>(and lol @ ever having a menswear record)

That's the funniest example because they went from hyping the band up to hating them passionately almost overnight. If they were that bad, why even hype them up in the first place? I knew the press was full of shit before that but that one made it SO explicit...
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>also speaking as an outsider, i'd certainly agree that the UK
>music scene seems trendier than that of the US.
>
>i'm not sure that this is such a bad thing, though.

It's not entirely bad. I think it's cool that everyone from the Orb to tricky and Goldie and Roni Size etc. managed to make records that were HUGE sellers by british standards while making music that, for its time, was quite cutting edge and" modern". Stuff like that rarely happens in the US where it's mostly "safe" music fitting mainstream criterias that sell well.

At the same time, if you look at the career trajectories of said acts, it's like all attention and interest disappear when the next cool thing comes along which I find pretty sad. Of course, in the case of Tricky and Goldie, you could argue they had themselves to blame but at the same time, they got so much hot air blown up their ass (sorry, arse) that they arguably started to believe their own hype (see also Terence trent D'arby for a more mainstream example even if I like his second album) and disappeared right up their own asses; there's a mutual relationship there I think...

At the same time i think
>the clear channel stranglehold on the US music industry has
>hamstrung development.

I don't think so. I do think it affects things from the *consumer*-side which is probably why people here and on other sites "always" say that the british are so openminded and cutting edge whereas americans are so narrowminded and "safe" in their tastes.

However, I don't think it affects development of the actual music or that it leads to less "creative" artists. There may be less artists jumping on various bandwagons though due to the rewards being smaller; that's not really a minus to me...
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