Michigan residents don't brag about much, except for music (and Hockey).

Highlights are Madonna, Eminem, Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, White Stripes, Stooges/Iggy, Sufjan Stevens, and tons of others including Question Mark and the Mysterians.

Michigan holds its own. Despite my braggadocio about the Lone Star state, the states with the best batches of musicians are California, Illinois, Michigan, New York and Tennessee. Or, more accurately, California, Chicago, Detroit, the NYC metro area, and Tennessee.

I might add Mississippi to the list depending on how I was feeling about Delta blues that day. And no state can beat Minnesota's top two (Dylan and Prince).

Ontario's given us:

Neil Young
The Band
Joni Mitchell (though mainly from Saskatchewan)
Alanis Morrisette
Avril Lavigne (gross)
Sum41 (double gross)
Bryan Adams (triple gross)
Shania Twain (...faints.....)
The Tragically Hip
Ron Sexsmith
Blue Rodeo
Cowboy Junkies
Bruce Cockburn
Gordon Lightfoot
Broken Social Scene
Metric
Barenaked Ladies
Billy Talent
Daniel Lanois
Rush
and a bunch o' lesser known groups

Fabrizio De Andrè is almost universally acclaimed as the greatest italian artist ever.

He started in the 60's as a classic singer/songwriter, with influences from Dylan and Brassens. In 1984 he released his masterpiece "Creuza de Ma", a world music album sang in Genoa dialect (which is 2750 in AM)

Here's Fabrizio singing "La guerra di Piero" (Trans. Pete's War, 1964), in my opinion one of the best anti war songs ever

besides krautrock (kraftwerk,neu!,faust,amon düül) germany got:
the black monks:


and ton, steine, scherben:

Great !
Continue to post videos from all around the world !

I'll go with another one of Norway's most popular bands, Madrugada. Sadly, their guitarist recently passed away, so the future of the band is uncertain.

Enjoy

Joan Manuel Serrat is probably the most important Spanish singer/songwriter. His most acclaimed album is "Mediterraneo", released in 1971. The title of the best song of this album is "Mediterraneo" too, and is generally considered the best Spanish song ever. This clip was recorded in 1987. If you understand Spanish, pay attention to the beautiful lyrics. I'm afraid I'm unable to translate the lyrics (my English is too much poor, as you can see), but I'm sure our friend Honorio would be able (¡venga tío, anímate!) .

neo,
I listened to Boudewijn de Groot
I like the second song, "testament", it has a pretty melody
What is it all about ?
i like to hear Dutch. I have a friend near Alkmaar (he lives in Warmenhuisen) and every time we come to see him we take breakfast at his home listening to the public radio and these people speaking Dutch.
I'll ask him about de Groot. He listens to classical music and Pink Floyd (he's 70 years old btw)
I love your country, I like biking in the dunes and along the canals, very exotic for a French guy.

Slush
denver is the only American city I visited, in 1993 when ... the Pope came
I went to a big Catholic Woodstock in the rockies.
But we had time to hike a little (i love mountain hiking) and the scenery was beautiful, reminding of French Alps but much bigger
And Red Rocks is a great concert place.
(but all I saw in Red Rocks was... a mass !)

These are CCCP, Italian best Punk wave band from 80's. This is a live clip by a 1987 concert. The song is Emilia Paranoica.

I found a decent video of Georges Brassens
To me he's the most important poet of the late century
This song is called "La Marine" and is about the sailors' love affairs
I can't translate the whole song but the chorus goes like this

All the joys, all the worries
Of everlasting love stories
We find them in short cuts
In our one nights love affairs

I meant the most important French poet of course

By the way, Nicolas: Paco Ibáñez, another great Spanish Singer/songwriter, made an excellente cover of the well known Brassens' song "La mauvaise reputation" with Spanihs lyrics. The original recording of the cover is about the late sixties, but this clip was recorded in 2002:

And now... a little Hungary. Sorry for the length, it's my duty!

Illés was the first band to write Hungarian rock songs in 1965 (!). They are often called "the Hungarian Beatles" because of their similar music and looks, but their lyrics were much more complex (well, what could they be?), with a lot of hidden messages towards the dictature. They were one of only three bands who were allowed to show up in the only TV channel at the time.



Another tolerated band, "The Hungarian Rolling Stones" (having existed for 45 years), Omega. Their biggest hit from 1968 would've been successful worldwide... but it was made here.



Rock music began its progress in the early '70-s. The best-known song by the short-lived band Kex:



Perhaps the greatest protest song, from 1973: Ha én rózsa volnék (If I Were a Rose), which is a remake of a folk song, and was written by the band Illés. The song was banned immediately after its release.



