History AmericansHateTingle / Music

* British boy bands have had a notoriously tough time breaking into the American market. Music/TakeThat, for example, were the biggest boy band in UK history. While they didn't have the same popularity worldwide, they were at least able to have some moderate success internationally...everywhere except the United States, where their 1995 album bombed and they got lucky with one top 10 hit with "Back For Good". Five actually had a platinum album in the U.S., which means they got further than Take That, but at the time a platinum album only meant a minor hit. It went no further than #27 and their big top 10 "When The Lights Go Out" became their only hit as well. Boyzone and Westlife, although Irish, also fell to the curse in 2000, as their albums went no further than #167 and #129, respectively, and although "Swear It Again" was a minor hit for Westlife, "No Matter What" was a complete dud for Boyzone. That proved to be the end of the boy band craze.

* [[ElectronicMusic EDM]] and its numerous sub-genres are extremely popular in Europe, to the point where they could qualify as pop music. In North America, while not outright hated and has a very large following (enough to draw in gigantic crowds at festivals), tends to have a much more polarizing reaction outside the audience. Additionally, in order to crossover to pop, an EDM song has to have very pop-ready sensibilities in order to gain traction on the radio.

** In the Northeast and other "blue state" parts of the U.S., being a fan of country music carries [[DeepSouth many of the same connotations]] as being a fan of UsefulNotes/{{NASCAR}} – unless it's a hip alternative country band, a crossover pop artist (e.g. Music/TaylorSwift, Music/LadyAntebellum), or a legend with universal appeal (like JohnnyCash, WillieNelson, or PatsyCline), admitting to being a country fan will most likely get you called a redneck, a hillbilly, or some variation thereof. The UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity area, for example, did not have ''any'' country stations whatsoever between 2002 and 2013, despite it being the largest radio market in America and country being, by some measures, the most popular genre of music in America.

* Music/TheTragicallyHip have a career that spans 30-plus years, and are hugely successful and revered in Canada, but are treated with outright indifference or irrelevance in the United States. They've never been able to break through into the American market, despite appearing on at least one episode of ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' and doing several American tours, and have more or less given up on trying to make it south of the border. Part of this likely has to do with their songs, which are heavily dependent on references and plots taken from Canadian poets and historical events.[[note]]An exception to The Tragically Hip's inability to break into the U.S. is much of Michigan, including the area around UsefulNotes/{{Detroit}}: Many of the music radio stations in the Detroit market are actually based across the border in Windsor, and therefore played The Hip's music, familiarizing the Americans with the sound. Incidentally, this is also one reason that Michiganders have a tendency to like Music/TheBarenakedLadies and Music/TheNewPornographers and other Canadian bands.[[/note]]

* Jess Glynne is one of the fastest rising pop stars in the UK, with a whopping five #1 hits in just over a year, all of her singles going Top 10, and her album ''I Cry When I Laugh'' went straight to #1. In the US? Not so much. Her only claims to fame across the Atlantic is being the lead vocalist on Music/CleanBandit's #10 hit "Rather Be", and having her SignatureSong "Hold My Hand" appear in a Coca-Cola commercial (which only peaked #86 in the US, [[ColbertBump after the fact]]). That being said, she's easily more popular than Clean Bandit in the US, who's been hit even harder by the OneHitWonder tag and barely got their album ''New Eyes'' to chart on the ''Billboard 200'' (only peaking at #180, compared to Glynne's #25).

* Jess Glynne is one of the fastest rising pop stars in the UK, with a whopping five #1 hits in just over a year, all of her singles going Top 10, and her album ''I Cry When I Laugh'' went straight to #1. In the US? Not so much. Her only claims to fame across the Atlantic is being the lead vocalist on Music/CleanBandit's #10 hit "Rather Be", and having her SignatureSong "Hold My Hand" appear in a Coca-Cola commercial (which only peaked #86 in the US, [[ColbertBump after the fact]]). That being said, she's easily more popular than Clean Bandit in the US, who's been hit even harder by the OneHitWonder tag and barely got their album ''New Eyes'' to chart on ''Hot 100'' (only peaking at #180, compared to Glynne's #25).

