{"id":2798,"date":"2023-03-27T15:40:21","date_gmt":"2023-03-27T15:40:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/?p=2798"},"modified":"2023-04-07T19:17:33","modified_gmt":"2023-04-07T19:17:33","slug":"ftv-big-in-the-u-k","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/?p=2798","title":{"rendered":"FTV: Big in the U.K."},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When one thinks of bands from the United Kingdom, there are many that succeeded in conquering the American market.\u00a0 The Who, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Genesis, Pink Floyd, and a host of other bands became household names on this side of the pond.\u00a0 As an avid reader of <\/span>Classic Rock<\/span><\/i> magazine, I am always fascinated when I scan the extensive \u2018on tour\u2019 segment the magazine publishes each month.\u00a0 There are so many U.K. bands with unfamiliar names (to me anyway) with a healthy touring schedule in Europe, but yet they remain enigmas in America.\u00a0 In <\/span>Guitar World Vol. 44 No 5 (May 2023), <\/span><\/i>Mark McStea examined the careers of four bands who were big in the U.K. yet never made as big a splash in North America as the bands listed above.\u00a0 There are many more that could be entered into this discussion, but for this article, McStea singled out, Sweet, Dr. Feelgood, Status Quo, and Slade.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Sweet were probably the one of these four bands who came the closest to attracting a lot of attention in the States.\u00a0 Their track <\/span>Little Willy <\/span><\/i>actually reached Number 3 on the U.S. charts in 1973, so they had a foot in the door, so to speak,\u00a0 According to the sole surviving original member, guitarist Andy Scott, \u201cWe were advised that if we did tour America, we\u2019d forever be associated with that song, and it would probably limit our future opportunities.\u201d\u00a0 They passed on a U.S. tour only to see their next release, <\/span>Blockbuster,<\/span><\/i> \u201cLimp into the Top 10.\u201d\u00a0 Even when their next single cracked the Top 10 (<\/span>Ballroom Blitz<\/span><\/i>), Sweet still turned down offers.\u00a0 They finally relented and\u00a0 toured the States in 1975.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Their American label, Capitol Records, dropped a revised version of their U.K. release (<\/span>Desolation Boulevard) <\/span><\/i>in this country and included another catchy tune called <\/span>Fox on the Run.<\/span><\/i>\u00a0 Though they toured America heavily in the mid-1970s, they were a band ahead of their time.\u00a0 Scott recalls, \u201cWhen we were playing America in \u201875 and \u201876, we had quite a big stage show, with films projected behind us, a huge lighting show, a drum solo where Mick [Tucker] would play against himself on a projection screen.\u00a0 I think if we had taken this show out six or seven years later, things could have been quite different for us.\u201d\u00a0 Sweet may not have taken mainstream America by storm, but they certainly got the attention of some future rock stars who caught their act and used them as a template to get noticed.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Nikki Sixx saw the light and in his mind, Sweet\u2019s blond lead singer (Brian Connolly) supported by three black haired musicians was the model he used when forming Motley Crue.\u00a0 Scott had heard Sixx placed an ad for a lead singer that said, \u201cGlam rock band in L.A. – Wanted:\u00a0 Lead singer – Brian Connolly, please.\u201d\u00a0 With a push from the fledgling music channel MTV, the Crue took the American music scene by storm.\u00a0 Scott admits, \u201cMTV would have been a game changer for us when you think about how visual we were, with Brian\u2019s image and Steve\u2019s outrageous visuals.\u201d\u00a0 As previously mentioned, Sweet were ahead of their time in the pre-MTV music market.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Sweet\u2019s modicum of success in the States was bittersweet.\u00a0 As they tried to build their American audience, their fan base back home began to erode.\u00a0 Connolly left the band in 1979 and they never really recovered.\u00a0 They tried to get it together a few times after that but with little success.\u00a0 Scott is still fronting a new Sweet lineup, but one can only wonder what might have been if the balancing act between breaking America and keeping their flame alive in the U.K. had been handled a little differently.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Before Wilko Johnson passed away in November of 2022, he spent some time with McStea talking about his band Dr. Feelgood.\u00a0 Johnson said, \u201cWhen we signed with United Artists, our deal was for everywhere in the world except America.\u00a0 We were really making an impact and consequently we attracted a lot of attention from some American record labels.\u201d\u00a0 Asked by Robert Plant to play a big industry party to celebrate the conclusion of Led Zeppelin\u2019s five night stand at Earl\u2019s Court, The Feelgoods found themselves performing for a lot of American label heavyweights like Atlantic\u2019s Ahmet Ertegun.\u00a0 They generated enough excitement to make the decision to jump to the States a no brainer.\u00a0 They toured heavily and ran into many bands who professed to love what they were doing.\u00a0 They could count among their fans a young Stevie Ray Vaughn, the Ramones, and the Talking Heads.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Their 1976 live album <\/span>Stupidity<\/span><\/i> went straight to Number 1 in England, but their American label, CBS, wanted their next release to be done with an American producer, and thus, taylored more for the American audience.\u00a0 By then, interband problems were beginning to affect the whole operation.