Could the same be said for some bands that were too 'American' for the Brits. Whilst I was aware of artists like Tom Petty, REO Speedwagon, John Mellamcamp, Blackfoot, April Wine Kansas,Journey etc. they never broke on the same level as in their homeland !!!Originally Posted by Facelift
Good one Rufus and an excellent reply from Hughes. I never truly looked at it from that perspective.
Ever hear any Magma on the radio? No?
I'm not lazy. I just work so fast I'm always done.
I never heard Magma on College Radio either.
Be a loyal plastic robot for a world that doesn't care... Frank Zappa
I often heard Boney M's Christmas Song song around the Holidays, "Mary's Boy Child" or something like that? Still do hear it on occasion. But other than that, yeah. Just "Rivers of Babylon."
High Vibration Go On - R.I.P. Chris Squire
I've heard "Mary's Boy Child" more in the past 10 years than I have any other Boney M songs. This might be a stretch, but I remember when the single for "Rivers of Babylon" used to get regular airplay on WLIB here in NYC and my parents had the 45 disk a lovely song. That song was a HUGE hit evrywhere around the world and for years it was amongst the highest selling single in UK history.
Be a loyal plastic robot for a world that doesn't care... Frank Zappa
On college radio, yes. That's how I first heard Magma, Amon Duul II, Ash Ra Tempel, Caravan, and a bunch of others.
Spock's Beard & Saga.
One real surprise for me is why T Rex never conquered the USA. They were massive in the UK. I know they did headline tours in America but the support acts usually got the reception from what I understand i.e. Uriah Heep !!!!
The Groundhogs (I'm surprised "Cherry Red" didn't open the door for them.)
Sir Douglas Quintet (couple big hits "She's About a Mover" and "Mendocino" then nothing from 1966 to 1998 when Doug died even though they released piles of records and toured constantly; they were huge in Scandinavia.)
Lou
Looking forward to my day in court.
I love Magnum. I first bought Chase The Dragon when I saw it in a local used record store. I bought it based on the cool cover, and loved the music. I never had the opportunity to see them in Central NY, which might have been part of their problem. Even if they did some opening band tours, it seems like if people here could only have heard them....
I think it was Mark Volman (he and Howard Kaylen back up on some of the T-Rex records) who was asked why he thought T-Rex never broke big Stateside. I think he said that apparently Bolan had made some off hand remark in an interview about how he "didn't care" if T-Rex did well in the US (or something to that effect). His insinuation was that a lot of radio and promo type people were offended by the remark, which apparently was taken to have an arrogant tone to it, and hence, some doors got slammed shut, as it were, on the band.
Speaking of Heep, I always wished they could have been bigger here, but I think the quality on the albums that came after Uriah Heep Live. Oh, and then there were the erratic performances during that era. David Byron developed a drinking problem, and started making it a habit of going onstage drunk. I think it was Ken Hensley who said that Byron started getting belligerent with audiences, on at least occasion telling a stadium crowd to "fuck off". Of course, the rest of the band weren't much better. There is (or used to be, anyway) a clip of the John Wetton era Heep doing Sweet Lorraine at breakneck speed, and it just sounds like a mess. Somehow, I got the feeling someone (or perhaps several someones) in the band might have been diving into the Peruvian marching powder.
I believe they toured the US only once.
Hell, they ain't even old-timey ! - Homer Stokes
Lindisfarne. Of the few Americans that are aware of them, many only know them in relation to being a Charisma act that toured with Genesis and VdGG. But it took writing the VdGG book and interviewing a lot of people for me to truly understand and appreciate just how huge Lindisfarne were in the U.K. in the 70's.
A couple of things:
a) By all accounts, they really did live the rock & roll lifestyle as much as any band in the 70s. Funnily enough, after dumping Byron from the band, they hired John Lawton, who could not have been less appropriate for the band. Not vocally (IMO, he was a much better singer than Byron), but personality-wise. I remember reading an anecdote of that lineup’s first appearance in L.A. While all the other band members were busy phoning up local dealers and call-girls, family man John was taking the wife and kids to Disneyland.
b) They probably don’t belong in this thread. They had four consecutive gold-selling albums in the USA, which in my book counts as “famous.”
RE: Boney M. Yech! A rare instance of good judgment by U.S. audiences. I’m glad they weren’t more popular here! Arguably the most execrable pop group of the 70s. If only we’d shown similar steely resistance to Frank Farian’s later, equally horrid product Milli Vanilli.
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MIKE (a.k.a. "Progbear")
"It is not an obscenity to be free. It is a divine right." --Annette Peacock
N.P.:“Rapsodia di Radius”-Formula 3/La grande casa
Yeah, but most British folk rock groups never made it big in North America anyway... Pentangle, Steeleye, Fairport never made headlines or even just news, AFAIK Yeah, you could find their albums in normal record stores... But you had to take a chance on them, by buying an album "blindly", because there was no radio airplay (at least from 73 onwards, when I started to listen to radio).... and you didn't want to buy it new, you first had to find it in used recorde shops (which was not always easy)
my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicts to complete nutcases.
