Throughout its history, the United Kingdom has been a major exporter and source of musical innovation, drawing its cultural basis from the history of the United Kingdom, from church music, Western culture and the ancient and traditional flok music and instrumentation of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. In the 20th century, influences from the music of the United States became most dominant in popular music. This led to the explosion of the British Invasion, while subsequent notable movements in British music include the new wave of British heavy metal and Britpop. The United Kingdom has one of the world's largest music industries today, with many British musicians having influenced modern music.
Click on the guitar and go to this webpage, where the music is divided into decades.

Why don't you have a look at what other students wrote about  it on: BRITISH CULTURE. Here, you will have different kinds of styles with lots of information and videoclips. Click on the flag.

 
 BRITISH INVASION                                                            POP MUSIC
 

 GLAM ROCK                                                             INDIE MUSIC 

 HARD ROCK & HEAVY METAL                                  NEW WAVE
                        
                              

 
PROGRESSIVE ROCK                                      NEW ROMANTICS

        American popular music has had a profound effect on music across the world. The country has seen the rise of popular styles that have had a significant influence on global culture, including ragtime, blues, jazz, swing, rock, bluegrass, country, R&B, doo wop, gospel, soul, funk, heavy metal, punk, disco, house, techno, salsa, grunge and hip hop. Distinctive styles of American popular music emerged early in the 19th century, and in the 20th century the American music industry developed a series of new forms of music, using elements of blues and other genres of American folk music. These popular styles included country, R&B, jazz and rock. The 1960s and 1970s saw a number of important changes in American popular music, including the development of a number of new styles, such as heavy metal, punk, soul, and hip hop.

In WELCOME TO USA, you will find the necessary information regarding this aspect of the American culture. 
Another possibility is to go directly to the links below:

 
ROCK                                                                        ROCK 'N' ROLL      

                                                          
HARD ROCK & HEAVY METAL                           PUNK & GRUNGE

 
HIP HOP, RAP & FOLK MUSIC                                 FUNK & DISCO
                              

SOUL MUSIC

               In 1996, 3 of the top recording artists in pop, rock and country music were women. More significantly, Céline DION, Alanis MORISSETTE and Shania TWAIN were Canadian women. Canadians had been making significant contributions to the development of recorded popular music since the mid-1870s. The music has subsequently been heavily influenced by American culture because of its proximity and migration between the two countries. Canada's music industry is the sixth largest in the world producing many internationally renowned artists.

Some students wrote about the most famous bands and singers in Canadian history. Click on the flag and learn about it. 

             In this page we’re going to deal with music related to Ireland. We have chosen some emblematic bands and singers and they are ordered chronologically. 

But first of all, let’s start with a small introduction. Irish Music is the generic term for music that has been created in various genres on the island of Ireland. The indigenous music of the island is termed Irish traditional music. It has remained vibrant through the 20th, and into the 21st century, despite globalizing cultural forces. In spite of emigration and a well-developed connection to music influences from Britain and the United States, Irish music has kept many of its traditional aspects and has itself influenced many forms of music, such as country and roots music in the USA, which in turn have had some influence on modern rock music. It has occasionally been fused with rock and roll, punk rock and other genres.

 

 

 

Soul music is a kind of music that mixes rhythm and blues, gospel music and pop music. It started in the 1960s in the United States. Features of Soul Music are call and response, hand claps, body movement and a tense vocal sound. 

Soul music (often referred to simply as soul) is a popular music genre that originated in the African American community throughout the United States in the 1950s and early 1960s. It combines elements of African-American gospel music, rhythm and blues and jazz. 

Soul music became popular for dancing and listening in the United States, where record labels such as Motown, Atlantic and Stax were influential during the Civil Rights Movement. Soul also became popular around the world, directly influencing rock music and the music of Africa.

                OK, let's talk about those Spanish bands who sing in English. I can tell you that there are quite a few; probably because they think that they will sell more CDs worldwide. Most of them are regarded as Indie bands which mean that they don't record with very important record labels and they play rock and pop mainly. Hope you like them.

Click on the guitar and enjoy.

 

            Well, I have to say that I’ve always loved music. Since I was very young, music became part of my life and it’s difficult for me to remember moments in my life, especially since I became a teenager, when music hasn’t been there in every single moment. I’ve spent -and I still do- many incredible moments having music as my perfect friend. During the years, some people have asked to make a compilation of my favourite records of all time. At the end, I agreed and here is my pick.
Click on the picture at the right and have a look.