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Weird American hits/number 1s

Started by pigamus, October 11, 2021, 02:32:53 PM

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Goldentony

Quote from: pigamus on October 11, 2021, 02:32:53 PM
Who Can It Be Now by Men at Work got to number 1 in the US. How? Why? I mean... it's just kind of nothingy, isn't it?

FUCK OFF YOU TOTAL CUNT

TheMonk

Re: Who Can It Be Now. Excellent karaoke choice with a kazoo in pocket for the sax parts.


Mr Banlon

Quote from: Ballad of Ballard Berkley on October 11, 2021, 08:24:44 PM
It's shite, yes, but this Mike Love-helmed Beach Boys track from just a few years later is even worse.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBFsJk6PWu0

Some of you will definitely know what that is without having to click on the link.
Mike Love doing the musical equivalent of this to Brian Wilson : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuckooing

JesusAndYourBush

Quote from: thecuriousorange on October 11, 2021, 11:01:50 PM
I've always found it strange that the German-language version of 99 Red Ballons was the big hit in America, while the version in English was a hit over here. Anyone know why/how that happened?

I remember before it was released here TOTP showed a clip of the German version and I really liked the song and a school friend was outraged and said something about "it shouldn't be allowed!" and he was really angry and I always assumed it was because he didn't think we should be showing German songs, but when I posted here a few years ago someone mentioned the hairy armpits and I thought yeah maybe it was that.  Later I saw a clip and there were no hairy armpits because it was a different video to the one used when the English version was released here, so it's still a mystery why he was so angry but I revert back to my original anti-German explanation.

Quote from: Clatty McCutcheon on October 11, 2021, 09:07:00 PM
This blogger is (rather long-windedly) reviewing every US number one in chronological order.

https://www.stereogum.com/2104704/the-number-ones-so-far/lists/

I like the bit where he posts up the twitter heat he got from the actual artists.

jamiefairlie

Quote from: JesusAndYourBush on October 12, 2021, 01:07:41 PM
I remember before it was released here TOTP showed a clip of the German version and I really liked the song and a school friend was outraged and said something about "it shouldn't be allowed!" and he was really angry and I always assumed it was because he didn't think we should be showing German songs, but when I posted here a few years ago someone mentioned the hairy armpits and I thought yeah maybe it was that.  Later I saw a clip and there were no hairy armpits because it was a different video to the one used when the English version was released here, so it's still a mystery why he was so angry but I revert back to my original anti-German explanation.

Yeah I remember that too, for some reason when the English version came out it sounded shite in comparison.

El Unicornio, mang

In a land where most non-US acts struggle to get no 1s (or in  the charts at all), I always thought it was weird that Coldplay managed it twice.

Radiohead have only twice been in the top 75 of the US singles chart, their highest being "Creep" which got to 34.

The Culture Bunker

Quote from: El Unicornio, mang on October 12, 2021, 06:28:07 PM
In a land where most non-US acts struggle to get no 1s (or in  the charts at all), I always thought it was weird that Coldplay managed it twice.

Radiohead have only twice been in the top 75 of the US singles chart, their highest being "Creep" which got to 34.
If I remember right, the US single charts are mainly based on airplay, rather than actual sales. Radiohead aren't really the sort of band radio programmers over there are going to give much time to, as opposed to the nice, polite Coldplay chaps. Same reason you'd get acts with the a and b-side in the same chart.

Just noticed Coldplay's recent song has BTS on it too, who are apparently what is known in the biz as "fucking huge".

McChesney Duntz

I could flip the conversation back on you Brits - for starters, I've long been utterly baffled that Stan Ridgway's seven-minute-long Vietnam fairy tale "Camouflage" went top five over there. And I'll be nice and not even mention "Shaddap You Face."

Spoiler alert
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Glebe

Quote from: McChesney Duntz on October 12, 2021, 07:02:08 PMI could flip the conversation back on you Brits - for starters, I've long been utterly baffled that Stan Ridgway's seven-minute-long Vietnam fairy tale "Camouflage" went top five over there. And I'll be nice and not even mention "Shaddap You Face."

