How popular was Suzi Quatro in the US?

Suzy broke through in Scandinavia in the first half of the '70s with songs like 'Can The Can' and was quite big.
Lately I've seen her in an episode of the wonderful British series 'Midsummer Murders' where she plays - of all things - a has-been rock star who does nothing but drink and is rotten rolling drunk through out the episode.
Right until she's murdered, that is...
It must have been a bit of a joke to play that part because there is still a lot of love for her here in Europe and she is not looked upon as a has-been.

 

I think your right here jon9091, I was in high school in the early 70's and Bowie all over the radio. Been following the Bowie vs Bruce thread.

BTW....love your avatar ....R. Crumb right? We have similar taste in music. Every time I see this I think of the paradox of the Deadheads sort of adopting some of his work into their culture when he himself doesn't even like the Dead. Sorry..I clicked on your profile for I am news at this and am trying to learn how to use the site. . Thanks for teaching me what nunya means. I had to look it up. That's how old I am.

 

Crumb definitely has stated how much he dislikes the Dead, hippies, etc. But it's ironic that both he and Jerry have/had a lot of similar love for classic jug bands, country blues, etc. I suspect Crumb appreciates the Mother McCree's album, for instance. Crumb just stays with his musical loves, while Jerry expanded on them.

As a recently-converted deadhead who also likes a lot of the same music Crumb does, I have no problem with it.

 

Cool, Thanks for the info. Now I am going to buy the"Mother's McCree's" album. I don't know it.

 

It's out of print and kind of pricey. But you can sample it here.

 

"Fame" was an anomaly. He had a few very minor chart hits in America compared to many top 5/10 hits in the UK. I think "Golden Years" may have also cracked the top 10 - but aside from those two he didn't have any real success in America until "Let's Dance".

 

OK....WHAT! Maybe I was in some sort of Bowie vortex or something but in Cleveland in the 70's Bowie concerts were a major event. Big Time. Mail order only for tickets and the large hall would sell out in two days. I remember showing up in jeans and a t-shirt and being surprised by others showing up in tuxedos getting out of limo's. Right up there with Pink Floyd -Lou Reed -Zeppelin -The Who. A new release from Bowie was featured prominently on the FM radio. I did notice when on the west coast, not so much. But Chicago and everything east, Bowie was HUGE! If you were in high school, as I was, and did not have Hunky Dory and Ziggy in your record collection, you were...well, actually, I can't think of anyone who didn't.

 

That is so cool! Thank you for that. That was great!

 

I don't really think top 40 chart hits tell the whole story of an artists success or exposure. Bowie got quite a lot of FM airplay ...at least in my area. And I'm in the Midwest ....I would gather it would even be more on the coasts. Let's Dance got him mainstream success, but that had a lot to do with MTV and video saturation.

 

As others are saying, we primarily knew her from "Happy Days," though in addition to "Stumblin' In" I can recall hearing "Lipstick" on the radio in 1980 and knowing who was singing.

But yeah, Leather Tuscadero and her big sister Pinky. "Happy Days" became seriously unpopular very quickly and took most of the cast down with it, Quatro included, at least that's how I remember it.

 

Hmmmmm - that very abstinence may explain Suzi Qs lack of commercial success in the States...

 

If she arrived late 80s, Stock Aitken and Waterman would have picked her up for sure,
and it would have been dreadful, I am glad she was around when she was, perfect timing,
and great for women in rock

 

I like her first album, I think it was produced by the guy who produced the band Sweet from the UK.

 

It seems that she was, a little like Creedence, a disproportionately large star in Australia.

Yes she had numerous hits in England in the 70's but it appears to be Australia where she is the most remembered, revered and respected.

 

She was not popular at all. I remember all the hype around her. She was suppose to be a hot, bad-ass girl in leather. Then they started playing Devil Gate Drive on the radio. Wow, talk about the music not fitting the image. Weak, 50's do-wop was already played out in by the 70's.

 

Bowie didn't sell singles in the US during the 70s beyond "Fame" and "Golden Years", but to claim he had no "real success" in the US until 1983 is wrong. From "Diamond Dogs" through "Low", all of his albums charted #11 or higher. "'Heroes'" dropped to #35 - probably as a backlash from people who felt "burned" by the less-than-commercial "Low" - but "Lodger" bounced back to #20 and "Scary Monsters" go to #12.

Bowie first played some US arenas in 1974 - the "DD" tour mixed theaters and arenas, including multiple nights at arenas in NYC, Cleveland and Detroit. By 1976, Bowie played almost entirely arenas in the US.

No artist who didn't enjoy "real success" in the US is playing full arena tours and regularly charting albums in the top 10...

 

"Space Oddity" was '69 and Bowie had no further hits until "Young Americans in '75. Basically his whole glam rock period was unrecognized in the US charts. Nothing below Top 40 constitutes a hit, in my book.

I admit I'm not old enough to know if they played these heavily on AOR at the time, like Stairway or Aqualung, or if they gained their popularity later. Given that Bowie didn't have a top 10 album in America until Diamond Dogs and that Ziggy peaked at #76, I'm guessing the later.

 

It seems he didn't do too badly album wise from '74 but not much up to that point. But nothing close to his chart success in the UK or the success of "Let's Dance". He was far more mainstream in the UK. The mainstream US music scene in the 70's just wasn't glam friendly.

 

Bowie did become "more mainstream" in 1983, but it's not like he was some barely known cult artist. I mean, I was nowhere near his target audience when I was a kid in the 70s, but I still knew some of his songs and was aware of him. If a dopey suburban 10 year old in Virginia knows you, you're a big frickin' star!

Like I said, Bowie played mainly arenas in the US from 1976 on, and ya gotta be pretty successful to do that. If he'd been stuck in 2000-seat theaters until 1983, I'd buy the "Bowie wasn't mainstream until 'Let's Dance'" argument more...

 

Wasn't Cleveland known for the broad taste of its FM stations in the 70s, that played a lot of the more left field, arty British artists that struggled for exposure in other parts of the country, even the coasts? Bowie, Hawkwind, Van Der Graffe Generator etc etc. That's what I've read, anyway. Hence the distinct contribution that it and Akron made to the early American New Wave... In the UK one of the better known alumni of the Cleveland scene is Chrissie Hynde.

 

I had a great poster of her up in college starting in '75 (white jumpsuit--yum), no one had any idea who she was. Then when Happy Days got here, guys were saying 'oh yea, she's the girl on his wall!'
I had the first three lps, later sold them all, but I have to admit, she did a great version of Fever.

 

In The Runaways movie, when Cherie is auditioning for the band, she has prepared Peggy Lee's "Fever". The girls immediately stop her and say, "We don't do that music."

Her response: "Suzi Quatro covered it."

 

Really? that's very cool.

 

she was played a lot on the radio in the NYC area...I still recognize her name...

 

Space Oddity was a hit for David Bowie in 1973 in the US. That was his first hit in the US.