Much of this divide has to do with the different ways the US and UK punk scenes developed. Bands on both sides of ThePond drew influences from the same bands -- the big American protopunk acts (Music/TheStooges, Music/VelvetUnderground, Music/NewYorkDolls, Music/MC5, The Dictators, etc.) were widely respected in both the US and the UK, while Music/TheRamones, an American band and firm believers in ThreeChordsAndTheTruth, played a major role in [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff launching the British scene]]. Despite their shared inspirations, American and British punks came from very different backgrounds. The American scene was more [[BourgeoisBohemian artsy, middle-class and bohemian]]--in short, the '70s version of {{hipster}}s. The British scene was predominantly working class. Johnny Rotten openly mocked Music/PattiSmith's performance in London in 1976, a feeling that Smith reciprocated towards the Sex Pistols. (by contrast, the more equally working class but more sophisticated Music/TheClash managed to score hits across the Pond)

Much of this divide has to do with the different ways the US and UK punk scenes developed. Bands on both sides of ThePond drew influences from the same bands -- the big American protopunk acts (Music/TheStooges, Music/VelvetUnderground, Music/NewYorkDolls, Music/MC5, The Dictators, etc.) were widely respected in both the US and the UK, while Music/TheRamones, an American band and firm believers in ThreeChordsAndTheTruth, played a major role in [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff launching the British scene]]. Despite their shared inspirations, American and British punks came from very different backgrounds. The American scene was more [[BourgeoisBohemian artsy, middle-class and bohemian]]--in short, the '70s version of {{hipster}}s. The British scene was predominantly working class. Johnny Rotten openly mocked Music/PattiSmith's performance in London in 1976, a feeling that Smith reciprocated towards the Sex Pistols.

** It's similar outside America. When the Country 2 Country music festival was held in Britain, for instance, [[http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/nashville-woos-the-uk-carrie-underwood-and-tim-mcgraw-to-play-largest-country-music-festival-at-o2-8534909.html many critics']] [[http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2013/mar/22/country-to-country-festival-review discussions]] of the event focused on the "American" nature of the music and its association with stereotypes of Type 2 {{Eagleland}}. There are only a few other countries that can be said to have significant country fandoms -- Ireland (whose own tradition of folk music fed into Appalachian folk, which is an ancestor of modern country), a few parts of West Africa (possibly due to the popularity of the banjo), Brazil (a mishmash of American and local subculture, including rodeo acts and even [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confederados the descendants of ex-Confederates]]), Canada, and Australia (both of which have frontier histories and vast rural areas not unlike those found in America). Country music is also surprisingly [[http://www.npr.org/blogs/therecord/2011/09/01/140120452/reggae-loves-country-a-50-year-romance popular in the Caribbean]], where from the 1950s-1970s it was some of the only American music imported into the area.

* Music/{{Avicii}} is one of the biggest EDM stars in Europe. Unfortunately, he is not very successful in the United States, where all but one of his songs have bombed. However, the one that didn't, ''Wake Me Up!'', became the biggest hit in the genre's history. It is theorized that American radio stations love playing ''Wake Me Up!'' so much that they are purposely ignoring his new music in favor of playing ''Wake Me Up!'' as a recurrent. Therefore, the release of said single subverts this trope and [[VindicatedByHistory vindicates him]] as a popular influence in North America, thanks to ''Wake Me Up!''

* Black metal was also notably unpopular in Germany, where thrash, speed, power and death metal all flourished, but black metal never took off much. It's possible that too many black metal musicians flirting with if not outright endorsing Neo-Nazism, or at least Germanic paganism often associated as such was [[OldShame too much of a sore topic there.]]

*** Bush, if fact, managed to invert the trope: they became very popular in the US, but were largely ignored in their own country, where they tended to be dismissed as third-rate Nirvana imitators.

* Music/{{Abba}}: One of the most popular music acts in the world, but SnarkBait in the U.S., where they're considered the epitome of '70s cheesiness.

