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Top 10 British Bands of All Time
The British have given us much, from tea and crumpets, to Winston Churchill, to advanced naval technology, but their most conspicuous gratuity has been their pop music. Consistently, British music dominates pop music from other countries without ever seeming like they’re trying. Whether it comes to pure song craft, sonic innovation, or showmanship, the British always seem to know exactly about the modes of pop music. It’s not our intention to start a war of nations over who has the best music, and this is why our article is not a “Top 10 Music Countries”. Regardless of the caution in these preliminary remarks though, we do expect a certain amount of criticism from the most obvious omission. We asked ourselves what British music we listen to and enjoy the most and this became our list. If we were to base our list on more popular guidelines this omission would not be made, but as this article is focused on what we listen to the most, we could only answer honestly by what we listen to day to day. Here then are Old-Wizard’s top ten British bands of all time.10. The Stone Roses
The Stone Roses first album was so good that they had to be included in the “Top 10 British Bands of All Time” list, regardless of their work before or after. The Stone Roses debut album sounds as good today as it did when it was released in the cusp of the new decade of the 90’s. John Squire’s guitar playing is still it’s own sound taking the best of the 60’s, 70’s and even calypso guitar sound and meshing it into a wash of color and dint. Reni’s drum playing on the record is still some of the most sophisticated shuffles one can hear on a modern CD. Add to this Mani’s funk bass playing and Ian Brown’s utter conviction in vocal delivery and the listener was given one the best gifts in pop music. Song’s like “Elephant Stone” and “I Wanna be Adored” became staples for the music listener who was interested in hearing great musicianship combined with confident songwriting. Songs like “Bye Bye Badman” and “She Bang’s the Drums” persuaded the listener that the timeless quality in what they were hearing would not be heard again for a long time to come. Beyond their debut album was “Second Coming” which was a great album in it’s own right embodying quality songwriting in “Ten Story Love Song” and “Tears”, while still being in tune to their groove in “Begging You”. After “Second Coming”, The Stone Roses abandoned to pursue their own solo careers which were all successful and fine sounding, but when one listened back to their debut album, one is filled with forlornness as what once was and will probably never be again. It’s with this in mind that The Stone Roses are owed their proper place in pop music history, sheerly on the power of their first album.9. The Kinks
The Kinks marked the first time in British music where jejune modern life became one of it’s themes. The Kinks consistent caricatures of modern life in London would go on to influence hundreds of bands who wanted to write something besides love songs. After their initial success of “You really got me” and “All day and all of the night”, they went on to create some of the most sophisticated music for the time. It was in the late 60’s that they hit their stride with a string of memorable singles such as “Waterloo Sunset” which embodied the apathetic easiness better than any song before. In 1968 when they released “The Kinks are the Village Green Preservation Society”, they had finally been given the high rank in British pop that they deserved. What was a 2 sided theme album, was full of valent songwriting full of catchy choruses and jumpy rhythms. Listen to “Starstruck” just once and you will have the chorus in your head for months. Nowhere was the apathetic London attitude more noticeable than on the title track for the album. Complete with candy-coated back up vocals and clever lyrics only known to Ray Davies at the time, “The Village Green Preservation Society” would go down as one of the greatest songs of all time. The Kinks output in the 70’s would tend on the side of larger concept albums that were too theatrical compared to the relative ease in which jocular social commentary came to the Kinks in the 60s. What The Kinks will be remembered for are songs like “Lola”, “Ape Man” and “Autumn Almanac” which were songs that never took themselves too seriously but always pierced the skin of larger social themes. It’s hard to think of a band more British than the Kinks, and it’s hard to think of a songwriter as acute on modern life than Ray Davies. It would be erroneous to not include them on a “Top Ten British Bands of All Time” list.8. Suede
