Irish bands who made it here, but were good enough to make the grade elsewhere?

NIMAN · 18-11-2015 10:34pm #1

Over the years I have listened to and bought music from quite a few Irish bands who I thought were very good, but who never seemed to crack it outside of Ireland.

The likes of In Tua Nua, Republic of Loose, Cry Before Dawn, The Devlins, Jack L, An Emotional Fish (I'm sure I'll think of more later).

So is there any Irish artist(s)/band that you really think should have made it big?

elastico · 18-11-2015 10:40pm

NIMAN wrote: »

Over the years I have listened to and bought music from quite a few Irish bands who I thought were very good, but who never seemed to crack it outside of Ireland.

The likes of In Tua Nua, Republic of Loose, Cry Before Dawn, The Devlins, Jack L, An Emotional Fish (I'm sure I'll think of more later).

So is there any Irish artist(s)/band that you really think should have made it big?

Legend has it something happens song "parachute" was ready to go big but it got banned because of the gulf war.

Anesthetize · 20-11-2015 12:36am

Republic of Loose are rubbish anyway so it's not surprising that they were never popular elsewhere. The same goes with bland pop-rock bands like The Blizzards and The Coronas - bands with nothing to offer the world.

I'm more interested in the opposite - Irish bands with a large following abroad but far from being household names here. Bands like Primordial for example. This is mainly due to the Irish music press being absolute idiots.

loyatemu · 20-11-2015 12:32pm

That Petrol Emotion should have been bigger - they had a number of near-misses on the British charts

lewisdhead · 26-11-2015 5:33pm

Stars of Heaven should have had more success. Also I recall a Limerick band called Woodstar, had a bit of a Mercury Rev thing going on, I think they could have made a name for themselves.

loveroflight · 26-11-2015 8:10pm

The Mamas Boys were incredible. Pat McManus still is!!!

Micky Dolenz · 26-11-2015 8:13pm

Aslan.

Cortina_MK_IV · 26-11-2015 8:14pm

I'm with you on Cry Before Dawn but also Aslan, however that was probably down to Christy's problems.

The Golden Miller · 27-11-2015 1:07am

Anesthetize wrote: »

Republic of Loose are rubbish anyway so it's not surprising that they were never popular elsewhere. The same goes with bland pop-rock bands like The Blizzards and The Coronas - bands with nothing to offer the world.

I'm more interested in the opposite - Irish bands with a large following abroad but far from being household names here. Bands like Primordial for example. This is mainly due to the Irish music press being absolute idiots.

Metal bands will never have a big following here outside a niche market. No big surprise there really. And also, they are alright, nothing to write home about.

Did the Thrills "cut the grade" elsewhere?

loyatemu · 27-11-2015 11:16am

The Golden Miller wrote: »

Did the Thrills have "cut the grade" elsewhere?

the Thrills had a number of UK hits, probably one of the more successful Irish bands of the last 20 years.

27-11-2015 3:42pm

I don't know but honestly, I can't see many of the bands listed here as having any kind of appeal to an international audience outside Ireland.

Aslan for example, I personally really dislike them but to be 100% neutral here and stick to the OP's original question, I honestly don't believe it's unfair or surprising that they wouldn't be popular anywhere other than here. As for Christy's (*cough*) "issues", there was bigger dope fiends than him sold millions of records worldwide.

Likewise with groups like In Tua Nua, you don't have to like or dislike them to agree they were talented musicians, I just don't see any reason why anyone would be confused about why the UK and US record buying public are missing out by not making them go platinum. There must be a million bands fusing rock music with the trad/folk music of France, Spain, Russia, Italy, or whatever, and I'm sure many of them are great. It just doesn't surprise me that they won't be popular outside their own countries. Sure there's The Pogues but that would be the exception.

On the other hand...
I was in Gambia last week on a holiday. Went to visit a nature reserve, a sanctuary for snakes and reptiles in the middle of the African jungle on the border with Senegal. The park manager there is from Sierra Leone, and on hearing I was Irish asked
"Do you know Daniel O'Donnell?"
"You mean the singer?" I replied, "aamm... yes, I know who he is, yeah".
"I love his music"
My jaw dropped! :eek:
"Yes" he continued, "him and Mary Duff, listen to them all the time".

(I swear to God I am NOT making this up!

)

tipptom · 27-11-2015 3:59pm

Always thought that the Sultans of Ping could have had a better crack at England with a bit of luck and timing.

rojito · 27-11-2015 5:02pm

Did The Frames ever gain any kind of traction outside of Ireland? I know it is said they are popular in the States but I lived in London for several years around their "peak" and no one had ever heard of them.