* Even Music/TheBeatles were victims of this, in a few different places, in 1966. The most famous one involved JohnLennon's infamous "we're [[BiggerThanJesus more popular than Jesus]]" comment, which was more or less dismissed as harmless in the Beatles' native Britain, especially after Lennon clarified it... but this was not the case in America. There, a few radio stations in the South held burnings of Beatles records, and the whole ordeal turned into a media ruckus. The anti-Beatles sentiment wasn't actually very widespread, but there was enough of it in some areas that the Beatles had to cancel a few tour dates due to threats. Far worse was the reception they received that year in The Philippines, when they were essentially chased out of the country for refusing to play for Imelda Marcos, and to a lesser extent, the controversy in Japan from their appearance at the Budokan (which is now a popular concert venue, but at the time was reserved for martial arts, and many saw the Beatles' appearance there as disrespectful). All of these incidents, along with the increasingly complexity of their music, made 1966 their last tour.

Much of this divide has to do with the different ways the US and UK punk scenes developed. Bands on both sides of ThePond drew influences from the same bands -- the big American protopunk acts (Music/TheStooges, Music/VelvetUnderground, Music/NewYorkDolls, Music/MC5, The Dictators, etc.) were widely respected in both the US and the UK, while Music/TheRamones, an American band and firm believers in ThreeChordsAndTheTruth, played a major role in [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff launching the British scene]]. Despite their shared inspirations, American and British punks came from very different backgrounds. The American scene was more [[BourgeoisBohemian artsy, middle-class and bohemian]]--in short, the '70s version of {{hipster}}s. The British scene was predominately working class. Johnny Rotten openly mocked Music/PattiSmith's performance in London in 1976, a feeling that Smith reciprocated towards the Sex Pistols.

Much of this divide has to do with the different ways the US and UK punk scenes developed. Bands on both sides of ThePond drew influences from the same bands -- the big American protopunk acts (Music/TheStooges, Music/VelvetUnderground, Music/NewYorkDolls, Music/MC5, The Dictators, etc.) were widely respected in both the US and the UK, while Music/TheRamones, an American band and firm believers in ThreeChordsAndTheTruth, played a major role in [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff launching the British scene]]. Despite their shared inspirations, however, American and British punks came from very different backgrounds -- the American scene was more [[BourgeoisBohemian artsy, middle-class and bohemian]], while the British scene was predominately working class. Johnny Rotten openly mocked Music/PattiSmith's performance in London in 1976, a feeling that Smith reciprocated towards the Sex Pistols.

Much of this divide has to do with the different ways the US and UK punk scenes developed. Bands on both sides of ThePond drew influences from the same bands -- the big American protopunk acts (Music/TheStooges, Music/VelvetUnderground, Music/NewYorkDolls, Music/MC5, The Dictators, etc.) were widely respected in both the US and the UK, while Music/TheRamones, an American band and firm believers in ThreeChordsAndTheTruth, played a major role in [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff launching the British scene]]. Despite their shared inspirations, however, American and British punks came from very different backgrounds -- the American scene was more artsy and bohemian, while the British scene was predominately working class. Johnny Rotten openly mocked Music/PattiSmith's performance in London in 1976, a feeling that Smith reciprocated towards the Sex Pistols.

Much of this divide has to do with the different ways the US and UK punk scenes developed. Bands on both sides of ThePond drew influences from the same bands -- the big American protopunk acts (Music/TheStooges, Music/NewYorkDolls, Music/MC5, The Dictators, etc.) were widely respected in both the US and the UK, while Music/TheRamones, an American band and firm believers in ThreeChordsAndTheTruth, played a major role in [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff launching the British scene]]. Despite their shared inspirations, however, American and British punks came from very different backgrounds -- the American scene was more artsy and bohemian, while the British scene was predominately working class. Johnny Rotten openly mocked Music/PattiSmith's performance in London in 1976, a feeling that Smith reciprocated towards the Sex Pistols.

