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Best rock band to be big internationally that never really made it in US

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gamecockcat

All-American
Oct 29, 2004
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I was driving home the other day and heard an Oasis song on XM and thought,'How in the hell did that band not make it in the States?' Good tunes, tight band, good sound - don't get it.

So, I came up with the question.

I'd guess The Clash would qualify, also, although I never liked their music that much. Loved their first album and a few cuts here or there but hated the politics and the lack of kick-ass rock 'n roll in much of their stuff. Maybe I got caught up in the 'punk band' label and expected something more like the Sex Pistols, who I think were pretty damn good although obviously destined to flame out almost as soon as they formed.
 
Nice start to the thread as your first two examples are extremely false.

Oasis and The Clash never made it in the US? Hmm.
 
Mark Bolan and T Rex. Hands down. Never understood why they werent Beatles big here.

The others made it big or influential. Theyre are a ton of British bands from the late 70s. Wire, Gang of Four, the Damned, Joy Division, etc. Punk just didnt really get a huge mainstream audience until after.
 
Love about five songs by Oasis, but unfortunately, pretty much all of their records sounded alike, sort of like Boston who kept trying to remake their one killer album. Buying public lost interest quickly.
 
Definitely Maybe and WTSMG are classics, with the latter being legendary. All downhill after that...likely due to them being perpetually drunk and wishing each other were dead.
 
The Smiths. They were never as big in the States as they were in the UK.

New Order also qualifies...even tho they were basically Joy Division without Ian Curtis. I'm hedging the fact they were actually a rock band. To me, they're more electronica/dance.
 
You know, I've never understood the universal reverence for Morrissey. He's always been such a whiney pussy to me and I've never been able to overcome that with The Smiths or his solo stuff. All the punk hipsters hold the guy up as some god, I just don't get it. I can always respect songwriting chops but I think he is grotesquely overrated by many.

I'd say he is essentially the grandfather of Emo?
 
Originally posted by argubs2:
You know, I've never understood the universal reverence for Morrissey. He's always been such a whiney pussy to me and I've never been able to overcome that with The Smiths or his solo stuff. All the punk hipsters hold the guy up as some god, I just don't get it. I can always respect songwriting chops but I think he is grotesquely overrated by many.

I'd say he is essentially the grandfather of Emo?
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Yeah, there is obvious the reverence behind it and the ceremony. Is he overrated? Hard question, as I bet 90% of the posters here dont know who he is.

Its like any band, you have to find the intro song that gets you in. I am not a huge fan, but can say I like some of his stuff (more the smiths). Emo as a genre is pretty bad, but I do like the Cure, so I dont know.

I think he is just artsy fartsy.

I dont like the grateful dead, but consider working man's dead to be a great album.
 
When they were actually putting out new stuff Cheap Trick was huge in Japan but not here. It wasn't until their stuff became "classic" that they really got the recognition in the U.S.
 
Originally posted by elwood_blue:
When they were actually putting out new stuff Cheap Trick was huge in Japan but not here. It wasn't until their stuff became "classic" that they really got the recognition in the U.S.
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. . . which was, and is, very, very unfortunate for the American listening public.
 
Muse is nowhere near as big in the US as they are world wide. Too bad they are an incredible band.
 
Noel Gallagher of Oasis just put out his 2nd solo record about 2 weeks ago. It is amazing and will probably never get any recognition in USA. If Chris Martin or Bono put this out or some other less polarizing Brit it would win every grammy IMO. They were just a little too honest and brash for american audience other than that brief moment in 1996 when Wonderwall crossed over.
 
Originally posted by TexasTimCat:

Originally posted by The_Catfather:
Deep Purple is bigger than Zeppelin in a lot of places all over the world other than America.
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False
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They're still massive in Europe. No one in America knows shit about them other than Smoke on the Water.
 
Originally posted by The_Catfather:
Originally posted by TexasTimCat:

Originally posted by The_Catfather:
Deep Purple is bigger than Zeppelin in a lot of places all over the world other than America.
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False
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They're still massive in Europe. No one in America knows shit about them other than Smoke on the Water.
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Catfather - respectfully disagree; me and my friends were huge purple fans growing up.

One of the things that hurt them was the changing members of the band and some of the personalities.

They had a number of triumphs stateside - with of course California Jam being the one in most folks minds.

