Growing up in France, I have absolutely no shame to say that what I remember about French music sucked big time! You are going to say you know a few French artists who don’t suck, but every time I talk about this with an American native, Serge Gainsbourg’s name comes up, but beside him, there is most of the time nobody else,… may be Edith Piaf, but come on, she was famous in the 40s!
I am not very aware of what’s going on in France right now, but when I was young, French radios and TV were feeding us with a diet of Dave, Christophe, Francis Cabrel, Claude François, Carlos, Renaud, France Gall, Michel Berger, C Jerome, Alain Bashung, Charlélie Couture, Philippe Lavil, Thierry Pastor, Michel Fugain, Karen Chéryl, Lio, Alain Souchon, Antoine, Bernard Lavilliers, Sheila, Hugues Aufray, Jean-Jacques Goldman, Patrick Bruel, Daniel Guichard, Julien Clerc, Michel Sardou, Eddy Mitchell and Dick Rivers (sorts of Johnny Halliday clones), Frederic François, Chantal Goya, Gérard Lenorman,… and who else I forgot? I admit it I couldn’t remember a tenth of them and did a quick search…. But nevertheless, each of these names evokes something to me, and probably nothing to anyone who hasn't lived in France.
I am not saying all of them totally sucked, but believe me, a lot of artists in this list are very very forgettable, a medley of cheesy ‘variétés françaises’ you would not want to listen to, even under the threat of torture. A few others were ok but their art never went outside French borders, because of the language barrier, or because of a real lack of je-ne-sais-quoi.
For me, all these artists could fit into several categories:
Some of them were the hardcore French singers, the ones who were on a mission (from who-knows-who) to save the French chanson, they were the ones spitting on the English invasion, they were the French songwriting pride, and proud to be famous in far away countries like… Montréal. Needless to say, they had no chance to be known in a non-francophone country.
Some were so old-school-France (Daniel Guichard, Frederic François, Gérard Lenorman) that their public must have been 70-year-old ladies watching Michel Drucker (the French Dick Clark) on TV, whereas others were just clowns always ready to amuse the kids on Sunday afternoons (Carlos, Chantal Goya).
But there was (still is apparently) a large group desperately trying to copy the American model, cultivating a nostalgia since the 60s, and trying to come up with a copy-cat French rock’n‘roll, while looking totally pathetic to be honest, and still having an Elvis pompadour in their 50s: Dick Rivers, Eddy Mitchell and of course, ‘l’idole des jeunes’ Johnny Halliday. A lot of their songs were French adaptations of American standards, or were talking about exotic places like Nashville, Rio Grande, Hollywood, or Memphis, selling the American dream to a captivated French audience,… yeah they were our rockers, and we also had our French Dylan, Hugues Aufray, who even translated a few Dylan standards,… How did he dare! Later, also did James-Taylor-wannabe Francis Cabrel.
There also were the more artsy-fartsy, the Charlélie Couture type, the cooler ones like Alain Bashung or Renaud (who even tried some Franglais), and some real rock bands like Téléphone, and Rita Mitsouko (I actually liked them!), but let’s face it, none of these Frenchies were exportable.
Today, there is a new French scene and these kids have learnt the lesson: they sing in English. Phoenix, Air, Daft Punk (and probably others that I don't care for) have conquered the electronic scene and are even more famous outside of their country… too bad that the most well-known French artist has to be David Guetta and his arsenal of empty-bland-redundant beats exploiting the image of some top 40 American artists. But again, I am not sure whether France has better to offer.