10 British Bands Who Never Cracked America - American Reacts 

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Original skinheads weren’t racist, it was associated with Two Tone and Ska over here, so not a problem with Madness’ marketing just that the meaning of skinhead and the popular understanding changed

Madness are probably one of the most british bands ever. When ever a madness song comes on in a pub you know everyone's gonna be singing along

you cant listen to madness without an immediate desire to dance around like a lunatic on a treadmill :)

The Stereophonics and The Manic Street Preachers are brilliant bands. Still going strong in many countries, not just Wales.

I just wanted to say the original skinheads were not nazis, original skinheads were influenced by the style of Jamaican immigrants, and Madness would have been in contact with skinheads such as these, the ones who are part of SHARP (Skin Heads Against Racial Prejudice).

I mean I get that Take That aren't everyone's cup of tea but imagine not hearing of them at all😂 W H A T

Not cracking America does not equate to, 'only making it in the UK'. Most major UK bands have had success outside the UK. Particularly in Europe, Australia, Japan and the Far East. America isn't the World. Some of the biggest stars in the World may not crack America. It doesn't mean they're only popular in their home country. :)

What’s interesting about this list, are a lot of them what I class as ‘classics’ - so it’s kinda mind boggling that they’re not necessarily well known outside of the UK

When commenting on Madness’ association with skinheads, the narrator does the audience a disservice: him just saying the band was associated with skinheads is misleading and incomplete information which could easily lead to people believing they had nefarious associations, which couldn’t be further from the truth. I’ve seen Suggs on tv once where he was close to tears defending himself against accusations of racism. I might suggest you listen to one of their songs: “embarrassment” and check out the story behind the song. It’ll break your heart. I’m a black guy and I love Madness forever.

I love the Stereophonics and have been to see them live, a number of times! Kelly Jones has a fantastic voice, especially when he was younger as it was more raspy, but his voice is still amazing and they sound great live.

America doesn’t know what it’s missed with the phonics. Absolute legends, phenomenal live,

Stereophonics are seriously under rated. When you listen to their catalogue of songs, there are soooo many great ones and Kelly Jones voice is beyond amazing live

The Jam made it right into my Home in denmark! “Thats entertainment” or “going underground” is two of my favourites!

I’ve seen the Stereophonics countless times but the best was when they played their first 3 albums on 3 consecutive nights in London. Amazing gigs. Funnily enough Paul Weller showed up too 🙌🏼

I actually love you so much, the appreciation you have for the UK is fab to see! Not used to seeing it 😅🥴 Thank you, from across the pond 🇬🇧

The stone roses were in a contract dispute with their label so they were banned from making new music during those 5 years, it wasn't a case that they couldn't be bothed to put the work in.

Kelly Jones is one of the most underrated vocalists of all time! Maybe Tomorrow live in Dakota is the kind of performance that gives me goosebumps every time!

Its nonsense to say Madness were damaged by connections to skinheads, the skinhead culture they were connected to was not what you are thinking of at all. They started out as a British Ska band, influenced by West Indian music, and developed from there. They are the best, always make you feel better, and their videos are hilarious, you definately want to react to them. Trust me, they are so quintesentially British and beloved that in 2012 they were the first act on the closing ceremony of the Olympic Games. The same year the performed on top of Buckingham Palace at the Queens Diamond Jubilee concert.

Skinheads in England were around before the neo nazis took hold of the look, its started as a fashion choice much like the mods and rockers of the 1950's, it was linked to ska music which was a cultural blend of British and Jamaican music

The Stone Roses … a truly legendary band of the early 90s. Brings back so many memories

The Jam did a song called A Town Called Malice which is in Billy Elliot. If you haven’t already, you should definitely watch it!! It’s my favourite film and you’ll get a good look at some British culture and history

The Manics are brilliant! seen them 25 times! 🙂🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

Those are all really great bands and I grew up with their music on the radio - it's cultural background for most of us Brits.

Stereophonics are criminally underrated

Manic Street Preachers are my all-time favourite band. Criminally underrated!

