The last couple weeks saw the release of two new albums that will be a HUGE deal in Europe -- and will probably hardly make a ripple in the United States. The Boy Who Knew Too Much and La Roux are the efforts of, respectively, a major European pop star (Mika) and a seriously buzzed-about British dance-pop outfit (La Roux) who, in the U.S., are simply indie acts with something of a cult following. So what makes a band "big" in Europe, but not here? We set out to examine the subtle nuances that sometimes distinguish the delicate continental palate from our more, well, palatable American tastes. What we came up with was not one answer, but a series of reasons/differences/aesthetic problems.
The Kylie Minogue ProblemQuintessential Case: Well, Kylie Minogue, but this is pretty much where La Roux lives
Try Listening Like a European: Minogue's "Slow," La Roux's "Quicksand"
An icy-hot singer who purrs beguiling hooks over a dance beat that soothes you into submission/shaking it? In theory, there is no reason why this should not be a recipe for serious success in the U.S. After all, Madonna and Britney have made careers out of it. Maybe Minogue is too clubby, maybe La Roux's beat is too cold and numbing, maybe Robyn is too hip. Whatever the reason, we seem to prefer our dance divas to be domestic (though nearly all these ladies generally find friendlier crowds in gay clubs).
See also: Robyn, Little Boots, Aqua, September
Spice Girls Saturation Level ReachedQuintessential Case: Girls Aloud
Put On Your Euro Ears: "Something Kinda Ooooh"
Americans knows a thing or two about girl groups, and we loved us some Spice Girls. We bought the baby-doll hair clips, we dutifully learned every word to "Wannabe," we watched Spice World. OK, maybe not that. But you get the point. Once we lost our taste for Spice, however, it's like we said, "OK, that's it. No more British girl groups for us," slamming the door in the faces of myriad all-female megastar acts from across the pond that followed.
See also: All Saints, Sugababes, Atomic Kitten, Liberty X (OK, not technically a girl group)
The Boy Band Bermuda Triangle
Quintessential Case: Take That
Put On Your European Listening Ears: "Whatever You Do to Me"
What goes better with girl groups than boy bands? Nothing -- unless they're British. Maybe we're biased, but when you've got boy bands like Boyz II Men and 'NSync at home, the rather anemic, choreography-challenged Brit versions really pale in comparison. Though we maintain that America is missing out on Robbie Williams. Sometimes, anyway.
See also: Boyzone, Ronan Keating, Westlife, maybe even Il Divo
Definite Article Bands, Circa 2002
Quintessential Case: The Libertines
Listen Like It's 2002: "Don't Look Back Into the Sun"
Remember back around the millennium when every other new band seemed to be a garage rock outfit called The [insert plural noun here] (e.g., the Strokes, the White Stripes, the Killers)? Well, Europe (and the U.K. in particular) really took that idea and ran with it long after Drew Barrymore dumped Fab Moretti for the "I'm a Mac" guy. Some of the bands they've kept in business are ours (see: the Von Bondies), but they've got their own garage rock assembly line going, too. Some of it's made some inroads in indie circles, but in large part, we just can't be bothered with Pete Doherty's shenanigans. We're busy with Kanye's.
See also: The Vines, the Datsuns, the Mooney Suzuki, the Hives, the Raveonettes, the Kills
The Hoff PhenomenonQuintessential Case: See above
Put On Your European Listening Ears: "Do the Limbo Dance (Remix 2006)"
America has something of an inferiority complex when it comes to Europe, which all too often just seems so much chicer, cooler, more in-the-know than we. But sometimes, the continent's tastes just defy all logic (or at least any kind of logic Americans can fathom), leaving us scratching our heads at those upon whom it chooses to bestow celebrity and (dare we say it) respect. Enter David Hasselhoff, talent show judge, friend to talking cars everywhere, lifeguard extraordinaire and HUGE in Germany.
See also: Jerry Lewis
Glam
Quintessential Case(s): T. Rex, Suzi Quatro
Listen Like a European: Quatro's "The Wild One," T. Rex's "20th Century Boy"
Sometimes entire genres just don't take stateside. Something about the combination of extravagant makeup, flamboyant attitudes and hard rock didn't gel with American audiences -- that is, until we renamed it hair metal in the '80s. Always a bit more experimental with the juxtaposition of gender transgression and rock (see also The '70s Are Over, below), Europe embraced fabulous super-freaks like T. Rex and America's own Suzi Quatro (who gender-bent for the other team) that never got beyond one-hit wonder in the U.S.
See also: Slade, Gary Glitter, even Bowie, really
Weird Prog Rock/Scandinavian Death Metal That Would Be Niche Stuff Here But Is, Like, a HUGE Deal in EuropeQuintessential Case(s): Marillion, Mayhem
Put On Your Euro Ears: "Kayleigh"
Hi, Europe? Let us get this straight. So, what you're saying is, this stuff is almost, like, pop music there, right? Like, they win Eurovision contests and stuff? And you play them on the regular radio, not like only in the basement of some angsty suburban kid in a black T-shirt? And you ... don't make jokes about it? Ye-eaah, we don't get it.
