"With the possible exception of Alex Harvey, Scotland and Wales have produced no bands of merit."

Looked at both of this entries at wikipedia and none of them listed any group i knew for been big

Well define merit. Name recognition or contribution to music as a whole/lots of actual quality music. I didn't say they're great or anything, I'm just saying a lot of people are gonna recognize the name.

Yes, it all depends on how you define merit. Are people going to be talking about Franz Ferdinand in 20 years? Hells no. But their album had a big influence on the alternative/indie-rock/young-music scene. And the fact that that somewhat annoying but undeniably catchy single of theirs gained so much mainstream popularity really changed what the mainstream audience was willing to accept.

Have you heard that song "I Turn My Camera On" by Spoon? I've heard it on like 3 different commericals and it seems every bar I go to is playing it once an hour. Anyway, there's no way that song would be on a fucking Ford commerical if Franz Ferdinand didn't pave the way first.

I dont know if I'm making sense, I'm a little drunk, sorry. Indie rock talk gets me excited.

Manic Street Preachers are Welsh IIRC?