\u00a0 They were not big Kiss fans, but the Feelgoods were slated to open for them at a large stadium show in Alabama.\u00a0 Friction between their management and Kiss\u2019s handlers got them booted from that opportunity.\u00a0 To the dismay of the suits at CBS, Dr. Feelgood\u2019s inroads to America lost all traction.\u00a0 Johnson, their primary songwriter, was eventually ousted from his own band further decreasing their chances of cracking the American market or staying relevant in the U.K..<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Status Quo were not unknown on these shores, but they had a reputation of being a one hit wonder pop band largely due to the success of a single released in January of 1968.\u00a0 Their \u2018psychedelic pop look\u2019 was crafted for their appearances on music shows like <\/span>Top of the Pops.<\/span><\/i> The band didn\u2019t mind the record sales, but because they did not like their new direction, they \u2018accidentally\u2019 burned their glammy stage clothes and opted for the standard rock \u2018n\u2019 roll denim look as they cultivated a harder boogie\/rock sound and image.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Guitarist\/songwriter Francis Rossi noted that, \u201cThis mix of light psychedelia and pop were very much of that time, but bore little resemblance to our later blues and boogie approach.\u201d\u00a0 They abandoned the look (see the above note on them burning their stage outfits), turned their amps up to ten, and abandoned all the pop elements.\u00a0 They would forge their reputation by rocking out with their own version of head down, pedal to the metal boogie.\u00a0 When Quo landed in Los Angeles, the Travel Lodge they stayed at in La Brea wasn\u2019t exactly top notch, accomodation-wise, but it was still head and shoulders above what they were used to in the U.K.\u00a0 Rossi says, \u201cEverything about America was so \u2018wow\u2019, you know?\u201d\u00a0 They were so star-struck with California they kind of lost their way:\u00a0 \u201cIf we \u2018d had someone based over there, working for us, he could have given us a shake-up and maybe said, \u2018pull it together\u2019, you know?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Status Quo made two major errors.\u00a0 The first was not engaging an American agent to push them out there while also showing them the ropes.\u00a0 The second was not understanding the hoops they need to jump through to get played on the radio in the U.S.\u00a0 The idea of sweetening the deal with DJs by including a little recreational drug packet with records they wanted to get on the air was totally foreign to them.\u00a0 Rossi takes the blame for not engaging in a state-side management deal and in hindsight, he now recognizes it would have been a wise investment.\u00a0 Their 1972 album <\/span>Piledriver<\/span><\/i> left no doubt as to the direction the band was taking, but without a buffer to erase the <\/span>Pictures of Matchstick Men <\/span><\/i>phase, that is the image that remained burned into the American music buyer\u2019s brains.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0At least Rossi was aware that spending too much time in the States could put them in danger of losing their fans back home. \u00a0 Rossi recalls having a conversation with Noddy Holder from Slade when they shared some American dates:\u00a0 \u201cI did think there was a danger of them [Slade] losing their core support if they spent too much time away from the U.K.\u00a0 We [Status Quo] had a discussion as a band that we were doing really well everywhere else in the world, making great money, that we thought what if we spend X years chasing that American dollar and we don\u2019t break through, we could end up losing some of what we already had.\u201d\u00a0 Quo\u2019s last brush with fame in the U.S. came when they opened Live Aid in 1985.\u00a0 Ironically, they weren\u2019t all that excited to do the show and figured it wouldn\u2019t make much of a difference in raising their profile.\u00a0 As it turned out, clips of their opening slot were used extensively (a great unplanned PR move), but in the end, they really didn\u2019t capitalize on the opportunity.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Ambrose Slade was a product of the tough U.K club circuit.\u00a0 Formed from the dregs of\u00a0 the N\u2019Betweens and the Vendors, they released a few singles between 1966 and 1969 before signing with the Fontana label and adopting their new name.\u00a0 Their first album, <\/span>Beginnings, <\/span><\/i>was not a success and it took the arrival of a new manager, Chas Chandler (the former bassist of The Animals and the man credited with making Jimi Hendrix a star), to get them on the right track.\u00a0 Between 1971 and 1974, Chandler\u2019s efforts to help them craft their own songs (instead of relying on covers of tunes by Frank Zappa and the Amboy Dukes featured on <\/span>Beginnings<\/span><\/i>), caused an explosion in their record sales.\u00a0 They outsold everyone from David Bowie to T. Rex and became the first band since The Beatles to score a No. 1 single entering the charts (a feat they repeated\u00a0 three times).<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Bass player Jim Lea and singer Noddy Holder both provided the music and lyrics.\u00a0 Lea had a\u00a0 penchant for writing catchy tunes and phrases and Holder had a knack for interpreting them.\u00a0 In the rowdy world of the U.K. bar scene, they survived by getting the audience involved.\u00a0 Their habit of inviting the crowd to join in singing the chorus on many of their anthemic hits made them favorites from coast to coast.\u00a0 When they arrived in America, nobody else was doing anything remotely like Slade.\u00a0 Between their gaudy outfits to their sing along mentality, Holder now says, \u201cVisually, I think we probably looked like four spacemen up there [laughs].