I have spent most of my morning at work listening to Deicide and Cephalic Carnage, on Saturday night I saw Merzbow at ULU, and it got me thinking: why is the UK so rubbish at producing extreme music?

The US and Japan have it nailed down. Who in the UK sounds anywhere near, say, Agoraphobic Nosebleed, or even to a lesser extent, something like the Locust? Then of course, you have the other type of extreme with stuff like Sunn 0))).

Japan has the aforementioned Merzbow, Masonna, and bands like Boris who do doom/drone just as well as the Americans. Then they have their 'pop' music with bands like Polysics and Melt Banana. And they do amazing psych with bands like Acid Mother's Temple and Boredoms.

What do we have in the UK? nothing really. We've had fleeting moments of greatness with bands like Throbbing Gristle, but all in the UK is terrible for anything that isn't mainstream pop/indie/rock.

So, why do you think this is?