I always thought American Football should be way bigger outside the US than they currently are. They helped shape a whole genre called Midwest emo and their melodies are brilliant.

Edit: loving the discussions so far, thanks for all the music recommendations as well!!!

33 comments

  2. Van Halen in their heyday of early to mid 1980s was about as big as a band gets.

    But outside of the US, especially Europe, they were known for Jump, if they were known at all.

  4. Dave Matthews Band. They have had 7 straight studio albums reach #1 on the US charts, and one hit #2.

    Outside of North America they haven’t broken the top 50 on any foreign charts with any albums

  8. None of the classic southern hard rock bands were ever big overseas. Skynyrd, 38 Special, Allman Brothers, Molly Hatchet, Blackfoot, Marshall Tucker, etc

  9. A reverse example because i feel like it: Meat Loaf was much more popular in western Europe, particularly the UK & Ireland, than he was over here

  10. I love American football, but I am probably the only ONLY person in my entire friend circle who knows them.

  11. I’d noninate the entire A&M cinematic universe of the late 60s/early 70s. Dionne Warwick, the Carpenters, Herb Alpert & the Tijuana brass, a bunch of other acts pushed forward by bacharach/david songwriting…dozens of smash hits in that easy listening x jazz x tin pan alley style, with nowhere near the same penetration overseas

  13. American Football wasn’t even popular throughout the whole US. The Great Lakes has a local music scene that the rest of the country sometimes ignores. There is a reason that a lot of bands move to LA, New York, and Nashville.

    Anything Country or Southern Rock tends to stay in the US, Canada, and Australia.

  14. Sublime

    Grateful Dead (despite the famous Europe 72 album)

    Curtis Mayfield

  15. Are you into Blues music at all? The Tedeschi Trucks Band is not well known in pop music/culture, but well regarded in the Blues community. The guitarist Derek Trucks is one of the best slide guitar players to ever play. If you’re interested I would check out [Midnight in Harlem](https://youtu.be/xbOlgESKbIc) to start.

    I always like to give them a shout out because they’re from my hometown, and still live and record all their albums here.

  17. I’ve always heard thad the White Stripes and Muse are both this way. Of course the world knows Seven Nation Army and Knights of Cydonia, but both bands are way more popular in their home country than elsewhere.

    I recommend Elephant start to back, it turned 20 last month!

  22. Did The Replacements, Violent Femmes, or Husker Du take off internationally? They were all pretty popular rock bands back in the day.

  23. Just going to name a few I like that I think were likely unknown overseas, and I can’t really say if they were popular here, likely obscure here too for most of them:

    Bad Religion – [American Dream](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vlu6xkRjIto) – Punk

    Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – [Carried from the Start](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtSy0IHV-to) – Bluesy Rock

    Faraway Boys – [Sailor Jerry Rum](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3mVLk0Mmk8) – Rockabilly

    Koffin Kats – [All of Me is Gone](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaaAlsvA3DE) – Pyschobilly

    Mad Season – [River of Deceit](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fm72DPJCX58) – Not many know of Layne Staley’s (Alice in Chains) other project even in the States

    Mars Volta – [The Widow](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5rmsMEfVY8) – I don’t the genre, I can’t classify it

    Mother Love Bone – [Man of Golden Words](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhN4e_pHWX8) – Temple of the Dog was made up of members of this band, which later became Pearl Jam, named after a lyric in a MLB song by Chris Cornell who was best friends with the lead singer

    Mourning Noise – [Misery Loves Me](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuGXhd8t1QA) – they had a very [Misfits style sound](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hclg2wBLVk0) back [in the 80s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLZa9bzSfR4) because, well, they were friends with the Misfits and lived next door in New Jersey

    Nick Hakim – [Bet She Looks Like You](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mbFxTXGnSo) – I don’t know the genre

    Quaker City Night Hawks – [Hunter’s Moon](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yn2S9hzVwMU) – Southern/Bluesy Rock

    Turnpike Troubadours – [Gin, Smoke, Lies](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ki4VJCsF0qk) – Red dirt

  25. I would say probably a lot of hip hop, especially pre Eminem/50 Cent. From what I can tell, Tupac never played a show outside the US.

  26. Are there any non American emo bands that you know of? It has always seemed like such a quintessentially American genre. Let me know if I’m sleeping on any.

  29. Talking Heads generally did quite a bit better in the US than overseas.

  31. Popular now? Or classic bands that were popular in the past and are now a part of pop culture?

  32. Are Queens of the Stone Age popular in Europe? Psychedelic desert rock doesn’t strike me as something that would be big outside America and Baja California.

  33. American Football wasn’t even that popular in the U.S., really. Not sure if they were ever on a major label, but I always considered them indie. They are good, though.

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