Here's a quote from that Mudcat thread whose link Bill D provided:

Subject: RE: One best rock song of all time, and why.
From: GUEST,Whistle Stop - PM
Date: 07 Nov 03 - 01:05 PM

I think purism is silly; I can't think of a single important musical development over the ages that grew out of purist thinking. And fretting about whether one should dare to discuss rock music in a folk forum where just about everything gets discussed at one time or another is equally silly...

-snip-

Speaking for myself, I like reading about this topic. Thanks for starting another thread on British Rock n Roll, Blindlemonsteve.

As a result of this thread & the other Bill linked to, I went seaching for threads on Skiffle, since I didn't have a clue what is meant by that word. I found a definition for it in this thread:thread.cfm?threadid=41415#597993 .

For the benefit of those who are still on dial-up, I'm going to repost a long quote from that thread, because I think it is relevant to the discussion we are having now.

"Subject: RE: BS: One more Bloody Roger th Skiffler thread
From: GUEST,Roger the skiffler - PM
Date: 23 Nov 01 - 09:16 AM

...and this which I've probably posted before...

SKIFFLE

WHAT IS SKIFFLE?

The term "SKIFFLE" has a variety of meanings but always refers to informal, good time music, usually using home-made or improvised instruments such as the washboard, wash-tub or tea-chest bass, kazoo, cigar-box fiddle, comb and paper etc. Depending on your age and country you might define skiffle as:

1) The spasm bands, usually children, seen on the streets of New Orleans around 1900.

2) Rent-party music in 1920s and 30s USA involving piano, guitar, fiddle, but rarely the washboard.

3) The jug bands of Louisville and Memphis 1920s and 30s.

4) Novelty Jazz Bands of the 1940s and 50s using clarinet/sax mouthpieces on bamboo or wooden pipes, plungerphone, funnel with trumpet mouthpiece, washtub bass etc.

5) A mixture of USA folk music, tin-pan alley, and music-hall played as pop music in Britain in the late 1950s, typically using guitar, washboard and tea-chest bass. Lots of famous British rock stars got started by playing in skiffle bands, e.g. the Beatles, Van Morrison (who made a skiffle CD with Lonnie Donegan in 1999) Although they will probably have never heard of Leadbelly or Woody Guthrie, for a lot of British people over a certain age this music is part of their pop music nostalgia.


6) Current bands playing jug-band, Leadbelly songs etc. or "British" skiffle i.e. songs recorded by British artists in the 1950s, but all generally copying originals thus extending the life of this music

7) Current bands making their own music or adapting popular songs so the music lives and changes

The word "SKIFFLE" was probably first used by pianist Hersel Thomas (who died in 1926) to describe the music played at a house rent party (also called "skuffle" music). A record called "Hometown Skiffle" was released in 1929 featuring featuring Blind Lemon Jefferson, Blind Blake, Will Ezell, Charlie Spand, The Hokum Boys and Papa Charlie Jackson.

"SKIFFLE" was later used to describe American black folk bands who mostly had to improvise traditional African instruments by using household implements. The bent sapling with cord tied to a skin over a hole in the earth became the washtub bass. (Tea-chest in UK). The gourd became a jug and the scraped ass's jaw became the washboard. The kazoo developed from an African instrument using an animal skin as the membrane (often built into a mask and used for religious ceremonies)"...
-snip-

So is skiffle music part of British Rock n Roll? What are some examples of skiffle songs? And are there any Youtube video clips that anyone could recommend to us folks who don't know what skiffle is?

And if I was wrong in reposting these comments, I'll take my punishment like a woman :0)

But please don't make that punishment be that I have to listen to some forms of American popular music that I hate...I'll not mention any genres or any artists' names less people get any ideas.