Yeah, I was just going for the Funny.
Garry Moore, formerly of Thin Lizzy, was much more popular as a solo blues / rock guitarist in the UK vs. the U.S. Guitar players knew him for sure, but he never really crossed over.
And, of course, he famously owned Peter Green’s sunburst Les Paul after Greenie sold it to him for nothing. And they are the two acts I have mentioned. Hmmm. Of course, the guitar now belongs to Kirk Hammett of Metallica, so that’s not longer an issue.
I didn’t know that!
Another band I suspect didn’t need the hassle too much.
Not just Madness, but other second wave ska bands as well.
James’s “Laid” got significant airplay on the alternative stations here (Q101 and WXRT) in Chicago back in late 1993/early 1994 I want to say (I just remember it being during freshman year of college.) I actually just heard “Laid” on the radio within the past two weeks. But that’s the only song of theirs that I know had any popularity. Maybe it was for the “but she only comes when she’s on top” line. (It only hit #61 on the Billboard Hot 100, but up to #3 on the Modern Rock charts, and that’s what the above two stations would tend to play from, although the latter was much more eclectic in terms of their music library going back to the 60s, so not exclusively playing modern tracks.)
Happy Monday’s “Step On” got some play in the day, too, but also was one of these that didn’t crack the general Hot 100, but hit #9 on the Modern Rock charts and #13 on the dance club chart.
Charlatans (or Charlatans UK as they are sometimes labeled here, as there was another Charlatans band from the 60s) I just remember one song being played on the radio: “The Only One I Know.” Also on stations like the above. That song got to #5 on Modern Rock and #37 on Mainstream rock.
Inspiral Carpets I just never heard of.
In terms of mainstream success, the baggy/Manchester bands never made any mainstream impact, really. I mean, I remember The Stone Roses being huge among the “alternative” kids in high school, but that’s the only band I really remember getting that type of traction. Maybe Happy Mondays, too, but I only know them from later on in my life, when I started exploring the Manchester scene musically (apparently, not deeply enough, having missed the Inspiral Carpets.)
Girls Aloud are virtually unheard of in the United States.
What about Take That? I had never heard of them until I got to England in 1996, but they were a crazy huge pop boy band. I don’t know if it fits under the definition of “best” UK bands but, value judgments aside, they were one of the biggest boy groups of all time, and I was 100% completely unaware of their existence until I stepped foot on British soil. I’m still not quite sure I could identify a Take That song, but I do know a few Robbie Williams songs.
To be fair to Take That, unlike many boy bands, they did write their own songs, or at least Gary Barlow their “lead singer” did. Barlow is a gifted pop song writer, though I can’t say anything he’s done is my cup of tea.
I recommend the Charlatans their baggy-era stuff is good and they also released a good album when they re-formed during the britpop-era.
James were briefly very big in the UK and released a few indie-classics, but to be honest even in the UK many people have forgotten about them. The Inspiral carpets managed to score a handful of top-twenty hits in the UK, but one of the main things their remembered for now is that Noel Gallagher (of Oasis) got his start in the music business as their roadie.
I almost included Oasis, but left them off as they became fairly well-known in the US and had some commercial success. Also though their first two albums were all-time classics, everything after was pretty much dross. I love Oasis though not just because of their music, but Liam and Noel Gallagher are probably the two most entertaining people in rock: Liam for his cartoonish rock n’ roll antics, and Noel for his sardonic wit. Even after 24 years their publicly-played out sibling rivalry keeps me entertained.
Bell X1
oh, they're Irish? Oops!Yeah, Oasis I would consider reasonably successful here in the US. I mean, OK, I was in college from '93-'98, so maybe more in “the scene” for this type of music, but I remember them as being pretty big among the rock music listening community, and fairly well marketed here. I enjoy their first couple of albums very much, but I’ve only seen them once live, at a music festival in Hungary, and it was the most soulless, boring performance I had ever seen. I felt like Liam was just standing there, going through the motions, counting the money. Just fucking awful.
Squeeze was pretty popular on college/alternative radio. In fact, they toured extensively in North America every year from 1978 through 1982.
Actually, this is a song that belongs in that “songs you can’t help singing over another song” thread. Every time I hear “The One I Love,” I go into Deep Purple’s “Hush.”
…and thence to “A Day in the Life” (the “bridge” before the last verse)…
Gary Numan.
7 top 10 hits and three consecutive #1 albums in the U.K.; known in America only as a one-hit-wonder with that “Cars” song.
The Small Faces only had one hit in America, the silly “Itchycoo Park.” Ian McLagan lived here in Austin for years, and that song used to make him sneer, “It’s NOT really so beautiful.”
Good lord, yes. I blur those two songs together when I think of either one of them.
McFly has never made it in the US.
In the US Blur are the answer to the trivia question “Who did that Woo-Hoo song? You know, the one in the commercials for Starship Troopers.” A few people may have heard Girls and Boys on alternative-rock stations. Surprisingly Song 2 never even charted on the hit singles chart, although it did reach the Top 10 on the alternative chart.
Bananarama had 26 UK Top 10 hits. They had a mere 3 in the US, Cruel Summer, Venus and … I’d have to look it up.
Ah, Kula Shaker – that’s a band I totally forgot about. I know they were known here in the US for one song, but I can’t remember what it is. Looks it up Apparently, it was “Tattva.” It does sound familiar, but I don’t remember it as well as I thought I would, as the band name is very familiar to me. “Hey Dude” also had some alternative chart success, but I don’t recognize that at all.
Looks like the cover of “Hush” had some traction on the Mainstream Rock chart, too, but that’s also one I’m not familiar with.
Oh, and the intro to their version of “Hush” has me breaking into either Jet’s “Are You Gonna Be My Girl” or Iggy Pop’s “Lust For Life.”