Locmotiv GT, the most popular band of the '70-s:



Although we missed punk in the '70-s, some attitude was present in the band Beatrice. A famous concert in 1980:



Punk and new wave arrived in the early 1980's, but most bands were not allowed to release an album (there was only one record company). For example: Trabant



Európa kiadó



an avant-garde band, A. E. Bizottság and their song "Szerelem" (Love)



The two most acclaimed bands of the 1990's, Kispál és a Borz:



and Tankcsapda:



The most popular but also the most controversial solo artist of all time, Ákos:



And now, probably the greatest Hungarian band of all time, Quimby. Having released two 5-star-worth albums, concerning they unique music and lyrics, they surely deserve the number-one spot. Here's a song from their classic 2005 album Kilégzés:



Some electronic: the internationally recognised Anima Sound System with a 1998 song:



And something about where we are today:

Many of the best Norwegian artists sing in English, and I've been looking around for someone who sings in Norwegian, and is good enough to be presented here. There aren't many, but Kaizers Orchestra is quite good, and they have actually an audience in several countries around Europe.

See the video for Kontroll på kontinentet here:

Neoptolemos (was that right?)

Great song by that Boudewijn guy. But being Dutch, you may be able to tell me what the lyrics are all about in the clip under here.

The videoclip is of Kristoffer Schau, one of Norway's most popular TV celebs, and also the singer in the infamous band The Cumshots. See a pic from a Cumshots concert here (NB! May contain shocking images):

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/44/110762926_86b0d73c10.jpg?v=0

Anyway, here's the clip. I'm guessing the lyrics of the song and the acting aren't very close related.

Os Mutantes are one the best Brazilian rock bands, maybe some of you know them. Their apogee was in the late sixties/early seventies, but the group still exists, once they returned to activities in 2005 (but with Zélia Duncan in the lead vocals instead of Rita Lee). Their sound is incredible, mixing 60's psychedelia with Brazilian music elements. Their harmonies are too much enthusiastic and well constructed. Also, for Beatle's fans like me, another quality of them is their beatle-esque style, although their music is very authentic.

Os Mutantes' 1968 album is awesome.
But you've got in Brazil as wide range of great artists, who are well known worldwide as well.

And now another great italian pop singer/songwriter: Lucio Battisti. This song is my favourite one: "I giardini di marzo" (1972)

This thread is great!

At some point, maybe we could do a poll like the decades poll, but with countries instead of years, i.e. first decide 10 (or something) albums/songs from each country that go to a final poll.

OK, I hope that is the good way to post videos...

Sooooooo, the most important French band in the past 20 years must be Noir Désir.
Sure, there are Daft Punk and Air, but Noir Désir might have made the greatest artistic achievment, the more growth of maturity and the most rich lyrics.

Among all there great albums, they have created the greatest french riff ever :


There 2 last albums probably are the greatest, and it is really hard to choose a really representative song :

Comme elle vient :





The 2 others great french rock bands of the last 20 years are a little more known outside French, being les Rita Mitsouko and la Mano Negra (much better in my opinion than anything Manu Chao did after)

But the musical genre that provided great achievments in the 90s has been hip-hop, especially thanks to 2 bands which has defined the face of french hip-hop.

IAM was the leader of "Marseille"'s rap, which style is inspired by Wu-Tang mostly, with very clever and thoughtful lyrics



That one last 9 minutes, one of the most beautiful lyrics in French hip-hop, but I guess this song lost some of its interest if you don't speak French !



As for the Wu Tang, the solo album of their members has been among the best in french hip-hop, my favourite one is "Meteque et mat" by Akhenaton (which was in my top 20 if I remember well) but "ou je vis" by Shurik'n is a great album too.





NTM (which would be translated into FYM in english...) represented the Parisian hip-hop, more inspired by NWA



I did not find a complete version of what I regard as their best song, here is the beginning !



In the 00s French music has provided lot of good albums, but nothing really amazing to my opinion.
Except maybe "Le fil" by Camille, which remains a very strange piece of music where nearly all sounds were made with mouths.





To end this, let's go back a lot of years before !

1st my favourite non hip-hop French song, by Bourvil, with was an actor who usually sang funny songs, this one is not funny at all !




End to REALLY finish this long message, one of George Brassens best friend and the funniest french singer ever, but with great musical talents too, Bobby Lapointe... but well, too many play on words, that might loose part of its interest for non french speakers again !

The speaking part:

I prefer to sing in Dutch because we live in the Netherlands, so why should French or English be used. In a restaurant that's a different matter, a good menu should be in French.. that just makes everything taste better. If you read a Dutch menu that says "kalfsborst", you'll think to yourself.. well.. kalsborst.. meh. But if it were to say "buste de veau".. well, you'd take it!

He starts singing:

With her skirt moved by the wind,
Fiekje was bicycling, the blonde child
Over the path to the lake,
until after a 15 minute trip,
she finally got off her bike
At the shore of the canal.
And when she saw all that water,
she sang with a smile:

Then probably the interesting part, which is a very old Dutch children's song, and which is something many Norwegian people have tried to 'sing' to me on the internet:

Skipper, can I sail across, yes or no?
Do I have to pay the money, yes or no?
Skipper, can I sail across, yes or no?
Do I have to pay the money, yes or no?

very good choice, Nassim !

LonesomePanda.

I love Noir Desír, I used to listen to them a lot a couple of years ago. Another band I really like is Aston Villa, though I'm not sure they are French, or from one of the French speaking countries. Do you know them?

