Top 10 British Bands Who Never Cracked America

I pity the American music scene for missing out on Stereophonics, they are sublime and put on the best live shows I've seen ♥

I’m a fan of British rock from the ‘60 & ‘70s and British metal from the ‘80s. In the ‘90s the Americans just did it better with grunge and alternative rock. I really didn’t like any of the British bands of the ‘90s. It’s just not my cup of tea. Too soft and wimpy. That started with ‘80s new wave which I detest. The wimpiness just continued and the Americans took over with better music. Of course this is just my opinion.

Paul Weller. Legend! Stanley Road is a classic album. Always see him when he comes to Glasgow. The Stone Roses far superior to Oasis.

One of the best British bands of all times is missing: The Levellers. If you have never heard of them, look them up.

So did the Verve make it?

Many Americans, who grew up in the 80s, have heard of “The Jam” & “Town Called Malice” (as it was played on MTV, and, on many American indie & college radio stations) (& those same stations, also played the Stone Roses & Happy Mondays)

Here’s a fun fact, your Cliff Richard guy, had something like 40 top-10 hits, in the UK, but only one top 10 hit, here in America of “Devil Women” (in the 1970s) Kylie Minogue only has two songs that made top 40 here in America. When she’s super popular, and all the other English speaking countries.

You forgot about the Housemartins. (one of my favorite British bands) probably 97% of my fellow Americans, have I’ve never heard of them. And probably 99% of Americans never heard of the “Beautiful South.”

What?! I remember Madness from the MTV days in the 80's! I really liked them( even though I'm mostly hard rock/ EARLY metal.) What about Squeeze?

One thing to remember about the "links" Madness had to skinheads was the racist scumbags that hijacked the culture throwing salutes around at shows in the 70s. Even The Specials, Sham 69 and others had their grief with boneheads.

I'm surprised Slade didn't make this list.

I haven’t heard of a lot of these and I’m Aussie and we usually get everyone from uk

This list has an actual cult following outside of the UK

I cannot believe Slade was not even included. Absolutely criminal.
In the 70's Slade sold more singles in Britain than any other band, period. More than Zeppelin. Queen. Pink Floyd. David Bowie. et al. You name it.
They were the 1st Brit band to have 3 single debut at #1. 17 consecutive top 20's. 30 albums, 3 at #1. Only the Beatles did better.
Huge influence on American bands.
And they tried not once, but 2 times to crack America.
Criminal negligence to overlook one of the best bands ever.
Criminal.

No tuvieron éxito en USA, pero en muchos otros países de América siiii

The manics are severely underrated!

I read the timeout and I cry to see all the British bands who never come to America

Suede as an honorable mention? Nope. They have now--and had in the 90s--a strong fan base in the States. I saw them in St. Louis when they were big. Anderson, to us, was a continuation of Bowie's royal family, a new prince. Many of us viewed things this way. After all, Roxy Music and others had to pass the torch at some point.

Pulp is my favorite

I prefer British bands

Americas loss

The highest the Kinks ever got in the US singles chart was 6. So they never made the top 5.

It’s good to be an American who likes these British bands!

Kasabian club foot good that

Enter Shikari?

Placebo deserved an honourable mention

If you grew up in Canada, you heard all these alt bands.

Where's Oasis? They never cracked America and are probably the most influential band on British culture ever

THE STRANGLERS!

I am from.Romania and i grew up listening to Supergrass, Pulp, Blur, of course Oasis, Babylon zoo, Kula Shaker
The Stone Roses blew my mind when they came on MTV

The Jam !!!!!!!!!!!!

only in america...not in CANADA.

Maybe Kasabian shouldn't have named their band after a member of the Manson Family and they might have done better. Half of these bands have been on American radio stations. Supergrass' song was in Clueless.

The Stones Roses reformed in 2012. Do a little research kiddo.

Surprised that The Beautiful South weren't on this list. Their greatest hits (at the time) compilation Carry On Up The Charts was in something ridiculous like 1 in 7 UK households when it came out in the 90s, but as far as I'm aware they never had a hit in the US.

LOL... Suede get nothing but a fucking honorable mention??? They should have been number 1 on the list ... what a joke! Most underrated band in history!

Supergrass were AMAZING but they sadly only got 1 song that made it in America. The 2005 album Road to Rouen is brilliant. Luckily they reformed in 2019. I also think Catatonia would've been a good mention.

What about Cardiacs?

Maybe a lot of these bands didn't need to crack America or couldn't be botherered. For a small island, we've produced some amazing bands

KASABIAN has at least 20+ songs that are fire (pardon the pun). Been into them for 10 years, seen them live 2x. Great shows

Newsflash: people in other countries don't embrace exactly the same music as they do in yours. How many rappers never made it in the UK? Who cares? Some artists just need time to gain a following far away, especially back then when there was no internet. Kate Bush is the first that comes to mind, but even she had some success in the US -- even though she never played live here. Anyway, it's not true that Madness never cracked America when "Our House" cracked the Top 10 in the US -- just looked it up. The Jam had and still has a cult following in the US -- as does Paul Weller. Saw him in the 2000s in LA and he was great. And unfortunately Americans are aware of Robbie Williams.

A note to American audiences: the term "skinheads" have a totally different meaning in the UK.

MADNESS cracked Europe though

What about a band from Bradford called "The Music" - except sadly they were also underrated in the UK too. Pity, as tracks like Getaway, Fire, Welcome to the North, Drugs would've found some appreciation in the USA. Ironic that their singer has now joined Kasabian who are mentioned on this list.

You should have named this britpop bands that didn't crack in the United States eight out of 10 bands were britpop

The Jam didn’t make it in America? Damn that’s a surprise, it’s even more of a surprise that they weren’t first (no offence to fans of the Stone Roses, it’s just my opinion)

The best band in this video isn't even included in the list. It's the Kaiser Chiefs whose video "Ruby" plays for the first 15 seconds. I'd never heard of them until I watched this several months ago. Now I feel like I'm obsessed with the band and their music. In addition to "Ruby," check out: "Never Miss a Beat," "Every day I love you less and less," "Coming Home," "On the Run," "I Predict a Riot," "Modern Way," and "Falling Awake." Great videos, too.

My Top 14 in no particular Order: Uriah Heep, The Fall, The Chameleons, Bauhaus, The Waterboys, The Move, Slade, T Rex, The Jam, XTC, The Sweet, The Pogues, Gang of Four and The Stranglers

You forgot 'The Libertines', "up the bracket" is one of my fav songs ever... i should investigate what it is about.. then again, i dont care : )

As much Brits love to overhype these bands,most of them if not all are crappy bands.There's a reason why bands like Beatles,Zeppelin,Stones,Sabbath and Floyd despite being British are successful in the US while these mediocre bands are not.