Live Aid: Wembley Stadium, 13th July 1985 poll.

It was released a couple of weeks before Live Aid.

Just looked it up, it wasn't really storming up the charts at the time.

they were on fire that day but they were in the middle of a huge world tour (and played 'across the car park' at the Arena the same evening) so fair dos.

I don't think any of Weller's incarnations made much of an impact in America, did they? I'm guessing The Jam definitely didn't, I don't know about his solo career. I know he does have some dedicated American fans, though.

― You’re being too simplistic and you’re insulting my poor heart (Turrican), Wednesday, July 15, 2015 11:08 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Nope, other than "My Ever Changing Moods," he never had a US hit. I remember hearing "You're the Best Thing" on the radio a lot at the time, though. Weirdly, I don't think the Style Council ever toured the US.

The Jam couldn't get arrested in the US, though apparently there was a big push by their label around 1980 or so; they appeared on American Bandstand and Fridays. A few cities had sizable Jam followings (NYC, Boston, Chicago, LA), where they played maybe 3000-4000 seat venues. They got off on the wrong foot here, though: their first US dates in the late 70s were opening for Blue Oyster Cult.

Dunno how much overlap there is between Jam fans and Weller solo fans here; some friends of mine saw him a few weeks ago and said it was disappointing, but they only know his Jam stuff, which he didn't play.

their first US dates in the late 70s were opening for Blue Oyster Cult.

fwiw that's not correct, they played headline dates in the US in 1977 but at smallish venues like CBGBs/The Rat, they supported BOC in 1978.

Ah, good point. I couldn't remember if the BOC shows were before or after the CBGBs shows.

Should point out I am not a walking Jam encyclopaedia but by coincidence someone posted a link to a CBGBs chronology on FB yesterday and I was reading the 70s gig listings last night!

Dunno how much overlap there is between Jam fans and Weller solo fans here; some friends of mine saw him a few weeks ago and said it was disappointing, but they only know his Jam stuff, which he didn't play.

― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Thursday, July 16, 2015 3:14 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Even here, I've found with Weller fans that it depends on who you talk to regarding their preferences - every Weller fan I've ever spoken to seems to have a very different opinion. The hardcore of the hardcore love all three Weller periods equally, I guess, but just as often you'll find people who say, like The Jam and nothing else, or The Style Council and nothing else, or they'll like The Jam and Weller's '90s solo work but not the rest of his stuff etc.

I'm just thinking about what happened to a lot of these artists post-Live Aid, not so much the then-"old guard" acts like Status Quo, McCartney, The Who etc. but more the artists that emerged in the first half of the decade/tail end of the previous decade. It's already been mentioned that The Boomtown Rats and Adam Ant were on their way out, but they're not the only examples.

I mean, Spandau Ballet basically had one more Top Ten hit after Live Aid ('Through The Barricades'), Ultravox began to falter with the sacking of Warren Cann and U-Vox (and never recovered), Nik Kershaw's album after Live Aid was a flop, none of Paul Young's singles in 1986/1987 made the UK Top 10. It was pretty much slowly downhill for The Style Council in terms of popularity, too. Howard Jones never had a Top 10 hit again on either side of the Atlantic after 1985. Duran Duran kept on making records and having a dedicated fanbase, but Live Aid was pretty much the end for the original line-up.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

I'm the guy that voted for Elton btw.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

and, sorry, I thought Bowie was excellent. That version of "Heroes" is still my go-to live arena version.

― The burrito of ennui (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, July 14, 2015 7:06 PM