Top 5 Musical Countries

Top 5 Musical Countries

Written by Zeromage 101 Comments
Last Updated:: November 25, 2008

The 20th century of music saw a shift from the opulent and sophisticated modes of classical music, to music more as a mode of self-expression. The classiness of classical music saw its demise with pop music that was able to be communicated to anyone whether rich or poor. Who would capitalize on this medium the most? Which country would deliver the best music in this new medium? In this list, we will go through the top 5 music countries of modern of times. Unlike other lists, this list was easy to write. The choices came quickly. Some people will obviously be angry at a couple of the omissions on this list, but nonetheless, we speak with a conviction that will rise above the rabble.

5. Australia

Australia is often forgotten as one of the great countries of music. A closer look though will show numerous bands who won’t be forgotten anytime soon. The first to come to mind is INXS with a front man as enigmatic and powerful as Liam Gallagher. A brief listen to any song on their greatest hits shows a band who had a knack for great songwriting. This is the case with Australia’s glorious history in pop music. In the 60’s, The Easybeats had a groove rivaling the best of Motown. The Bee Gee’s continued the groove creating some of the most memorable dance music of the 70’s. Sure there was the banal motifs of Men at Work and Midnight Oil, but their penchant for creating unforgettable hooks was always intact. Australia shouldn’t be forgotten for their contributions to strong songwriting.

4. Germany

Germany has a rich history of music, especially with their contributions to classical music (Wagner, Mahler), but we won’t cover classical music in this article. Instead, we will look at what Germany provided in the later half of the 20th century with their pop music. Without Germany’s contributions to pop music, we may not have the electronic masterpieces created today by the likes of Apex Twins and LCD Soundsystem. It was because of bands like Embryo and Faust that electronica became a serious contender for pop greatness rather than the guitar/singer symbiosis that was heard in all other countries. Germany’s greatest contribution to pop music though was Kraftwerk who created “Computer World”, which is one of the greatest albums of all time. Call it the closest piece to metaphysics in pop music or just simple song-craft about modernity’s technological cravings; either way, Kraftwerk change music with this masterpiece of an album.

3. USA

When you take modern music, from screaming rock to the banging quarter notes of electronic music to the low thump of hip-hop, and strip it down to its ground floor, you’ll find an American flag in their basement. The thumping baselines are descended directly from Robert Johnson’s agile thumb as the devil chased him through the few recordings he managed to put on wax. Those pristine guitar solos are the children of Charles Mingus and those perfect chorus riffs drip from the fingers of Mississippi John Hurt. If you think John Bonham couldn’t be handled on psychedelics, he was only emulating the uncontainable Buddy Rich on the skins. American music was the original Lo-Fi. America took the sorrow of the south, the revolutionary north, and the entire nation’s refusal to conform to the power-distorted ideals of its leaders and prior monarchs and spit it back into the eyes and ears of the world. America never did make sounds for the refined, we make the soundtracks for the children of the revolution, no matter what revolution you’re fighting for.

2. Sweden

Sweden is a close second in the mastery of pop. One need only listen to the tunes of Abba to understand how strong the song-craft is for this Nordic nation (which are the #1 band on our top 5 Swedish bands of all time list). Reach past Sweden’s older roots of pop music and the music listener is confronted with some of the best pop in the world today. Who writes hooks like The Caesars? Who writes rock/pop songs like Soundtrack of our lives? Even with the bands like Kent who only make albums in their native tongue, you’re still tied into a melodic heaven. Sweden finds it’s transition into new-age-psychedelia perfectly manifested in a band like Dungen who writes songs as catchy as they are sonically incandescent. Sweden has consistently proved its worth in pop perfection since the beginning of the pop medium.

1. UK

How does one argue for the UK having the greatest pop music of all time in the 20th century? Hmm…The Rolling Stones, Oasis, Pink Floyd, Led Zepplin, Radiohead, T-Rex, David Bowie, Roxy Music, The Smiths, The Verve, Echo and the Bunnymen, Suede, The Stone Roses, The Happy Mondays, Blur, Supergrass, The Manic Street Preachers, Lush, Coldplay, Travis, The Animals, The Kinks, The Who, ABC, My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, Ride, Sleeper, Joy Division, Elbow, The Space Monkeys, Mansun, Spiritualized, Richard Hawley, The Chemical Brothers, The Coral, The Zutons, The La’s, Kasabian, James, Pulp, Scott Walker, The Beautiful South…and these are only the first bands to come right off the top of our heads…

Honorable Mention:

Iceland

If there was ever a country who defined atmosphere in music better than Iceland, then we don’t know who it was. Who could argue that there has ever been a band who has painted a picture as colorful and fluid as the Cocteau Twins? Who could argue that there has ever been a singer who has drawn from every possible human emotion than Bjork? Who could argue that there has been a band that sounded as close to icicles as Sigur Ros? The vast spaces that these artists create in their music are a reflection of a culture with huge imaginations. It’s no coincidence that 52% of the Icelanders believe in elves. Call it a backwards culture, or unheeded superstition. We call it the progression of man’s imagination to see other realities other than its own.