2 bands I expected to be in there were the verve and ocean colour scene. Each bands top tunes are well worth a listen. The verve: lucky man, bittersweet symphony, the drugs dont work. Ocean colour scene: riverboat song, day we caught the train, hundred mile high city. Just a few suggestions for ya mate.

I'd highly recommend watching This Is England, a 2006 British drama film written and directed by Shane Meadows. The story centres on young skinheads in England in 1983. The film illustrates how their subculture, which has its roots in 1960s West Indies culture, especially ska, soul, and reggae music,became adopted by the far-right, especially white nationalists and white supremacists, which led to divisions within the skinhead scene

re: skinheads Skinhead culture in the UK has its origins in the fusion of culture that came in the 60's when we saw a surge of immigration from Jamaica and the rest of the Caribbean which introduced new styles of music to a disaffected working class 70's youth who adopted the culture and the people who brought its roots to this country. Ska became a rather popular sub-culture through the 70's and through to the mid-80's and would go on to directly influence the BritPop scene of the early 90's, however the subculture ended up getting hijacked by a different group, who stripped it of it's Caribbean roots and modelled themselves instead on the skinhead white nationalist movements. By the end of the 80's, the original Skinhead subculture of Britain had faded away, no longer wanting to be associated with the bigoted views that mid-80's Skinheads had established. Most of the late 70's and early 80's Skinheads who had remained faithful to the inclusive and supportive roots had grown up by the time the 90's were rolling in, and had either migrated further into British Urban music subcultures largely inspired by American Hip-Hop and Rap though with its own unique twists, or had been drawn into the Rave subculture where togetherness in the music was a core idea even if that meant breaking the law to throw down an epic party, or simply migrated to BritPop with entire subcultures surrounding bands like Oasis and Blur. Being a Skinhead is nothing inherently terrible, and whether it is a bad thing boils down to whether you follow the multicultural origins from the 60's or whether you've swallowed the far right propaganda. For more information, the movie "This Is England" is a fascinating glimpse into the subculture from the perspective of a young teenager in the early 80's, and the subsequent tv series continue the story of the characters from the film and how they change as time goes on and the subculture they belonged to no longer existed, and the film at least is well worth a reaction.

I’ve been listening to the following in August; Talking Heads, Speaking in Tongues ELO Eldorado Curved Air, Air Conditioning Focus 3 King Crimson. Islands Hawkwind, Onwards, Warrior on the Edge of Time, In Search of Space

Madness are criminally underrated in my opinion, people tend to focus on the better known songs but they have so many others that don't get nearly as much love, my favourite will always be The Sun and the Rain. Definitely check them out further if you can 🙂 great video JT, took me right down memory lane 🥰 BTW mad love for mentioning Iron Maiden too. My favourite band bar none 🤘

I'm biased, but Echo and the Bunnymen were a great band from my home city of Liverpool, hometown of the beatles. They almost made the big time in the late 70's and early 80's, but for some reason it didn't happen.

Madness are the best man, such classics.

The jam. Just give them a listen, you'll be hooked

Another great British band you may or may not have heard, Biffy Clyro. Their live shows are insanely good. 'Living is a problem' is a good place to start.

Always loved these bands. The Jam, Madness, the Stone roses, the phonics and Manic street preachers.legends. Still on my playlists.

Definitely listen to The Manic Street Preachers or Manics as often referred to. Start with a best of or something. The early stuff up to mid 2000s is nothing short of sensational. Lyrics to make you think plus brilliant musicianship. They wanted to be like Public Enemy but in an indie rock sense. Also The Jam are great too.

Manic Street Preachers - A design for life. One of the most underrated albums of the 90's in my opinion. Particularly the song 'Australia' check it out

Probably a good thing The Jam never made it in America, they'd have to change their name to The Jelly!

Surprised to see Take That on this list. In the 90s they were everywhere in the UK. Including some strange music videos especially in the early years. The song "Do what you like" comes to mind.

Should have a look at oasis documentary

This list was basically my teen years in a nutshell, you guys are missing out big time!

