From the Telegraph in Britan

Rock revival electrifies guitar sales
By Thair Shaikh
(Filed: 23/02/2003)

Record numbers of young Britons are buying electric
guitars as they become disenchanted with computer games
and electronically-manufactured dance music.

Fender, the California-based guitar maker, sold record
numbers of its most affordable instruments in Britain
last year, while Marshall, a British maker of
amplifiers, also had its most succesful sales to date.

The upsurge in guitar and amplifier sales has led music
industry leaders to predict the return of the great
British rock band after years in which such acts have
failed to achieve success abroad, particularly in America.

Some music industry figures estimate that as many as
10,000 new bands have been formed in the past year.
Conor McNicholas, the editor of the New Musical
Express, said that advertisements for the "musicians
wanted" section of his weekly newspaper had doubled in
2002.

Mr McNicholas said: "British kids are forming bands
like nobody's business and 2002 was a record year for
new groups. I think it stems from a whole new
generation who have discovered live guitar by listening
to vinyl owned by their parents and have reacted
against the manufactured pop bands that are dominating
the charts.

"They've been listening to Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin
and AC/DC. Buying a Fender and a Marshall and forming a
group is a link to those superstars. And compared to
being a DJ, where you need a number of decks that can
each cost £300, it can be done for a couple of hundred."

Both Fender and Marshall are regarded as "aspirational"
brands in the industry, made famous by acts such as
Eric Clapton, the Who and the Rolling Stones.

Fender sold 57,000 of its Squier guitars in Britain
last year - 14,000 more than in 2001. The Squier
series, which retail from between £99 and £500, are the
guitars most musicians use when starting bands.

Marshall last year sold an extra 20,000 of its MG
series of entry-level amplifiers, an increase of 90 per
cent over sales in 2001. The amplifiers cost between
£59 and £299 and a spokesman for the company said that
the more expensive MG models, which are good enough to
be used for gigs, were usually bought by start-up bands.

Nick Sharples, the marketing manager of Arbiter, the
sole distributors of Fender guitars in Britain, said:
"We're sure that youngsters got bored of computer games
and wanted to do something more creative. The sale of
low-end guitars went through the roof: it was spectacular."

He said that young people were also attracted by the
simplicity of playing the electric guitar. "The arrival
of New Metal music from the Americas had a big
influence because it is very dependent on guitars," he
said. "A lot of youngsters wanted to form a band to
emulate that type of music, which involves strapping on
a guitar and making lots of noise."

Johnny Borrell, 22, the singer/songwriter of a new
British band, Razorlight, who this week will sign their
debut contract with the Telstar record label, said: "As
soon as I had learnt a couple of chords on my guitar I
was hooked: that was it. I think it's the same for
other people forming bands. The guitar is a great way
to express yourself and it's really good fun as well."

Recently British rock bands have almost disappeared
from the world music scene. There are only four British
acts in the American Billboard Top 100 Album chart:
three of these are the old stalwarts the Rolling
Stones, Elton John and Rod Stewart. The only
recently-formed act is Coldplay, whose record Rush of
Blood to the Head was last week picked as album of the
year at the Brit awards.