Why no French rock n roll?

MBV, surely. But that works too.

i was so dumb

What did you learn?

Anyway, there's plenty of French rnr. It's just that most of it is not exported

It's not exported because it's not very good, though. The fact remains that the French are good at pop, not so good at rock. (Yes, vast generalisation, of course there must be good French rock bands out there etc. etc. Still.)

There's enough homegrown not-very-good rock to go round

hooray!

um..

well if you do a ratio good-bad rnr and you add the difficulty of exporting music in a foreign language, i think you'll fidn that the situation isn't that different.

Anyway, I guess I could accept the idea that the whole grittiness that's implied in rnr does not come off as cool to the french psyche as in the UK or in the US

I thought they loved the rnr in France?

yes. Doesn't make it french tho.

what kind of rnr are we talking about though?

All that leather jackets/ sunglasses/ fag hangin' out corner of mouth/ Keef bollocks. Or is that just the French habitués of ye olde Camden Town?

The "difficulty of exporting music in a foreign language" argument works for the mainstream, less so for the kind of people who read ILM, who may well listen to a lot of French stuff from Gainsbourg to Daft Punk but not to any French rock.

Tattoos, tight jeans, earrings, motorcycle boots, kerchiefs... dunno about the music mind you

i. the french love anything that is developed, structured, refined and practiced by experts, i.e. tennis, rugby, disco, wine, the plastic arts, painting, jazz, prostitution

ii. on the other hand, they love to be contrary and rub your nose in shit

iii. french people do not enjoy the minutemen or husker du

One day I will own that 150-odd disc Johnny Halliday singles box.

make sure you also get the johnny hallYday singles box

actually don't

France has become a big hotspot for Black Metal in recent times. They love Rock'n'Roll too.

interesting

yup!

Anyway, there isn't much French rock, not much Italian rock, and not much Spanish rock ... but you get some crazy rock from the UK, Germany, the Scandinavian countries, etc. You get the best pop and dance from France and Italy. Maybe rock is more of a Germanic rather than Latinate thing.

The last Phoenix lp was kinda rock

there are LOADS of french rock bands. especially at the moment. all the kids play in bands nowadays. they all suck though...

Pink Panzers?

:D

Clair Obscur = France's answer to Joy Division - explosive post-punk coldwave

experience it:

CLAIR OBSCUR - Statues - 1983
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khPydYdNx6k
-- djmartian, Wednesday, 25 June 2008

EXPERIENCE IT

CLAIR OBSCUR
There's a thread in this name, which I might have tried to start a few years ago- Bands Whose Names Can Be Split Into Two Parts That Are Antonyms Of Each Other. As it is, the only other example I can think of right now is Was (Not Was).

Yo, Francophiles, what's a good shortlist of quality French 80s pop kinda shit? Synth pop, minimal pop, electro pop, regular pop, whatever. Doesn't seem like much has ever been discussed of it.

French language particularly

Bands Whose Names Can Be Split Into Two Parts That Are Antonyms Of Each Other. As it is, the only other example I can think of right now is Was (Not Was).

Hello Goodbye are pretty big these days, I think (though sadly not French).

Also (the also not French) Biggie Smalls.

And Fatboy Slim -- okay, I'll save these for an actual thread from now on.

French 80s pop kinda shit? Synth pop, minimal pop, electro pop

This comp looks kinda promising:

http://cdbaby.com/cd/bippp

My aunt lived in France during the 80s and she forced French crap circa that period on my developing brain when she came back, so I have a weird affection for it.

Yeah, that compilation sounds pretty cool

get the Les Rita Mitsouko "Bestov" and take it from there

here's an awesome compilation of french rock

France is the center of rock n roll these days. The thing is it can be summed up in two words, "Ed" and "Banger", and a lot of people here apparently don't like it.

Burt, I made a list in the "rough guide thread" of 80's french synth poo. I'll try to dig it out

But you might already wanna start with 80's Etienne Daho, Indochine and Mylene Farmer

Stanton, why do you use the words 'shit' and 'crap' to denote things you like or want to hear?

Why does the word "bad" mean "good"? I mean really.

Ah, found it:

The Rough Guide to 80's French Pop:

1. Mylene Farmer - Libertine
2. Partenaire Particulier - Partenaire Particulier
3. Etienne Daho - Week-End a Rome
4. Vanessa Paradis - Maxou
5. Alain Souchon - Quand Je Serai K.O.
6. Caroline Loeb - C'est la Ouatte
7. Alain Bashung - Gaby
8. Rita Mitsouko - Marcia Baila
9. Negresses Vertes - Sous le Soleil
10. Indochine - L'Aventurier
11. Jeanne Mas - Coeur en Stereo
12. Desireless - Voyage, Voyage
13. Guesh Patti - Etienne
14. France Gall - Debranche
15. Marc Lavoine - Les Yeux Revolver

Yeah, all this stuff is perfect. Thanks

i can't really stand Daho except for one song i've never been able to find again that sounded almost like Felt!!

Does French people ever want to rock?

This comp looks kinda promising:

http://cdbaby.com/cd/bippp

=======

Christ on a pointed stick. Yeah, synth rock -- rock out, Claudette, rock out.

I'm listening to Illimite -- a deluxe Telephone thing that came out on EMI France in 2006. Two CDs, one a "best of," the other a live shot. Centerpiece of live stuff is a show at CBGBs in 1980, apparently in front of about a dozen, where the band tore up the floorboards. Segment of show from Montreal, one year earlier, has them sounding -- tone and attackwise -- like Metallic KO for 15 minutes of material, only more polite than Iggy. Well, they could have been impolite, but I don't know French.

Just way too early for anyone in the US to get their brains around Frenchmen, singing in French, who had a rhythm section and two guitar players who knew roots rock and hard rock better than a lot of people prowling big stages in '80. 'Course, it seems not to have been too early for their countrymen who bought their albums by the bagload, so much so the badn retired around the mid-80's.

I kick myself for having missed them at some dive in Philly.

Seconding and thirding SOGGY. Holy crap this album is great!

Watch here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o49KyJQl-Og

^^^SERIOUSLY JUST LOOKIT THAT GUY

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_rock

Other notes: There's a French series of psych comps called Freakout Totale that are pretty good, though they're francophone (so include Quebec etc.).

Once I get home, I'll be able to drag through the huge archive I found on SLSK from some user named Docteur Stein, which was all a bunch of 7"s in French, with a good half of them rock and roll (bands like Alex et les Lizards).

Bérurier Noir are pretty fun, though they're on the goofy quasi-political new wave tip, at least as I've been able to figure out. I had a pal send me a mixtape of their stuff once and I've downloaded a bit over the years.

2100-ish words on Les Rita Mitsouko, Niagara, Elmer Food Beat, Indochine, Les Négresses Vertes, Mylene Farmer, Noir Désir, Les Hatepinks.

http://www.spin.com/articles/french-modern-rock-essentials-phoenix-daft-punk/