Big international hits that did nothing or next to nothing in the UK nor US markets

Like: How to get a big hit without making it in the two most important markets in the world

Starting off with

Robin Gibb: Juliet
Vangelis: Conquest Of Paradise
Falco: Jeanny (Part 1)
Secret Service: Oh Susie
Trans-X: Living On Video

A couple Norwegian ones too:
Espen Lind: When Susannah Cries
Avalances: Johnny Johnny Come Home

"Living On Video" was international, dude. It still is. This is what every electro song in 2000-2003 in the U.S. sounded like.

I don't think it was ever much of a hit in the UK nor US singles lists, although I know it has become kind of a classic afterwards.

"did next to nothing" != "hit on the singles list"

Can't find the original video which is so so awesome, but this TOTP take will do

if it was on TOTPs it must have been a hit! (I've never heard it before btw)

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

"Living on Video" is a 1981 song by Trans-X, which was re-released in 1985 and became a massive hit worldwide, as well as peaking at #61 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song has been covered by many artists throughout the years.

Austrian Singles Chart 9
German Singles Chart 4
Irish Singles Chart 17
Spanish Singles Chart 1
Swiss Singles Chart 2
UK Singles Chart 9
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 61

It was certainly a cult hit in the U.S., but #9 in the UK ain't nothin'

OK. everyhit.com missed it then. Must have searched for the wrong term as "Trans-x" gave no hits there.

Otherwise Geir, you're OTM on all those others.

Living On Video seemed huge in Mexico when I was a kid.

It was huge. One of the few Mexican import 12" pressings I could get in the states was the "Living On Video" single.

OK. Now let's leave "Living On Video" behind, which obviously didn't belong here.

Two songs that were hits in the UK in other versions than the original hit versions:
Electronicas: "Dance Little Bird"
Falco: "Der Kommisar"

(Need to add the original versions were the ones that hit in the rest of Europe)

"Macarena", until that version with the Valley Girl overdub.

Underworld - Underneath The Radar? Was top 5 here, did cock-all elsewhere, I believe.

in a similar vein, fischer-z had hits here with 'perfect day' and 'so long' that did little in the UK and nothing in the US. i don't have any chart stats to back it up but i gather they were pretty popular in mainland europe too

A few more:
Jordy: "Dur Dur D'etre Bebe"
France Gall won Eurovision with "Poupee De Cire, Poupee De Son", a giant hit in Europe which did nothing in the two big English language markets. About 20 years on, she had another huge European hit with "Ella, elle l'a"

ha ha, I was trying to remember "Perfect Day" when I posted that! loved that song, never ever heard it once it went off the radio.

it was one of the first 45s i ever bought!

"Macarena", until that version with the Valley Girl overdub.

I believe the overdubbed version is the one that did best worldwide, but possible the Spanish speaking world went for the Los Del Mar original.

like any of these ones: I don't know.

Gazebo's "I Like Chopin" was massive all over Western Europe, but did zip all in the UK/US.

Alizée "J'en ai marre!"- top 40 in 14 countries (#1 in S. Korea and Taiwan); completely unknown in US.

I don't know if the French or English version was the hit in some of those countries. I would guess English but since there are J-Pop bands with French names I don't really know.

communism

xpost to jim - correction on never ever heard it once it went off the radio: except when I played it on the telly once last year :D

wish i'd seen that!

Probably a few (or more likely, a few hundred) of these on these two threads, I imagine:

Mostly German Old Used 45s That Metal Mike Saunders Mailed To Me

I Have Never Heard Entire Albums By These Bands Who Have Excellent Songs On Late '70s/Early '80s European K-Tel-Style Compilations

Well, I don't find "Vamos a La Playa" by Righeira with any kind of British chart performance at least, and that song was massive in Europe.

Alphaville, "Forever Young"?

"Forever Young" is a great example, mainly for time and place. Had it tried a year later, it may have been a U.S. Top 10, but it was trying to break in the U.S. in 1984 when there was too much pop insanity going on already.

Salvatore Adamo - "Tombe la Neige"

Voyage Voyage by Desireless

Number 1 pretty much everywhere in Europe.. scraped 53 in the UK..

oh bugger.. the remix released in 1988 got to number 5 in the UK..

soap & skin cover 'voyage voyage' on her new mini-lp but then she's austrian and it was probably huge there.

Modern Talking - sold over a hundred million records worldwide, a couple dozen in the US/UK.

When I worked at a Toronto record store in the mid-'80s, we had Japanese people coming in the store all the time looking for Modern Talking records. The conversation usually went like this: "You mean Modern English?" "No, Modern Talking." "Umm...I don't know, let me check."