I assume it’s largely due to stuff such as their stinking rich economy before WW1, first language being english, population size, propaganda etc. but I’ve never seen a succinct explanation as to how the country basically became the absolute cultural giants they are today.
You basically cannot escape the USA and their influence everywhere you go, and in a sense they have overtaken us over here in the UK in terms of cultural relevance. Why isn’t this the case for other English speaking countries such as Australia and Canada?
Edit: Using the term ‘In a sense’ has riled up quite a few people. Yes, the USA is definitely far more culturally relevant than the UK nowadays.
Second Edit: Thank you all for your replies! I’ve learned quite a lot tonight 🙂
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There are a lot of answers that end up going to Black American music. If you want a financial answer, grab some audiobooks from Adam Tooze .. The Deluge: The Great War, America and the Remaking of the Global Order, 1916–1931 is a good start.
The US invented the platforms that culture is distributed on. So we had the lead in making the first consumed culture on those platforms.
A large part of the rise in the cultural significance of the US was the “newness” of the American continent. Americans had to invent and adapt in order to survive in a land that was pretty raw and unsettled. Europe was not exactly a howling wilderness, but America presented problems (and the resultant opportunities) that were invigorating to a certain mindset. This drove mechanical and social invention for nearly 250 years (from the mid 1600’s to the late 1800’s), and the echoes of that wave of invention are still with us today. The ideas and concepts that came out of America caught the imaginations of people around the world, resulting in an interest in all things American. What really sped things along, for good or ill, was war. The US began forcefully expanding out into the wide world in the mid to late 1800’s, The Great White Fleet, the Spanish American War, and then World War 1, put every-day Americans out in the world stage, and everyday Americans saw the world for the first time. It was this period that saw a rise in the European interest in American literature and arts, which had been pretty moribund until then. The rise of motion pictures in the early 1900’s was mostly an American phenomenon, and remained so largely because Americans were first in utilizing them for entertainment. The rise of the studios had a lot to do with the European diaspora from both World Wars, which brings us to probably the major reason American culture became significant world-wide: America was seen as a safe haven for anyone who risked giving up everything familiar and moving to America. When that goes away so will American pre-eminence.
The US can have cultural success within itself that are massive in a way that few countries can. Then it can also export those to others in a way few countries can. You combine these two and powerful combination for achieving soft power and cultural relevance.
Let’s take sport.
The US invents a sport and it is the center of it as the market is so massive it can support it and no one can monetarily rival it. The NFL could lose all foreign fans and be fine.
The UK invents a sport and it is wildly popular causing it to have to fight tooth and nail to be a prominent player in the space. The Premier League losing all its foreign fans would be catastrophic for it.
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