American Accent

[miajag]

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on a sidenote...what happens to accents when people start singing?? (bands like inxs, u2, def leppard, jet) Anybody else notice how the accent doesnt really come through in the songs (as opposed to interviews and such)

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I've noticed this too. I thought all bands were American till I was like 16.

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You can hear the accent in a lot of Pink Floyd songs though. Altough, they are the only ones I can think of off the top of my head that do show the accent.

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Yeah, Waters' and Gilmour's accents do come through pretty clearly even while singing. I didn't start listening to Floyd until my late teens though.

[daryn]

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on a sidenote...what happens to accents when people start singing?? (bands like inxs, u2, def leppard, jet) Anybody else notice how the accent doesnt really come through in the songs (as opposed to interviews and such)

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i think this is because they just naturally try to emulate bands they like.. which are usually american bands. you sometimes notice an american band singing with a sort of foreign accent like green day for instance, same idea

[samjjones]

Hugh Laurie's American accent is really flawless.

[econophile]

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Hugh Laurie's American accent is really flawless.

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every once in a while i'll notice a word that sounds off. not british, just wrong. but i agree. for someone who has starred in an american TV show for two seasons, he's done an awesome job on his accent.

[ahnuld]

I was born and grew up in Montreal Canada my whole life. But for some reason everybody thinks I have an american accent, from NJ specifically. Its really werid becuase iv never been there and im 4th generation montrealer, but when I traveled to europe this summer everybody thought I was from Jersey. I think its the attitude that you talk with. I try to talk with confidence so maybe thats different from the milder canadian speech?

[The Glidd]

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on a sidenote...what happens to accents when people start singing?? (bands like inxs, u2, def leppard, jet) Anybody else notice how the accent doesnt really come through in the songs (as opposed to interviews and such)

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I think this has more to do with conventions in musical
vocal enunciation. Vocalists (whether they know it or not) place emphasis on the vowel sounds when they sing. They also (usually) try and achieve as open a sound as possible, which includes shape of the lips, tongue position, and glottal openness.

This is especially true with opera singers, where vocalists fall in love with the sound of their vowels to the extent that they fall beats behind the orchestra.

Through the centuries, some of these sonic conventions have been inherited by pop groups.

[LuckOfTheDraw]

I'm currently watching Band of Brothers (for the 100th time), and I think that Winters, Liebgott, and Martin all have pretty thick British accents. They did a pretty good job with their American accents in the series. Just thought I'd chime in with that.

[doc_1982]

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There are several British actors who play roles that require an American Accent, Colin Ferrel and the guy who plays on House come to mind.

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Just fwiw, Colin Farrell actually plays up his Irish accent when he's being interviewed on TV(and playing himself on scrubs), presumably to appeal to the american stereotype of Irish people usually depicted on TV. His actual accent is nowhere near that thick.

Also, Irish people are not British.

[vbm]

Gwyn Paltrow in Sliding Doors does a great british accent

[Brainwalter]

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Gwyn Paltrow in Sliding Doors does a great british accent

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She does that in real life too now.