The Jam album Setting Sons is absolutely awesome. Still one of my favourites.

Stereophonics and Manic Street Preachers have been two of my favourite bands for most of my life. As a Welsh person, I'm insanely proud of boys. Great music and they always put on great shows too. Definitely check them out. You do love your Wales people after all!

I love the Manics. They were a massive part of my teenage years.

The way the narrator mentioned skinheads had no context. The skinhead/ska movement were far from neo nazi's. Madness are the best band i've saw live, absolute legends.

Have a listen to 'The Prodigy', absolutely fantastic band.

Wow, I'm so jealous of you listening to some of these bands for the first time. If I had to pick one, for me that would be The Jam. Most of those songs are from my youth in and around London. On a sad note, my brother in law was a big fan of The Jam. He died of a brain tumour about 15 years ago, but he got us laughing when "going underground" played before he was buried. He had time to plan his funeral and we didn't know about that part, bless him.

The jam & madness are brill ❤️ so much amazing music xx

Skinheads in the UK in the late 60s early 70s that they refer to madness as being associated with were a totally different entity of the skinheads today, back then it was all about music and fashion nothing whatsoever to do with politics like it is today.

Paul Weller from the Jam is a great guitarist.

We live in a different world now. Markets are more open to artists getting exposure online. A lot of bands never understood the commitment needed to break into the American market either, but RU-vid, search engines and a curiosity from around the world allows us to go and explore culture we never used to have knowledge or understand. That’s the good side of the internet. The UK got a lot of culture handed to us by the likes of John Peel, who wanted people to hear music that was different to anything in the charts in the Britain.

Sending love from Northern Ireland! Thanks JT for making these videos. Ive binged most of them since I discovered you last week :)

I'm Manchester born n bred.. It's amazing how many artists and bands we've produced.. I'll always feel pride for being a Mancunian.

A Grass in England is an informer, so if you did something naughty at school and someone told on you they would "grass you up",, some IRA members grassed on a lot of IRA members and they were dubbed a Supergrass, which is where the name of the band came from.

Dakota by Stereophonics and Motorcycle Emptiness by Manic Street Preachers are two of the best records ever made.

Day 1 of asking: You should react to a british film. Id recommend hot fuzz, shaun of the dead and or the worlds end.

Take That. “I never heard of them.” I love you man. Subbed.

Love the jam. Paul weller then went on to make over 20 solo albums 6 of which got UK number 1’s

Loved the early stereophonic songs. Word gets around basically summed up life in the Valleys in the late 90s. Amazing at Cardiff Castle - other times they were still good but that night was fantastic

Great stuff! Sterios, Jam and Manics deffo worth a more in depth listen too.

Two members of the manic street preachers were busking, when a woman walked past and said 'not another manic street preacher'. They liked that and so named their band after it,

Great British music, loved it, you have to listen to more of Stereophonics and Madness brilliant bands😊

Stereophonics are one of the best bands I've ever heard perform live. So good!

This was exactly what I needed to turn a great day in to a brilliant day. Cheers JT

Take That are a household name here in the UK! And still going strong! Even with 2 members leaving, they continue as a 3 piece.

The Jam were a good band: I once saw them live. Madness were great fun. Listen to their first album “One Step Beyond”, which is a masterpiece.

Need more reactions like this love it!! Got bands like Catfish and the Bottlemen, you me at six, royal blood and biffy clyro

Love this channel! Bright side of my day watching your videos

Manic Street Preachers are just the best band! Seriously you won't be disappointed with giving them a listen!

I seriously recommend u listen to all of them, Madness are a really fun band even if they were linked to skin heads they got men back on the dance floor in britian. Take That were the biggest band around during there time when asked if they wanted to go to America one of them said "I can't be arsed" so they didn't bother they split up and reformed 20 years later and were massive again and still are.

So I lived in the UK for 10 years and familiar with most of these bands. My favorites would be The Jam and Stereophonics but any of them are really good! Pulp’s song Common People is a must listen as well!

