I consider myself a veritable encyclopedia of history when it comes to music, that's no secret to anyone who knows me. But there is also another thing I am good at, and that is spotting the next big trends in music. And according to me the next big trend is fast going to be the biggest wave of British imported music since the sixties. Let me explain.
Back in the sixties, bands like The Beatles, The Who, The Yardbirds, and The Zombies found great success as British cross-over artists(all with the word "the" in their names) in the U.S. pop charts. This became known as the "British Invasion". After a while these bands fell to the wayside on the charts and more American artists started to climb their way back to the top of the music ladder. More than a decade following the first invasion, the largely English based punk movement of the late 70s, resulted in a fresh influx of raw, iconic British bands and artists, such as the Sex Pistols, The Clash, and Elvis Costello and the Attractions. While punk had a lasting influence on the US popular music scene, it never broke through in the US at the time to the same extent as in the UK. However the various cultural sources that punk and new wave took their inspirations from, especially cinema and television, would stand them and subsequent acts in good standing in the next decade.
Then, things started to slow down.....for about twenty years. Yeah, there were little cracks here and there in the music scene of British influence in the American culture(Oasis immediately comes to mind) but nothing even close to the extent of what it had been in past decades.
Well now in 2007 I can hear the rumbles of something big coming our way. A massive wave of British music surging through our radios and music networks, or what's left of them(i'm talking to you MTV). Think about it. Indie music has become the new mainstream in terms of what's considered rock. And you can't throw a rock at a Bonnaroo festival or a Lallapalooza or an Amsterjam without hitting some form of a British band. Whether they be British by birth or by influence.
So with British Indie music becoming more and more popular these days, I'll leave you with a list of some Indie-Brit bands that I guarantee you'll be seeing more and more of by this time three to five months from now:
*Kaiser Chiefs
*Bloc Party
*Muse
*Kasabian
*Maximo Park
*Test Icicles
*The Zutons
