Careybear

Paul, my hubby from Essex, would say Status Quo...i'd never heard of any of their music except the matchstick man song. He claims they're the best band of all time over there....

To me the best English band has already been introduced to America and that's coldplay and they've won almost every grammy they've ever been nominated for. Ohhh i so love them!!
Carey

Keane, Snow Patrol are really cool...Joss Stone is doing well and she's way cool and so is Jamie Cullum...

Celtic_Angel

man i sooooo loved the Charlatans!!!! time to find my old tapes and dust them off!!
When my friend came to visit years ago she notice i didn't listen to the radio anymore-that's cos the music sucks i told her if it ain't rock rap or country there's slim pickings. Dunno if i could handle Robbie Williams though glad he's not over here

Manc

The Tellin Stories album is pure brilliance.

tony_2003

You forgot majorly over-rated.
I'll second Texas and the Charlatans.

Depeche Mode are already fairly big in the U.S. They still fill large(ish) venues when touring. And bloody rightly so.

Are Cast still around? They were good. Also previously mentioned in the Phil (rock legend) Collins thread by me, Ash.

dgsyd1

When I first knew my wife, I sent her a copy of Paul Weller's excellent Stanley Road album, and was pleasantly surprised to find that she already had it. She listens to a lot of college radio though, and you will here acts like Paul Weller, the Manics, and a few other British acts on there. The trouble is that theway the US music and radio scene is these days, it's next to impossible for a non American act to make it big over here.

ladylisa

yeah Carey, thing is though if you ask the average American they havent heard of him. We bought the album 'swing when your winning' the one where he sings all the old hits, Frank Sinatra etc. We played it to one of our older friends and she absolutely loved it...she now plays it all the time. The funny thing is she cant imagine him singing anything different.

I just miss his flambouyant nature, which can be sadly absent in todays celebrities

tony_2003

Actually most people I meet know of him, albeit vaguely. There's a guy in my work has the Ego Has Landed album...for those unfamiliar, this was a collection of the best songs from the two albums he released in the UK and was only released in America. I'll likely get pelters for this, but I think he's not a bad singer. His lyrics are pretty damn funny and he doesnt to take himself too seriously. I get the feeling he thinks the whole business is a big joke.
"You wont be dating a teacher, you'd rather shag a Manic Street Preacher"

Name that tune...

DaveC

I'm thinking Blur. It's a shame that most Americans will only have heard Song 2. And that they'll think it's called "Woo-Hoo" and they won't know Blur sang it.

Bob

Yeah, blur weren't bad, and the knock off outfit they did, gorillaz...

Just Jenney

You're absolutely right about that one -- guilty as charged.

Whoever said Americans aren't familiar with Depeche Mode totally missed the mark. I've been to two DM concerts and almost everyone I know likes them a lot. However, their popularity has waned here over the past decade. They were HUGE back in the late 80s/early 90s.

I would have to say that there are many British artists which Americans have heard of, but they simply don't have the enormous popularity here as they do in the UK.

Here are some that are HUGE in the UK but are basically considered one-hit wonders in the US:

Oasis
Blur
Pulp
Travis
Simple Minds*
Radiohead
Kylie Minogue
Robbie Williams
Fat Boy Slim
Craig David
Jamiroquai

* I was shocked to learn that Simple Minds was as big as bands like U2 and the Police back in the 80s!

And here are some that, while very popular in the UK, are barely known here, if at all (lots of boy/girl bands):

Doves (LOVE them!)
Sophie Ellis-Bextor
Badly Drawn Boy
The Darkness
Will Young
Hear'say
Westlife
Boyzone
Take That
Sugababes
Stereophonics
Atomic Kitten
S Club 7

It's too bad that Americans aren't exposed more to British artists, because I really think the music tends to be A LOT better over in the UK. I think that's because there's simply more variety there than here. I don't even bother listening to the radio anymore...

~ Jenney

LuTziE

Pop Will Eat Itself!!!!!!

The Clash...not just the 2 songs you always hear.

Nick Cave and the bad seeds

last and by no means least Half man Half Biscuit.

torpkevuk

All I can say reading that list, is god bless america!

DIMO8

What about the one and only.....David Gray
Also Paul Weller ( Stanley Road and Wishing On A Star) both fab.

Does anyone remember Fergal Sharky..i loved him too, got none of his stuff though.

Just Jenney

I'm not saying those artists are necessarily any good (although I do love Doves) -- just that while they're very popular in the UK, no one knows them here.

You can say the same for American artists as well. I personally don't think the music of Jimmy Buffett is all that great, for example, and I think most would agree that, musically, he's just average. But he's got such a huge fanbase here (called Parrotheads) that Virginia residents can actually get specialized "Parrothead" license plates for their cars through the Virginia DMV. Buffett's songs are long-time staples of college parties, sung en masse by crowds of (usually drunk) people alongside other classics like "American Pie". His most recent album hit #1 on the Billboard 200 this summer.

Despite all this, Mark has never heard of him or any of his songs (even "Margaritaville", probably his most famous song), despite living here for well over a year now. Go figure.

~ Jenney

ScousePete

SLADE



Nice hair!