Suede formed in the early 90’s in London with a love for The Smiths and T-Rex. They took these influences though and made them into something bigger and more dramatic. Suede’s debut album was full of the type of subtle sadist references that would make affluent private schoolers blush. “Animal Nitrate” and “The Drowners” were full of the trampy riffs perfected in Marc Bolan’s mid 70’s work. The conspicuously androgynous Brett Anderson fantasized about the most tragic of romantic moments creating a more a realistic vision of modern romance. Their second album “Dog Man Star” saw them reach the height of pop music with it’s utter euphony in delivery. “We are The Pigs” is a call to arms for a nuclear night in flames. While everyone is inside fearing their impending doom, Brett Anderson and his crew of flash boys are dancing on the streets watching everything burn. Bernard Butlers guitar work on this album is superb filling chorus’s with lines as melodic as Brett Andersons obvious penchant for chorus deliveries. The amount of classic moments on Dog Man Star is staggering. Just listen to “The Wild Ones”, “New Generation” and “This Hollywood Life”, and one will understand the heights in which this band carried themselves. Their consistency after the epic Dog Man Star would continue with their 3rd album “Coming Up” which Brett Anderson appropriately claimed was an album to “do your hair to” before going out. That the entire album is full of singles is an understatement. Coming Up may be the most pop that guitar music had ever become. The themes in the album were obvious. Suede glorified youth culture, idleness, beautiful people, and the chemistry between lovers. When one listens to Suede, one is overcome with the feeling that they have to go out for the night, even if it’s by yourself to mimic Brett Anderson in the “Saturday Night” video watching forlorn lovers walking in the full moon lit street. Suede mastered this sense of aggrandized romance perfectly. There are few bands who identified youth as irresistibly as Suede.7. The Zombies
At first, the Zombies created infectious melodic music like many of the bands of their day. They wore suits like them and wore their hair like them. Great songs amongst their catalogue included “Tell Her No” and “She’s Not There”, which both embodied the perfect summer quality of 60’s pop songwriting. It wasn’t until their last album though that they became memorialized as one of the greatest bands of all time. “Odyssey and Oracle” is one of the most magical albums ever put to vinyl. Rarely has pop music made a more mellifluous sounding masterpiece than Odyssey and Oracle, as many times these theme albums become cumbersome to listen to in their self-indulgent gestures. Odyssey and Oracle however was like listening to a theme album where all the songs were singles. Care for Cell 44 may be one of the most conspicuous signifiers of summertime in music for the listener lucky enough to come across this largess gem. “Brief Candles” delivered on a chorus so strong, one wondered how it could not have been released as a single. One realized afterwards though that “Time of The Season” was arguably the apex in pop songwriting. Never has their been a song in minor key that still recognized golden iridescence as well as “Time of The Season”. “Hung Up On a Dream” was vocal music played to perfection with backing vocals that floated into the highest of daydreams. The summer is Odyssey and Oracle. Little did The Zombies know how influential their last album would be. Disparaged by their lack of success, The Zombies broke up before being able to witness how successful this album would become. A magnum opus it was as this album is equally easy to listen to and full of subtlety in the lyrics and musicianship. With this album, The Zombies are a must for the “Best British Bands of All Time” list. That they were the only band to create a concept album that was always fun to listen to, and needed no “time of the day” to listen to, puts them in their superlative rank.6. The Verve
The Verve were a force to be reckoned with in the 90’s. Their music has stood the test of time beyond most bands of their generation. Songs like “Sonnet” and “History” were imbued with the exact qualities needed to have longevity in an art form that prides itself on momentary pleasure. When it comes to pure rock songs, it’s hard to imagine a band that equals The Verve. When one watches The Verve from Wigan in 1997, one is amazed at the power of “Rolling People” when it crashes in unexpectedly. When one listens to “This is Music”, one is struck by the sheer conviction in Richard Ashcroft’s vocal delivery and the music itself overloaded with a wall-of-sound guitar palette accomplished perfectly with the help of Owen Morris’s exaggerated production techniques. Ashcroft’s existential motifs hit at the listener who searched for meaning in a sometimes meaningless world. “You go in on your own and you leave on your own, forget your lovers you’ve known and your friends on the road” was Ashcroft at his best in his honest attempts at cosmic understanding in this whimsical acoustic song called “On Your Own”. Nick McCabe would prove to be one of the greatest guitarists of his generation seemingly being influenced by Funkadelic, The Cocteau Twins, and T-Rex. His style has never been replicated, and never has the term “dream pop” been so perfectly exemplified than in some of McCabe’s work on The Verve’s first album “Storm in Heaven”. When you take the utter conviction of a singer like Richard Ashcroft and augment it with the broad strokes of sonic color in someone like Nick McCabe, you are bound to create greatness, which was seen in every piece of music the Verve ever released.Pages: 1 2
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November 20th, 2009 at 5:31 am
This list is all wrong! It should be:
1.Pink Floyd
2.Pink Floyd
3.Pink Floyd
4.Pink Floyd
5.Pink Floyd
6.Pink Floyd
7.Pink Floyd
8.PinkFloyd
9.Pink Floyd
10.Did I mention Pink Floyd?
