British acts who are/were a lot more popular in America

And Herman's Hermits obv.

Bay City Rollers

Beatles

spacehog did good business stateside didn't they ?

Not so sure about Bay City Rollers. They were huge in the UK too. With two #1 singles and all.

(The Beatles were obv. huge everywhere) ;)

The Beatles had a lot more fans in the USA than the UK

Led Zeppelin

The Cult

Hongroe had a top 20 hit with "Free Timothy McVeigh" in 1997, never made an impact in the UK charts.

Half of Foreigner were American.

John Parr

Whitesnake

Peter Frampton

there is totally a thread like this. i am not going into the whole foghat/status quo thing again.

Were Fleetwood Mac more popular in the U.S. before they moved to the U.S.?

I would say when they were at their most popular, they were way larger in the US than in the UK. Early Fleetwood Mac may have been more popular in the UK, but early Fleetwood Mac was - in spite of "Albatross" being number 1 - hardly as huge as "Rumours" era.

I understand that The Clientele are, but I could be mistaken.

The Beatles had a lot more fans in the USA than the UK

I don't know how true this statement is but if you look back at the old Melody Makers, they faced some real competition from the Beach Boys and Byrds and seemed at times to be treated like "just another Melody Maker band" as the saying used to go (though, alas, needed no longer). The die was cast early!

Again, I would not really know, but it seems to me like Clapton might be bigger in the US. (I wouldn't start an argument about it or anything-- for one thing, can't stand him-- just a passing thought).

Madonna is much bigger stateside too!

Madonna is British?

Madonna also probably has more uk no 1 singles than most

obv shes not british

depeche mode surely?

Oh yeah, I forgot she lives there nowadays.

(x-post)

Not based on their chart positions:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depeche_Mode_discography

I guess not, but it always seemed that way to me.

Just like they seem to be more popular in continental Europe. But I could be wrong again.

The Beatles "not popular in UK" thing was partly born out of the fact that Beach Boys beat The Beatles in the NME readers' poll of 1966 while they were still way ahead of Beach Boys.

This may be due to the fact that the American audiences didn't "get" "Pet Sounds" though. "Pet Sounds" was a commercial flop stateside.

Well, most of their albums seem to have charted better in Germany than UK. And they're very big in Finland too.

(x-post)

Depeche Mode and The Cure are probably more popular in the US than in the UK these days. But it took both of them quite some time to crack the US market at all.

And, as Tuomas kind of said, Depeche Mode are probably most of all popular in Continental Europe.

Jem

Madonna also probably has more uk no 1 singles than most

just a joke...

Early Fleetwood Mac may have been more popular in the UK, but early Fleetwood Mac was - in spite of "Albatross" being number 1 - hardly as huge as "Rumours" era.

I guess virtually all British hard rock bands belong here. Other than Iron Maiden, who were at times huge in their homeland too.

And The Records. Totally huge with US powerpop fans. Virtually ignored in the UK.

"This may be due to the fact that the American audiences didn't "get" "Pet Sounds" though. "Pet Sounds" was a commercial flop stateside."

it may have flopped in comparison to previous beach boys albums, but i've never been able to find out how much it DID sell after release. does anyone know? i am not a beachboyologist. i did find this interesting tidbit on the web from 2006:

Lost Paperwork to Blame for "Pet Sounds" Meager Sales Numbers

Beach Boys' classic album's sales status remains a mystery

"Buried among the pile of albums certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America for the month of February, was this oddity: Pet Sounds by the Beach Boys. Odd because the album, which boasts such classics as "Wouldn't It Be Nice" and is considered by rock historians to be one of the most influential records of all time, was released way back in 1966. Did it really take thirty-four years of selling just 15,000 copies annually for Pet Sounds to reach the 500,000 mark? By contrast, last year's debut album from R&B singer Angie Stone was certified gold just four months after its release. And besides, according to SoundScan, which has been tracking sales digitally since 1991, Pet Sounds has sold 210,000 copies in just the last nine years. (SoundScan and RIAA sales measurements are apples and oranges; SoundScan counts individual album copies sold, RIAA counts totals shipped out to stores.)

The answer to the Pet Sounds riddle lies in the certification process. The RIAA only certifies albums when a record company provides, for verification, all the shipping documentation on a specific title. That means the RIAA only acts when a label makes a formal certification, or a re-certification, request. For instance, according to the RIAA, the blockbuster soundtrack to Grease, which continues to sell nearly a million copies each year according to Soundscan, is only eight-times platinum. That's because its label, Polydor, hasn't asked for a re-certification in sixteen years. If it did, odds are the album would now probably be at least fifteen-times platinum...."

why not just admit that Angie Stone is just better?*

*whoever she is

Dirty Vegas and latter-day Sade.