Why on earth do so many British bands....?

Question

...feel the need adopt pseudo-American accents when there's a speaking or rap part in one of their songs? It's enough to drive a sane person crazy, or even a crazy person sane. Most groups do this.It makes me want to throw things.

Re: "I have a penis"

Hmmm. You sure about that? Sounds unlikely.

Oh no, I get it. What you meant to say is that you ARE a penis, not that you have one.

Re: "If you don't like the way the bands you listen to sound then you are clearly listening to the wrong bands. "

I'm not deliberately listening to them, they're just played everywhere constantly. It's hard to avoid these things unless you're deaf.

Re: "Give an example of a band that does this"

Good grief. Are you serious? How long have you got?!?!

A brief list: The Beatles (Get Back/Ballad of John and Yoko/etc etc etc). TONS of stuff by the Rolling Stones... Miss You,Fool To Cry, Satisfaction, ad infinitum. T-Rex. Led Zeppelin. Someone accurately mentioned Atomic Kitten and Girls Aloud. The Spice Runts did it. Alisha's Attic... dunno if anyone remembers them, but I do. Blue.

Consider Gerry Marsden of Gerry and the Pacemakers (they all have pacemakers now!) who was popular at the same time as the early Beatles. You could clearly hear the Liverpool in his singing.

Contrast Cilla Black, who made a career out of being a Liverbird when she spoke, but not a hint of it when she sang. That didn't just happen.
I always listen British singers pronouncing the
letter "o" as in the US: /a:/ instead of the British sound /o/, mostly in the very common word
"got". I suppose /a:/ is more neutral and relaxed.

Re: "Most British groups now don't sound so obviously American."
Well, many still do in the speech parts of songs. That was my original point...

Re: "oh god..seriously.. "

Wotchoo talkin' bout, Willis? Try making a point next time!

Answer 1

Why the f*ck can't people answer in ENGLISH? The morons strike again...

My chorus teachers and voice coaches always taught an open pronunciation, at the front of the mouth. They didn't teach a British singing pronunciation -- their main enemy was the schwa, and they just wanted people to sing the vowels as they are written. Their main scourge was the pop singer, who didn't enunciate and didn't project. They sang in the back of the throat or in the sinuses. They breathed with the shoulders, not with the diaphragm, and they had no stamina for holding a note, horrible phrasing, and shallow and ragged breathing. Pop singers hardly sing "properly", when it comes to good singing technique.

We have become accustomed to pop singing, so we assume that their accent is "neutral", because to us it sounds "natural" -- but we're not listening with a critical ear. Listen critcally and compare The Proclaimers to the Eurythmics; or Blink 182 to Jesse McCartney; or Midnight Oil to AC/DC. There are singers who are very successful who sing in their regional accent, and there are others who don't. Many pop singers who want to appeal to all English-speaking markets are taught by their handlers to eliminate the regional oddities from their singing pronunciation, making them sound less particular to a region.

The pop/rock pronuciation of the English 1st person singular "I". The pronunciation is "Aaaaaay" for a good reason. It is open ended and never really has to come to an end--until you are out of breath or the song stops. You know why German is a terrible vehicle for pop?--it's because of "Ich" (I) . Ich can't be held as a note--it comes to an end as a brutal gutteral sound. If you agree say,aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.

Answer 2

It's been going on for a long time, since rock and roll began at least. Funny to hear an "American" single then try and guess where the artist came from. Remember Buffalo Stance by Neneh Cherry, good pop single but stick to one song, one accent!

Answer 3

This also makes me cringe. But it seems that the record industry bosses want only to make money both sides of the Atlantic and not interested in pure talent anymore, especially of artists try to retain their English. Look at the likes of X factor and Pop Idol winners. Can any one say that these people have any talent. Will will we ever see the likes of John Lennon or Freddie Mercury again???, certainly not through crap TV hyped up programmes.

Answer 4

Rock'n'roll was an American creation, the original singers were all American and anyone copying the style naturally developed an American singing style.
Most British groups now don't sound so obviously American.
The reverse can also happen. The 1970's band Big Star adopted English accents despite being American.

Answer 5

" it just happens during spoken parts of a song."

What, with groups like Atomic Kitten and Girls Aloud who actually speak in blistering regional UK accents in real life? Not very likely mate.

Answer 6

I know, thats why I like Lilly Allen because she sings in English - Brilliant - the Pet Shop Boys also used to sing in English

Answer 7

Guess for the same reasons Madonna adopts a fake Brit accent.

Answer 8

Maybe because most people sing with a kind of American accent it just happens during spoken parts of a song. Also rap sound better with an American accent (if rap could be called good in the first place).

Answer 9

some British regional accents do sound American so maybe that's why , and as for DRtwit? i think that's how he spelt it, you may or may not have a penis but I'm certain you are a DICK.

Answer 10

Well shucks guess i gotta mosey down the sidewalk and chaw some baccy.