I have great respect for DP - just do not believe they are bigger that LZ anywhere - hell their moms like Zeppelin more ;-)
 
Kentucky born and breed rockers Black Stone Cherry play for sold out arenas in Europe but are regulated to playing clubs in the U.S. Great band, wish people would give them a listen.
 
argubs,

Unless I missed something where The Clash toured the US and had multiple dates with thousands of cheering fans and multiple hits on the radio, I'd have to say they didn't really ever make it very big in US. Just because they might have been influential and a relatively very small group of people fell absolutely in love with them doesn't mean they made it here. Other than 'Train in Vain' (which most people wouldn't even know that name), 'Rock the Casbah' and 'Should I Stay or Should I Go', not sure the average person could name another Clash tune. True, they did have a couple of platinum albums and a handful of hits, so they weren't completely duds in the US. But, I think it's pretty obvious they were much bigger in the UK and Europe than they ever were in the US by a wide margin.

Think the same could be said about Oasis except they didn't enjoy the level of success The Clash did in the US.

For the Cheap Trick haters - saw them in Rupp on the Dream Police tour and it was by a large margin the best 'sounding' concert in Rupp I ever attended. Everything was crystal clear and mixed to perfection. Not sure how they did it but they sounded great. Plus, a huge CT fan back in the day and they rocked. Nielson must have launched 300 picks into the audience that night. Good band live. Album cuts tended to be a bit too power-pop/Beatlesque with layered harmonies. Live - they played rock 'n roll without all the explosions, makeup, light shows that contemporaries relied on (too much, imo). Not my favorite or best concert I've ever attended (although a very good one) but definitely had the best sound of any I attended in Rupp.
This post was edited on 3/16 5:46 PM by gamecockcat
 
The Pixies were huge in the UK and not so much here...at the time they were actually making records. They have since become indie Gods and Apple pitchmen.
 
So basically, you have to be The Beatles to have "made it in the US?"

Oasis was the biggest band in the goddamn world for a period in the mid 90's. WTSMG was quint-platinum in the US. I'm not even going to go into The Clash.

Feel like I'm taking crazy pills discussing this with you. As is tradition.
 
After thinking about this...do The Cranberries count? Rock gods (and a goddess) in Ireland and the UK, but had middling success here in America. Thanks, OP, not often have I thought about The Smiths and The Cranberries on the same day!
 
Oasis was huge for a while and the Gallagher brothers have pretty recently put out good music on their own as well.
 
Slade, Status Quo, Cliff Richard, the Jam (Paul Weller), Wizzard - all big acts in the UK that most people in the US don't know. That is probably why you all are listing huge worldwide rock bands (Oasis, Clash) rather than these bands.
 
Originally posted by BigSexyCat:
Kentucky born and breed rockers Black Stone Cherry play for sold out arenas in Europe but are regulated to playing clubs in the U.S. Great band, wish people would give them a listen.
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You took the words right off my fingers.
 
According to Wiki: Oasis sold more than 70 million albums worldwide, less than 7 million in the US over an 8-10 year period. While I admit they had the one huge album and their debut that made 1x platinum, they weren't nearly as big in the States as they were elsewhere. Think the album sales numbers above should be self explanatory. Didn't have record-setting tours (not sure they ever had a 'major' tour in US). Not really sure why you even question that. Being 'the biggest band in the world in the mid 90s' and having one (all right, two) hit album in the States pretty much proves my point, doesn't it? I'd say bands like AC/DC have had a ton more US success than Oasis although they weren't 'the biggest band in the world' ever.

As for The Clash, their record sales were way, way less than Oasis. Had one album go 2x platinum and 2 others go gold and that's it in the US. For a band that was huge all over the world, they just never made a big mark on the US market, especially in relation to the impact they had all over the world other than the US. Not arguing that they were influential and were known in the US. Who sold more albums during their career: Journey, Styx, Tom Petty, Mellencamp, etc., etc. or The Clash? Not even close. Now, which was the better band? Hence the original question.

Just because you hold a particular opinion does not make it fact. The facts are less than 10% of Oasis' album sales came from the US. The Clash were never a big seller in the US. Again, hence the original question.
 
Yeah, I guess you and I just have different opinions on what constitutes "making it." Or you just have a difficult time explaining what you actually wanted to discuss.

You started the thread asking about bands that were big internationally but "never really made it in the US." Not bands who were big internationally but "weren't quite as big in the US as they were internationally."

Again, if you feel that Oasis or The Clash never "made it in the US", you're completely wrong and I'm embarrassed for you.
 
David Hasslehoff...he was a God as a musician internationally. Here he was know for AGT, Knight Rider, and Baywatch.
 
Originally posted by argubs2:
Yeah, I guess you and I just have different opinions on what constitutes "making it." Or you just have a difficult time explaining what you actually wanted to discuss.

You started the thread asking about bands that were big internationally but "never really made it in the US." Not bands who were big internationally but "weren't quite as big in the US as they were internationally."

Again, if you feel that Oasis or The Clash never "made it in the US", you're completely wrong and I'm embarrassed for you.
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^ This is correct.
 
Seasick Steve was a phenomenon in the UK. His music is pretty good, and he plays homemade instruments most of the time yo boot.
 
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