Spoiler alert
(Oops.)
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'Camouflage', there's a nostalgic blast the past.

Attila

Quote from: Lisa Jesusandmarychain on October 11, 2021, 10:17:26 PM
Hey, I remember her! Before that, she also played that vacuous Valley Girl on " Square Pegs". * and* she was on an episode of " Seinfeld"! Wonder what she's up to nowadays?

She's still acting, in between developing (and recovering) from cancer. She's had a number of issues with recurring bouts of cancer ever since, but seems to continue to battle back against it.

Updated as I thought she'd retired from acting a while back, but Imdb says otherwise :)

Hank_Kingsley

Quote from: Johnny Foreigner on October 12, 2021, 01:44:43 AM
Two of Hearts by Stacey Q is pure quality. In fact, I think it should rank amongst her greatest hits.

It's a fuckin jam man! Used very well in the film Hot Rod, along with most of the Europe songs off 'Final Countdown' that aren't 'Final Countdown' (which was too expensive to licence, apparently because the band hate it although that might be a complete lie).

El Unicornio, mang

Quote from: McChesney Duntz on October 12, 2021, 07:02:08 PM
I could flip the conversation back on you Brits - for starters, I've long been utterly baffled that Stan Ridgway's seven-minute-long Vietnam fairy tale "Camouflage" went top five over there. And I'll be nice and not even mention "Shaddap You Face."

Spoiler alert
(Oops.)
[close]

The UK does have the most ridiculous songs getting to number 1 or top 5. Mister Blobby, Arnee and the Terminators, Bob the Builder, Loadsamoney, Star Trekkin', Teletubbies, etc. Novelty songs aren't really a thing in the US.

pigamus

Quote from: McChesney Duntz on October 12, 2021, 07:02:08 PM
I could flip the conversation back on you Brits - for starters, I've long been utterly baffled that Stan Ridgway's seven-minute-long Vietnam fairy tale "Camouflage" went top five over there. And I'll be nice and not even mention "Shaddap You Face."

Spoiler alert
(Oops.)
[close]

Oh absolutely - but we're familiar with our own weirdness so it's more interesting the other way round.

Maybe I should just have called it Hit Over There, Not Over Here. Like Sunglasses at Night, for example, which I'd never heard before till recently.

The Culture Bunker

Quote from: El Unicornio, mang on October 13, 2021, 11:47:44 AM
The UK does have the most ridiculous songs getting to number 1 or top 5. Mister Blobby, Arnee and the Terminators, Bob the Builder, Loadsamoney, Star Trekkin', Teletubbies, etc. Novelty songs aren't really a thing in the US.
I think a lot of what made it easier for novelty tunes to get to #1 here was that Radio 1 had a huge role as tastemakers - so if DLT or Edmonds took a liking to a tune and hammered it everyday, it had a good chance of being a hit. 'Top of the Pops' would have helped a lot too.

Obviously in the States, it's a lot more fragmented in terms of radio due to the size of the place, at least until MTV crossed over into the mainstream.

El Unicornio, mang

True, there's no national radio in the US, it's all regional stations that play the same classic rock songs over and over or whatever polished big budget pop the major record companies are pushing + a ton of commercials. Also the reason alternative bands do so much better in the UK, you don't hear them in the US outside college radio. (Although things are different now anyway with Spotify, internet radio, etc). Something like the Evening Session or John Peel would be unthinkable on a US radio station.

boki

There seemed to be a bit of a thread in the Eighties for UK bands having success in the States either before or to a greater extent than over here.  The obvious example being A Flock Of Seagulls, but there was also Wang Chung, who barely made a dint on this side of the pond, and I'm pretty sure T'Pau only broke over here after hitting the Billboard chart.  Were there (m)any others, maybe some attempt by the labels at engineering another British Invasion?

El Unicornio, mang

In the 80s, the UK was producing a lot of that kind of synth pop stuff with the band members in make up and outlandish clothes which American artists shied away from (they tended to be more the big hair rock acts like Bon Jovi) and with MTV being king, having a good or unique video could propel you to superstardom in the US. Hence a lot of UK artists like Duran Duran, Human League, Frankie, Dead or Alive, Bananarama, Adam and the Ants, Boy George, Howard Jones, Dexy's, etc having massive hits.