101 Comments

#1 MacFergus says:
March 15th, 2010 at 9:52 pm

The Beatles > Bob Dylan

More innovative, influential and definitely more musically talented.

Bob is loved for his words, not his music. If it were a poetry contest, I might give it to him… but we’re talking about the full picture here.. music and lyrics. And the Beatles straight up come out on top when it comes to pure songcraft.

And it only takes a bit of research to see that without a doubt The Beatles have made a bigger impact on the world, and on music as a whole.

#2 Hugh says:
March 15th, 2010 at 9:42 pm

The Beatles suck.

#3 Gunsn1per says:
March 15th, 2010 at 5:22 am

^@ Hugh: State your reason(s) in five seconds why The Beatles suck.

Nice list, although I was kinda suprised seeing USA below Sweden, but not really, though…Considering how “static” their music is, especially before this so called “British Invasion”…I haven’t listened many Swedes’ song, maybe I’ll give it a try…

#4 ubldakj says:
March 15th, 2010 at 2:40 pm

Canada you morons. If all you want to talk about is NES/SNES then stick to it.

#5 Nyawinge says:
March 15th, 2010 at 9:58 pm

I agree with Bob, the real list should be:

1.USA
2.UK
3.Canada
4.Ireland
5.Sweeden (or maybe Germany?)

Stick to video games

#6 Nick says:
March 15th, 2010 at 11:03 pm

Good list. I think anyone who’s knocking Sweden on this list has never listened to Dungan before.

#7 This List Sucks says:
March 15th, 2010 at 11:06 pm

Finland and Norway should be on this list above Sweden.

#8 CJ says:
March 15th, 2010 at 9:33 am

USA @ 1?? no way dudes the way this is list is ordered makes way more sense from any perspective..

im still listening to the OST of RockNRolla

UK is surely the best musical country even though this post mostly based on Rock bands try looking at other genres like electro/rave/drum n bass for example Prodigy is one of the worlds most respected band ever. hailing from?? yup UK:)

myself beeing a huge fan of Dubstep and Drum n bass makes it more obvious cuz USA doenst have any dubstep..

#9 Bodank says:
March 15th, 2010 at 4:33 pm

Who the hell would think nirvana and pearl jam are the best 2 bands of all time?? Nirvana is not a timeless band by any means. We’re talking about ALL-TIME, not your own lifetimes. If you want to talk about music post-populux era, then yeah.. bring up trendy bands.
Germany should probably surpass the U.S. and U.K. when talking about best musical countries.

#10 Sgt.Baker says:
March 15th, 2010 at 7:50 pm

Some of you people take these lists waaaaaaay too seriously. Read them as opinions, accept that the world is full of differing opinions, and move on with life. If you want to discuss and debate, more power to ya, but if you can’t do so without coming across as a pissy, undisciplined 14-year-old, take some time to grow up and try it again when your input can actually be constructive and mature.

#11 Riri says:
March 15th, 2010 at 9:44 pm

Japan’s not even an honorable metion . . .
T_T I feel like I hate my life now

#12 Hershel says:
March 15th, 2010 at 11:35 pm

What about Canada?

The Guess Who
BTO
Neil Young
Paul Anka
Steppenwolf
The Band (partially Canadian)
The Arcade Fire
Rush
Jeff Healey
Barenaked Ladies
Our Lady Peace
Celine Dion
Alanis Morrisette
Shania Twain
Bryan Adams
April Wine
Gordon Lightfoot
Loverboy
54-40
sarah McLaghlan
Avril Lavigne
Nelly Furtado
Feist
Joni Mitchell
Amanda Marshall
Three Days Grace
Nickelback
Sum 41
Sam Roberts

And then there’s some bands that never really broke out in the States but should have: Tragically Hip, Chilliwack, Sloan, Colin James, The Stampeders

#13 Loge says:
March 15th, 2010 at 4:03 pm

This is really funny.

“The 20th century of music saw a shift from the opulent and sophisticated modes of classical music, to music more as a mode of self-expression.”

Mmm… classical music never went away, you just are very ignorant of it. You like American music; have you listened to Ives, Nancarrow or the marvelous Elliott Carter? I’m sorry, but anyone who makes the equation “pop music = all music” is not qualified to write about the subject

#14 Brian V. says:
March 15th, 2010 at 7:50 pm

All I can say is…you fail once again. You know nothing about music. All of the articles here about music disgust me. They show a lack of appreciation, study, or consideration of anything that isn’t friggin classic rock. Try actually listening to some GOOD music, like Whitacre or Puccini.

