Quotes of the Day

The Brit awards — the U.K. music industry's showcase bash — have been making headlines since they were launched in 1977. But usually those headlines are less about the music being celebrated than the musicians' booze-fueled antics. Pulp's Jarvis Cocker invading the stage to waggle his bottom during an overblown Michael Jackson performance in 1996 remains a memorable hit. So does Chumbawamba drenching Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott in water in '98.

But this week's ceremony is meant to be liquor-free, because the Brits are growing up — choosing from a more thoughtful list of nominations and promising to bring the focus back to the music. Relegated to the wings, thankfully, are the winners and losers from the latest reality-TV pop shows. And stepping into the spotlight are the stars of the burgeoning U.K. urban scene, with rappers Ms. Dynamite and the Streets nominated for four awards each. There's even — finally — a category called British Urban. And amazingly Robbie Williams — the hottest young Brit on the planet, with 13 Brits on his mantel — is only nominated for one this time.

"The music industry has woken up," says soulful U.K. garage rapper Romeo, who is nominated on his own and as a member of the garage collective So Solid Crew. "It's been a really good year for urban acts — we've been hitting the Top 10s and making the right songs people want to hear."

Behind the Brit Awards' new seriousness is the sense that the long-battered U.K. music scene may finally be ready to stand up again. After years of watching imports like the Strokes and the Hives redefine neopunk, Britain has a plausible response in the Libertines, who add a distinctive English twist. Mike Skinner — the white rapper who calls himself the Streets — is a young, original talent who could hold his own against Eminem, with less obscenity.

But for many, the U.K. music industry can't be deemed officially revived until it gets its groove back in the world's biggest market. Since the Beatles touched down at J.F.K. Airport in 1964, wave upon wave of British musicians have found global stardom via the U.S. But not lately; there are currently no British artists in the U.S. Billboard Top 50 singles chart. The Top 100 album chart features a more respectable four British acts — but the Rolling Stones, Elton John and Rod Stewart are not exactly fresh faces. Of the four, only the members of melodic rockers Coldplay are not pushing pension age.

Will some of the new seedlings of Brit music grow into the next big thing in the U.S.? They're certainly compelling enough to have a shot. The bright-eyed, lush-voiced woman known as Ms. Dynamite led the urban charge in 2002. The eldest of 11 kids, 21-year-old Niomi McLean-Daley was raised in a North London housing project and broke through emceeing at "open mic" nights. Her debut album, A Little Deeper, mixing U.K. garage and R. and B., was a crossover smash, wowing critics and beating the Streets to the highly respected Mercury Music Prize. Her lyrics denounce the macho posturing and gun culture often associated with the rap scene. Last month she played at an anti-gun event in Birmingham and appeared last week at an antiwar demo in London's Hyde Park. On her hit single It Takes More she raps, "Who gives a damn about the ice on your hand/ If it's not too complex/ Tell me how many Africans died for the baguettes on your Rolex?"

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.

• HUGH PORTER/London
• U.K. pop gets a life after export