Question for those of you who have recently returned from Europe: what music is popular there now? Every time I visit it seems I hear these great songs that never come to the US - & a lot of the time they are by American artists. Also a lot of good techno/dance stuff over there. Does anyone know of anything good now??

If you're into electronic/dance music, it definitely is much bigger over here, though I'll admit to being a little out of date on it. A lot of popular US stuff comes over, too (rap and all that), as well as some indigenously produced music (heard some strange French rap in Brussels). In Germany particularly, they also love old US music (70s & 80s, mostly), especially in bars and the like. I'm not for sure, but I think that most of the stuff you hear over here that doesn't make it to the US but is by US artists actually is from the US, but then gets remixed here in such a way that it isn't even recognizable (often a good thing, IMHO, given the state of US pop music).

Which part of Europe are you referring to? Musical tastes vary dramatically - for instance, in the UK we get a completely different (and vastly superior, to be honest) range of music than 'mainland' Europe.

Kate: how DO you find out these facts??????

Me? Kinda referring to all of Europe generally, though you're absolutely right (and within the Continent, it varies tremendously as well, from Germany to France to Italy, for example).

I enjoy bringing a small radio with me and listening to the local radio stations in France. I encourage people not to bring their CD's or IPOD. It is just a nice change. When you get home, you will miss the music you heard in Europe--if you give it a chance.

I'm talking about music like Gigi D'Agostino, if anyone's familiar with that type of music. He had one "hit" in the US, but the other songs were great. Usually in Europe they have those "summer mix" CDs that are great. I know the UK has a lot of good DJs too - any recommendations??