Tip jar

If you like CaB and wish to support it, you can use PayPal or KoFi. Thank you, and I hope you continue to enjoy the site - Neil.

Buy Me a Coffee at ko-fi.com

Support CaB

Recent

Welcome to Cook'd and Bomb'd. Please login or sign up.

March 29, 2024, 11:27:12 AM

Login with username, password and session length

Acts who failed to break the UK

Started by curiousoranges, July 20, 2022, 01:33:46 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

SweetPomPom

Pat Benatar.

Loads of MTV era classic singles, albums always did well in the US but never did any business over here. Toured here once in the early 80s and never bothered coming back.

Don't understand why she's not up there with Cindy Lauper or Belinda Carlisle.

jobotic

Funnily enough tonight BBC4 have TOGWT presenting Linda Ronstadt live in the New Vic in 1976 and Tom Petty in Maida Vale in 1978, Been watching a bit of Linda hoping she'll do Different Drum but no luck so far. She's good when she keeps it country and lays off the AOR.


I'm sure I remember my dad staying up most of the night to record a Grateful Dead concert that was being broadcast for hours and hours on Radio 1. He used loads of AD90s to tape it. Think we'd moved out by then but I was staying so would have been early 80s. Seeing him tomorrow so I'll ask him.

DrGreggles

The Doors barely made a dent here.
Their only big hit was Light My Fire in the early 90s when that Oliver Stone film came out.

Famous Mortimer

Hello I Love You and Riders On The Storm did alright. Probably better than they did in the US, too (the Billboard chart page might be incomplete).

George White

Benatar did have success in Ireland, three top 40 hits, two of those top 10, one no 23 in 1988.
Like a few US acts, this is because of something called MT USA, which was intended as RTE's answer to MTV, a 3 hour music video block, but was kind of our Entertainment USA, albeit hosted by a far more personable homosexual in the late Vinny Hanley.
Ireland being far more suspectible to the sort of American crap Chart Music podcast are always ribbing on Cuntertainment USA.
I.e. Jack and Diane by John Cougar got to no 7 here, while in UK, no 25.

Egyptian Feast

Quote from: George White on July 23, 2022, 07:57:59 AMBenatar did have success in Ireland, three top 40 hits, two of those top 10, one no 23 in 1988.
Like a few US acts, this is because of something called MT USA, which was intended as RTE's answer to MTV, a 3 hour music video block, but was kind of our Entertainment USA, albeit hosted by a far more personable homosexual in the late Vinny Hanley.

Fab Vinny! Some of my earliest pop memories were of MT USA - where I first saw 'Billie Jean', 'Ghostbusters' and the ZZ Top 'trilogy'.

#96
Quote from: DrGreggles on July 22, 2022, 11:49:47 PMThe Doors barely made a dent here.
Their only big hit was Light My Fire in the early 90s when that Oliver Stone film came out.

Were they really not popular in the UK until the Oliver Stone film? What about their albums? Hard to imagine now, having seen Jim Mozza on so many music-shop posters/classic rock magazine covers for so many years (I only know 90s onwards). Not to mention the tribute bands, one of which will probably play in your town soon. Firmly established in Britain now, even if it took a while to achieve mythic status. Could still be hope for Matchbox 20 then.

dissolute ocelot

Quote from: curiousoranges on July 23, 2022, 01:03:39 PMWere they really not popular in the UK until the Oliver Stone film? What about their albums? Hard to imagine now, having seen Jim Mozza on so many music-shop posters/classic rock magazine covers for so many years (I only know 90s onwards). Not to mention the tribute bands, one of which will probably play in your town soon. Firmly established in Britain now, even if it took a while to achieve mythic status. Could still be hope for Matchbox 20 then.
The Doors have definitely been a cult band in the UK for decades, the sort that lots of people go through a phase in their late teens/early 20s. And obviously all the cover versions of Light My Fire. OK, only #226 in the NME's 2013 best albums of all time, but beats the Goo Goo Dolls. Plus the whole "Jim Morrison's grave in Paris" thing isn't just Americans.

Matchbox 20's singer Rob Thomas has had slightly more UK success. His Santana collaboration Smooth got to #3, and you can't blame all of that on the UK's love of Santana (Carlos himself might almost feature on this list), and Lonely No More got to #11. He's not had anything as much success here, but probably better known than his band.

EDIT: I'm just finding a lot of acts I thought of as American-only had vast British careers, like One Republic and Macklemore & Ryan Lewis (the latters' Same Love was actually a bigger hit here, whereas I thought of it as a major American cultural arguing-point). Stupid British.

jamiefairlie

Quote from: SweetPomPom on July 22, 2022, 07:24:24 PMPat Benatar.

Loads of MTV era classic singles, albums always did well in the US but never did any business over here. Toured here once in the early 80s and never bothered coming back.

Don't understand why she's not up there with Cindy Lauper or Belinda Carlisle.

She is my dreams, right up there!

Sebastian Cobb

Quote from: willbo on July 22, 2022, 01:14:10 PMIris is on the radio all the time, but I dunno anyone who owns it. I feel like there's a bunch of US college rock hits which have been played tons on UK stations like Virgin/Absolute but never actually sold a record, they're just known here AS radio songs...

It got cained on local radio because it was the title track to City of Angels, which was a heavily promoted ripoff of Wim Wenders' Wings of Desire.

Another song from that era that got cained was Sean Mullins' Rockabye which was genuinely terrible but not having sky/mtv meant I had to imagine who was singing things a lot of the time and decided this one was sung by someone who probably looked like David Duchovney.