SterlingArcher · 27-11-2015 5:09pm

Director.

https://youtu.be/2YwfrUqCvYQ

Fr Tod Umptious · 27-11-2015 9:32pm

Growing up and listening to music in the late 80s early 90s I recall that there always seemed to a search on "for the next U2".

And throughout that time bands like In Tua Nua, Microdisney, A House, Something Happens, etc all came and went without making an impact.

Looking back I think that there was too much pressure on bands to become internationally recognized.
It was almost a legitimacy thing, you were not good enough if you were not popular outside Ireland.

I remember when I first moved to the US in the mid nineties I was as stunned to see that The Cranberries were so popular in America, well in the north east where I was at least, I thought they were desperate.

But at the end of the day as the other posters story from Africa shows, its the likes of Daniel that's selling the records and filling the concert halls abroad.

loyatemu · 27-11-2015 10:50pm

tipptom wrote:

Always thought that the Sultans of Ping could have had a better crack at England with a bit of luck and timing.

They had a few hits and were on the cover of the NME, that's not bad for a novelty act.

DEFTLEFTHAND · 28-11-2015 5:30pm

Did Kerbdog ever make an impact overseas?

ger vallely · 28-11-2015 5:38pm

I love Bell X1 and I cannot understand how they are not huge. They ought to be more popular than the beige Coldplay. Their lyrics are quite humorous by times and often bordering on mildly genius! I love their voices and I honestly think they ought to be far more recognised outside this country.

kunst nugget · 28-11-2015 5:45pm

ger vallely wrote: »

I love Bell X1 and I cannot understand how they are not huge. They ought to be more popular than the beige Coldplay. Their lyrics are quite humorous by times and often bordering on mildly genius! I love their voices and I honestly think they ought to be far more recognised outside this country.

Their lyrics make me cringe. They are just awful and a lot of what I heard from their later albums was second rate Talking Heads.

Carpenter · 28-11-2015 5:48pm

Stepaside

ger vallely · 28-11-2015 6:26pm

Kunst nugget- ah I guess each to their own, eh? But having bought their albums and seeing them live I think they are great musicians and performers. But if they don't float your boat that's fine by me!

The Golden Miller · 28-11-2015 9:48pm

ger vallely wrote: »

I love Bell X1 and I cannot understand how they are not huge. They ought to be more popular than the beige Coldplay. Their lyrics are quite humorous by times and often bordering on mildly genius! I love their voices and I honestly think they ought to be far more recognised outside this country.

They are hit and miss. For every good song on one of their albums, there's at least one boring/bland song. In saying that, many bands made it bigger with hardly any good songs

fiachr_a · 01-12-2015 6:22pm

Gavin Friday is the one that should have been more successful abroad. His solo albums are quite good.

Anesthetize · 01-12-2015 7:37pm

fiachr_a wrote: »

Gavin Friday is the one that should have been more successful abroad. His solo albums are quite good.

I've never checked out his solo stuff. The Virgin Prunes had a cult following outside of Ireland. And if I remember correctly, it was Gavin Friday who told Kevin Shields of MBV to get out of Ireland if you want to have some sort of success.

MadYaker · 02-12-2015 1:42am

Jape are great, they don;t seem to have a huge following here or abroad though

endacl · 02-12-2015 1:46am

The Cranberries. How dafuq did they even make it out of Limerick?!?

worded · 02-12-2015 1:47am

The devlins - I will still be waiting

Great track

chefvortivask · 02-12-2015 1:58am

Aslan could have been a huge band worldwide, phenomenal ability. Only thing holding them back was Christy Dignam's public image and struggle with the bottle, but as a songwriter and musician he was up there with the best.. shame they never really cracked the global scene

tipptom · 02-12-2015 11:36am

endacl wrote: »

The Cranberries. How dafuq did they even make it out of Limerick?!?

Aw Cmon,they made some classic tunes,Zombie and Salvation are great songs still.

endacl · 03-12-2015 3:57pm

tipptom wrote: »

Aw Cmon,they made some classic tunes,Zombie and Salvation are great songs still.

No. Just no.

fiachr_a · 03-12-2015 8:54pm

worded wrote: »

The devlins - I will still be waiting

Great track

Was going to say them. Not well know even in Ireland. Some great songs - Everything comes around.

Irish bands who made it here, but were good enough to make the grade elsewhere?

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