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Acts that should have been bigger in the U.S.

#82
BenBL said:
Biffy Clyro - Great Scottish band that is huge in the UK has a had a concert at wembly and so on. But haven't made it in the US yet.

Blur - Also huge in the UK but people over here only know them for Song 2
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Good choices! Actually got into Biffy Clyro because the bassist has a signature Squier bass that I found interesting (LPB Jazz w/matching headstock). Their music is quite good.
 
#83
aus_bass said:
So many great Aussie/NZ bands found it really tough to break into the US market...

Little River Band
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Little River Band had great success in the U.S. with 16 songs that reached the Top 40 between 1975 and 1990.

Here are quite a few other acts that should have been bigger in the U.S.

Gentle Giant
U.K.
Del Amitri (19 songs that reached the U.K. Charts)
Adam Ant (had 23 songs reach the U.K. charts with the Ants & solo)
April Wine (32 songs on the Canadian charts alone - 21 were Top - 40 between 1971 to 1993)
The Proclaimers
Hot Chocolate (37 songs that made the U.K. charts alone)
Crowded House
Blue Murder
Wishbone Ash
Uriah Heep (had modest success in the 70s in the U.S. and are still together after numerous lineup changes and still very popular in Europe)
Budgie
Kayak
Diesel
Wild Turkey
Paris
Ten Years After & Alvin Lee solo
Thomas Dolby
Stone The Crows (Jim Dewar played bass in this band before joining Robin Trower and Maggie Bell's vocals were incredible
Starcastle (a U.S. band progressive band every bit as good as Styx and others but did not make the big time)
Max Webster
Kim Mitchell
Helix
Honeymoon Suite
Coney Hatch
Haywire
Platinum Blonde
k. d. Lang
The Tea Party
The Jitters
Northern Pikes
Cowboy Junkies
Crash Test Dummies
Aldo Nova
Trooper
Jerry Doucette
Harlequin
Streetheart
Prism
The Headpins
Chilliwack
Enya
The Cranberries
Toronto
Lighthouse
Red Rider
Simple Minds
 
#84
Richland123 said:
Little River Band had great success in the U.S. with 16 songs that reached the Top 40 between 1975 and 1990.

Here are quite a few other acts that should have been bigger in the U.S.

Gentle Giant
U.K.
Del Amitri (19 songs that reached the U.K. Charts)
Adam Ant (had 23 songs reach the U.K. charts with the Ants & solo)
April Wine (32 songs on the Canadian charts alone - 21 were Top - 40 between 1971 to 1993)
The Proclaimers
Hot Chocolate (37 songs that made the U.K. charts alone)
Crowded House
Blue Murder
Wishbone Ash
Uriah Heep (had modest success in the 70s in the U.S. and are still together after numerous lineup changes and still very popular in Europe)
Budgie
Kayak
Diesel
Wild Turkey
Paris
Ten Years After & Alvin Lee solo
Thomas Dolby
Stone The Crows (Jim Dewar played bass in this band before joining Robin Trower and Maggie Bell's vocals were incredible
Starcastle (a U.S. band progressive band every bit as good as Styx and others but did not make the big time)
Max Webster
Kim Mitchell
Helix
Honeymoon Suite
Coney Hatch
Haywire
Platinum Blonde
k. d. Lang
The Tea Party
The Jitters
Northern Pikes
Cowboy Junkies
Crash Test Dummies
Aldo Nova
Trooper
Jerry Doucette
Harlequin
Streetheart
Prism
The Headpins
Chilliwack
Enya
The Cranberries
Toronto
Lighthouse
Red Rider
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And.....done.
 
#85
Big Country.....

There is so much more to them than the one song that got airplay here.
I wish they had been much bigger in the U.S., I really enjoy Tony Butler's bass playing.
 
#93
Hues said:
Aussie band The Angels.

Found them on late night MTV in the early '80s using the name Angel City....Something about a possible confusion with the band Angel,at the time.The song was Face The Day.
A lot of american bands pointed to them as an influence.Great White,at their peak, covered their songs.

Still have that album Dark Room and Two Minute Waring.

Face The Day:
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Straight Jacket:Live
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The Aussie band, The Angles started out as the Keystone Angles in the early Mid 70's.

In many ways they were probably better than ACDC.
 
#95
Aussie Player said:
The Aussie band, The Angles started out as the Keystone Angles in the early Mid 70's.

In many ways they were probably better than ACDC.
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Having been a fan of both bands since the late '70s, I've always heard a kinship in their music....But I agree, The Angles are far more creative musically than AC/DC. Who've been brilliant at making the same blues/hard rock sound fresh over the years.

The American band Angel and the Keystone Angles seem to have been formed at the same time.

Very sad to hear The Angles' bassist recently passed.
 
#96
aus_bass said:
So many great Aussie/NZ bands found it really tough to break into the US market...

Australian Crawl
Hunters & Collectors
Midnight Oil
Sherbet
Cold Chisel / Jimmy Barnes
Little River Band
The Angels
Split Enz
Dragon

Yeah I'm a bit biased, but what the hey...
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Midnight Oil had two huge hits in America; "Beds Are Burning" and "Blue Sky Mine," and pretty much everything the Little River Band released in the 70's and early 80's was a hit here, too. The Angels, Split Enz and Jimmy Barnes had a little bit of success in America, although The Angels had to change their name to Angel City because of the 60's US girl group The Angels who did "My Boyfriend's Back."
 
#97
Anyone remember the band Crowded House. Think they had one or two hits here but were much bigger in Australia.

I also really liked the solo album by Tim Finn who was in Crowded House with his brother Neil.
 

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