British Popular Culture
...Terrestrial (1982) were the biggest box office hits in the US and in Great Britain while only a few British made movies such as the Beatles’ A Hard Day’s Night (1964), Monty Python’s Life of Brian (1979), and of course, the James Bond movies in the 60’s and 70’s broke into American cinemas (AFI, np) (Reel Classics, np). American movies have clearly dominated the box offices at home and abroad since 1945 and with each movie more and more of American popular culture is introduced in Great Britain. Recently, British films have been having much more success in US theatres. Bridget Jones’ Diary (2001) and Bridget Jones: Edge of Reason (2004), Love Actually (2003), and the Harry Potter films, have brought in just as much money in the United States as in the United Kingdom. Even with the new emergence of popular British made films, there is a long history of Hollywood productions dominating London productions and there will continue to be an influence of American popular culture within the United Kingdom. The next sphere of popular culture isn’t so easily distinguished. The domination of pop music has virtually been swapped back and forth between Britain and the United States since 1945. Early pop music (1930’s 40’s and 50’s) had its roots in American artists like Cole Porter, Ella Fitz, Frank Sinatra, and Elvis Presley. Each of theses artists contributed a unique sound and style to early popular music like jazz, swing, and of course, rock and roll. Elvis Presley was probably the most popular of early pop artists. His famous singles, Jailhouse Rock, Hound Dog, and All Shook Up, hit #1 on both the American and British pop charts of the 1950’s. Elvis’ influence spread throughout Britain and inspired many British pop musicians like Gerry and the Pacemakers, The Rolling Stones, and, in my opinion, the best band in the history of music, The Beatles. Catching on to the rock craze, the UK quickly took over command of pop music in the 1960’s. It wasn’t, however, until 1964, that the UK top ten was completely owned by British musicians, thanks largely to The Beatles who contributed I Want to Hold Your Hand, She Loves You, A Hard Day’s Night, Love Me Do, and Please Please Me, as five of the top ten (Top40, np). Britain’s reign as pop capital of the world would survive for a short amount of time thanks to artists like David Bowie, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, the Sex Pistols, U2, and Eric Clapton but the United States would once again dominate the pop charts in the UK with artists like The Jackson Five, Simon & Garfunkel, The Eagles, and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers just to name a few. Early British punk rock gave rise to ‘the rave’ a new social activity which was popular in America as well as in Great Britain. Raving can best be described as masses of people gathering in a large facility to partake in the consumption of alcohol, illegal drugs, and partying. Probably amongst the most heard of rave bands was Britain’s The Clash. Although popular in the United States, punk rock did not leave a lasting impression as raves were left behind for more legitimate and modern clubs. Meanwhile, in Great Britain the government took notice of the out of control rave culture and in 1994 banned raving by passing the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act. This forced British youth to party in legal clubs and pubs with liquor licenses. This put an abrupt put end to Britain’s punk and rave culture. From the 1990’s up to the present date, more American artists make it in the UK than British artists do in the US. Only a few British musicians, Phil Collins and Billy Idol for example, made it into the top 100 singles of the 90’s. As the 90’s passed on into the new Century, a few of Great Britain’s star groups and single artists like The Spice Girls, Robbie Williams, and most recently, Damien Rice have cracked the US pop charts (Billboard, np). The overwhelming majority of the UK’s top 40 slots in the last 10 years are filled with American pop artists, Brittany Spears, N’sync, Backstreet Boys, and Destiny’s Child. Another purely American dominated genre of pop music, rap, has replaced main stream pop music or at least pushed it aside. Artists like Eminem, Nelly, 50 Cent, 2 Pac Shakur, and Outkast owned the pop charts both in the US and the UK from 2000-2004 (Top40, np). Although British pop music culture did find its way into America in the form of Beatlemania, there was more American pop culture emersion into Britain. Today more than ever before, with rap and R&B as the main sources of American popular culture, Britain has followed America’s lead. The third form of popular culture that Britain has received from America is television. It is the best example of how much American pop culture has permeated into Britain, but the same is not true of British pop culture in the United States. Up until 1955, the British Broadcasting Company (BBC), a government funded company, had a monopoly with the only television station on the air. The first commercial use of television in Britain happened in 1955 when ITV began. At first many people did not want commercial television because it was modelled from the United States. The television, perhaps more than any other device, drove consumerism to its highest points in America in the 1950’s. For the ability to advertise on TV stations, companies would pay thousands of dollars per commercial which was enough to pay for the upkeep of the station and the purchase popular television shows which would pull in more viewers. The British public was aware of this phenomenon and thus were weary to adopt the American style commercial television station. ...