# Why did they/it never make it in America? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 28, 2010, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-they-it-never-make-it-in-america/541015 "2010-05-28T00:32:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-they-it-never-make-it-in-america/541015/21 "2010-05-28T10:44:41Z")
Neil Hannon is a genius songwriter but, as a friend of mine and fellow fan put it, “he’ll write this beautiful clever song and then, in the last 30 seconds, shit all over it”, putting little twists in the tail that are clever but annoying and not conducive to popular appeal. And given his erratic success in the UK and Ireland I can’t see him achieving more than limited success anywhere else. (That said, _Promenade_ is a brilliant concept album IMHO). \*\*Robbie Williams \*\*was explosively successful following the launch of his solo career, especially post-_Angels_, and was all set to take the US by storm. EMI even gave him a £80 million contract. [He’s barely managed to take the States by drizzle.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robbie_Williams#Reception_in_North_America) I think his style of music simply isn’t in vogue in the US. ---
**Author:** ![MTCicero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@MTCicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MTCicero)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-they-it-never-make-it-in-america/541015/22 "2010-05-28T12:33:33Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > I was also expecting big things from [Terence Trent D’Arby](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-Uz-dPANDY&feature=related). I recall reading at some point that his ego did him in but I don’t remember the details. Still, the guy had real talent and IMO we’re a little worse off that he never lived up to his potential. I saw him when he opened for, of all people, Duran Duran on their 1993 “Wedding Album” tour. Whereas most opening acts play anywhere from 30 - 45 minutes, D’arby played for an hour and fifteen minutes, and he rocked the muh-fuckin’ _hay_-yowse! Definitely one of the best, most electrifying shows I’ve ever seen. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-they-it-never-make-it-in-america/541015/23 "2010-05-28T12:37:13Z")
[Coffee Crisp chocolate bars.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffee_Crisp) It’s a nice, light snack, for God’s sake – who doesn’t like one of those?? ---
**Author:** ![MTCicero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@MTCicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MTCicero)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-they-it-never-make-it-in-america/541015/24 "2010-05-28T12:45:46Z")
What about [Scissor Sisters](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4H5I6y1Qvz0)? Several years ago, when [“Take Your Mama”](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=od7-fyGa9DQ) was first released, I predicted that it would set the nation on fire, so goddamn catchy was (is) the tune. I was wrong. And I’ve no idea why they’ve never made it beyond cult status over here. First off, they’re American (so the xenophobes have nothing to bitch about). Second, “Take Your Mama” is the best Elton John song that Elton never actually recorded. Third, on the follow up, “I Don’t Feel Like Dancing”, _they actually co-wrote the song with Elton John_, who’s, you know, never exactly been box office poison, as it were, over on these shores. Nope. I just can’t figure it. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-they-it-never-make-it-in-america/541015/25 "2010-05-28T13:25:46Z")
Cliff Richard. Ok he had a few top ten hits here, “Devil Woman,” “We Don’t Talk Anymore,” and “Dreamin’” but considering in the UK and most of the rest of the world his popularity extends from the 50s to the present and he’s right behind Elvis in terms of hits (maybe even ahead in the UK) he should have been really famous in the USA ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-they-it-never-make-it-in-america/541015/26 "2010-05-28T14:02:39Z")
> [@MTCicero](#): > > Third, on the follow up, “I Don’t Feel Like Dancing”, _they actually co-wrote the song with Elton John_, who’s, you know, never exactly been box office poison, as it were, over on these shores. > > Nope. I just can’t figure it. Was that song not popular in the US? I was living in Europe when it came out and I heard it _constantly_. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-they-it-never-make-it-in-america/541015/27 "2010-05-28T14:08:50Z")
Damn! I came in to say Robbie Williams, but somebody beat me to it. So I backed out, and then came back in to post Cliff Richard. So, I’m going to say . . . [Paolo Nutini](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paolo_Nutini)? He’s a phenomenon in the UK; here, nobody’s heard of him. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-they-it-never-make-it-in-america/541015/28 "2010-05-28T14:22:58Z")
