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Mike

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I know of the popularity of a few of these bands. But I'm interested in the worldwide popularity of some of these bands. Is this relatively true non-US songfactors?

Most of those bands are foreign, with a bigger following in Europe than in the United States. It even said about Aha that they had a hugely successful world wide tour a couple years ago, but are mostly forgotten in the US.

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A-ha isn't a one-hit-wonder... apart from Take on Me I can immediately think of "The Sun Always Shines on TV" and "Crying in the Rain" which must've done very well in the German charts and I can just bet that they were HUGE in Norway

Devo isn't a one-hit-wonder here either - because they didn't have any... at all... not even close

(that doesn't mean that they're not awesome, of course ;) )

as for Faith No More, I think "Easy" was bigger in Europe than Epic, funny how that works, isn't it? Always reminds me of Gary Numan / Tubeway Army, who's considered to be a OHW in the US too - with "Cars", while in Europe "Are 'Friends' Electric?" performed better in the charts.

Overall a nice list, I can really agree that Devo, Faith No More and Chumbawamba are definitely worth checking out, if you only know one song :thumbsup:

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I definitely know more about most of these bands, I have a couple Dexy's Midnight Runners albums and their both pretty good. I also own "Hunting High And Low" by A-Ha which is a pretty good album too. And of course, we all know how great Devo is. And Faith No More's "Angel Dust" is quite the album.

I was just interested as to these band's popularity elsewhere. It's always interesting to hear about how hugely popular some bands are in other countries that most people don't care about here. I've always heard, for example, that Cheap Trick is basically like The Beatles in Japan. Always found that kind of stuff interesting.

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It was meant as a general "you", not specifically directed at *you* you :D

and I like such titbits of information cool too...

what I'd like to know in return: could it be that Joe Cocker - nowadays - is much more popular here than in the UK/US?

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I think most people in the US only know Joe Cocker from "You Are So Beautiful", and the '80's kids like me remember "Up Where We Belong". Other than that, I don't think he's that big right now in the US, even in the Adult Contemporary chart (whose age group I'm probably in)

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I think most people in the US only know Joe Cocker from "You Are So Beautiful", and the '80's kids like me remember "Up Where We Belong". Other than that, I don't think he's that big right now in the US, even in the Adult Contemporary chart (whose age group I'm probably in)

I only know him from his cover of With a Little Help from My Friends.

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John Belushi helped out Joe Cocker's renown with that nutty impression. I think he's still pretty big in England.

My thought today:

Stevie Wonder was 12 years old when he had a #1 hit with "Fingertips." Listen to that and you hear stratospheric potential. I'm not sure there has ever been an artist who showed that much promise and lived up to it.

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A band can be a One-Hit Wonder in the US, but be pretty famous at home, or have a global fan-base without actually having a "big hit".

Chumbawamba (who I happen to count as "friends of mine"), I first saw live in 1983, and numerous times afterwards as their musical output and live act got better and better. By the late 80s/early 90s they were a popular draw on the live scene and scored a couple of lower-end chart hits. I've no idea, but could ask them, how many European and US tours they had done, before they had their unlikely and unexpected "international superhit". They were certainly "internationally known" before having their hit - a popular band - albeit amongst a non-mainstream audience.

There are instances of bands who were massively successful at home,in a "mainstream" way,(both in singles and album sales), but who scored only one hit, or none at all, in the States. Two cases in point:

Madness, I understand, are regarded as "One Hit Wonder" material, on account of their catchy single "Our House". However, Madness are one of the UK's most successful bands of all time, in that they had a difficult-to-rival unbroken sequence of umpteen successive chart hits. They had already released a truckload of classic chart-hit singles ("One Step Beyond", "My Girl", "Night Boat To Cairo", "Embarrassment", "Baggy Trousers", "House Of Fun", etc.) before "Our House" came along, and continued to release some great singles afterwards. Describe Madness as a "one hit wonder" over here, and you would be met with bewilderment.

Similarly, The Jam were the UK's most popular band to emerge from the UK punk/new-wave explosion, moreso than The Clash, for example, (who were perhaps more overt in selling themselves to the American audience) and in the late 70s and early 80s scored a series of top chart hit singles and instant No. 1s; ("Going Underground", "Start", "Town Called Malice" were all #1s, off the top of my head). Even a single available only as a German Import ("That's Entertainment") entered the Top 10 in first week of availability. The Jam were hugely influential in the UK. Yet as far as I know, and correct me if I'm wrong, they remain a "No Hit Wonder" in the States.

Regarding Devo, I agree with the compiler of the list that it's a gross disservice to Devo to consider them a one-hit wonder... ..even if they did only have one hit. :P

Again, they were internationally known and influential on the course and influence of punk / new wave, and released the seminal albums "Q: Are We Not Men? A: We are Devo" and "Duty Now For The Future". I was never the coolest, hippest or most knowledgeable teen, but I can tell you that the UK youth danced to Devo in their alternative discos way before "Whip It" came along. Their "big hit" represented a cross-over into the mainstream, but I think they would still be regarded by many as a legendary band today, whether or not that hit happened.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Lot's of artist discography's and perusement - Soulful Kinda Music

Great find Blues.

My random thought today:

Imagine you rank the greatest of all time:

Lead Singers

Drummers

Bass Players

Guitarists

Now, you find the group that is made up with members with your highest rankings.

My winner would be The Who. Every one of their members would be in my top 15 at their position, and their drummer would probably be #1.

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My winner would be Led Zeppelin.

Many consider John Bonham to be one of, if not the greatest drummer of all time (I think he's the greatest, just ahead of Neil Peart).

Many consider Jimmy Page to be one of, if not the greatest guitarists of all time (I think he's the greatest, just ahead of Jeff Beck).

Many consider John Paul Jones to be one of, if not the greatest bassist of all time (again, I think he's the best, though John Entwistle and Geddy Lee are close behind)

And, many consider Robert Plant to be one of the greatest rock n roll frontmen of all time.

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