November 20th, 2009 at 3:51 pm
WHERE THE FUCK ARE THE BEATLES?
November 20th, 2009 at 7:57 am
1. Oasis
2. The Beatles
3. The Clash
4. Pink Floyd
5. The Who
6. Led Zeppelin
7. The Rolling Stones
8. Queen
9. Coldplay
10. Radiohead
Seems about right to me.
November 20th, 2009 at 11:32 pm
hold up where is McFly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
November 20th, 2009 at 7:31 pm
1. Oasis
T2. The Beatles
T2. The Clash
T4. The Who
T4. The Rolling Stones
6. Radiohead
7. Kasabian
8. Pink Floyd
9. The Smiths
10. Led Zeppelin
November 20th, 2009 at 2:19 am
hey wheres muse.
they’re absolutley amazing
November 20th, 2009 at 2:19 am
wheres muse?
they’re the most amazing band ever.
November 20th, 2009 at 4:25 am
No.
this is the real list.
1.-Pink Floyd
2.-Porcupine Tree
3.-Queen
4.-Yes
5.-Genesis
6.-Radiohead
7.-Rolling Stones
8.-The Beatles
9.-The Smiths
10.-Oasis
November 20th, 2009 at 7:41 pm
Iron Maiden?
November 20th, 2009 at 12:22 am
this list is awful!!!! i mean really thats a terrible list ! the beatles arent even on there! it should be…..
1.The Beatles
2.Led Zeppelin
3.The Rolling Stones
4.The Who
5.Pink Floyd
6.The Clash
7.Oasis
8.Queen
9.The Kinks
10.The Zombies
November 20th, 2009 at 3:26 am
where’s Coldplay?
November 20th, 2009 at 5:37 am
1 – The Beatles
2 – Pink Floyd
3 – Black Sabbath
4 – Led Zeppelin
5 – Queen
6 – Deep Purple
7 – Judas Priest
8 – Iron Maiden
9 – Uriah Heep
10 – The Who
November 20th, 2009 at 7:29 pm
10.) The Kooks
9.) The Zombies
8.) Pink Floyd
7.) The Clash
6.) Radiohead
5.) Oasis
4.) Queen
3.)The Who
2.) Rolling Stones
1.) Beatles
November 20th, 2009 at 7:34 pm
wow this list sucks. Hey I have an idea DM! Whats that Zeromage! Lets make a list on the top ten British bands and than put all our favorites in there instead of the deserving bands!
Blow me
Baird out…
November 20th, 2009 at 7:08 pm
This list is now VOID! LOL!
WHERE is Queen!? I’m talking about, YES, QUEEN! Freddie Mercury, Roger Taylor, Brian May, and John Deacon. YES, THAT Queen! I think you forgot them on your list. All I have to say is Bohemian Rhapsody, Another One Bites The Dust, The Show Must Go On, and WE WILL ROCK YOU!
