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I don’t understand the question. Oasis, Radiohead, and Spice Girls were an indelible part of the 90s pop culture world in the US. Others had a few of their hit songs translate over. Jamiroquai seemed to take over MTV one summer. Take That’s “Back for Good” was everywhere on the radio when it came out, and Verve dominated the airwaves with “Bittersweet Symphony”.
Beyond that though, it should be noted that there was a divergence in musical tastes across the pond. If anything it was British nationalism on some scale at play. While America wallowed in the Puget Sound, British artists steered clear of grunge and postgrunge by and large. While Britpop led that country into a rousing chorus of Cool Britannia, America’s market was too diversified and large for it to be much more than it was, a small piece of a large pie. Radiohead had a large following, Metallica had a bigger one.
From Soul to Jungle to Rock to Britpop, the 90's was a defining moment in cool Britania and British music.
Why was the success largely only Europe-wide with little impact in Canada & Aus and hardly none in tge he US until much later with small cult followings cropping up.
The lack of acceptance was especially true for Black British artists. Did the UK change too much from its stereotypical image that the world just turned its back? I would be interested in hearing some theories.
I don’t know about other parts of Canada, but in the 90’s it was widely stated that Toronto was one of the biggest Jungle/D&B cities outside London. Delirium, Syrous when they first brought Kenny Ken over...the scene got huge, with some great production companies. In the late-90’s, big jams with British DJs like Nicky Blackmarket, Mickey Finn, Kenny Ken, Congo Natty, and MCs like Skibadee, Shabba, Stevie Hyper D, Navi, and others could bring in crowds of thousands for a single party. Toronto also had its own Jungle scene, with well-known DJs like Marcus, Tommy Illfinga, Lush, Medicine Muffin, and so on. There was an underground scene in small clubs, which is mostly what I was into, and the big party scene where attendance of 10,000 on a Saturday night wasn’t unusual. Not only that, but you could catch Jungle/D&B DJs pretty much every night of the week at clubs that catered almost exclusively to the scene.
The thing is, it didn’t last long. The scene lasted from like 91-2001, but only got huge around 97. Between house, techno, and Jungle/D&B, Jungle/D&B was king of the hill for two or three years, between maybe 98 and 2001. Then the scene changed, the music changed, the clubs kind of disappeared, and that was it. Some of my best memories are of hitting raves and clubs in the mid-late 90’s, many with British headliners.
Nearly every artist you have posted has had significant hits in Australia, and some are massive here: Robbie Williams, Oasis most notably of those you listed.
I decided to do some wiki-diving on some of this. Interesting factoid, one of the most known songs in America out of Britain during the decade, “Champagne Supernova”, wasn’t released as a single over there. We didn’t even consume a band as popular as Oasis in the same way.
Mostly because Britpop -- just as the name implies -- was part of a broader domestic-focused cultural movement and not just a detached musical genre, similar to how the "Madchester"-era bands that preceded Britpop were strongly tied to the "Northern working-class chic" cultural phenomenon that just didn't translate the same way outside the UK.
Even still, some had broad success across the Anglosphere, Oasis and Blur being the most obvious examples.
I'm wondering if any North American or ozzy/kiwi forum member have ever heard any of this music before? Especially acts like Eternal, Craig David, Stereophonics, Blur, East 17, the Verve or Gabrielle who were absolutely massive in the UK!
of course they have , both australia and New Zealand have always be more in touch with British artists than americans have ,the UK , australia , new zealand and ireland are in the same sphere musically and culturally , Westlife ( truly awful band ) were big in both Australia and New Zealand , they are unheard of in America
acts like Oasis and especially Blur were quite english and when an act is " too english " , it often struggles to " break america "
Robbie Williams never broke America , he too was - is very english , im not a fan of his BTW
i like the music of the 1980,s but it had a pretty generic sound which was easily acceptable to americans or anyone else , Britpop had a much quirkier vibe which didnt as easily cross the atlantic
Nearly every artist you have posted has had significant hits in Australia, and some are massive here: Robbie Williams, Oasis most notably of those you listed.
I think Aus and NZ did have a much more receptive market to Brit 90's music even black groups like the Honeyz did something there. Same was conversely true with acts like Kylie Minogue, Savage Garden, Natalie Imbruglia, Peter Andre, etc. that did nothing in the US with the exception of Silverchair.
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