** In the Northeast and other "blue state" parts of the U.S., being a fan of country music carries [[DeepSouth many of the same connotations]] as being a fan of {{NASCAR}} – unless it's a hip alternative country band, a crossover pop artist (e.g. Music/TaylorSwift, Music/LadyAntebellum), or a legend with universal appeal (like JohnnyCash, WillieNelson, or PatsyCline), admitting to being a country fan will most likely get you called a redneck, a hillbilly, or some variation thereof. The UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity area, for example, did not have ''any'' country stations whatsoever between 2002 and 2013, despite it being the largest radio market in America and country being, by some measures, the most popular genre of music in America.

* It is ''damn near impossible'' for international rappers from Europe and/or Australia to crossover stateside. The only British act to have a hit in the US. ([[OneHitWonder and only one]]) is Stereo [=MCs=] with their Top 20 song "Connected", and even then it was more of a dance song than a rap song. There is some room for Canadian rappers (i.e. Music/{{Drake}}), but not much. This could be due to the aforementioned fact that many Americans are turned off by artists that feature noticeable accents, and rappers from foreign countries often have accents that are very noticeable. Music/IggyAzalea is an exception that proves the rule -- she left Australia as a teen in order to move to the US for the ''specific purpose of making it big internationally'', and she goes to great lengths to [[FakeAmerican hide her native Australian accent]] in favor of one more similar to that of [[PrettyFlyForAWhiteGuy a black chick from Atlanta]].

* It is ''damn near impossible'' for international rappers from Europe and/or Australia to crossover stateside. The only British act to have a hit in the U.S. ([[OneHitWonder and only one]]) is Stereo [=MCs=] with their Top 20 song "Connected", and even then it was more of a dance song than a rap song. This could be due to the aforementioned fact that many Americans are turned off by artists that feature noticeable accents, and rappers from foreign countries often have accents that are very noticeable. Australian rapper Music/IggyAzalea has been cited as an exception, since she's had massive success in the States ([[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff moreso than her homeland]]), but even that is a subversion since she left Australia as a teen in order to move to the U.S. for the ''specific purpose of making it big internationally''. That, and she [[PrettyFlyForAWhiteGuy raps like a southern black chick from Atlanta]], hiding her native Australian accent. There is some room for Canadian rappers (i.e. Music/{{Drake}}) though, but not much.

* The Music/SexPistols recorded a UK #1 album with ''Music/NeverMindTheBollocksHeresTheSexPistols'', which never cracked the top 100 in sales in the U.S. It did not help matters that the Pistols' sole U.S. tour during their original run was a publicity stunt concocted by Malcolm [=McLaren=] that saw the Pistols touring the Bible Belt to generate lots of "rednecks vs. punks" news. ([[http://www.todd-a.com/2010/03/tonite-sex-pistols-next-week-merle-haggard/ One oft-shown image]] has the theater marquee of the Longhorn Ballroom in Dallas showing the Sex Pistols headlining that week, with the next week's show featuring Music/MerleHaggard!) One of the only shows in punk-friendly territory was the very last in San Francisco – and that one ended with Johnny Rotten leaving the stage, and the band, abruptly. This has to do with the different ways the U.S. and U.K. punk scenes developed. The American scene was more artsy and bohemian, while the British scene was predominately working class. Johnny Rotten openly mocked {{Music/Patti Smith}}'s performance in London in 1976. On the other hand, Music/TheRamones, an American band, [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff launched the British scene]]. They firmly believed in ThreeChordsAndTheTruth. Same goes for the big protopunk acts (Music/TheStooges, Music/NewYorkDolls, Music/MC5, The Dictators, etc.), who were widely respected on both sides of the pond.

* In the early 80s, Music/{{Queen}} lost much of its popularity in the US thanks to their 1982 album ''Hot Space'' because of its heavy disco influence ([[DeaderThanDisco not very appealing to Americans at the time]]). Their 1984 music video for "I Want To Break Free" also {{squick}}ed out American audiences, who were unaware that the video was parodying the British soap opera ''Series/CoronationStreet''. Sadly, it was with Music/FreddieMercury's [[DeadArtistsAreBetter untimely death]] in 1991 that they'd recover their popularity there.