The 90s was pretty much all just American music in the US, even Britpop got largely ignored outside "Wonderwall" and "Song 2". I seem to recall Bush being one of the only UK bands to have any kind of success over there as they had that grungey rock sound.

The Culture Bunker

Quote from: boki on October 13, 2021, 12:54:55 PM
Were there (m)any others, maybe some attempt by the labels at engineering another British Invasion?
Well, there was the Fixx: highest UK single being 'Stand or Fall' at #54, no top 40 albums. In America, they had six top 40 hits and a Platinum album.

The Outfield were an English band who (as you can tell by their name) really decided to market themselves across the pond. Worked out well for them, as their first album 'Play Deep' (again with the baseball references) went three times Platinum - but complete nobodies at home.

Naked Eyes too: bit surprised 'Promises, Promises' didn't do much here, as it's a pretty good song.

Icehaven

Quote from: El Unicornio, mang on October 13, 2021, 01:06:16 PM
I seem to recall Bush being one of the only UK bands to have any kind of success over there as they had that grungey rock sound.

And the thing they were most famous for in the UK was not being remotely as famous here as they were in the States. They were literally ''that British band that's massive in America but no one here cares."

What got to Number one was (is?) largely down to MTV in the States wasn't it, and MTV has never been quite as influential in the UK, and they were quite different to each other anyway too so something in heavy rotation on US MTV might not even have been shown on ours, and vice versa. 

Lisa Jesusandmarychain

Quote from: Attila on October 13, 2021, 08:25:00 AM
She's still acting, in between developing (and recovering) from cancer. She's had a number of issues with recurring bouts of cancer ever since, but seems to continue to battle back against it.

Updated as I thought she'd retired from acting a while back, but Imdb says otherwise :)

Thanks for the info Attila, very saddened to hear about her cancer battles, gladdened she's still going. Also like the fact that she was cast in that episode of " Seinfeld" because of her looking like the then youngish Jerry Seinfeld ( A requirement of the plot of that episode).

Erm, off- topic, soz. As you were.

Lisa Jesusandmarychain

Quote from: El Unicornio, mang on October 13, 2021, 11:47:44 AM
The UK does have the most ridiculous songs getting to number 1 or top 5. Mister Blobby, Arnee and the Terminators, Bob the Builder, Loadsamoney, Star Trekkin', Teletubbies, etc. Novelty songs aren't really a thing in the US.

The young Lisa worked on a Kid's Summer Camp in the state of Maine one fine Summer, and the radio would usually be playing transmissions from a Radio station benamed Radio Moose. I can remember the name because one of the songs they had on heavy rotation was " I Want Your Sex" by George Michael, and they would play their signature jingle " MOOSE" over the word " sex" of that very song. Anther song they seemed to play all the fucking time was " Heart and Soul" by T' Pau,  a massive hit in the U.S. of States before it reached Blighty. Another song on not quite such heavy rotation was, indeed, Star Trekkin'  by The Firm.

badaids

Quote from: icehaven on October 13, 2021, 01:29:14 PM
And the thing they were most famous for in the UK was not being remotely as famous here as they were in the States. They were literally ''that British band that's massive in America but no one here cares."

What got to Number one was (is?) largely down to MTV in the States wasn't it, and MTV has never been quite as influential in the UK, and they were quite different to each other anyway too so something in heavy rotation on US MTV might not even have been shown on ours, and vice versa.

There was also Spacehog who had one big hit in the US but were absolutely terrible and virtually unknown in the UK unless you had the cable music channel The Box in which case their one hit was played every 15 minutes for about 3 months. Their bassist and leader was a professional Englishman and utter twat as I recall.  Fucking hell it looks like they're still going!

Auntie Beryl

The Spacehog feller, Royston Langdon, was married to Liv Tyler for five years.

That is the most interesting thing about Spacehog.