Songs from one country that were only popular in another

[The Speaker]

Music has its fair share of historical quirks. There are songs by artists which never got close to charting in their home country...but managed to become big hits in one other country, often for no observable reason.

Even better if the artist is a one-hit (or even no-hit) wonder.

There are two songs that I've heard recently that remind me of this.

First is 'Life at the Outpost', by short lived Canadian band The Skatt Bros.



This song got to number six in the Australian charts in 1980. They had had success in a number of countries with 'Walk the Night', reaching number nine in the US, but this song only charted in Australia.

So popular was it that the above promo clip was filmed by their Australian record company (Polygram), with none of the people in the video being from the band, after the band's management never responded to requests for a music video for the song from Polygram. Even more extraordinarily, the success of this song in Australia alone convinced them (or, probably more accurately, their management) that their next album should target Australia. 'Rico and the Ravens', their second and last album, was only ever released in Australia. After this, they disappeared.

Second is 'Get Used to It' by Roger Voudouris.



Now, to be fair, this song did get to #21 in America. But it got to #4 in Australia, complete with Countdown appearance (which featured fellow one-hit wonder The Knack making a guest appearance). No other song of his ever got close to this.

Even more oddly, it turns out Voudouris ended up with a bit of a following in Japan, to the point where his albums were actually rereleased there in the 90s.

I'm sure there are many, many more.

David Hasselhoff is the classic example, with 'Looking for Freedom' getting to number one in the greater Fatherland (Germany, Switzerland and Austria).

 

[DardySingh360]

Sixto Rodriguez

 

[Roobs321]

From memory, Radiohead's Creep made it's first real impact in Israel.

Growing up, I routinely used to look at a lot of weekly music charts from around the world, and despite obvious shared content, they all had their own distinct flavour. Some loved their dancefloor pop and ballads, others love R&B or even indie rock, some went hard for one hit wonder novelties, etc. So it's not really surprising that certain songs do better in some places than others. I find it interesting how a song can have notably different success from NZ to Netherlands to Finland to Germany to Spain to USA, etc.

 

[benji2]

I know ABBA did a lot better in Australia than anywhere else in the world.

The Saints actually made it into the charts in the UK with This Perfect Day and were much better recognised over there in general. They were never even close to doing that in Australia

 

[Gus Poyet]

Massive in Austria.

 

[Gus Poyet]

Rodriguez, was unknown in the US but huge in South Africa.

 

[Plugger35]

Hamish and Andy gave this song a revival here on their radio show a few years ago.



They even got Frank out here to do some concerts, he probably couldn't believe his luck.

.

 

[mianfei]

It shocks me that nobody has noticed this one from 1979/1980:

The single only reached #109 in the band’s native US, and its parent album only #175, but ‘Total Control’ was a Top Five hit here in Australia, and remains a staple of “classic rock” radio to this day.

 

[Silent Alarm]

From memory, Radiohead's Creep made it's first real impact in Israel.

Growing up, I routinely used to look at a lot of weekly music charts from around the world, and despite obvious shared content, they all had their own distinct flavour. Some loved their dancefloor pop and ballads, others love R&B or even indie rock, some went hard for one hit wonder novelties, etc. So it's not really surprising that certain songs do better in some places than others. I find it interesting how a song can have notably different success from NZ to Netherlands to Finland to Germany to Spain to USA, etc.

I think Israel's connection to Radiohead is actually intensely strong. From memory, and I refuse to look this all up because it ruins the 'legend' vibe around the tale, but Creep did well there the first time around. For those playing at home, Creep was re-released and it was only on its second go that it became the hit it was. Israel had it in their top ten or something two years earlier.

Kid A has something to do with Israel as well. That album was the first real 'leak' album. Live versions were traded on terrible internet connections first. Then it leaked pretty early. The band may have played a show there and everyone in the crowd knew all the songs and sang all along. I remember reading a few youtube comments and posts on Atease from Israelis; Radiohead are, apparently, a source of national pride for the country.

Anyway the big one I know is the Hoff


He is huge in Germany, and he's known as more of a musician than an actor/arseclown over there. I'm using this phrase so much, but I think he even performed this song on the Berlin Wall as it was torn down [!]