Uriah Heep weren't even that big in the charts here in the UK either, look at the chart placings of theirs compared to their peers like Deep Purple and Black Sabbath. I've always rated Heep highly, though I'd agree that with David Byron, there was a definite nosedive in quality on the last few. I like various songs on all three of the albums with John Lawton.
John Lawton's image doesn't work with that band IMHO. A great singer, probably the best they ever had on a technical level (though I think David Byron was the best 'fit', and their best work was those early albums with him), but I'm not sure about the eye-liner and the jewellery! They were quite a 'blokey' sort of band, I think.
Ken Hensley has also admitted to his own 'personal problems' in the band in various interviews. It wasn't just David Byron, no.
RE; T. Rex. I've not seen that interview mentioned above but Bolan did have a certain bullishness (albeit usually a likeable, tongue-in-cheek bullishness) in his interviews, so it doesn't surprise me. I think another problem there, and was also eventually reflected in faltering UK sales, was the writing became formulaic very quickly.
Last edited by JJ88; 02-02-2013 at 08:33 AM.
LOL Mike! I brought up Boney M as an example because of the success of the Rivers of Babylon success worldwide which was their biggest hit single here in the US. Looking at it as a 42 year old listener nowadays, like many of the Pop bands of the 70's, their catalogue hasn't aged well and like most of the Disco related songs are just downright awful when you listen to them now.A couple of things:
a) By all accounts, they really did live the rock & roll lifestyle as much as any band in the 70s. Funnily enough, after dumping Byron from the band, they hired John Lawton, who could not have been less appropriate for the band. Not vocally (IMO, he was a much better singer than Byron), but personality-wise. I remember reading an anecdote of that lineup’s first appearance in L.A. While all the other band members were busy phoning up local dealers and call-girls, family man John was taking the wife and kids to Disneyland.
b) They probably don’t belong in this thread. They had four consecutive gold-selling albums in the USA, which in my book counts as “famous.”
RE: Boney M. Yech! A rare instance of good judgment by U.S. audiences. I’m glad they weren’t more popular here! Arguably the most execrable pop group of the 70s. If only we’d shown similar steely resistance to Frank Farian’s later, equally horrid product Milli Vanilli.
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MIKE (a.k.a. "Progbear")
"It is not an obscenity to be free. It is a divine right." --Annette Peacock
N.P.:“Rapsodia di Radius”-Formula 3/La grande casa
I like many here like Uriah Heep and surprisingly, they had more success here in the States. A similar minded band Budgie had no success here in United States, but yet Metallica covered the band's Breadfan, one of my least favorite songs from Budgie.
Charles
Be a loyal plastic robot for a world that doesn't care... Frank Zappa
I have never heard Magma on the radio, ever, anywhere. I only mention this because 40+ years later they are still playing, yet how did they build a following without any airplay at all, even if one or two college radio stations might play one clip every year or so?
I'm not lazy. I just work so fast I'm always done.
I remember that lovely song Run For Home which the band's claim to fame in the US yet the song did little to hint at how great this band was. I read that the members of Genesis loved being around Lindisfarne and VdGG and that like Jim had mentioned in his book that all three bands had their nights, but Lindisfarne often was the highlight of the evening especially since they were the headlining act.
Be a loyal plastic robot for a world that doesn't care... Frank Zappa
Budgie had little success in Britain either, but definitely have a cult following for their quirkiness and early proto-metal sound. Lindisfarne had a sort of working-class, salt-of-the-earth, folk-rock sound that was massive in Britain in the early 70s. The fact that they could happily tour with Genesis and VDGG despite the difference in sound/style speaks volumes about the eclecticism and open-mindedness of the time...things seem more segregated now IMHO.
RE; Boney M. There are indeed some musical phenomena of the 60s/70s (and countless ones from the 80s) that, not being around at the time, rather mystify me. This is one of them. As you say, some things do not age well.
Well, from general journalistic wisdom (whatever that would be), there were three guys obsessed atall costs of "making it big" to the point of of "doing anything to get there...
David Jones and his dresses
Reginald Dwight and his open homosexuality
Marc Bolan and his nebulous androginous personna
Two out of three made it big in the US...
T Rex"
my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicts to complete nutcases.
Elton wasn't 'open' when his fame began with 'Your Song', he dressed conservatively back then, plus his 'coming out' was much later.
Yes, they did get a belated American hit with “Run for Home” but it never led to anything. A shame that such a talented band are pretty much just a forgotten one-hit wonder over here. Compare with, say, Status Quo. IMO, “Pictures of Matchstick Men” is by far the best thing they ever did, their later “boogie-rock” hits are all pretty bland and interchangeable, at least to my ears.
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MIKE (a.k.a. "Progbear")
"Parece cosa de maligno. Los pianos no estallan por casualidad." --Gabriel Garcia Marquez
N.P.:“Cor mio”-Deus ex Machina
I wonder how bands like Metallica and Soundgarden found out about Budgie?
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