despite making some of the greatest music of the 70s, david bowie was never a huge seller in america...i find this amazing!!!...even his greatest albums like ziggy stardust(peaked at 75 in billboard), hunky dory (peaked at 93)and low(peaked at 11) never made the americian top ten album chart....what happened america?

Who cares? He made it in the U.K. And then some.


n edit
.
[Edited 10/14/04 4:58am]

I guess the US was way too conservative for the Bowie of back then. And in fact would still be.

Ziggy Stardust is famous for not making it big in America. But in reality he has probably sold almost an equal amount of records in US during his career than throughout the rest of the world. He has had several top ten singles and top twenty albums.

The question you are really asking here is: "why don't non-American artists make it big in America?" ... I think I wrote a really long essay on this subject some year ago and posted it to this forum as well.
[Edited 10/14/04 7:53am]

I think Bowie was big in America. I don't know where you get your chart info from but check on the sales for Lets Dance or Young Americans. My guess is those are his biggest selling American releases. He has also toured here numerous times & is always a success.

thedoorkeeper said:

I don't know the specific numbers, but I think that the "Let's Dance" album was a huge success in America. Hell, he was even on Soul Train back then. And a white dude on Soul Train back then usually meant huge crossover success.



Sarita

Redayh said:

I think the success of that album was solely because of Stevie R. Vaughn's participation

Everyone else was still freaked out that he allegedly slept with Mick Jagger

Luv4oneanotha said:

I remember the rumors. It didn't bother me (nor did I believe it). If I remember correctly, didn't he come right out of the box during the Ziggy Stardust period saying "I am a bisexual." I know that later he said he just did it to appear more androgynous. But, I wouldn't think anyone would be shocked about him hooking up with Mick (if it were true). I would think that Mick would have had more of a backlash, if anything, but it shouldn't have affected Bowie's sales in the late 70's-early 80's.

My thoughts.



S

Funny, I was pillaging my freinds vinyl and played a lot of Bowie last night. I asked that same question...My friend told me he did make it here at the time, but I suspect that it took a while for his stuff to catch on.

Bowie was huge in 1983 with Let's Dance. I was only 12 and I knew of it and saw the videos in Houston, Texas. Didn't know who Stevie Ray Vaugn was. Wouldn't have cared. Later, his video and single for Blue Jean was played a lot around the time that Prince came around with his Purple Rain tour.

Redayh said:

i believe the rumour was that his girlfriend or wife caught him in bed with mick jagger
and claimed they met each othe rbecause they where "Blowing" the same record exec
i didn't believe it nor did i care
but you never know

He's far too interesting and challenging for us.

Actually he has always been a huge star. Much like Prince. A bit too much of an artist for purely mainstream success in America. While David may not have had a Purple Rain in America, he's always been popular, respected, & well known.

Still, some of those numbers seem pretty low--75, 93.

England has been nicer to Prince too. I just read on another thread about Prince having #1's with Lovesexy, Batman, Graffiti Bridge, Symbol & Come. Those albums didn't go #1 in America.

blackboab said:

Bowie had a number one hit with "Fame" in 1975, "Station to Station" was a top ten album, and then his profile and sales dipped with subsequent albums until he hit big again with "Let's Dance". That may not be "big", but he's still done ok and a lot better than his peers. Neither T Rex nor Roxy Music made it in the US.

Ooooookay. I remeber when "Let's Dance" came out, it was all over the place. Heard "Never Let Me Down" ad naseum as well.

Bowie's biggest success proably came with the album rock stations. Much like Pink Floyd, he had way more "hit' songs than what the charts showed, due to album cuts getting airplay.

As a matter of fact when Bowie did get huge in Amercia with Let's Dance, the singles, the videos, the Serious Moonlight Tour, a lot of his following complained about him going top 40.

That tour was a big event with many celeberities in attendance and highly publicized after parties etc.

i grew up watching the labrynth and thought everyone knew bowie, i got to college and no one knows bowie. so sad. he deserves a lot of fame, i think its so weird he isnt that big, he really should be.

Maybe because Ziggy Stardust was freakin' everybody out?

hmmm...i always thought he was big in america.

SassyBritches said:

I agree. I mean, he's a legend here in The States. All over the world, in fact.

I think a better question would be, "Why didn't The Jam make it in America?"

He just didnt' fit the whole boy-band mold.

It was much too difficult for him to perfect all the steps in Darren's Dance Moves. Very hard to get a break in America if you can master those moves.

NWF said:

The Jam were too parochial, too English for the US. Plus Paul Weller hated playing the States at the beginning. The Jam never really made it big anywhere outside England - give or take one off chart placings for "Town Called Malice".

The Labyrinth!






As for the David-and-Mick rumours.....not sure if I believe it or not, but it's fun to think about.

maybe because he's "afraid of americans"...yuck, yuck, yuck :lol

SassyBritches said:

the let's dance album crossed over mainly because of nile rodgers' participation, the same way madonna crossed over with the like a virgin project. nr's production sound used to carry a lot of weight since it still had that "chic" vibe with it--

Luv4oneanotha said:

More than Stevie Ray, it was Nile Rodgers production that helped the Let's Dance album. That and MTV.

Bowie was quite LARGE in the '70s. Don't know where yous been.

Redayh said:

Hey girl (knew that name looked familiar)

Shapeshifter said:

mmmmm.....The Jam, The Style Council, Paul Weller...good shit