in general, i think uk dj's are a lot more SERIOUS about separating the wheat from the chaff than are americans -- to the point where their attitude can be rather censorious
for example, and staying within classic house/rave music, there are certain records i've always liked that i know brits will sneer at = alison limerick "where love lives," n-joi "anthem," inner city "good life" -- either b/c they were simply too commercially massive or too piano-keyboard-y (anything that verges on happy hardcore or anticipates that sound)
and in recent years as i've started to collect more disco, i get the same sniffing remarks concerning certain records -- usually b/c this wouldn't have ever gotten played at the hacienda or some such or, more to the point, it sounds too gay (even though all disco was at the time gay???)
((((but i usually bear in mind the criticisms of my brit friends, and tend not to play anything that they've dissed in private before others at a party))))
HOWEVER, i have my own standards for what's good and bad, and i don't hesitate to apply my standards to other people's records -- and with brits, what i don't like is usually because the records are too boring or conform too much to type or they aren't taking aesthetic risks in their dj sets
AND YET, there are entire dance scenes in the UK -- like 2-step garage -- that were dismissed by u.s. dance audience precisely b/c they were seen as too commercial too cheesy too pop too much in bad taste
AND AT SAME TIME, i've heard more than my share of deadly boring british and european djs over the years -- and just as many crap american djs . . . .
so maybe it's simply a matter of matching the right djs for the right rooms -- which is a bit of a cop-out answer
so i should i start naming good american djs??? -- merely a rhetorical question of course