British British British to the Core
For nigh on 60 years, Britain has been absorbing American musical culture, repackaging it, and sending it back. The US may have pioneered rock'n'roll, punk, and folk, but we've polished them into superior products. And, in our efforts to ape and improve Americana, we have produced some true British gems, records that embody our national character and while painting a "u" into the 'color' of pop music. And so without further ado, let me present my top ten quintessentially English LPs…
10. The Streets - A Grand Don't Come For Free
As much as we like to pretend otherwise, Britain often is a land of geezers and gals, on the make and on the take. We might have had Shakespeare, but we also have a load of slags and skinheads, and it is these people that Mike Skinner celebrates in his concept album of working-class life. Name-checking ITV, gambling addictions, and the immortal Fit But You Know It, you'd struggle to get closer to British life than this.
You know it's British because... of "Such a Twat." Would a Yank ever come up with that title?
9. Arctic Monkeys - Whatever I Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
Picking up where The Streets left off, AM's first album told a tale of binge drinking, casual sex, broken hearts, and benefits checks - all imbued with a Romantic sense of nationalism. This record documented the British public at play. Anymore patriotic and it would be standing half-naked on a plastic patio chair in a Greek holiday resort screaming "You're going home in a fucking ambulance" at opposing football fans.
You know it's British because... of those accents. And perhaps the only song about pimps where they aren't purple-suited pleasure-fiends.
8. Belle and Sebastian - If You're Feeling Sinister
The Brits, of course, aren't always drunken louts. We can be emotional prudes who channel all our feelings through wistful glances and witty retorts. Belle and Sebastian often evoke this subdued reserve and stiff-upper lip-ism and do so perfectly on this album.
You know it's British because... it contains what's possibly the only musical reference that will ever be made to Widnes.
7. The Clash - The Clash
The Clash's blend of humour and anger is quintessentially of this country. They might want a riot, but they also want to poke fun at hookers' customers and stick two fingers up at our American brethren. This might be political music, but it never stops smirking.
You know it's British because... of I'm So Bored With the USA
6. The Smiths - The Queen is Dead
This record should come with a rain cloud hidden in the sleeve. This is the most pure moaning and despondency you could ever find on vinyl, and there is nothing the English love more than a good moan. Apart from a queue.
You know it's British because of... Morrissey's traditional misery.
5. Radiohead - Ok Computer
Ask anyone over here about Americans, and they'll say they are stupid. Stupid and fat. Stupid and fat and obsessed with guns. Stupid and fat… And ok ,enough of that. They'll also say that Brits are clever. And nothing says that more than Oxford-educated Radiohead's masterpiece of pretension.
You know it's British because... would an American ever come up with word play as witty as "Paranoid Android"? Exactly
4. Pulp - Different Class
Ooh class. British people are obsessed with that. Top hats, bowler hats, and flat caps divided the nation into neat socio-economic groups, and anyone who recognises this is clearly a Brit. And when they do that through a raft of dry, self-deprecating songs about loneliness, longing and shagging a posh bird must be one of us.
You know it's British because... of the words "Rent a flat above a shop/Cut your hair and get a job/Smoke some fags and play some pool/Pretend you never went to school."
3. T Rex - Electric Warrior
While the Brits can be a serious people, we also love our eccentricities and what is more, we can love our appearance. Just as Beau Brummel and his dandy friends felt the need to dress like fops, so too do Bolan and the boys. They revel in silliness and ludicrous lyrics in a way no po-faced American could muster.
You know it's British because.... of those clothes. And those lyrics.
2. Sex Pistols - Never Mind the Bollocks Here's the Sex Pistols
When any other nation gets angry, you are going to know about it. They take to the streets; they burn things down and smash up shops. When we reach that level of frustration in the UK, we send an angry letter. This record is the sonic form of that. While it may have felt revolutionary in '77, that just shows how conservative the place was.
You know it's British because... they wrote a mildly insulting song about the Queen which almost got them arrested. They were taken to court for using the word Bollocks on the cover. That final raspberry blow at the end of EMI
1. Kinks - The Village Green Preservation Society
An eccentric celebration of English values, English summers and steam trains. This is middle England condensed into forty minutes of music. This is so very British you expect to see a crowd of American tourists taking pictures, exclaiming how quaint it is and planning to build a Las Vegas imitation. Plus, could any other nation produce a song about Walter playing cricket in the rain?
You know it's British because... of the words "God Save little shops, china cups and virginity" Rock'n'roll definitely gives way to English Reserve there.
Comments (23)
Nice list..pip,pip
It was youse guys who put the U in colour, wasn't it?
The records you've selected..well I can't really speak on the monkeys,rise way above the kind of copying/embellishing/stealing the Brit classic rockers did.
Great list and idea, wish we'd thought of it. If there was a number 11 I'd like to think it would be an XTC album...English Settlement perhaps or Black Sea.
All the best
from the Neonfiller.com team
The Anglophile in me is all aquiver because I own seven of these albums. ;)
Alright, you guys win...
