It seems that every few decades the battle for music supremacy is won by either the United States and Great Britain. This is not to say that both countries aren't always contributing to the advancement of music, but occasionally, it becomes apparent that one country is dominating the scene. In the past couple of years, the United States has definitely taken a back seat to the Brits when it comes to music.

In the late-eighties/early nineties, it was our mostly Seattle-based music scene that set the tone for bands around the world. It was bands like Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Jane's Addiction that made it possible for the bands of today to thrive and get the recognition that they get. After the "Alternative" rock scene somewhat ran its course and became the mainstream, we had lost our stronghold on the development of music.

In the past five or so years, the pendulum has definitely swung back towards the British Isles. Bands experimenting with new forms of rock- often fusing it with electronic music- are changing the face of music by bringing it to the next level. Radiohead and U2 are two examples of bands that have definitely realized that the state of music has become somewhat stagnant and that a change has to be made. It is no surprise that U2 are spearheading the move towards a new type of rock. With every album, they undertake a new type of music, always staying fresh. People complain that Pop, their most recent album, (Island) is a disappointing album because it doesn't sound like U2, but what they don't realize is that U2 knows that they can sell records but it loses its fun if you churn out the same album over and over again. One must admire their risktaking in releasing the album and following it up with a tour that cost them incredible amounts of money to run.

In terms of electronic music, the most creative minds in commercial techno are the Chemical Brothers and Liam Howlett of the Prodigy, both British. Techno is a genre that is very strong in the US, but not on a grand scale. The only genre that the US dominates is in hip-hop, which is definitely fun to listen to, but has a track record of not being able to endure passing years. Puff Daddy may sell 4 million records this year but I don't think that anyone will be humming "Mo Money, Mo Problems" in ten years. Although hip-hop is "music for the moment," it is often the most financially beneficial type of music from the record labels' point of view, therefore it should not be overlooked.

Recently, though, there have been many countries other than the US and Britain making a significant impact on the state of music. Cornershop mix native Hindu music with rock and sometimes even a DJ. Talvin Singh is a DJ who has brought the Asian underground techno scene out in the open with his release, Anokha (Island). Daft Punk's Homework (Virgin) was one of the best albums to be released this past year. They hail from France.

I get the feeling that music is at a threshold now and sometime in the very near future it is going to blossom into the force that it used to be. Once this threshold is surpassed, it will be interesting to see what we're listening to come the turn of the century.