Groups that North Americans see different to the rest of the world

Yes, but it was an Alvin and the Chipmunks role play thing we were into.

 

Well, you kind of lost me with 'Le bon is a great lyricist'.

Some of the most awkward fifth form sub, sub Jim Morrison doggerel ever penned.

I wonder if he actually did smell like he sounded? (shudders)

 

Hate to see her go
Love to watch her leave
I wanna show her
What I got up my sleeve
Go'n git love
Go'n git love

Those are as close to great lyrics as I need in a rock song.

 

Yes to this... remember how rock and roll, regardless of how corporate it got, just rolled along and occasionally a DJ would pull an old Doors or Jefferson Airplane record out of the radio station collection and play an old song. The term classic rock did not exist and this weird, contrived classic rock canon that we have now just did not exist. Then, was it 1980??? suddenly there was a Doors Greatest Hits album released, there was the book, there was the movie Altered States where in the party scene Light My Fire was playing, and suddenly it was like uh oh, people started looking backwards and classic rock was born. For me, I bought Doors albums, but in the end I started listening to The Cure, Echo and the Bunnymen, U2, etc... and just kept moving forward with whatever was being thrown at me. I mean, Led Zeppelin was gone, Jon Anderson left Yes, and slowly large corporations started to realize that they could use these wonderful songs that I was so sentimental about to sell me Coke and Pepsi and cars. I mean, anyone in their 20's that listens to classic rock radio (streaming, whatever...) needs to know that it just has no relation to actual radio in the 70's. It's just a fabricated canon of catchy, mediocre, corporate tunes that can be used for commercial fodder. Trust me, those George Thorogood drinking songs that you hear very half hour on classic rock stations weren't actually a part of our rock radio experience... they were occasional, fun, novelty songs that your DJ might play on a Saturday night... not every half hour.

 

Oh go away

 

T. Rex. In the USA they're seen as one hit wonders whereas everywhere else on the planet Marc Bolan's seen as one of the most important and influential individuals in music. The fact T. Rex is mentioned in songs by David Bowie, The Who and Serge Gainsbourg should be a big shoutout.

 

You are beyond annoying.

 

The prosecution rests yer honour.

 

No idea who these are!

Is that proving or disproving a point?

 

Bee Gees.
After 1980, they were considered toxic by American radio programmers and many rock fans. Still revered throughout the rest of the world, however.

 

It wasn't just the US. They didn't have a major British hit for eight years.

 

Did the Bee Gees release much between 1981 & 1987 apart from half a side on the Saying Alive soundtrack?

 

Marc Bolan is pretty much obscure in Latin America, although “Get It On” is relatively known.

 

Roxy Music falls into this category too. I doubt most Americans could name a single song beside "Love Is the Drug", if that. They didn't get namedropped by other artists to my knowledge.

 

It's their only top 40 single here.

 

Most people in Australia remember Avalon and More Than This. Love is the Drug would have been their biggest hit but Oldies radio is geared towards the 80s.

 

While not a complete failure this side (a #1, #2 and a couple other top 10 singles), what about Pet Shop Boys? In the UK they're viewed as pop legends and scored top 10 hits through the mid 00s but in the US faded from the charts after 1988. They've had success on the dance charts and a cult following stateside but definitely not on par with the volume of hits the UK knows. A shame since some of their best work came after they lost America

 

I don't remember hearing anything other than "West End Girls" here, and was glad to stop hearing it.

 

Honestly West End Girls, while sufficing as a fun little gimmicky 80s pop song, doesn't come anywhere near the best PSB work nor really is representative of their music or why they still have a career and loyal fanbase 35 years into their career

 

I'll take your word for it. TBH I didn't watch much MTV even when it was still showing music vids so I'm sure there were other songs (hopefully better ones) that I wasn't exposed to.

 

Isn't the case for most punk bands of that ilk? They were very much UK zeitgiest bands capturing the public mood of the youth at the time.

 

They've headlined the UK's second biggest (single site) music festival on a number of occasions. They're big in the UK within their demographic

 

Did the Jam even tour North America? I'm sure they did but I don't remember. A punk band either needed to tour their a@@ses off (e.g. Ramones) or have a media-savvy manager (e.g. McLaren) to have any impact in the States. And even those bands never, ever got on the radio here.

 

38 Special. North Americans liked them. The rest of the world... not so much. (I did).

 

According to setlist.fm, the Jam did a few US tours - nothing massive, but they did limited tours from 1977-82.

They also played on "Fridays" - the old "SNL" ripoff on ABC - in 1980, so they attempted to play the promotional game to some degree...