But no Parklife?
Joxy, you surpassed yourself. If I didn't love you to bits already, I would now.
''Anymore patriotic and it would be standing half-naked on a plastic patio chair in a Greek holiday resort screaming "You're going home in a fucking ambulance" at opposing football fans''
This is now in my top favourite things anyone has written ever.
Your Sex Pistols piece reminds me of something that happened in Leeds about 2 weeks ago. There was something like a nationalists vs non-nationalists riot, and it was scheduled. A scheduled riot. Only in the UK.
Anyway, well done, darkling!
An American could come up with the terms "Paranoid Android" and "OK Computer" if they read "Hictchhiker's Guide To the Galaxy" as both terms are lifted directly from that book...of course the author, Douglas Adams, was English.
Top stuff!
Would have gone we the Clash's London Calling, as it's more rounded, and then the is The The....
"This is so very British you expect to see a crowd of American tourists taking pictures, exclaiming how quaint it is and planning to build a Las Vegas imitation"
genius.
i have fond memories of queuing in England...ahh, Tesco's. dammit, joxley, now you've got me listening to the Arctic Monkeys. :)
"The Brits, of course, aren't always drunken louts."
agreed! sometimes, like b&s, they're endearing tea and crumpet-ish louts
beautiful, beautiful! sure there's other faves, but you did a fabulous job hitting the high points with a sharp chisel. I like your choice of Bolan to rep glam, he had the highest octane. Personely, the Kinks ref, "This is so very British you expect to see a crowd of American tourists taking pictures, exclaiming how quaint it is and planning to build a Las Vegas imitation.", made me laugh out loud - so very true of this side. In fact, it's probably been done.
the British are coming the British...oh NEVER MIND.
oh and where in the hell is that Zeppelin lp?
" records that embody our national character and while painting a "u" into the 'color' of pop music. " that's a good one, eh? And if I didn't agree with you so much on most of your choices (although, damn I feel you only chose the best side of American Fed British Culture and not the reverse. Hasn't "Little Britain" taught me that American's aren't the only fat ones out there?). I do though feel a patriotic pang of wanting to match this list, even if there's nothing I despise more than American's being overly patriotic. A little part of me thinks, "hey, that's my country he's picking on!" Britain has had it's chocolate in Britian's peanut butter ( a pop cultural reference that is no doubt lost over the pond, and over the heads of those under a certain age), and for that, I feel you have removed your glove and challenged the American's to a duel. May the friendly rivalry begin.
"it contains what's possibly the only musical reference that will ever be made to Widnes." - muahahahahah. too funny.
Jox, another excellent writeup, no complaints here, this post goes down as one of my favorites. oopsie, that would be "favourites".
It makes me smile a little knowing I own all of these albums
dude. this post is so well written that it's not even worth thinking about agreeing, disagreeing or other favorites. it's just a fucking great post.
i'm wondering if your true influences include Peter Cook, Monty Python, Faulty Towers, the Young Ones, the Comic Strip, Blackadder, Absolutely Fabulous, Ali G, Red Dwarf, Til Death Do Us Part and The Office. we've done a lot man, but sometimes we just cop your shit flat out.
Superb post. Have you ever noticed that whenever a UK song pokes the slightest bit of fun at the USA, the reviewers usually highlight that and say that the album is blighted by American bashing? Except they don't use the word blighted, LOL
One of the great British attributes is that even rebelion is rooted in tradition.
The Queen is Dead, anything by the Kinks, the Clash, the Sex Pistols are high on my list.
I've been a Hitchhiker's Guide groupie since the radio play was first broadcast here. And I hear ya, Robin, about a lot of those shows. How about "Allo, Allo"? I loved "I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again" and "Round the Horn" and "The Goon Show" and some other radio programes also.
Hmmmm....
"British" might also include Belfast born Van Morrison's reflections on Cyprus Avenue (the street where the "Reverend" Ian Paisley lives) on "Astral Weeks", Aswad's "Not Satisfied", Primal Scream's "Screamadelica", Misty In Roots' "Live at the Counter-Eurovision", the Sensational Alex Harvey Band's "Next", or the first LP by the Boys of the Lough, featuring Aly Bain from Lerwick, Dick Gaughan from Rutherglen, Cathal McConnell from Enniskillen and Robin Morton from Portadown.
There is a vast range of music that sounds unquestionably British but does not even touch the tips of your choices.
Paraphrasing the Bard of Avon - "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamed of in your philiosophy."
Some of the best writing and funniest metaphors I've read in a very long time. Every choice accurate in the extreme; but surely an honourable mention goes to The Pet Shop Boys 'Actually". You know it's British because...what other nation on earth says "Actually"?
I was compelled to share this with two Brit Anglophiles of my acquaintance, to which they responded most gratefully. Excellently written post, let the debates ensue!
I say, this list is rather good.
Ahh, The Clash first album. UK or US version? ;)
Well, I'm going down the pub.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2xdCvhvyqY
love it love it love, jox. And what's even crazier to me is I actually own one of these albums!