#15 Hangul says:
March 15th, 2010 at 4:05 pm

You forget about Asia…or are you focusing on countries that may use English as a second or third language? At any rate you’ve missed out on many talented musicians.

#16 Zeromage says:
March 15th, 2010 at 4:36 pm

Firstly, Asia isn’t a country. Secondly, English is the second or third language of many Asian countries as well. (India, Japan, even China). So that argument is pretty lame. Sweden and Germany aren’t Anglophone countries. Thirdly, with only 5 picks, its hard to cover seven continents. Believe me, we wanted to be politically correct and include some Antarctic music, but it will have to wait until we make a top ten of this list.

#17 Hangul says:
March 15th, 2010 at 3:21 pm

Fair enough…

#18 Sal says:
March 15th, 2010 at 4:18 pm

Best German band ever: Tangerine Dream. Kraftwerk, although great, would probable not exist if TD didn’t lay the groundwork first.
This Yank is glad the UK topped the list!

#19 Dave says:
March 15th, 2010 at 12:33 am

You say Australia without mentioning ACDC?
Germany without Scorpions?
USA without Lynyrd Skynyrd?

Do you know anything about music?

#20 TrixRabbi says:
March 15th, 2010 at 3:44 am

To add to Canada, LEONARD FUCKING COHEN. Genius that man is.

Also, the U.S. should be higher because more than just blues started there. Rock and Roll on it’s own with Chuck Berry and Little Richard, who would directly cause the Beatles, Rolling Stones and more to come into play.

America is also the birthplace of punk rock. Iggy Pop and the Stooges, Patti Smith. Then The Clash and Sex Pistols came to the public eye and England got all the credit. But the U.S. hit back with the Ramones, The Misfits, Bad Brains and the entire California and New York hardcore scenes.

The best of the 60s shares quite a lot of American names as well next to British. The Doors, Hendrix, Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, Bob Dylan, The Velvet Underground and various one hit wonders.

Hip Hop rose up from the U.S. as well. Public Enemy, N.W.A, KRS-One.

The US has easily done the most for music than any other country from a historical stand point. All these other countries are great, and I’ll give Britain metal (Sabbath, Zep, Maiden and Priest). Regardless the US is probably the most important country to the growth of modern music.

#21 Ralph says:
March 15th, 2010 at 8:24 pm

People who know nothing about music really piss me off. Another group of people who piss me off are idiots from Europe who don’t give the US credit after they stole their musical ideas. The author of this trash falls into both of these categories.

#22 Ralph says:
March 15th, 2010 at 8:28 pm

Real list of best musical countries:

1.USA
2. UK
3. Canada
4. Ireland
5. Australia

#23 What an idiot says:
March 15th, 2010 at 4:28 pm

What a moronic list. Sweden? Are you f-ing serious? The USA has the Allman Brothers, The Pixies, The Talking Heads, Aerosmith, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Jimi Hendrix, Van Halen, Journey, The Doors, R.E.M., Metallica, Phish, Tool, the Grateful Dead, The White Stripes, Dave Matthews… God I could go on and on. You should really think about a list like this BEFORE you put it together.

They really need to teach a “History of Music” class in schools these days.

#24 Naweed says:
March 15th, 2010 at 2:57 am

Ok first of all, all the top 5’s I seen here are WRONG!!!!!!!! This is the CORRECT order:

1)U.S.A
2)Japan

#25 Naweed says:
March 15th, 2010 at 2:59 am

Ok first of all, all the top 5’s I seen here are WRONG!!!!!!!! This is the CORRECT order:

1)U.S.A
2)Japan
3)U.K
4)Germany
5)France

annnnnnnd then 6)Canada……TRUST ME, THIS IS THE REAL ORDER!!!!!

#26 amy says:
March 15th, 2010 at 10:00 pm

You guys should have made this a top 10.

1.UK
2.USA
3.France
4.Sweden
5.Iceland
6.Germany
7.Norway
8.Australia
9.Ireland
10.Canada

#27 Nick says:
March 15th, 2010 at 4:48 am

i agree with dave. you cant mention austrailia without saying something about acdc and germany without scorpians

#28 else3573 says:
March 15th, 2010 at 5:13 am

USA is easily number 1. You didn’t say “Pop musical”, you said “musical” , so to leave out Hip Hop, Jazz, Blues, Bluegrass, Folk Rock and Country, all US entities, is silly.

#29 Jonatan says:
March 15th, 2010 at 12:55 am

I think that UK shouls be number 1 and USA 2 even though it is very close.Most of USA’s modern bands have bases in British music. For example:
The Killers – Joy Division
Limp Bizkit . The Who
etc.

