UK Blues

[Book O'Dead]

And did the Countenance Divine Shine forth upon our clouded hills? And was Jerusalem builded here Among these dark Satanic Mills? "Jerusalem"--William Blake

I've often wondered when, why and how the Blues, a southern/urban, "Afro-American' musical form took root in England.

At first I thought it was a consequence of post-WW2 American influence, considering the many U.S. military bases left there after the war.

Naw, that's too superficial an answer!

How did it happen that people like Roger Waters, Pete Townsend and Eric Clapton--English kids through and through--became authentic interpreters and composers of a music shaped by very different socio-historical circumstances than their own.

Although I have never seen any, I'm sure that plenty has been written and said about the origin of the Blues in England since perhaps the Beatles were doing their "fancified" skiffle.

I'd like to discuss the foundation of the Blues in England. Maybe these questions can help:

Can we say that the Blues in England and the UK have developed to a point where it deserves a designation no less legitimate as "Chicago Blues"? "Delta Blues"?

If so, I would call it "London Blues" or "Irish Blues" (to distinguish sub-genres) If "London Ska" can be a real genre, why not "UK Blues"?

But that goes far afield. The question, friends and comrade Revlefters, is How did the Blues get to Britannia?

[ed miliband]

"british blues" is already a thing:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_blues

[Book O'Dead]

"british blues" is already a thing:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_blues

That's very good but, inevitably, it raises as many new questions as it answers.

For example, what is so distinctive about the English character that made such a foreign music so attractive to them and produced such virtuousi as have come down the pike even to the present day?

Why were the Blues at first concentrated among one social class and not another?

Why did not become just a mechanical, commercial reinterpretation of a popular foreign sound as so many others had before it?

I have a problem distinguishing British Rock from British Blues. Perhaps they are one and the same?

[ed miliband]

idk, if in the late 50s / early 60s lots of young, white british kids started listening to east african music, or gamelan, or whatever, then yeah... it'd be strange. i don't really think the blues is a very "foreign music" tbh.

i think the influence of rock'n'roll is important here; just as hip hop lead a new generation to dig through their parents funk and soul records for breaks, so rock'n'roll opened the doors to earlier music for british kids.

[Book O'Dead]

idk, if in the late 50s / early 60s lots of young, white british kids started listening to east african music, or gamelan, or whatever, then yeah... it'd be strange. i don't really think the blues is a very "foreign music" tbh.

i think the influence of rock'n'roll is important here; just as hip hop lead a new generation to dig through their parents funk and soul records for breaks, so rock'n'roll opened the doors to earlier music for british kids.

Perhaps I'm exaggerating its foreignness to UK culture in the 50's and 60's but perhaps you, like me, also take it for granted because of the deep roots it has developed in popular English music.

[Fawkes]

Why were the Blues at first concentrated among one social class and not another?


Because it's pretty class-based music. I mean, its origins are in field chants.


Why did not become just a mechanical, commercial reinterpretation of a popular foreign sound as so many others had before it?
It most certainly did. The reason why you have trouble distinguishing British blues and rock from one another is because they are largely the same thing, hence the term blues-rock. And that style of music has undergone more mechanical, commercial reinterpretations than almost any other.