deserve a special place in MOBO history. I purposefully missed out Hendrix as he really counts as a vote for both and maybe shows what can really happen when two cultures collide.

In pop music, I'd make it a draw because America has more influential artists but Britain has The Beatles and no-one sold more records than them in modern music (Ludwig van Beethoven is still the most 'popular' musician of all time). In modern pop music, Adele has more ability in her little finger than any contemporary American artist. Two thumbs up for Madonna though. The art of the musical and musical theatre really rests in British hands - Grease, Glee, Guys and Dolls don't do so well against Lloyd Webber, Gilbert & Sullivan and the global success of Quadrophenia, We Will Rock You and so on.

Rock n Roll is also definitely won by Britain - The Eagles, Metallica, Guns n Roses, Aerosmith and Bon Jovi all contribute but find themselves ultimately outgunned by the Stones, Led Zep, Queen, Who, Floyd, Muse, Depeche Mode, they win it fine and well without having to steal U2 from the Irish. Punk is won easily by the British - every American punk band I have ever heard (including the Dolls and the Ramones) just sound like pretenders the second you start playing Never Mind the Bollocks, not to mention the Clash, Subs, Stranglers.... Grunge is equalled by British Indie music scene - for every Nirvana and Pearl Jam, you could call an Oasis, Primal Scream, Stone Roses or Blur.

America wins lounge acts and classic crooners back in the day with Sinatra, Dean Martin, though Tom Jones, Shirley Bassey and more recently, Amy Winehouse give half an answer. I haven't discussed country music as I don't like it but it seems to sell pretty well. In a similar respect, America has no real answer to the Mod scene.

If we look at straight sales, American music has been approximately twice as successful but it is a 5 times larger internal market that suffers from cultural isolationism and often ill-educated consumers. Such domination of their own internal market actually accounts for the majority of those extra sales. In truly international markets, sales are around the same. Well done Britain, punching a few times above it's weight with neutral consumers. Well done America for creating such a huge amount of brilliant music. I went for Britain because sales production per capita is greater, British music is generally that bit braver and because American musicians and artists have a poor habit (even before MTV) or valuing style over substance. Brilliance on both sides of the pond but in the afterlife I'd rather sit next to Lennon than Jackson and The Bends is, for me, the greatest album ever recorded, Unfinished Sympathy the greatest track ever made and if I could have gone to any concert in history it would have been Isle of Wight.

I'm sorry but I have read some unrealistic posts saying British music is better than American. Let's look at this objectively

America has invented Rock, Blues, Swing, Jazz, Country, R&B;, Soul, Swing, Salsa and Rap.

Now answer this question. What genres have originated in the United Kingdom?

It seems as if 60's/70's English rock seems to be the only music anybody remembers from the past. Not to say that the Beatles, the Stones and Led Zeppelin's contributions aren't of great importance, but I would put Jimi Hendrix over Pete Townsend, Paul Simon and Bob Dylan are deeper songwriters than Lennon/McCarthy, although the Beatles have more pop/mass appeal. America and the U.K. shared the 60's/70's. But soul/R&B;/pure pop music were all dominated by America in those decades as well.

But outside of 60's/70's rock, all other eras of rock are dominated by American artists. and outside of Rock in general, the great majority of other genres are dominated by America.

It's like nobody remembers the great Ray Orbison's, the Marvin Gayes and the Louis Armstrong's... people need to expand their musical knowledge.

Not to say that other countries haven't put out great artists, but if you were to make a list of great American artists from the past 100 years and compare it to any other country, America's list would be several pages longer.

And please, please don't be stupid and compare today's run-of-the-mill American pop artists to the English greats. Compare American greats to English greats. And horrible American pop artists to horrible U.K. pop artists

And who were the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin listening too when they were finding their sound? American country, early rock and blues

of course its British from rolling stones ,beatles ,the who,pink floyd, fleetwood mac,led zeplin,motorhead ,black sabeth,super tramp,iron maiden,spinal tap (obviously) ,deep purple, t rex,marc bowlan,david bowie,the clash ,sex pistols,madness ,specials,the smiths ,carter usm, genesis, the jam fronted by the flawless paul weller the whole new wave punk thing in the late 70's was 85% or more brit,buzzcocks ,clash pistols,uk subs,stranglers ,to name but a few,depeche modeduran duran ,happy mondays , primal scream, oasis,blur,radiohead,prodigy,... roses beat guns and roses hands down through to the bit pop era which still rocks on now the list is endless,jimmy hendrix would not have made it had he not come to Britian,and the kings of leon would not be where they are today without the UK,but that said the us does provide some class acts,smashing pumpkins, rhcp,green day,nervana,and foo fighters of course are up there and could almost be British with a sound like theirs,but you are let down by a load of wishy washy stuff like elvis and m.jackson ,they should have their music buried with them absolute rubbish throwaway commercial junk.happy listening pop pickers

of course its British from rolling stones ,beatles ,the who,pink floyd, fleetwood mac,led zeplin,motorhead ,black sabeth,super tramp,iron maiden,spinal tap (obviously) ,deep purple, t rex,marc bowlan,david bowie,the clash ,sex pistols,madness ,specials,the smiths ,carter usm, genesis, the jam fronted by the flawless paul weller the whole new wave punk thing in the late 70's was 85% or more brit,buzzcocks ,clash pistols,uk subs,stranglers ,to name but a few,depeche modeduran duran ,happy mondays , primal scream, oasis,blur,radiohead,prodigy,... roses beat guns and roses hands down through to the bit pop era which still rocks on now the list is endless,jimmy hendrix would not have made it had he not come to Britian,and the kings of leon would not be where they are today without the UK,but that said the us does provide some class acts,smashing pumpkins, rhcp,green day,nervana,and foo fighters of course are up there and could almost be British with a sound like theirs,but you are let down by a load of wishy washy stuff like elvis and m.jackson ,they should have their music buried with them absolute rubbish throwaway commercial junk.happy listening pop pickers