Foreign Talent
November 27, 2006 by Jo Minor
When people speak of music and the people behind it, the US and the UK are the names that frequently emerge - often because these places are generally accepted as the birthplaces of most of the musical talents we have come to listen and love over the years.
Be it rock or jazz or pop, the US and the UK have been steadily exporting hundreds, or even thousands, of acts - be they singers, bands (sadly, those of the “boy†and “girl†types, too) or instrumentalists - for decades. This oligopoly of sorts has produced some of the brightest stars of the music industry, often casting a dark shadow on smaller nations of lesser repute.
This phenomenon is slowly ceasing to be, as these smaller nations - notably during the past few decades - have generated an immense amount of talent that can’t be denied or overlooked by anyone. The result - more and more artistes and bands from lesser known countries are making a name for themselves on the international stage of music.
In this article I hope to describe some of these countries and their respective talents, and I would like to start off with the Land Down Under - Australia.
Australia has been home to some of the best known rock bands of our times - hard rocking AC/DC and their younger, more contemporary countrymen Silverchair are some of two of the countries largest exports. Recently, The Vines and Jet have emerged from this land of didgeridoos and kangaroos, and on the other end of the musical spectrum The Berzerker has carved a name for itself as one of the fastest bands in the Extreme Metal genre.
Next up is Germany, a nation with a respectable and widely-known track record in sports and culture.
Germany can take pride in being a country that has produced one of the best rock ‘n roll bands of all time - The Scorpions. The band has garnered millions of fans in their illustrious 40 year career and is a household name in hundreds of countries worldwide; and still tours to this very day. The country has also contributed to certain sub-genres of Heavy Metal - in this case, Power Metal and Thrash Metal - through monumental bands such as Blind Guardian, Kreator and Destruction, to name a few.
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We head north to the icy lands of Norway and Finland - home of the greatest names in Black Metal and Power Metal.
Norway has been under the spotlight of controversy for many years, resulting from the deviant acts of certain church-burning members of Black Metal bands such as Emperor and Mayhem. Controversies aside, Norway has single-handedly produced one of the biggest sub-genres in Heavy Metal called - rather simply - Norwegian Black Metal. Fusing haunting yet symphonic orchestral elements with eardrum-shattering guitars and drums, Norwegian Black Metal has spawned some of the best bands in Heavy Metal history. Some of these bands include Dimmu Borgir and Carpathian Forest.
Finland, on the other hand, has produced some of the best Power Metal bands of recent times. If you have heard of bands like Children of Bodom, Nightwish and Sonata Arctica, then you should know that they all originate from Finland. These mentioned bands are the forefront of this fast yet melodic sub-genre of Heavy Metal.
Our last stop is Poland - the most remote example of a country exporting huge talent.
Poland is home to only two notable bands - Behemoth and Vader - but the contributions of these bands to the Death Metal sub-genre is enough to certify this secluded country as a genuine contributor to Extreme Metal. Behemoth and Vader have worked hard to place themselves on the same level of recognition as their more popular American counterparts such as Morbid Angel and Nile - thus giving their homeland a much needed popularity boost. These Polish bands continue to tour the States and Europe regularly.
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