\u00a0 It was a very strange experience.\u00a0 Half the audience was out of it, just stoned out of their trees.\u00a0 We were an out-and-out rock \u2018n\u2019 roll band trying to the audience participation going, but the audience just didn\u2019t have any energy.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Lea echoed that thought:\u00a0 \u201cThe Americans didn\u2019t get us at all.\u00a0 Instead of playing to a rabble-rousing crowd, all you could smell was pot.\u00a0 We were really big on getting the crowd involved live.\u00a0 We really made it a big part of our act from day one – maybe we even invented it,\u00a0 When we got to America, no one was doing that, really, pulling them in and getting them to be a part of the show, singing and stamping and clapping along,\u00a0 Nod was fantastic at that.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0As if to prove the point, the first metal band to have a chart topping album in the States were able to ride Slade\u2019s shirt tails a few years later.\u00a0 Quiet Riot took two of Slade\u2019s big numbers and made them the centerpiece of their live shows in the late 1970s and early 1980s.\u00a0 Quiet Riot landed a No 5 hit with <\/span>Cum on Feel the Noize <\/span><\/i>in 1978 and revisited the Slade catalog in 1984 with <\/span>Mama Were All Crazee Now<\/span><\/i> (which only made it to No 51 in the States but played well for them live).\u00a0 Quiet Riot were not the only ones who got Slade.\u00a0 Noddy added, \u201cGene Simmons and Nikki Six told us they\u2019d seen us live when they were younger,\u00a0 Kiss were a perfect example of taking our thing to the nth degree – people were waiting for a change and that worked well for Kiss.\u00a0 Then there was the MTV thing, which didn\u2019t exist before,\u00a0 We\u2019d have been perfect MTV fodder.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Apparently, Holder\u2019s discussion with Rossi about spending too much time in the States didn\u2019t sink in.\u00a0 Noddy says, \u201cOur U.S. manager said we needed to spend more time touring the States, so we made that decision to spend two years of solid gigging in America.\u00a0 It improved us as a band because we had to work hard to win over U.S. audiences in some areas, but we were really the wrong sort of band for a lot of places.\u00a0 We were considered too heavy for AM radio, but FM was playing our album stuff, which was weird as we were considered a singles act.\u201d\u00a0 Like the Feelgoods, Slade\u2019s hard work failed to crack the American market but not because they didn\u2019t work at it.\u00a0 It seemed to be more a matter of luck.\u00a0 Eventually, they went home.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0What Slade found when they finally got back to the U.K. was a music scene that had changed.\u00a0 Holder says, \u201cI don\u2019t know if it was our absence, or just that things had changed so much in the U.K..\u00a0 There was a whole disco explosion as well, which really wasn\u2019t something that had anything to do with a band like Slade.\u201d\u00a0 Lea again agreed with Noddy\u2019s assessment:\u00a0 \u201cI think that\u2019s right, in a way.\u00a0 When there is musical uncertainty it always seems to turn to dance music.\u00a0 With a band you get a group of guys together with personalities, you know, but the dance\/disco thing was very producer-oriented.\u00a0 Things weren\u2019t noisy any more.\u00a0 The Bay City Rollers did really well (in the U.K. and the U.S.) and I suppose they kept a small bit of that glam spark going – but tastes did change.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In the end, McStea pointed out that Sweet, Dr. Feelgood, Status Quo, and Slade were, \u201cArguably the four most important British bands to fail to really make an impact in America, but there are many more acts worthy of further investigation, including the Sensational Alex Harvey Band, Wizzard, Cockney REbel, Mud, Japan, the Jam, Ian Drury and the Blockheads, the Stranglers, and the Specials, just to name a few.\u201d\u00a0 I couldn’t agree more.\u00a0 Personally, I have known about Slade for many years as one of our listeners dropped a couple of Slade albums on me twenty or more years ago.\u00a0 Robin said, \u201cYou really need to play more Slade on WOAS,\u201d so I compiled a \u2018Best of\u2019 cassette tape that we aired a lot.\u00a0 Having read McStea\u2019s article, it is high time for me to dig it out again and perhaps convert it to CD.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Top Piece Video:\u00a0 Slade was still hanging around in 1984 – one can see why Quiet Riot liked the vibe – party on Noddy and the boys!!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When one thinks of bands from the United Kingdom, there are many that succeeded in conquering the American market.\u00a0 The Who, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Genesis, Pink Floyd, and a host of other bands became household names on this side of the pond.\u00a0 As an avid reader of Classic Rock magazine, I am always fascinated […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,8,6,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2798","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bands-musicians","category-from-the-vaults","category-new-music","category-woas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2798","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2798"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2798\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2807,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2798\/revisions\/2807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2798"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2798"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2798"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}