Blinder Data

I'm sure someone will point to record sales to disprove this but I will put forward Rush and Soundgarden. They did OK in the UK but nothing like the States.

SweetPomPom

I don't know anyone who gives a fuck about Rush but I always thought Soundgarden did OK - maybe blew a few opportunities when the various shows were cancelled, especially the Reading show in 93.

George White

Wayne Newton.
Did a ton of variety show appearances on yer Doonicans and International Cabarets, but no chart sucess.
But then even in America, he's more of a live act than anything.

Jockice

#103
Quote from: DJ Bob Hoskins on July 20, 2022, 09:26:17 PMThe Tragically Hip. To hear Canadians talk about them, you'd think they were as well-known as The Beatles, and yet I've never heard a single note of their music.*

My Canadian colleagues stayed up all night to watch their farewell gig a few years ago. They were all emotional the next day and gushing about it over lunch, whereas all I could offer in response was





* In my experience, mentioning this to a Canadian is guaranteed to elicit the incredulous response "You've never heard of The Hip?!?"

This is entirely true. Except that I had heard of them but nothing by them. My Canadian friend was in a state of absolute disbelief when I told her that they didn't sell out stadiums here. Or anywhere else.

And on Irish bands, anyone remember Power Of Dreams, who were really hyped up here but just didn't make it. I remember some bloke from their record company (Polydor I think) telling me they were the new U2. They weren't. One is enough.

My girlfriend loves the Saw Doctors incidentally. They're doing a few British dates later this year and they sold out so fast we missed out. I just don't get them at all but it seems they're quite popular among some of the public.

Keebleman

I'm pretty sure the Doors would have had plenty of fans over here prior to Morrison's death.  True, they didn't have any huge hit singles but of course neither did Led Zeppelin.

First time I ever heard of the Doors was in the really rather good magazine that came with Kings of the Wild Frontier.  One of the lesser Ants, under 'Likes', mentioned them.  However, he didn't include the definite article so for a long time I thought he was a fan of those structures that allow access to and egress from a room.

Ballad of Ballard Berkley

Quote from: Famous Mortimer on July 23, 2022, 01:52:16 AMHello I Love You and Riders On The Storm did alright. Probably better than they did in the US, too (the Billboard chart page might be incomplete).

Hello, I Love You spent two weeks at #1 in the US.

buzby

Quote from: Keebleman on August 01, 2022, 01:32:41 PMI'm pretty sure the Doors would have had plenty of fans over here prior to Morrison's death.  True, they didn't have any huge hit singles but of course neither did Led Zeppelin.
The Doors had a couple of Top 40 singles during the time they were active - Light My Fire stalled at #49, Hello I Love You got to #15 and Riders On The Storm got to #22. On the album front, Waiting For The Sun and Morrison Hotel both cracked the Top 20, but LA Woman peaked at #28

The Doors (and Morrison in particular) were very much an influence on musicians in the UK Post-Punk scene.

Famous Mortimer

Quote from: Ballad of Ballard Berkley on August 01, 2022, 01:45:05 PMHello, I Love You spent two weeks at #1 in the US.
That's why I used those weasel words, because I couldn't be bothered to check any more carefully. Point, me.

Ballad of Ballard Berkley


Famous Mortimer

Quote from: The Mollusk on July 20, 2022, 03:04:48 PMWeen
I just remembered, I had a ticket to go see them in Cardiff in the late 90s, but they pulled out at the last minute because, according to a very badly remembered announcement, they couldn't be bothered turning up for the minuscule amount of cash they were going to make from the relatively small venue they'd been booked at. Or something of that sort.

BlodwynPig


The Mollusk

Quote from: Brundle-Fly on July 20, 2022, 03:11:59 PMDid they even 'break' America?

Haha, I guess not. My point was that they very comfortably coast in 3000-5000 capacity venues as a regular touring unit now and have held that level of success for years, but over here even the very few people who've heard of them either think they're a joke band not worth bothering with or only know them for a very small handful of minor breakthrough songs like "Push th' Little Daisies" or "Ocean Man". Also I don't think they've played the UK or anywhere outside the states in the last 10 or maybe even 15 years.

Terence Bowl

Quote from: Brundle-Fly on July 22, 2022, 01:43:55 PMPowderfinger were huge during the nineties in Australia, apparently. Zilch up over.
See also
Skyhooks and Cold Chisel.
Both multi platinum selling national institutions in Australia and pretty much unknown in the UK.
Sherbet and Midnight Oil.
Again multi platinum selling national institutions in Oz but in the UK barely remembered as one hit wonders.

Quote from: Terence Bowl on August 02, 2022, 05:50:15 PMSee also
Skyhooks and Cold Chisel.
Both multi platinum selling national institutions in Australia and pretty much unknown in the UK.
Sherbet and Midnight Oil.
Again multi platinum selling national institutions in Oz but in the UK barely remembered as one hit wonders.

Aussie pop and rock can be quite insular. I remember when travelling around their in the mid 2000s listening to a lot of Triple J, hearing lots of cool songs, but never knowing much about the artists.

famethrowa

Obviously Aussie megastar John Farnham never cracked it in the UK or US, but am I right in assuming You're The Voice is fairly well-known?

Keebleman

Yes, You're The Voice was a big hit.  Farnham isn't Australian though, he's British like many other 'Aussie' stars, as exclusively revealed in this thread started by me several years ago.

https://www.cookdandbombd.co.uk/forums/index.php?topic=63219.0