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Dog 3000 4611 posts |
Dec 09, 2007, 23:19
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machineryelf wrote: Foghat-british group-huge in the States, unknown in Britain UFO were big in the States before they were in England and really early UFO were big in Japan when no one else appeared to give a damn. I think Foghat moved here sometime in the 70's -- they seem like they could be from Illinois! UFO was never all that popular (no hit songs) -- they were sort of a fave with metalheads in the late 70's (Schenker era, when there was not much American metal to speak of -- Van Halen wasn't around until 1978, it was all Nugent & Foghat & Boston before then.) machineryelf wrote: I remember reading reports of a bill playing some midwest enormodome comprising of headliners Nazereth, 2nd on the bill UFO and lowly 3rd raters Thin Lizzy and thinking ''Americans must be mad'' not realising that in 76 a black Irishman singing cowboy songs was probably not such a hit in Salt Lake City as it was to a young English lad. Of course Nazareth would headline -- "Love Hurts" was a massively popular hit single around that time(!) UFO would have had a few more American tours under their belt by that time, so some sort of fanbase already. It was probably Lizzy's first trip over, so they get to open.
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zphage 3378 posts |
Dec 11, 2007, 00:21
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Lots of great stuff, but still no one has commented on the Clash doing America and losing England. Whereas, Zep, Cream, Stones did not... Any thoughts?
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machineryelf 3681 posts |
Dec 11, 2007, 12:35
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The Clash never lost Lost Britain, they lost the the British music press, because the British music press is like that plus the fact that Sandanista was big unwieldy lump that a lot of folk couldn't get their heads round. I remember Mick Jones coming on stage with Aztec Camera in Glasgow and the crowd went wild just because a member of the Clash was in the area. I would imagine that if Joe Strummer was still alive the only thing that would come close to the present Zep hoohah would be the chance of the Clash reforming.
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machineryelf 3681 posts |
Dec 11, 2007, 12:46
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Whereas, Zep, Cream, Stones did not... to a certain degree they did, certainly the Stones and Zep were regarded with a degree of America is the priority they'll fit in Europe if possible, and there was often a sense that we got a second rate stageshow, usually because British theatres are tiny, and no one appreciated the fact even from the back you could see something, we just wanted the giant penis!
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IanB 6761 posts |
Edited Dec 11, 2007, 16:35
Dec 11, 2007, 15:01
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I think a lot of the motivation behind people climbing on board the Punk thing was that our home grown suprestars of the mid 70s were happy to spend months touring America and would then come to the UK and do a few Earls Courts for the home crowd. Much bitterness ensued. Especially around Zep in 75 and the Stones in 76. The fact that the Stones sound was abysmal and people felt that they were phoning it in didn't help. Knowing now the state Keef was in it was amazing they played those dates at all. Yes used to regularly do the regional theatres but by 75 / 76 were also playing football grounds (QPR and Stoke). Then there was Rod selling himself down the river with all that Cannes / LA / Brit Ekland shit. Gabriel and Genesis got themselves to arena level and then wisely went in other directions. Then there were the bloated / idiotic / bland / disappointing albums - Song Remains The Same (which sounded shit at the time but is much better in the expanded version with more short songs), Topographic Oceans, Black and Blue, Atlantic Crossing, Come Taste The Band, Run With The Pack etc. Roxy were paddling in shallow water at the edge of self-parody, Clapton had given up being a guitar hero, Beck was doing jazz-rock, Koss dead, Bowie (like Clapton) had walked into a Fascism row, Crimson had jacked it in and all the good art-rock was being made so far off the commercial radar as to be irelevant to mainstream audiences. So all the big artists 'lost' some credibility as working fan's acts by the end of 76. And to be fair there was no one coming up in their wake with the same creative rush. Lone Star, Nutz, Druid, O Band, Streewalkers, Baker Gurvitz, John MIles, Jack The Lad, Camel, Jess Roden, Frankie Miller, Cado Belle, Boxer, Graham Parker, Dr Feelgood, Crawler, Moon etc etc. Not exactly in the same class as Zeppelin, Yes, Traffic etc. One might say "What about Queen or Supertramp?" to which I would say "Fuck right off". I'd argue that for mainstream rock and roll Lizzy and Be Bop Deluxe were just about the peak of what was available. The world's tallest pygmys. Left the scene wide open for Reggae and Punk to sweep the board and capture hearts and minds of the hard core rock fan. Which it almost did but a quick look at the weekly top 40 of that era tells another story in terms of what the mainstream pop fan was buying.
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Eduardo 375 posts |
Dec 11, 2007, 15:24
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I agree, I never went off the clash (admittedly not keen on sandinista!). I went to see the who solely because Joe & the Mesc were supporting. He was great; the who were alright but I have to admit being a little disappointed with them, maybe lost some of their power with age. Just being loud ain't enough. And I hate arenas anyway. What did America make of the Who in their heyday??
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Beautiful Day 779 posts |
Edited Dec 11, 2007, 18:08
Dec 11, 2007, 15:45
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remember seeing a documentary with Marc Bolan's son several years ago and I was surprised when they said T Rex weren't a household name in the US in the 70's, hard to imagine given how huge they were in the UK
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machineryelf 3681 posts |
Dec 11, 2007, 16:05
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America fucked the Who as an a band with any imagination, Daltrey took charge and they started doing the chicken in a basket route [albeit in fucking big stadiums] from about 74. Listening to any boot of Daltrey explaining Quadrophenia to Americans is to hear a great records continuity being destroyed whilst a huge crowd want him to shut the fuck up and get to Magic Bus If i remember correctly it was mainly because Daltrey & Moon only made money from touring, and Entwistle wasn't much better off. I'll give Townshend his due if i had an irate Moon & Daltrey on my back i'd back down pretty quickly too.
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machineryelf 3681 posts |
Dec 11, 2007, 16:11
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Then there was Rod selling himself down the river with all that Cannes / LA / Brit Ekland shit. Forgotten about that, now that was a career down the drain, i'd start a new thread People who went to America with credibility and came back arseholes, but Rod is the obvious winner.
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zphage 3378 posts |
Dec 11, 2007, 18:23
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I have really never gotten Status Quo kinda boogie, kinda unsouthern Southern rock(they needed some mean slide playing). They were never heavy enough, yet they had something. I get they impression the physical act of headbanging began with them. Yes, Sabbath And Tull always did well here. In major cities they could each do 2-3 nights each of 15,000-20,000 people a night. After Dark side Floyd was mammoth. T.rex were one hit wonders here. I do't think they ever did regular tours here. Nazereth, UFO, Lizzy could all easily do 2500-5000 depending on the region.
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