Britney is also the only act to have a number one single in every country that keeps charts – Baby One More Time. What a gong. How rare.

An Aussie mention, but Empire of the Sun are almost household names in Europe. They easily headline festivals and have real respect as a bonafide big, unique pop act. For some reason they're shunned away and pushed off as second-string fodder in their homeland, but yeah, they could never play here again and play all the time in Europe and I think the general populace of each place would be chuffed.

 

[DEVO]

It took Blondie three albums to have a hit in the US. Their first hit was here in Australia with IN THE FLESH (reached #2) from their debut, they broke in the UK with DENIS (reached #2) from their second album. Their first US hit (in fact their first single to chart) was with their third single from their third album, HEART OF GLASS. Almost every single afterwards was a top 40 hit, but early on they were totaly ignoed at home.

 

[Damon_3388]

It shocks me that nobody has noticed this one from 1979/1980:

The single only reached #109 in the band’s native US, and its parent album only #175, but ‘Total Control’ was a Top Five hit here in Australia, and remains a staple of “classic rock” radio to this day.

I genuinely though this band was Australian, because of how popular that song was here.

 

[mianfei]

It took Blondie three albums to have a hit in the US. Their first hit was here in Australia with IN THE FLESH (reached #2) from their debut, they broke in the UK with DENIS (reached #2) from their second album. Their first US hit (in fact their first single to chart) was with their third single from their third album, HEART OF GLASS. Almost every single afterwards was a top 40 hit, but early on they were totaly ignoed at home.

In fact, ‘In the Flesh’ was analogous to ‘Total Control’ – both were played on Countdown heavily but were seen as too risky to play by the stifling US commercial radio networks of the Carter Era, a period that saw what amounted to a major “crackdown” that severely reduced the number of songs commercial radio would play and the number of albums major record companies would release. I would have loved to see a conservative writer like Jonathan Leaf defend their actions, especially as Leaf shows the late 1970s to be the most intense period of sexual liberation amongst the masses of Europeans and North Americans. ‘In the Flesh’, if I am not mistaken, was also viewed too sexually explicit in some places to be played on video or radio

 

[Damon_3388]

Not entirely "only popular in another country", but Kings of Leon's career trajectory has been a bit odd, considering they're a very "American-sounding" band, particularly their early work:

- 'Youth and Young Manhood' (2003) - #113 US, #3 UK, #46 AUS
- 'Aha Shake Heartbreak' (2004) - #55 US, #3 UK, #25 AUS
- 'Because of the Times' (2007) - #25 US, #1 UK, #4 AUS
- 'Only by the Night' (2008) - #4 US, #1 UK, #1 AUS
- 'Come Around Sundown' (2010) - #2 US, #1 UK, #1 AUS
- 'Mechanical Bull' (2013) - #2 US, #1 UK, #1 AUS

Has any other American band had that kind of sustained success in the UK, without simultaneously having the same success in the US? Pretty surreal to think that they've never had a #1 album in the US, especially considering how songs like "Sex on Fire" and "Use Somebody" were absolutely everywhere in 2008/2009.

 

[WealstoneRaider]

Has any other American band had that kind of sustained success in the UK, without simultaneously having the same success in the US? Pretty surreal to think that they've never had a #1 album in the US, especially considering how songs like "Sex on Fire" and "Use Somebody" were absolutely everywhere in 2008/2009.

Pixies.

Americans have very conservative taste in music compared to the UK. Just reading that Bowie has only just received his first ever US number one album - which shocked me. Some of the dross that was popular there "Styx" "Boston" "Def Leppard" to name a few, sold very little in the UK

 

[DEVO]

In fact, ‘In the Flesh’ was analogous to ‘Total Control’ – both were played on Countdown heavily but were seen as too risky to play by the stifling US commercial radio networks of the Carter Era, a period that saw what amounted to a major “crackdown” that severely reduced the number of songs commercial radio would play and the number of albums major record companies would release. I would have loved to see a conservative writer like Jonathan Leaf defend their actions, especially as Leaf shows the late 1970s to be the most intense period of sexual liberation amongst the masses of Europeans and North Americans. ‘In the Flesh’, if I am not mistaken, was also viewed too sexually explicit in some places to be played on video or radio

I believe the reason 'In The Flesh' became a hit in Australia was because Molly Meldrum played the wrong video on Countdown, 'In the Flesh' was actually the B-side to the first Blondie release 'X-Offender' which was the really controversial song. Originally titled 'Sex-Offender' it was about a woman who wanted "the love of her sex-offender". It was changed to 'X-Offender' because the record company thought (and probably correctly) that it was too explicit and offensive.

