British bands and their Irish connections

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financeguy

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When you think of the best British bands of the last 40 years, so many of them have Irish connections, e.g.:

Depeche Mode - Dave Gahan is of Irish extraction

Suede - Bernard Butler is Irish

The Smiths - Of the 4 members, 7 of their 8 grandparents were Irish

The Beatles - 3 of 4 members had some Irish connection

Pet Shop Boys - Neil Tennant's mother was Irish

Oasis - Gallagher brothers. Say no more.

The Stone Roses - Mani is second generation Irish.

The Happy Mondays - Shaun Ryder's father is Irish


Seriously, 'tis mad altogether. Pink Floyd and Radiohead are among the few renowned Brit bands that don't seem to have any obvious Paddy connections. Although come to think of it, presumably Ed O'Brien must be at leastly partly of Irish extraction.

Of course, it cuts both ways, with 2 of 4 members of a certain Irish band being of British extraction.
 
Interesting.

I'd guess it's statistical probability at work; of a given influx of the Irish diaspora, London and the rest of Britain would have been a logical easy port of call. And some of those kids would get into music.
 
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