This article is inspired by friend and Mad Wasp Radio DJ Mark Taylor. It is a catchphrase he uses to describe songs that were not hits on the British singles chart. I should also credit his colleague Alan Read as some of the inspiration also comes from a show they present called the “Pop Injustice League”.
Rather than looking at individual songs, I will be looking at British bands or artists that have been more successful in countries other than Britain. Some of these artists have ultimately been successful in the UK but were initially more famous elsewhere.
The first band I am going to talk about, they were the ones who came to mind when I first settled on this topic, are Bush. Fronted by Gavin Rossdale, former husband of fellow music star Gwen Stefani, their debut album “Sixteen Stone” broke them big time in the USA. Whilst songs like “Glycerine” and “Comedown” became instantly recognisable over there, their lesser profile in the UK meant they barely scratched the surface here. They were very popular during the era when contemporaries like Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden were all the rage Stateside. “Sixteen Stone” was an immediate hit there in 1995 whilst their first, and to date only UK top ten single didn’t come until 1997 with “Swallowed” which was taken from their second album “Razorblade Suitcase” ironically, to date, their only UK top ten album!
Another band who came to mind are Def Leppard. The Sheffield based group initially rose to prominence in the US in 1983. Their album “Pyromania” reached number 2 on the Billboard album chart. From that album, “Photograph” reached number 12 on the Billboard singles chart and “Rock of Ages” reached number 16. “Animal” was their first UK top 40 hit single when it reached number 6 here in 1987! It was also in 1987 that they had their first UK number 1 album with “Hysteria”. “Pyromania” did reach number 18 on the UK album chart but this was a relative failure considering their success over the pond.
Other bands that deserve a mention from the 1980s are The Fixx, who had a Billboard number 4 single with “One Thing Leads to Another” in 1983, it also hit number 1 in the Canadian singles but only peaked at number 86 on the UK singles chart, the song came from the album “Reach the Beach” which reached number 8 in the US but only number 91 in the UK, and The Outfield who had a number 6 hit on the Billboard singles chart in 1986 but only reached number 83 in the UK. The accompanying album also reached number 9 in the US whilst it totally bombed in the UK!
I would say it is more difficult to assess the situation in the 21st century due to the way charts are now compiled. In my opinion, the inclusion of downloads as well as physical sales have clouded the picture somewhat. However, if we look at chart performance alone, bands such as Asking Alexandria, a North Yorkshire based metalcore band, who have achieved significant mainstream success in the US and Paradise Lost, a gothic metal band formed right here in Halifax, West Yorkshire have had significant success in Mainland Europe especially Germany, Finland and Greece.
These anomalies will no doubt continue to happen however, there is sometimes little the bands or artists can do about the situation, possibly due to the genre of music they perform sometimes.
I hope you have enjoyed reading what I have put together here. I would like to acknowledge the role Chat GPT and Wikipedia have played in helping me research the article.
