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Comparing the 80s pop groups of Britain (Smiths, Cure, etc.) to the US underground bands of the same period is unfair and totally misses the point.
Anyone in Britain could have turned on pop radio and heard a song by Echo & the Bunnymen. In the US, however, Husker Du and Black Flag dominated a momentary corner of college radio.
A fairer comparison would be to stack the Brit-pop bands of the period to the US-pop bands that dominated the airwaves (Van Halen, etc.).
Suddenly, Brit-pop sounds radical and dynamic.
In truth,The only thing really more sophisticated about British popular music is that the freaky sounds of the underground have a place at the table of mass popular culture.
America may have the most dynamic unpopular pop on the planet, but we're not really listening right now. Or ever.