> [@Sigmagirl](#): > > So, I’m going to say . . . [Paolo Nutini](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paolo_Nutini)? He’s a phenomenon in the UK; here, nobody’s heard of him. Clear Channel stations were pushing “New Shoes” a few years ago and I can see why he never took off, it just wasn’t a very good song and stood out like a sore thumb against everything else that was new at the time. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-they-it-never-make-it-in-america/541015/29 "2010-05-28T14:30:38Z")
There’s a new radio station in Cleveland that started up about 8 months ago. When they first came on I listened to them quite a bit, and one of the songs they kept playing was “The Defector” by [Bell X1](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_X1_%28band%29). In this song, at least, the singer sounds exactly like David Byrne. The song sounds in the style of Byrne too. According to their Wikipedia page, they are huuuuuuge in their home country of Ireland. They’ve traveled to the US and have played on 3 of our late-night shows, but I’ve never heard of them until that radio station started playing them (they play just that one track), and I haven’t heard of them anywhere else since. ---
**Author:** ![In\_Winnipeg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a8b319/32.png) [@In\_Winnipeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/In_Winnipeg)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-they-it-never-make-it-in-america/541015/30 "2010-05-28T14:36:52Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > Cliff Richard. Ok he had a few top ten hits here, “Devil Woman,” “We Don’t Talk Anymore,” and “Dreamin’” but considering in the UK and most of the rest of the world his popularity extends from the 50s to the present and he’s right behind Elvis in terms of hits (maybe even ahead in the UK) he should have been really famous in the USA He even made a bunch of movies also. In the same vein, I give you British girl singers of the 60s – Cilla Black, Sandie Shaw, Lulu. All had big hits in the UK, but in the US, nothing. The only one with any degree of fame was Petula Clark (but there again, this didn’t happen until 1965 with _Downtown_, and she had had a career in the UK since she was a child). Probably the reason for this was that the US already had a surplus of female vocalists and girl groups – Dionne Warwick, Diana Ross and the Supremes, The Sherelles, Brenda Lee, Lesley Gore, etc. and the market was already saturated. . ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-they-it-never-make-it-in-america/541015/31 "2010-05-28T14:42:24Z")
I always thought the Irish band, [The Frames](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Frames)would do well in the US but they have never managed it. [Somewhat celticy mix of grunge](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yf6vnnkcloQ) and other influences. Their lead singer, Glen Hansard’s newer project, [The Swell Season](http://www.myspace.com/theswellseason)has done much better and the film [Once,](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Once_%28film%29) starring him was also a pretty big hit. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-they-it-never-make-it-in-america/541015/32 "2010-05-28T14:44:28Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > There’s a new radio station in Cleveland that started up about 8 months ago. When they first came on I listened to them quite a bit, and one of the songs they kept playing was “The Defector” by [Bell X1](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_X1_%28band%29). > > In this song, at least, the singer sounds exactly like David Byrne. The song sounds in the style of Byrne too. > > According to their Wikipedia page, they are huuuuuuge in their home country of Ireland. They’ve traveled to the US and have played on 3 of our late-night shows, but I’ve never heard of them until that radio station started playing them (they play just that one track), and I haven’t heard of them anywhere else since. They are huge here, they do seem to be making a decent stab at cracking the US though. They’ve already done better than many an Irish band that tries. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-they-it-never-make-it-in-america/541015/33 "2010-05-28T15:02:13Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > They are huge here, they do seem to be making a decent stab at cracking the US though. They’ve already done better than many an Irish band that tries. Yeah but they’re not THE CRANBERRIES 🙂 Maybe they don’t sound Irish enough. Or maybe that’s why we’re not all excited about them. ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-they-it-never-make-it-in-america/541015/34 "2010-05-28T15:10:25Z")
Why \*don’t \*we have dual flush toilets here in the States, like \*\*Shalmanese \*\*mentioned earlier? You’d think with all the eco-friendly sentiment running rampant over here, these’d be a no-brainer. Huh. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-they-it-never-make-it-in-america/541015/35 "2010-05-28T15:16:30Z")
