I may be wrong (it's been known to happen ^_^) but when I first got into metal in the early 80s, American bands were more commercial and mainstream (metal wise) i.e they sounded quite similar to each other. The European scene was much more diverse and you had some really great British, German and Swiss bands that all had their own particular sound and/or style. I mean, compare Priest to Saxon and Maiden and you'll get three very different bands that were big during the same years in the mid-80s.
I think it was a bit similar with the British punk wave during the 70s. The early punk bands en Britain was anti-establishment and often political in some sense; the American bands that followed a few years later only seemed to "ride the wave". I don't mean that American music is uninventional or anything like that, but when these music styles grew big in the 70s and 80s, Europe was first and better. Except, of course, Metallica (but their drummer is Danish - European
^_^ )
As I said, I may very well be wrong here, but that's how I viewed it then and still do. When the Americans had had a few years things changed, but at the start it was a kind of "riding the wave" as I said earlier.
(Btw, is this mainly an American or European forum?
)
Onhell said:
The Italian Girl Speaks Italian (duh), English and is currently taking Spanish (of her own free will) and told me that in ELEMENTARY school and basically all throughout until highschool they have the OPTION to take a history of religion class IN PUBLIC SCHOOL. Something I feel is horribly lacking in the U.S. A classmate of mine who is originally from California told me they offered the same thing at his high school so it is probably a state thing. She also told me that American movies in southern Europe get dubbed (no subtitles like in Latin America) no matter what movie, while in Nothern Europe (Norway, Denmark etc) Movies don't get dubbed or subtitled so Children That grow up watching American cinema speak English very well.
Sorry for the long post but It has been too long since I followed up on my crazy claims. Please let me know, specially the Europeans reading this, if the information given to me by these European ladies is wrong, partially true, or right on the bullseye. Thanks.
Well, as I am Swedish I can vouch for a few things at least, Onhell.
Language training. When I was 10 I started studying English at school. Compulsory (sp?). That was late 70s (1977). Today, the start English at 8 years old. When the kids are 11-12, they choose a 3d language - usually the choices are between German, French and Spanish but the choices differ some between different schools. This continues until at 19 school's are ready (the last three years are voluntary but you'd never get a job without the so...). This means that when a Swedish young adult is 19, they have studied Swedish for 12 years, English for 10-11 years and a 3d language for 7 years. Mainly this is due to Swedish being a very small language and we have to learn some other languages in order to handle the world around us, but still it serves us well. Also, we don't have dubbed tv, we have subtitles which lets us hear the melody in all kinds of languages and that helps in learning it better.
When it comes to music, apart from music lessons in school which differ very much in quality and contents between teachers, we have in Sweden something called Municipal music schools (kommunala musikskolor, for the Swedish speakers). They used to be more or less completely free of charge (maybe you'd have to pay $100-$150 a year) and today they cost maybe another $100 more. It runs parallell to the school year and is completely voluntary to attend, but you can learn to play any instrument you could think of, almost, at a very low cost. You can even rent instruments, since all that have children know that they sometimes tend to "change" their minds
Another thing that was great in Sweden in the 80s and 90s (I really don't know how it is today) was that if you formed a band with some friends, you could get money from different places ("study circles") - not a lot, but it could pay for sheet music and some equipment - and you could borrow a place to rehearse in. All you had to do was meet at least once a week for a minimum amount of weeks (can't remember how many) and all this contributed to build the Swedish music industry that we've had the last 15 or so years.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think Sweden was or is unique in this, are we?
Onhell said:
I do agree that European metal can be cracked down even further, but I'll get to that later. Something I want to ask the Europeans who see this thread is, is there such a thing as language barriers in Europe? The reason I ask is Because N.I.B perceives that there are and I perceive there are none, or it's not that big of an issue. From what I know most Europeans speak at LEAST three languages (some European friends told me 3 is what the town idiot speaks, as a joke of course), that 4 or 5 is the norm. If this is the case language barriers are non-existant or not that big of an issue. Also most European Metal bands that want to make it in the International Market sing in English.
You have that right, Onhell. Not that the norm may be 4-5 languages, but 2-3 anyway, and English is almost always one of them. I believe the differences in Eurometal is more one of cultural/social background because that's where we differ the most.