Not to mention they are so much cuter than any of the people on that list. XD
November 20th, 2009 at 5:34 am
As long as Oasis is up there, I’m not fussed. Oasis Rule!
November 20th, 2009 at 12:39 pm
1.Beatles
2.The rolling stones
3.the stone roses
4.radio head
5.arctic monkeys
6.the smiths
7.the who
8.queen
9.pink floyd
10.the kinks
November 20th, 2009 at 5:36 pm
Oasis should be higher, much higher than number 5 mabe number 1 or 2, and were are The Batles??
November 20th, 2009 at 5:38 pm
Oasis should be higher, much higher than number 5 maybe number 1 or 2, and where are The Batles??
November 20th, 2009 at 5:20 pm
FLEETWOOD MAC is the Greatest British Band Ever. I am talking about Pre Lyndsey and Stevie. When they added 2 Americans they got even better. Brittish Rock Sucks
November 20th, 2009 at 4:53 am
where the hell is iron maiden?
November 20th, 2009 at 7:31 pm
the beatles must be number 1. the rolling stones was following the beatles. jagger won’t be like this, if he wasn’t inspired by lennon.
November 20th, 2009 at 5:52 pm
man where is the blur ????
November 20th, 2009 at 12:06 am
Black Sabbath?
November 20th, 2009 at 2:49 pm
Like, what the heck ?
Where’s, firstly the Beatles (not my favourite band, but I know they´re the best), Led Zepplin, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Queen, The Clash, the Who, Sex Pistols and all those wicked bands?
I dont want to mess with anyone’s tastes but, please, muse isnt even near these great bands, it might be good, but it doesnt deserve a place on the 10 top list.
NUMBER ONE FOR PINK FLOYD, I’LD SAY ! They rock. Proud in being british, british rule the music scene, the biggest bands in the world are from britain. America’s good, but not near my beloved Britain !
November 20th, 2009 at 9:25 pm
Agree with most comments here, several major contributors in the British scene left unlisted. While not technically a group, Bowie is the one unlisted and unmentioned by readers that I really think needs mentioning.
10. Iron Maiden
9. Oasis
8. Queen
7. Radiohead
6. David Bowie
5. Led Zeppelin
4. Rolling Stones
3. Black Sabbath
2. Pink Floyd
1. The Beatles
November 20th, 2009 at 11:53 pm
Where are The Who?
November 20th, 2009 at 2:09 am
Why no Beatles in your list Zeromage or Queen?
November 20th, 2009 at 7:43 am
1. Led Zeppelin -
2. The Beatles
3. The Who
4. Pink Floyd
5. Black Sababth
6. Radiohead
7. The Clash
8. Deep Purple
9. Muse
10. Queen
November 20th, 2009 at 7:44 am
also Leaving out Led Zeppelin The Who and The Beatles is pathetic.
November 20th, 2009 at 7:42 am
1.) The Beatles
2.) The Rolling Stones
3.) David Bowie
4.) Syd Barrett/Syd Barrett era Pink Floyd
5.) The Kinks
6.) The Who
7.) The Clash
8.) Led Zeppelin
9.) Elvis Costello
10.)The Smiths
November 20th, 2009 at 9:34 am
1 .- QUEEN
1.- QUEEN
QQQUUEEEEEEENNNNNNN!!!!!!
November 20th, 2009 at 7:00 am
You think Suede are better than The Beatles?
November 20th, 2009 at 7:32 am
1. Beatles
2. Queen
3. Radiohead
4. Coldplay
5. Oasis
6. Muse
7. Pink Floyd
8. Rolling Stones
9. Led Zeppelin
10. The Who
November 20th, 2009 at 2:46 am
1. Pink Floyd
2. The Rolling Stones
3. The Beatles
4. Led Zeppelin
5. The Who
6. Queen, David Bowie
8. Cold Play, Muse
10. Radio Head, Oasis, The Kinks