> [@In\_Winnipeg](#): > > In the same vein, I give you British girl singers of the 60s – Cilla Black, Sandie Shaw, Lulu. All had big hits in the UK, but in the US, nothing. The only one with any degree of fame was Petula Clark (but there again, this didn’t happen until 1965 with _Downtown_, and she had had a career in the UK since she was a child). > > Probably the reason for this was that the US already had a surplus of female vocalists and girl groups – Dionne Warwick, Diana Ross and the Supremes, The Sherelles, Brenda Lee, Lesley Gore, etc. and the market was already saturated. There’s also the “pale imitation” factor. Why would the US want to listen to Cilla Black, who was essentially doing Dionne Warwick’s act, when we actually had Dionne Warwick? Why listen to Lulu do the Isley Brothers when we had the Isley Brothers? (To be fair to Lulu, “To Sir With Love” did hit #1 in the US IIRC). On the other hand Dusty Springfield, a true original, did quite well in the US. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-they-it-never-make-it-in-america/541015/36 "2010-05-28T15:16:47Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > Are you sure? My mom mention hearing it over and over again in this one diner where her friend was working back in the day. It’s pretty much the only Kate Bush song that my parents know–they think of her as some random artist who only had one real hit and that was it. Positive. Possible answer is a jukebox and an employee who was a fan? Local college station with a fan as DJ? But I’ve been a KT fan since day one, and worked in a record store for most of the 80s, so I tracked her popularity pretty closely. And that diner was a lone spot on the continent, I can assure you. Or wait, Pat Benatar covered it, and that was a Bside on one of her hits. Again, was there a jukebox in the joint? And again, as a KT fan/record store employee in the 80s, I can assure you her one hit, RUTH, was an anomaly–almost felt like a mistake at the time. And **gaffa** , for whatever reason, Armatrading always had a much higher profile than KT, as far as awareness. Until RUTH, as you and I know, the only people we knew who’d ever even heard of her were people we personally introduced her to, or whom we’d met in a KT-related context, or a music professional. KT awareness was like a secret society; we felt like first century christians, tracing “KT” in the sand with our toe to see who recognized it before we could acknowledge our own appreciation. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-they-it-never-make-it-in-america/541015/37 "2010-05-28T15:22:04Z")
> [@Snickers](#): > > Why \*don’t \*we have dual flush toilets here in the States, like \*\*Shalmanese \*\*mentioned earlier? You’d think with all the eco-friendly sentiment running rampant over here, these’d be a no-brainer. > > Huh. Maybe because (IME) they don’t work properly! ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-they-it-never-make-it-in-america/541015/38 "2010-05-28T15:53:22Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > Maybe because (IME) they don’t work properly! I have a dual-flush toilet right here and it is the most effective toilet I’ve ever used. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-they-it-never-make-it-in-america/541015/39 "2010-05-28T16:30:45Z")
This thread belongs to Slade. Glam wasn’t as big here as in the UK, but dayum, were they a great band. They did have some exposure here, but not that much. Their “biggest hit” here was Quiet Riot’s cover of Cum on Feel the Noize. Check them out on Youtube. You won’t be sorry. (Check out the Runaways’ cover of Mama Weer All Crazee Now too while you’re at it. Just because it’s awesome. 🙂 ) > [@Negative\_Lite](#): > > Foreign-language songs face almost impossible odds in the U.S., so just cracking the Top 40 at all is a major success. As a counterpoint, the Macarena was a monster hit a few years earlier. Being in Spanish is a huge handicap, but it doesn’t fully explain why it was such a big hit elsewhere but not here. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2010, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-they-it-never-make-it-in-america/541015/40 "2010-05-28T16:40:27Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > Are you sure? My mom mention hearing it over and over again in this one diner where her friend was working back in the day. It’s pretty much the only Kate Bush song that my parents know–they think of her as some random artist who only had one real hit and that was it. In the mid to late 80’s radio station KITS in San Francisco played her a lot. Those were the days. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-they-it-never-make-it-in-america/541015.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-did-they-it-never-make-it-in-america/541015.md?page=3)