Rune : they are french indeed ! Their song "Raisonne" had quite an important success.
There have been a few other bands with good albums of this kind, like Luke and Deportivo.

I'm from South Florida. There's some good stuff that comes from the north, like Skynyrd. South FL has nothing. We are hopeless, and nobody really tours here.

Paolo Conte and his delicate jazz influenced songwriting.

"Max" - 1987

I'm not really into French Music.
My favourite ones are those who make instrumental music or sing in english.
1. Air
2. Phoenix

Rune,

Madrugada's great !

the Netherlands:

- Johan
- the Nits
- Bettie Serveert
- Boudewijn de Groot
- the Gathering
- Anouk

regards, Peter

Flight of the Conchords from New Zealand

@ nicolas

I'm glad that you mentioned Georges Brassens. During the Second World War as a POW he had to work in a factory in "Basdorf", a village some miles away from Berlin. When my parents found out about that (they actually live in "Basdorf"), they founded an organization called "les amis des amis de Georges". And since then every year they arrange a "Brassens-Festival" with musicians from France and from all over Europe who play songs of Brassens either in French or translated into different languages.

And meanwhile I'm a big fan of Georges Brassens too...

@ Giuseppe

I love the music of Lucio Battisti. As a matter of fact the record "Emozioni" is one of my absolute favourite ones, there's not a single song on it that I don't love. And through the years I "spread" his music... and meanwhile there are many many Battisti-fans in my circle of friends (although most of them don't speak Italian!). There hasn't been a party without "Dieci ragazze" for a long, long time...

tfguenther

It is very exciting to know that Brassens is loved outside France
Congratulations to you for your fine taste, and to your parents for having created this festival.

Nicolas, no Alizee?

Oh that's right
How could I ever forget her ?
PS : Guess I couldn't even quote you an Alizee song, even less sing it ...
To me she's a face on record companies commercials, tabloids, and walls in tennagers' rooms...

I've made up for my Alizee ignorance and listened to a couple of songs
Her first single, "lolita", is terrible. I had to hit the stop button.
Her last album was recorded with good producers nd songwriters and the sound is not too bad, very much in nowaday's fashion (let's say 1978-82 pop/rock and new wave) and could have some appeal on foreigners as long as they don't get those dumb and awkward lyrics.

To me Alizee is a hot chick wearing miniskirt stopping really close to the playground... I have heard that she sings too.

British Columbia, Canada:

54-40
Black Mountain
Cub
Destroyer
D.O.A.
Matthew Good
The Grapes of Wrath
Veda Hille
Hot Hot Heat
Kevin Kane
New Pornographers
A.C. Newman
Nomeansno
Pink Mountaintops
The Poppy Family/Terry Jacks/Susan Jacks
Skinny Puppy
Sons Of Freedom
Wolf Parade (originally from Victoria, BC)
Young Canadians/Art Bergmann
You Say Party! We Say Die!

Neil, do you know the fantastic canadien band The Nines ?
I love them, it's one of the best power-pop band in the world.
Their 2 last albums ("calling distance stations" in 2006 and "gran jukle's fields" in 2007) are pure pop gems.
Andy Patridge from XTC and Jason Falkner have collaborated with the band on these records.

I didn't know about Alizee until a couple days ago. Somebody had an amimated gif of her and I wondered who she was. Some of her music sounds listeneable but those lyrics are kind of sketchy. I'm almost 30, I don't want to hear some girl who looks like she could be under 18 (shes not) talking about being a lolita. Gross. It's one thing to look like a young girl and suggest it but that's crossing the line I think...

Dumbangel, I will definitely check out The Nines. Vancouver's Odds were a pretty decent power pop band too. Maybe I should put together a list for each Canadian province - would be fun - will look for time to do it.

I just found out this great song was Dutch, Sausalito Summernight!

Such a fun song, and the video is not too bad either:

Beatles
Rolling Stones
The Who
The Kinks
Led Zeppelin
David Bowie
Pink Floyd
T Rex
Sex Pistols
The Clash
Police (2/3 of the band anyway)
The Cure
Radiohead
Muse

Missed this thread due to holiday.

Well, I'm not the first from the Netherlands to post here, and Boudewijn de Groot, Johan and Bettie Serveert are among my Dutch favorites as well.

One band, that's been constantly good over the years (started in the early 70's and just released their latest album) and that I really like, is called the Nits. Some of you might know this band from the hit song "In the Dutch mountains", but they have made quite a collection of qualitatively good songs. My favorite song from the Nits is a bit older, from '83, and it's called "Sketches of Spain" and here is a live version, performed on TV in 1991:



Nicolas, I love Jacques Brel too! Since we're talking about different countries and different languages, here's an anecdote for you: About 15 years ago, as part of my studies, I was in Gothenburg, Sweden, for a semester and went to a concert of Jacques Brel. Well, not himself of course, but a Swedish guy performing songs from him ... and this all in Swedish! It was pretty cool (and hilarious) to hear Brel's songs in quite melodic Swedish, with the right touch of emotionality that belongs to his songs.

Germany:Jan Delay
Tocotronic
Ton Stein und Scherben
Rammstein
Kraftwerk