#30 Will says:
March 15th, 2010 at 5:26 pm

I think the list should be:

1. UK
2. USA
3. Canada
4. Australia
5. Sweden

It is really close between the UK and US though and you could make a convincing argument either way…

#31 Alex says:
March 15th, 2010 at 8:05 pm

America invents the genre, Britain perfects and Germany mangles into something new and beautiful.
I don’t think the aforementioned countries should be ordered as they’ve all made damn fine music, mainstream or not.

On a more scandalous note, I’ve yet to hear ANY good music from France and Japan. Daft Punk sample the hell out of American records while Japan copies American records and makes them worse. SRSLY.

#32 avi says:
March 15th, 2010 at 9:55 pm

@ Alex:ya those would be my top 3.
1.Britain
2.America
3.Germany
4.Canada
5.

#33 Zach says:
March 15th, 2010 at 8:46 am

Americans invented rock, jazz, country, blues, and pretty much every other modern genre you can think of. 20th century music = USA.

#34 avi says:
March 15th, 2010 at 10:31 am

5.Australia

#35 Brad says:
March 15th, 2010 at 6:45 pm

The beauty of the internet is that people who don’t know anything about music can now write about it and hundreds or thousands of people will read what they write. Wonderful, isn’t it?

#36 Emerald Magus says:
March 15th, 2010 at 5:59 pm

1. USA
2. UK
3. Sweden
4. Ireland
5. Canada
6. Australia
7. Italy
8. Germany
9. France
10. Iceland

#37 ShadowHunter says:
March 15th, 2010 at 10:41 pm

Sweden and Germany? Wtf? Where is the Canada? I might not really like Celine Dion but she’s still one of the most popular singer in the world. Ryan Adams, etc..

#38 ShadowHunter says:
March 15th, 2010 at 10:43 pm

Naweed : If you like France music that much, try music from Quebec…

#39 ShadowHunter says:
March 15th, 2010 at 10:44 pm

*Bryan Adams

#40 Dave says:
March 15th, 2010 at 11:59 am

Oh, now I see. It’s about the pop music. No, it can’t be about any other music! It has to be the easily digested garbage, even though you make entire articles derailing the digestible garbage. It’s like you’re unaware of the irony.

#41 Alex says:
March 15th, 2010 at 9:26 pm

1) Britain
2) USA
3) Germany
4) Canada
5) Netherlands (All types of Dance music, have pioneered so genres by themselves and continue to do so)
6) Sweden
7) Italy
Australia
9) N.Ireland (I know they’re part of the UK, but they make some damn fine tunes: e.g. Divine Comedy)
10) Belgium (You’d be surprised how all the good “French” songs are Belgian)

#42 ProfessorJohnson says:
March 15th, 2010 at 4:56 am

This is so bias! Putting all preconceptions aside, countries like Brazil, Mexico, Cuba, China, and Ireland would top the list if we truly want the MOST MUSICAL countries in the world. (Actually, the UK would still the cut.) What you people are putting are the most English-spoken, pop-type musical countries… then yes…

#43 ProfessorJohnson says:
March 15th, 2010 at 4:57 am

“Still make the cut”… referring to the UK, is what I meant.

#44 TheWatcher says:
March 15th, 2010 at 5:41 pm

SWEDEN ahead of the USA????

#45 avi says:
March 15th, 2010 at 12:29 pm

@The Watcher:ya I mean the US has Dylan, Elvis, Chuck Berry, Hendrix, James Brown, Little Richard, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, The Beach Boys, Buddy Holly, Stevie Wonder, Sam Cooke, Muddy Waters, Marvin Gaye, The Velvet Underground, Otis Redding, Springsteen, Jerry Lee Lewis, The Ramones, Johnny Cash, Michael Jackson, Simon and Garfunkel, The Doors, Public Enemy, The Byrds, Janis Joplin, Run-DMC, The Allman Brothers Band, Aerosmith, Tina Turner, Hank Williams, Beastie Boys, Santana, GNR, Lynyrd Skynyrd, REM, CCR, BB King, RHCP, Woody Guthrie, Frank Sinatra, Van Halen, The Cure, SRV, Robert Johnson, Journey, I think that’s enough for now.

#46 avi says:
March 15th, 2010 at 12:31 pm

PIXIES! How could I forget them? oh and Kansas and Talking Heads. And Styx.

#47 Joe says:
March 15th, 2010 at 7:32 pm

Good list.
The US music industry is like a girl throwing up all kinds of crap, and then you might once in a while see a piece of carrot of hope.

#48 C_H_2 says:
March 15th, 2010 at 9:03 am

THIS SHOULD BE THE LIST!

1. UK
2. USA
3. Canada
4. Australia
5. Philippines

I went to the Philippines last summer, and they are good singers. they easily appreciate foreign songs like K-POP, and western music.

« Older Comments

101 Comments

Leave a Comment