The Brits Are Coming

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Going mike-to-Mike with Ms. Dynamite for best album is another act that came from nowhere last year: the Streets. Skinner, a 23-year-old from Birmingham by way of Brixton, made his debut album, Original Pirate Material, in his bedroom with his earnings from a job at Burger King. Skinner blends dance beats, garage and hip-hop, but also fronts socially aware lyrics. His album tells of a day in the life of a "geezer" — an ordinary bloke whose existence is an endless run of cafés, strong lager, drugs, raving, failure with women, and kebab shops. It may not be your cup of Tennants, but Skinner is the most original British rapper, skillfully depicting the lives of his escape-bent, disillusioned generation.

Of course, not all the Brit nominees are on the cutting edge. One of the few Brit bands to achieve international success — including a Billboard Top 5 album — is Coldplay, who are bookmakers' favorites for Best British Group and Best Album with A Rush of Blood to the Head. But they're selling radio-friendly ballads. The U.S. music market (worth $13.4 billion in 2001) remains the most useful barometer of international success. And though Robbie Williams can sing when he's winning all the awards, America just isn't interested in him. Many Brit bands that have captured America's cold heart — such as Oasis — have found its affections fickle. Says a gloomy Peter Jamieson, chairman of the British Phonographic Industry, which organizes the Brits: "Last year in terms of chart placings [in the U.S.] was one of the least successful in U.K. recording history."

So has America had one Brit invasion too many? That's not the problem, says Joe Levy, music editor of Rolling Stone. "The British bands that have been successful in the U.S. are those that feel like worldwide rock bands. There isn't a high school kid in America who cares that Led Zeppelin was British. Pink Floyd, as far as anyone here is concerned, come from outer space."

The actual reasons for slumping British sales are a lot more complex: consolidation of record labels and radio stations, a stubbornly insular market and a commercial and artistic decline in the record industry as a whole. Says Levy: "With record sales down better than 10% in the last year, it's not just British artists that aren't selling in America."

When the sales aren't there, labels won't pay for big tours. "New British bands have stopped working America. They are not touring, they do showcase gigs on the East and West Coast and bugger off again," says U.K.-based music writer Phil Sutcliffe. "Led Zeppelin did eight tours of America in their first two years, it was like an assault."

That may help explain the success of Coldplay and R.-and-B. star Craig David. They are not shy of a gig or two Stateside. Says Conor McNicholas, editor of U.K. music mag NME, of Coldplay, "They are so rich in tunes and expression that it crosses borders. A lot about their music isn't very challenging or edgy and it appeals to a lot of people — they're an anti-theme band."

Finding the next British rock band to follow in Coldplay's wake isn't so easy, given that U.K. audiences tend to be flocking to see Americans, Scandinavians and Antipodeans. One exception is the Music, an energetic Leeds four-piece that takes its cues from Pink Floyd to the Stone Roses and have committed to an exhausting tour schedule in the U.S. Another less conventional method to break America is from within. Like Bush and Dido before them, the funk-soul duo known as Floetry are currently almost entirely unknown in their native London, but they're looming large in Philadelphia's neo-soul scene. Both graduates of the Brits Performing Arts School, Marsha Ambrosius and Natalie Stewart had a Top 20 album, wrote for Michael Jackson and were nominated for three Grammys. They fuse spoken poetry to a soulful groove, which the pair describe as "poetic delivery with musical intent."

Overall, though, pessimism reigns, especially for Ms. Dynamite and the other U.K. urban contenders. Says Jamieson, "The exportability [to the U.S.] of black, urban, U.K. street music has always been hard. You need the clout of a major [label] to get somewhere and even then the U.S. majors always look to their own. It's the most insular market in the world."

Mick and Keith may still be flying the Union Jack before millions of satisfied Americans (at least when they play together), but the days of British musical domination are gone, and are unlikely to return any time soon. Even if they do, the Brits will probably be riding the wave of global music rather than driving it. But no matter. In Britain and throughout Europe, there's reason to cheer. The Pop Idol-driven drivel that controlled the charts in recent years seems to have peaked. Great music is being made in the U.K. and finally being recognized. Just ask the Brits.