Golden era rock: American solo artists vs. British bands

Interesting how heavy the British are into the blues, while the Americans you mentioned, not so much.

Van Morrison did OK, as I remember, people seemed to like him I think.

Yeah, Bowie and Van Morrison are UK exceptions to the rule of thumb and the Doors, CCR and possibly the Band are US exceptions - still the imbalance is interesting.

It seems like the big British bands largely took the lead of the Stones and went in a Blues direction, whereas American/Canadian bands went more for Folk and Country. I don't know where the Doors fit into this except that they're terrible.

honestly I'd rather listen to CCR, The Band, The Byrds, Flying Burrito Brothers, Buffalo Springfield, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, etc. than Zep or the Stones most of the time.

thread reminds me i never did get round to polling the mc5 vs the dc5

"VU can't really count as American band with Cale as founding member" Come on.

Sly & The Family Stone, Jefferson Airplane, Grateful Dead, The Byrds --- 60s American bands huge on both popularity & cultural impact measures.

niels is onto a real pattern though, even with the many exceptions or sometimes arbitrary picks

The American pattern dates way back. Country and Blues and Jazz performers far more often billed with their own name than as bands, and so were big 50s rock: Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, etc. The Crickets soon are Buddy Holly & , The Miracles are soon Smokey Robinson & , The Supremes are soon Diana Ross & .

Meanwhile giant English personalities mostly avoided primary billing, playing behind a band name while becoming household names anyway. Good case study: Eric Clapton, a very big deal in the 60s, went through a series of bands, just way out of his way not to lead with his own name, until finally the mid-70s.

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Regarding VU, I have always thought of them as a US band but it's true that if you consider Cale and the fact that on their most famous album, some of the most famous songs are sung by a german woman, it's not totally silly to consider the european input...

US is a melting pot