Were Jamiroquai never big in the US?

[electracoyote]

That's cool. I was kind of funnin' ya, those were just the first two names I thought of in the "big in the UK, but not in the US" camp.

There are actually a lot of UK artists I like, but most got their start in the 60s or 70s. Some got bigger on the cusp of the 80s, though, most notably Elvis Costello, XTC, the Jam, Nick Lowe/Dave Edmunds/Rockpile, the Clash, Squeeze, the whole second wave of ska, etc.

Right on. The Second British Invasion.

Looking forward to that kind of quality and quantity from the UK again someday soon.

 

[Richland123]

Sorry to say they ended up in the U.S. similar to several other good acts that are very big other places than here such as Level 42, Simply Red, Cliff Richard, and Status Quo.

 

[electracoyote]

Sorry to say they ended up in the U.S. similar to several other good acts that are very big other places than here such as Level 42, Simply Red, Cliff Richard, and Status Quo.

Cliff Richard had a string of hits over here that spanned a few decades. There was a big Cliff resurgence in the late 70s-early 80's stateside with songs like "It's So Funny" and "Devil Woman."

But yeah, the other three were more like one hit wonders in the USA (Simply Red might have had two hits with "Holding Back The Years" and their cover of "If You Don't Know Me By Now").

I still bought their records, so some of these bands that didn't neccesarily have mainstream success were still popular with the AOR deep cut music buyer.

 

[Swipter]

Love Foolosophy...love those bass lines.

 

[SBassman]

Late to this thread - and to this very interesting music.

Also finding it very strange that this music wasn't bigger
in the U.S.

Very, very, very tasty bass work.

 

[DiabolusInMusic]

I remember when Jamiroquai broke the western market, like Oasis and Blur they were touted as a big deal since they had seen so much success across the pond. They had Virtual Insanity which was massive and it was followed by High Times if I recall correctly. I was 10ish and Travelling Without Moving was one of the first tapes I ever bought, alone with Jagged Little Pill. Fantastic record.

I am also surprised how many people don't like Oasis. In my opinion they are one of those bands that is so commercially accessible I think everybody would enjoy them.

 

[Milk]

I remember when Jamiroquai broke the western market, like Oasis and Blur they were touted as a big deal since they had seen so much success across the pond. They had Virtual Insanity which was massive and it was followed by High Times if I recall correctly. I was 10ish and Travelling Without Moving was one of the first tapes I ever bought, alone with Jagged Little Pill. Fantastic record.

I am also surprised how many people don't like Oasis. In my opinion they are one of those bands that is so commercially accessible I think everybody would enjoy them.

yeah I think everyone who was old enough at the time in north America DOES remember them having some degree of exposure and success.... or was that jst in Canada? I know their videos received frequent airplay. Then they kinda went away..in north America. Some years later I realized they had never stopped being popular in the UK. and in fact while it's not my sort of stuff, I do think their later early 2000's stuff is better than what they were doing in the 90's.

As for Oasis... I couldn't like them. I like a lot of 90's brit stuff, Blur, Radiohead and Pulp being on top of the list (right there that's most of the very select few bands from the 90's I like), but Oasis was just...very bland to me. I gave them a shot again recently cause my gf likes them and she has pretty flawless music tastes (like even the stuff she does like that I don't I feel I SHOULD like) and I still can't... the voice grated on my nerves, I never found much to like in the lyrics, and the riffs were kinda....too dumb?....I don't know. The only song of them I ever sorta liked is What's the Story Morning glory.