Why did Paul Weller, An Artist With Such An Excellent Body of Work Never Make it In The USA?

I think his grumpy silent nature never endeared him towards critics, DJ’s etc
For many years he just hated interviews and it showed.
He’s mellowed a bit recently though.

I’d say if his music featured in a couple of movies/tv shows it might be enough to stir up some interest

 

Quite true.

I dare say the Jam had built a pretty good foundation.

Consider:

Their records, then and now, were available in both new and used record stores (remember this is the late 70s/early 80s). They still are. So are Paul's solo stuff.

Their concerts, when they happened, were well attended.

The aforementioned college and alternative radio stations played them heavily and MTV was giving them a look.

Anecdotally speaking, my local college bar had three of their singles on the jukebox and there was never a time I was there (and I was there a lot) when someone not me did not play them. Anyone I ever played them for liked them. Most of my crowed loved them.

Conclusion: The Jam were a success in America, albeit a moderate one.

Had they emulated the Clash, who opened for the Who, or REM, who opened for the Police, they would have had massive exposure. That plus some clever marketing- they had a cool look- and more touring probably would have pushed them over the edge.

But there was little financial incentive, Weller is a prideful man, and they broke up anyway.

 

I live in Southern California, and I've seen Weller numerous times live here - mostly at larger theaters like the Wiltern, but if you're selling out House of Blues in Anaheim (last place I saw him before covid), you're actually doing pretty okay - so I reject the notion that Weller never "made it" in the US. Do you expect him to play stadiums or something?

 

Listen carefully to British bands like the Who or the Stones live recordings throughout the South, especially during the late 60's & early 70's, and Daltrey & Jagger would often mimic a "good ol' boy" accent on stage. I would go so far as to even suggest that whatever chosen playlist for that area would cater to a more familiar "American rock sound" than what they would play in places like NYC, Detroit, LA or back home in the UK and Europe. I don't think they were patronizing or pandering to their audience, but a little cultural assimilation certainly paid off in attendance and the charts. I would also like to go even further and suggest that many bands still do this even today.

Paul Weller, for whatever reason, never did that.

 

Weller's biggest mistake was leaving the Jam, or not taking them with him.
I think he needed the other two more than he realized.

I bought Setting Sons at the Great Northern Mall in North Olmstead, Ohio in 1979. My favorite album of the 1970s.

 

Perhaps a bit too British for U.S. tastes. If he had come out in the 1960’s, different story as being British didn’t matter as much. He also got lumped in with movements that didn’t resonate in the U.S.

The Jam didn’t exactly sell boatloads of records in the U.S. when Weller formed he did better (at least initially).

 

Weller had/has very little exposure in the US. I never heard one of his songs on the radio in my life, either by The Jam or Style Council. I couldn't name a Paul Weller song.

 

Overheard once in a conversation, somewhere, about band members wanting to leave too soon..."Kill it before it becomes Style Council"

 

Here's the million dollar question: ARE THE STYLE COUNCIL YACHT ROCK?

 

That was my first thought. Apart from the glorious early snarly days of The Jam, I always felt that his voice didn't meet the ambitions of his music.
To me, his voice has Richie Havens quality to it. I like the acoustic Days Of Speed live album:

 

no, or very little, radio play. heck, the Jam and Style Council got a fair amount though.

 

Oddly enough, Paul seems to relish posing for selfies with fans lucky
enough to encounter him on the street.

 

I’m so glad he doesn’t give a t*** about this sort of thing

 

Well, we will have to agree to disagree here. I think his albums since 2008 have been different from the one before. Maybe in the late 90's / early 2000's that was the case but I can't really see that now.

 

Exactly.

 

I agree. Each album isn't a complete reinvention, but he is certainly mixing his sound up.

 

Agree as well. The man is very versatile.

 

Personally, i'm so glad he moved on to better music.

The world doesn't need any more bands clinging to youth, stuck in middle age and older pretending to be teenagers.
The performances from the 70s and 80s still exist, no need to have that define him for the next 40+ years.

 

I can’t help but feel Weller like Neil Young indulges in superficial genre exercises and that is suppose to substitute for artistic growth.

 

^^^^^^^^

 

I’m probably being thick but I don’t understand what you are saying

 

His questionable hairstyles?

 

He does what he likes, follows his nose, and is far more driven as an individual than I can imagine tbh. I hope he’s happy.

 

Yes that’s true enough - I’ve been lucky enough to meet him a few times and he posed for selfies and signed albums. Even signed Jam stuff which often doesn’t happen for people like him.

 

What do you mean by "Artistic Growth"? I think it is the artist doing what they want to do, not want their fanbase wants (plus he is 63 not 19). The fans then decide of they like it and want to buy it.

If he did what fans want then he probably wouldn't have split the Jam.