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. I think his style of music simply isn’t in vogue in the US.
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.
What about Scissor Sisters? Several years ago, when “Take Your Mama” 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.
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
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? 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.
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.
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.
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.
I always thought the Irish band, The Frameswould do well in the US but they have never managed it. Somewhat celticy mix of grunge and other influences. Their lead singer, Glen Hansard’s newer project, The Swell Seasonhas done much better and the film Once, starring him was also a pretty big hit.
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.
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.
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.
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. )
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.
Maybe they don’t sound Irish enough. Or maybe that’s why we’re not all excited about them.