I just got high speed internet a few months ago and finally am able to enjoy youtube, etc. I've come across some pretty awesome Wendy and Lisa videos...performances, videos, interviews...all seeming to come from Europe.

When they were "dismissed" by Prince in 86 I was twelve and have followed them ever since, of course pissed at the lack of respect they seemed to get here in the states. For those of you abroad, how big were they?

Did they get a lot of radio play, etc? I know they got much more props there, just wondering on what level...star? superstar? legend?

They were about as big in Europe as they were in the US (in other words, not very big). Their biggest hit was in the UK, which was the song "Satisfaction" which peaked at #27. None of the other singles they ever released ever hit the top 40 in the UK or the rest of Europe for that matter. Check out Wikipedia for more info.

Wow...I always had this feeling they were much more popular abroad than here.

That's...unfortunate.

My answer for France since it's all i know:

Prince was THE hype in parisian's intellectual/journalistic/artistic circles in the late 80's, as in "you CAN'T be intelligent and educated if you don't dig Prince" so everybody was claiming how much Prince is a genius and, by association, W&L were part of this hype as well.

This being said, the general public wasn't much aware of their existence, particularly out of Paris. They didn't have any single hit, nor did they have much radio airplay on major stations.

In the UK they were absent from the mainstream media.

elmer said:

They did have one chart hit with Satisfaction and appeared on Top Of The Pops to perform the song.

I went to their shows when they toured the first two albums, and they were awesome, but they were never famous as such.
[Edited 5/6/10 1:14am]

Thanks for the info folks. I swear I thought they had a much better time of it in Europe.

Was there at least a hot underground vibe about them?

They had a few TV appearances, but never were big.

IMO, while Wendy and Lisa are excellent musicians, they don't exactly have "stage presence".

vivid said:

I thought Waterfalls was pretty big?

OK folks, they may not have been mainstream abroad, but they were definitely bigger in Europe than here in the US.

Videos:
Waterfall
Hoenymoon Express
Sideshow
Are You My Baby
Satisfaction
Strung Out

Of these, I only saw Waterfall and Are You My Baby ever aired in the US. But each of the others were aired in Europe as all of the youtube stuff I've seen has those foreign TV labels on the broadcast.

Also...a few televised interviews with video clips from French, Danish and UK TV. I saw one interview with Mark Goodman on MTV back in the day, right around the time of the first album (I remember watching "live" as a teen and going gaga over Wendy and her gold sequin dress!) No other outlet seemed to pay any attention.

Various live TV appearances promoting the first three albums. (I was just blown away by the live "Lolly Lolly" from Danish TV. WOW!!!) None, and I mean none in America!!

There had to be a strong underground vibe over there!

StonedImmaculate said:

Yes I saw all these videos on TV back then several times and there was also a broadcast of one of their concerts on German TV I think and some interviews from time to time too. But they were never really popular,

OldFriends4Sale said:

In the US? Not big. I never heard it on the radio. Anyone remember Night Tracks? I saw the video on there once. It was kind of hard to get into them back then with no exposure here in the US.

I remember an interview they did on Radio 1 - I think it was Johnny Walker, Saturday afternoon show - in support of Eroica but they've never had the props they deserve over here.

I'd have thought there could have been some stirrings of interest given their involvement in Heroes but sadly not, and now that's been cancelled, the chances of them riding that particular wave are slim...

They're just about the only act that I want to see play live in the UK these days... any chance W&L??