In some ways it doesn’t surprise me Teenage Fanclub managed to land a spot on SNL, they were liked a lot by all the major UK music publications, who would often give them a similar billing to the more commercially successful britpop bands and they were liked by other bands. They just never really managed to strike a chord with the record-buying public at large in England. As a teenager I followed britpop religiously and for me neither their image nor their music was as exciting as bands like Oasis, Blur, Pulp, Elastica, Sleeper, Ash, etc nor could they write as catchy songs as the lesser britpop bands who experienced brief periods of fame in the UK such as the Boo Radleys or Dodgy.
That actually is the song that got me to buy Bandwagonesque. I had some friend make me a mix tape of the “weird” alternative music he listens to (I listened mostly to classic rock at the time). Also, on that mix tape, was “Made of Stone” by the Stone Roses. Plus a lot of 80s classics. But that mix tape is what started my journey out of mainstream rock.
I don’t know about SNL specifically, but the music bookers on US shows often seem relatively adventurous. Here’s Husker Du on Joan Rivers 
A number of the britpop bands pre-date the era. Blur had their first taste of success in the baggy era and Pulp were formed in the late 1970s. I would agree they were never part of the scene, but they received their highest level of exposure during the britpop era and the three major UK music publications of the time (NME, Melody Maker and Select) championed them to britpop fans.
As well as having significant support from music journalists I know they were also liked by a number of other successful musicians at the time. As well as Nirvana they also received an endorsement from Oasis. This never translated to the kind of commerical success in the UK that might’ve been expected.
They were signed to Geffen: somewhere I have an old Geffen radio station promo CD from about 1991, featuring Nirvana just before they got big, and among bands like Warrior Soul and Galactic Cowboys there’s a lonely Teenage Fanclub track.
OK, Warrior Soul and Galactic Cowboys mean nothing to me. Are they supposed to be nobody bands or important bands in this context?
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I don’t know about SNL specifically, but the music bookers on US shows often seem relatively adventurous. Here’s Husker Du on Joan Rivers 
Whoa. That is truly a WTF.
Lumpen hard rawk also-rans. Mind you, it had The Candyskins, who were also excellent. They sound an awful lot like the Hoodoo Gurus here, but that is some great guitar.
Gotcha.
To be honest I never really got on with the Britpop era - there was much more fun stuff going on elsewhere.
Also Select as a major UK music publication!?
Perhaps the Joan Rivers Show isn’t entirely typical because here’s Wendy O Williams on it haha https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41z0lyTjfuk
As someone who exactly the right age at that time I was majorly in to it and followed the band religiously. It was far from all good (e.g. Menswear), but band like Oasis and Pulp shook up he whole UK music scene in a way that hadn’t been seen for years.
In the mid-90s Select was one of the major publications (the term britpop was actually coined in Select), albeit for a brief period, but the magazine became so tied to britpop it pretty much failed when the britpop era ended.
Wow.
I mean, Joan Rivers is cool and not a square at all (at least IMHO), but I’m still shocked to see Husker Du and Wendy O on such a relatively mainstream show.
Kate Bush
Practically everyone in the UK knows who she is.
Practically no one in America does. She has her pockets of fans, but you could ask 100 random people walking down the street and maybe 1 might have heard the name. Ask 1000 people and maybe 1 knows “Running Up That Hill.” Ask 10,000 people and maybe 1 is an honest-to-god fan.
Ninja’d me to Kate Bush, who is probably best known in the states for singing on Peter Gabriel records.
I’ll go with Scottish rockers Big Country. A one-hit wonder in the US and thirteen Top 30 singles in the UK.
Great thread. Some bands being mentioned that I’ll have to take a better look at.
Would it be a threadjack if I mention a BIG Australian performer who is almost nobody in the US? Paul Kelly, of Paul Kelly and the Messengers.
He toured the States a few years ago, and I went to San Francisco to see him. It was a little club, maybe 100 seats. Behind me sat an Aussie couple, who were thrilled to be watching him from the 4th row. They said in Australia, they’d be watching him from across a 50,000 seat stadium.
Oh, you’re in for a treat, IMO.
Which reminds me of this…
I suppose Utah Saints might just scrape into this list, but they weren’t exactly huge in the UK.
Still, the video for the track is bags of fun.
While I’m scraping the barrel of Big in the UK / Small in the US, but enjoying myself doing so, how about Tenpole Tudor. Their biggest hit, and ought-to-be English National Anthem…
Watch for an object lesson in terrible/brilliant dancing.