 

[raskolnikov]

Sia has had a lot more success overseas than she has in Australia.

 

[Silent Alarm]

Cracking example and simply bizarre trivia here, but Ricky Gervais's 80s new-wave band were huge in the Philippines.


From Wikipedia:
In 1985, DWRT-FM (then known as 99.5 RT, now 99.5 Play FM), a radio station in Metro Manila, Philippines, started playing a song billed as "Fade" by Medium (also billed as "Medium" by Fade). DWRT-FM deliberately misnamed the artist and song title to prevent anyone from finding the record and playing it themselves. Additionally, to stop other radio stations from recording it and playing it, DWRT-FM inserted a station ID midway through the track. A year later, another radio station, DWXB-102, revealed the true identity of the song as "More to Lose" by Seona Dancing.[1]

The song, which utilises an opening piano riff to convey the sound of falling teardrops, became a major radio and club hit as well as a favourite at high-school dances during the 1980s and beyond. AllMusic critic Michael Sutton wrote that the track was "the theme song of angst-ridden New Wave youths in the Philippines" and "an '80s anthem as ubiquitous as Peter Gabriel's 'In Your Eyes', but with the eternal hipster cool of Joy Division's 'Love Will Tear Us Apart'."[1]

So Ricky Gervais has a song in Asia that is basically as widespread, corny, and 'default-celebration song' as Time Of Your Life.

 

[DaRick]

I'm lazy so I'll just link to this:

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff/Music

 

[Herne Hill Hammer]

Music has its fair share of historical quirks. There are songs by artists which never got close to charting in their home country...but managed to become big hits in one other country, often for no observable reason.

Even better if the artist is a one-hit (or even no-hit) wonder.

There are two songs that I've heard recently that remind me of this.

First is 'Life at the Outpost', by short lived Canadian band The Skatt Bros.



This song got to number six in the Australian charts in 1980. They had had success in a number of countries with 'Walk the Night', reaching number nine in the US, but this song only charted in Australia.

So popular was it that the above promo clip was filmed by their Australian record company (Polygram), with none of the people in the video being from the band, after the band's management never responded to requests for a music video for the song from Polygram. Even more extraordinarily, the success of this song in Australia alone convinced them (or, probably more accurately, their management) that their next album should target Australia. 'Rico and the Ravens', their second and last album, was only ever released in Australia. After this, they disappeared.

Love Life At The Outpost, it's a thumping song. When mp3s first came on the scene, it was years before I could find the song to download it.

Over time I have shown some of my younger acquaintances the video for the song and almost without exception, they turn red from embarrassment, they find it overtly gay (which it is) and very confronting, I laugh my head off.

As far as The Hoff goes and Looking for Freedom, I watched a 25th anniversary special on the fall of The Berlin Wall not that long ago. They took Hoff back over there, they love him. Looking For Freedom was their unofficial anthem leading up to the dismantling of the wall.

They took him around the streets talking with randoms and they all loved him. He had the original black leather, bedazzled jacket that he wore when he performed there live.

 

[The Dice Man]

It shocks me that nobody has noticed this one from 1979/1980:

The single only reached #109 in the band’s native US, and its parent album only #175, but ‘Total Control’ was a Top Five hit here in Australia, and remains a staple of “classic rock” radio to this day.

I thought this was Aussie too. Cracking song and best of the Fred.

 

[Herne Hill Hammer]

Air Supply had a number of songs that were top 5 in US and charted in the 30s/40s here.

The Little River Band, Reminiscing number 3 in the US and 35 here.

 

[Herne Hill Hammer]

I thought this was Aussie too. Cracking song and best of the Fred.

Only The Lonely and Suddenly Last Summer both reached number 9 in the US and reached 28/34 here respectively. Another pair of cracking songs from them.

There must have been something about lead singer Martha Davis. Her solo single Don't Tell Me The Time peaked at number 8 in Australia and 80 in the US.