Entertainment For Lively Minds
Big somewhere else, tiny here
I saw Powderfinger, a band from Brisbane, at the Brixton Academy on Saturday, one of their final dates ever as they are disbanding. The gig was sensational, largely - I think - because the band fed off the insatiable enthusiasm of the crowd (who must have been well over 90% Ozzies).
Their demise won't mean much to the majority of you because Powderfinger are practically unknown in the UK. However they're absolutely MASSIVE in Australia - it's hard to make comparisons but they're probably something like the Oz equivalent of Oasis: huge in their home country, a tiny following elsewhere. It's strange to think that, were I Australian, I might dismiss them as being a bit 'too mainstream', yet as a Brit, with none of those associations, I love them.
It got me thinking that, with the broad range of music listened to by the Massive, there must be other people listening to artists that are huge elsewhere but barely recognised at home. Anyone got any recommendations?
PS: Continuing the Oasis analogy, and judging by the crowd's reaction, this is their Wonderwall...
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rather adept at the old rock anthem
and a killer band especially in their pub rock days
bernard fanning did a solo album which reminds me of robert forster's 10 rules of rock
and any band that calls an album "dream days at the hotel existence" needs to have a long hard look at themselves
Bush
Bush were huge in America and rightly ignored in their home country.
Portishead were big in the states before breaking the UK.
Fun Lovin Criminals can't give it away in America but were fairly big in the UK.
maybe it was the name
there was a briefly popular band in australia called george -they could have been support
The Fixx
Big across the pond, unknown in their native UK. Never heard any of their stuff so I can hardly recommend anything, but apparently their biggest single was "one thing leads to another" from "reach the beach". Anyone know them?
There have been so many...
Big in the USA, appeal more selective in UK:
Matchbox 20
Dave Matthews Band
Phish
Live
Counting Crows
Powderfinger
Maybe the fact that they were so big in Australia made it harder for them to break the UK. I was dragged along to see them at Shepherd's Bush about 10 years ago by a couple of Aussies and absolutely hated the experience.
Apart from the lack of originality I was rather baffled by the banter - "any Aussies in the crowd?" huge cheer, "any Kiwis?" huge cheer, "any Poms?" the sound of 3,000 people booing.
I felt rather lost at the time and I'm not sure doing that sort of thing was the best way to break the UK market, if that was ever their intention.
My Canadian friend adores
My Canadian friend adores Powderfinger and hot-footed back from Spain just to see their farewell show last Saturday.
Can't see it myself, but then I've spent the evening watching Springwatch and Glee, and have now put some disco on, so what do I know?
Oh, I would say they were
Tip top viewing and listening choices for a Monday evening.
"You know, for me, trophies are like herpes - you try to get rid of 'em, but they just keep comin'. You know why? Sue Sylvester has hourly flare-ups of burning, itching, highly-contagious talent."
I have no idea why Chris Packham said that :-)
similar experience- Oasis in Sydney
band drowned out by an audience of 80% brit backpackers singing along to every song with arms thrust in the air pointing - it felt like a soccer (football) game.
Blue Rodeo
This Canadian band are huge in their home country but little known here.
A few years back when they played the Mean Fiddler a friend came along with his then girlfriend, who was a Canadian. She was overjoyed to see them in such an intimate venue. The previous time she'd seen them had been in Toronto's Maple Leaf Stadium.
The audience, when we've seen them here at The Borderline and at the Mean Fiddler, has been overwhelmingly Canadian exiles.
Despite the name there is very little country music in their repertoire.
I really like the Casino and Tremolo albums from their earlier stuff but also thought last year's The Things We Left Behind is absolutely splendid. However there is a Greatest Hits album (which is about 9 years old) and there's a good live album Just Like A Vacation that covers much the same territory as the greatest hits and more.
Hootie and the Blowfish
Purveyors of all American tripe which didn't travel well. Debut album sold by the pick-up load. I was taken to see them in 1995 in Denver and the concert was cancelled when a flash flood hit us minutes before the start. Divine intervention methinks.
Not so small
We saw them at the erstwhile Town & Country Club (now The Forum) in Kentish Town. It was sold out and they were hugely enjoyable.
If that's tripe, feed me more Mr Cloggie.
Blur
Biggest small thing ever stateside. Purveyors of very Engerlish tripe, Charlie. Wanted it almost as bad as Oasis (or at least less obviously so) and nobody could understand why you pronounced their name Bluh. Wombles, Charlie, they did great here in Blightey. Couldn't even find their releases in the cutout bins over there. Don't get it.
John Mellencamp
With or without the Cougar.
Aside Jack and Diane, there was other really good bits of stuff, the fanbase stopped at the Port Authority Terminal.
The Powderfinger/Oasis comparison is probably valid
They're both good ordinary bands, but nothing you haven't heard a million times before.
My strongest memory of them is one day I was walking past a computer shop and the Powderfinger song "My Happiness" was playing over the speakers and this American tourist stopped me and asked in a desperate sounding voice, "Excuse me sir, what is this song? I hear it everywhere and I have no idea what it is."
Since we were only about thirty metres from a cd store I said "Follow me" I plucked their album from the rack and handed it to him pointing out the song. He thanked me, walked straight to the counter and bought it.
This song IS Australia to at least one person.
You get it quite often at world music gigs in London...
... with people of the same nationality as the performer baffled at why the white English kid is at one of their national hero's gigs.
Chris
As is often the case...
Although not exactly tiny in the UK, I am led to believe that Depeche Mode's popularity in continental Europe, particularly in former Soviet bloc, is enormous.
Terence Trent D'Arby
Like Jimi couldn't get arrested at home but he was (at least his first album was) a hit here in Australia as I believe he also was in U.K./Europe. Unlike Jimi appeared to continue to make no impression in the U.S. following overseas success.
Probably a topic for another thread but given the promise shown on "The Hard Line According to..." I could never understand how his career seemed to implode so quickly and so completely.
terence and INXS
he did one show with them for the Sydney olympics, - he was incredible. I was never a fan of INXS but he really took those songs to another level
As much charisma as Michael Hutchence and more talent- he was superb. Refused offers to join the band. Nowadays INXS are back to being pedestrian and Terence has no career to speak of
Big in Japan
Everyone, whatever their status elsewhere.
John Mellancamp reprise
By coincidence I bought his compilation album last week. He wrote some stunning songs and has a great voice. Surprised he never translated into sales this side of the Atlantic but I was living in Miami when his album The Lonesome Jubilee was a hit over there. Cherry Bomb and Paper and Fire from that album are classic songs wherever you live.
I have a belief that Americana is bigger over here than in the US - the likes of Bright Eyes, Calexico, Lambchop et al seem to have a bigger European fanbase.