Who is the biggest band to never break the US top 10?
Back in the day, it used to be a commonly held thought that the UK and the US were two polar opposite nations, particularly when it came to their musical appeals.
The more you think about it, the clearer it becomes that this idea never really held up – and probably never did. Just look at the swaps over the years. We gave them The Beatles, they gave us The Beach Boys. They sent over Blondie, we replied with Annie Lennox. They offered up The Backstreet Boys… and, well, did we really answer back with One Direction?
Nevertheless, the point still stands that the two scenes are not anywhere near as distinct as people may be led to believe. It’s perhaps the one area of the transatlantic alliance that is still as iron-clad as it ever was. But beneath that surface of glossy exchanges, there lies a whole underbelly of somewhat unsung talents who were never able to break enough water to make it across the ocean.
The more you think about it, bands like The Stone Roses, Black Sabbath, and Iron Maiden have each become bona fide staples of the British sonic canon in their own respective ways. But they barely made a drop in terms of the US charts – that is, so long as you exclude Ozzy Osbourne’s resurgence as a reality TV star.
Yet within the beating heart of this country’s cultural capital, it sometimes seems that there is no band more essential in summing up the life of the everyday, championing the underdog, and bridging the musical gap between the new wave, indie rock, and Britpop than The Smiths. Mention that name in the States, however, and you’re not likely to be met with an overwhelming response. They never even broke the top ten.
Why did The Smiths never become popular in the US?
You might think it was criminal that The Smiths never made it out of the confines of these four nations, particularly given the context of the highest order with which many musicians celebrate them. They were described as the most important British band since The Beatles. Noel Gallagher said: “When The Jam split, The Smiths started, and I totally went for them.” There’s no underestimating that enormity.
Yet in a lot of ways, despite this rapturous mainstream acclaim, there was no real time for The Smiths to properly crack America. Think about it: they were only signed in 1983, and by 1987, they were done. Four years was all they got. That was maybe enough time to win over the British masses, but hardly enough momentum to whip up a storm anywhere else.
This is not to say that the band were entirely unheard of in the States, however. College radio was their mainstay, and through this, they built up a cult following as devoted and hardcore as the British fans. But commercial stations wouldn’t touch them with a bargepole, and thus The Smiths became consigned to the fate of the transatlantic underdogs who never got to rue the day.
Meat is Murder may have been pioneering. The Queen is Dead might have seemed essential. But the reality was that it was only this way in a unique prism of British life, railing against the stiff-upper-lip institutions that made the country so fraught with convention. Americans never understood that level of control at the time, so they never felt they needed it. If only they could turn back the clock.
