They just didn't travel well...

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C
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They just didn't travel well...

Postby C » 09 Apr 2022, 09:52

fange wrote:They didn't really get much attention in Aus, if i remember correctly


Why does this happen with some great bands that should, say, do well across the pond or on the wrong side of the world (or vice versa - back to Blighty) but don't.

Gentle Giant didn't really break the USA; SAHB weren't household names in Australia and Guru Guru didn't get the credit they deserved at the time in England's green & pleasant land

Well?




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Re: They just didn't travel well...

Postby GoogaMooga » 09 Apr 2022, 10:16

Slade should have been much bigger in America.
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Re: They just didn't travel well...

Postby never/ever » 09 Apr 2022, 10:23

David Hasselhoff being huge in Germany, Hendrix massive in UK/Europe...you tell me.

SAHB probably didn't make it big here because we already had AC/DC.
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Re: They just didn't travel well...

Postby ConnyOlivetti » 09 Apr 2022, 11:18

C wrote:
Gentle Giant didn't really break the USA;

Well?
.


From what I read they were never big in England either.
Although they never break the USA, they were rather big in Europe I think.

1975 /https://gentlegiantmusic.com/GG/A_short_history_of_Gentle_Giant
"The group thus gave up on England after touring in the Summer."

From wiki
"By this time, 1975-76, Gentle Giant had become a well-established live act in America and Europe, touring persistently and sharing stages with anyone from Sha Na Na to progressive rock contemporaries such as Jethro Tull and Yes. The band's notoriously virtuosic live act (featuring rapid-fire instrument-swapping and demanding rearrangements of the already complex studio pieces) made a powerful impression on audiences, meaning that Gentle Giant could equal almost any act on the bill. One 1975 show (at Detroit's Cobo Hall) saw them steal the show from both Gary Wright (debuting his Dream Weaver album) and Rick Wakeman (headlining with the touring version of The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table)"
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Re: They just didn't travel well...

Postby C » 09 Apr 2022, 20:49

never/ever wrote:
SAHB probably didn't make it big here because we already had AC/DC.


:o



Yes, both Scottish



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Re: They just didn't travel well...

Postby pcqgod » 09 Apr 2022, 22:06

Also never big in the USA: T-Rex, Roxy Music, any punk rock prior to Green Day unless you count The Clash 'Combat Rock' era. I don't think Elvis Costello ever had a big hit in the U.S. Fairport Convention would be completely unknown if Sandy Denny hadn't been on a Led Zeppelin track.
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Re: They just didn't travel well...

Postby LMG » 09 Apr 2022, 23:10

The Jam in the USA.

Phish in the UK. They used to tour here but realised the whole audience was made up of ham shanks on holiday pinching themselves at seeing a mega band in a smallish venue.
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Re: They just didn't travel well...

Postby The Slider » 10 Apr 2022, 12:58

GoogaMooga wrote:Slade should have been much bigger in America.


They had Kiss
No need really


never/ever wrote:SAHB probably didn't make it big here because we already had AC/DC.


I really don't get the confluence there.
Apart from the lead guitarist playing a cherry red SG and a possible lyrical interest in STDs there's pretty much no similarity whatsoever... :?
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Re: They just didn't travel well...

Postby Charlie O. » 11 Apr 2022, 01:01

pcqgod wrote:I don't think Elvis Costello ever had a big hit in the U.S.

EC actually had a couple of Top 40 hits, but I think in general he was (is?) bigger here than mere chart statistics will indicate. His early albums, at least, may not have made a big commercial splash upon release, but they've continued to sell fairly consistently over the years. (That they keep getting reissued seemingly every few years is a tell.) And though I can't be bothered to look it up, I think he's had a couple of Top 20 albums within the last decade or so!
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Re: They just didn't travel well...

Postby Hightea » 12 Apr 2022, 17:17

pcqgod wrote: any punk rock prior to Green Day unless you count The Clash 'Combat Rock' era. I don't think Elvis Costello ever had a big hit in the U.S.

First off Punk started in USA not the UK.
Secondly, while I agree it didn't get huge it was very popular in the US especially NY and Detroit where it began.
The CBGB bands were big enough - Blonde, Ramones, Talking Heads (New Wave part of punk was big)
Elvis Costello had a few hits in the US but by the fourth album he was over in the US. Same with the Clash.

It's also easy to say something was big in the Uk but the population is small compared to the US
I bet most of the bands your mentioning sold the same amount of albums in the US because we have a bigger population(4 times).
Let alone if you took just LA, Detroit, NYC and a few other big cities and it would look a lot similar.

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Re: They just didn't travel well...

Postby Hightea » 12 Apr 2022, 17:19

LMG wrote:The Jam in the USA.

Phish in the UK. They used to tour here but realised the whole audience was made up of ham shanks on holiday pinching themselves at seeing a mega band in a smallish venue.

yes I would say those two are correct.
Did the Dead or Airplane really have a following in the Uk?


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