Why did The Doors and Jefferson Airplane do so badly in the UK charts?

One also has to keep in mind the UK did not have a centralized chart at the time. The BBC and the 4-6 music weeklies all maintained their own charts and were prone to outside influence.

 

'We're only in it for the money' - no.32 (1968)
'Burnt Weeny Sandwich' - no.17 (1970)
Weasels Ripped my Flesh' - no. 28 (1970)

 

One Theory:

Morrison was Irish.

 

I'm not aware that the German release was distributed in the UK - imported US copies were probably available at a couple of London shops. The UK version of 'Surrealistic Pillow' had three substituted tracks from "Takes Off".
Jefferson Airplane – Surrealistic Pillow (1967, Vinyl)

 

Good points, you're right about these having quite some chart gaps.

Tried my best

 

As far as I can tell they just weren't promoted in the U.K. that much. I was too young when they were current but remember in 1972 my elder sister getting The Doors' "Weird Scenes Inside The Goldmine" compilation and I wonder whether this was produced to capitalise in a rise in the band's popularity around that time? I'm not sure what would have caused it then specifically though.
Jefferson Airplane were maybe slightly different and simply not ever that big in the U.K. CCR - well perhaps even less so.

 

I think the American pyschdelia was more druggy than our BBC radio stations would allow? Certainly Jefferson Airplane’s ‘White Rabbit’ wasn’t getting airplay.
The Uk pyschedelia was generally less threatening? Less “One pill makes you larger and one pill makes you small” and a little more “Show me that I’m everywhere but get me home for tea...”

 

Both had a following in the UK but were not huge. The offshore Radio London played 'Somebody to Love' and 'Light my Fire' but went off the air in August, 1967. On the BBC John Peel's shows would generally be the only place where they might be heard, but he wasn't the biggest fan of either band. Some sales for US acts would have been lost to imported copies available in London often several months prior to the UK release. The Doors commercial breakthrough came with 'Hello I Love You'

 

I wonder what the average threads will be about in 5-10 years time?

 

That's just beautiful!

 

Some of The Doors' singles did make the UK charts "back then" . . . but it wasn't just Jefferson Airplane who were shut out of the UK singles scene. So was successor band Jefferson Starship. Not until they became Starship did they have any UK chart action.

 

I mean I love both bands (especially peak Airplane-Baxsters & live, but both are in my top 20 favorite artists) but in the same vein it’s shocking that the Kinks & Small Faces struggled in the US

I mean I know in a sense the Kinks kind of sabotaged their prime with allegedly Ray punching a music union rep and getting banned from the US for 4-5 yrs if those rumors are true), but to me Small Faces in their immediate tenure were as good as Beatles/Kinks & at the time a few steps ahead of The Who/Stones [though not sure had they stayed together they would have eclipsed Beggars-Exile they may have though)

 

I wonder what Gore Vidal thought if the Beatles.

 

Thanks for the correction... I didn't see the distinction between the years.

 

The phrase “Lizard King” first appeared on a poem on a centerfold of the third album “Waiting for the Sun” and finally the song on the live album “Absolutely Live” which appeared after the fifth studio album “Morrison Hotel” in 1970

 

I was using "Lizard King" as a descriptor of his persona, not necessarily the term itself.

 

Two bands whose radical de-sublimations of the psycho-sexual and political, respectively, make them completely antithetical to the British sensibility, in my opinion. Completely unsurprising. Sidebar question--how did the Dead fare in the UK?

 

Mai I suggest provincialism pure and simple?!?---like this comment?!?

 

Not just these two bands, but in general the UK media market was restrictive because of the union rules and the BBC. Probably harder for a US band to drop in, do some TV and radio, and make a big splash.

Also - the UK market, with the widely read music press, was likely more tuned in to and involved with local bands and trends. I was in England '68-74 and, although The Melody Maker and other papers covered big developments in The States, it was much easier to stay up to date on the locals. And if you wanted to hear the new US album-oriented stuff on the radio, you searched out Radio Luxembourg or, briefly, the semi-pirate Radio Geronimo.

 

They did more than just spend time in the UK charts - it appears that they dominated the UK charts in 1968. This Forum tends to forget how influential the non-rock acts were, and particularly the African American artists of the 60’s

List of UK top-ten albums in 1968 - Wikipedia

 

Interesting to see the footage of the Royal Albert Hall '70 and Oakland Coliseum '70 show and the audience reactions to the raucous closer, Keep On Chooglin'

Band is playing great both shows, and except for a couple folks dont get many takers to "get down and have a good time" in London.
That was not a problem in Oakland California, home turf for the band, the audience is on its feet dancing and grooving out to the band in a chaotic, joyous scene. Charlie don't surf and the English don't choogle....
(And look at Fogerty and drummer Doug Clifford locked in on each other on that opening solo)

 

"Gore V. Daal"-now, THAT'S a band name!!

 

Small Faces were plagued by terrible mgmt (Arden) for the first of their career then a label in disarray.(Immediate) for their second half.

 

To be fair this is is the (holds nose in the air) *Royal* Albert Hall you're talking about and choogling is very much frowned upon.
My wife is visible in the audience at that concert by the way, though she wasn't my wife then.

 

I wouldn't put Jefferson Airplane in the same class as The Doors. The Doors caught on the the UK eventually. Jefferson Airplane and great success with Surrealistic Pillow in the US but never came close to matching it after that. The Doors were much more consistent and had some success in the UK initially.