See also: Marduk, Fish
Americans Don't Understand Hip-Hop with a British AccentQuintessential Case: Grime/Dubstep
Listen Like a Geezer: Dizzee Rascal's "Fix Up, Look Sharp"
Maybe it's a proprietary thing -- after all, hip-hop was invented by Americans. Maybe it's the product of our limited world view. Maybe we just don't get the slang ("fit"? "cheeky"? And guys, it's wit, not wiv. Oy!). Or maybe it's just that that accent throws the whole freaking meter off. Whatever the reason, hip-hop with a British accent just does not translate into American, even if Jay-Z is promoting it.
See also: The Streets, Lady Sovereign, Wiley
Arctic Monkeys
Quintessential Case: Oasis
Listen Like a Brit: Arctic Monkeys' "My Propeller"
Look, United Kingdom. Stop trying to make Arctic Monkeys happen for us, OK? Like we told you about Oasis, we Just. Don't. Care.
See also: Klaxons, Blur, Pulp
The '70s Are Over (aka Campy Figures of Ambiguous Sexuality for Whom Freddie Mercury and Elton John are Major Influences Jes' Don't Sit Right with Red-Blooded 'Mericans)
Quintessential Case: Mika
Listen Like They Do in Italy: "We Are Golden"
Look, we're not bigots or anything, OK? We accepted Elton (after he watered down his camp and added a big side of Clay-mate-friendly cheese) and ABBA (after we turned them into a sanitized, Disney-style High School Musical). Mika may be a pop star of Britney-esque proportions even in somewhat conservative Italy, and Beth Ditto of Gossip may be a Kate-Moss-befriending megastar in the U.K. But here in the good ol' US of A, we like our men to be men, our women to be women, and our pop idols to be on the straight and narrow. You know, like Adam Lambert. And Prince. And Justin Timberlake.
See also: Scissor Sisters, Sliimy, Pop Levi, Boney M, Robbie Williams
Exceptions: Elton John, ABBA, George Michael
European Finishing SchoolQuintessential Case: Kings of Leon
Put on Your European Listening Ears: You know "Use Somebody," but check out "The Bucket"
Sometimes, even artists who are as American as they come just can't hit the ground running here. Take Kings of Leon, a bunch of Southern-bred, classic rock-playing sons of a preacher man. Maybe they were just a bit too on the nose? At any rate, we shipped 'em off to Europe, where they hit it big before returning to a, uh, Kings' welcome stateside.
See also: Jerry Lee Lewis, Josephine Baker, possibly Gossip (if they play their cards right)
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Wow, so not everybody on the Rhapsody staff has cool taste in music. Couldn't disagree more. Maybe you should write for People or US Weekly.
Nice story. It is true the Kylie Minogue never hit it stratospheric huge in the United States, but with one album, Fever, she did quite well. The album reached #3 in the USA, and had huge hits such as, "I can't get you out of my head," "More More More," and "In Your Eyes." I am not including other US hits such as "Locootion" which is ancient history by now, coming out in the late 1980s and was also a top 3 hit in America.
So yes, she never did as well in the US and in Europe, but to say, "In theory, there is no reason why this should not be a recipe for serious success in the U.S. After all, Madonna and Britney have made careers out of it," is a litte overkill. Considering that Ms. Minogue has appeared on morning shows like Today and Good Morning America due to the success of her music, she may not be the equal of Madonna and Britney on American soil, but she has been plenty successful in her own right.
As for the rest of the story, I have little disagreement there since I have hardly heard of the other acts you mention besides the Spice Grils and of course, the Hoff.
Nicely done. Being a Brit now living in the good ol' USA, I often wonder at how some sounds and bands translocate the Atlantic so well, while others seem to perish, Titanic-like, before ever reaching US radio stations. This is a fair summary of what's been going on.
Although I would attest that the main reason why Americans don't accept Mika isn't because he's so flaming. It's because he's complete shite.
Rhapsody rules. Keep it up, folks.
THANKSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
Mike seems to have missed the point of the article a bit. ;) No one is saying these bands are good, or not. She's trying to explaining why some bands don't do as well here as they do at home. And by and large, she's right.
To be true, there are a few minor points I disagree on, but they're hardly important enough to go into. Nicely done article.
The sad truth is we Americans have poor taste in music, it's worth looking at the substandard bunk they palm off on us, looking at you Bush, and we lap up. While poor old Jimi Hendrix had to go to London to find love and a plaster cast. When the Motown package tour touched down in England, Motown artists couldn't believe people knew them by name, they were so used to anonymity in the states. If you want to crack the US you're still better off playing boring middle of the road rock, or bland vocoder auto tune corporate pop not some thing interesting with edge and a little art.
Ted Nugent does not make sense in France. This is good for France. In Germany you can drive as fast as you like, but you will struggle to buy any Reba McEntire