Of all the bands on that list, The Jam are probably the most iconic, for the amazing catalogue of music they left behind when they split up. Paul Weller has probably written more great songs since leaving, than he ever did for The Jam, his output puts many music 'greats' to shame, & he's always worth a listen, if you can get past his left-wing politics first! Luckily for me, I became a huge Jam fan, long before PW revealed his 'red' side!!

2 awesome Welsh bands in this list. Stereophonics are amazing! I love the first album but think that's down to how good the Morfa gig was in Swansea

You Septics dodged a bullet with Take That!

I really like a lot of these bands and love a few of them. Some of my favorite bands are The Jam, Pulp, The Smiths, and Joy Division. It really seems like rock bands have unfortunately have taken a back seat in America after Grunge except for a few examples while in Britain Rock bands are just as big as ever. Hopefully America will have some kind of Rock renaissance but we'll see. Great video! J.

Thanks for your amazing videos :) a massive thanks from Cardiff :)

The Jam was a great band. "Going Underground" is a great song. I loved it way back then and still love it now.

I love Stereophonics, I got to go and see them a few summers ago live in Wales. They’re from the same area that my dad is!

You can drop one step beyond or baggy trousers at any wedding, wake or kids party in the UK and the dance floor immediately fills with crazy dancers of all ages.

I highly recommend you check out more of the manic street preachers and pulp . Pulp are from my hometown

Another great video. Discovered your channel recently and it is brilliant. Keep up the great work!!! - From a fan in Scotland!

I love, love your videos and reactions. You really do cheer me up even when I'm cheerful already!😊 Was it Blur that you were trying to remember? Loads of best wishes from South England

Good video man! When you said it's not pulp you've heard of, I bet you were thinking of Blur. The two of them were around at the same time. Also, WHERE THE HELL ARE THE SOCKS MAN!! 😂😂

Check out Muse, they might be known in the US already tho

I think the Jam were influenced by the mod movement of the 1960s. Mods were mainly working class youth who adopted a stylish, fashionable and smart dress code. They would often drive scooters and wear Parker coats. A major mod band of the mod era was The Who. As others have commented in this thread, Madness' adoption of the skin head style was influenced by Black British and Jamaican origins of the skinhead style and Ska/Two Tone music. Suggs, the lead singer of Madness is left leaning politically. He was once very upset that some Madness/Suggs merchandise was auctioned off at a Conservative Party event.

I went to see the Manics when Richie Edward's was still with them. They are amazing and I would say on a par with U2 for quality. America missed out.

One of my favs is “Squeeze” they’re still plugging away though and are touring in the US right now. And although supremely unfashionable, Sir Cliff Richard has got to be the biggest UK star to have not crossed over to America (well you did have Elvis!) before the Beatles we had Cliff Richard, and he’s still going!

Honestly, this just scratches the surface, there are so many excellent UK bands that have never made it in the States, and many better bands than the ones mentioned here

Stone Roses DID reform before splitting again in 2018. Was at their last Belfast gig-what a night!!!

WTG JT 👏👏 what a selection of music, some awesome bands named, I've got tickets for me n my bro 2 go see Madness in Cardiff (big up my Wales people!! 👍) keep rocking dude 🤙

loved this, a blast from the past There was loads of bands like Space, Catatonia, from the Stone roses "madchester" stable like The Farm (altogether now being an anthem), Charlatans, James, Inspiral Carpets, Neds Atomic Dustbin........just a few for you to check out

Keep up the great work JT! also to anyone who sees this, have a great day☀️/night 🌙

Given our small population we've produced some amazing music

JT check out the stereophonics. Definitely underateted and well chuffed to live only half an hour away from where they formed. Definitely a band that got better over time. Keep your videos coming bro. Sending love from the UK 👍

Does anyone remember that Slade were originally a skinhead band? Yes, that Slade with the mis-spelled song titles and the song that drives everyone mad at Christmas!

One of the best live bands ever are Hawkwind, well worth a listen. 👍👍👊🇬🇧🇬🇧.

Love your vids bro. Really deliver that,"pick me up" at 3.50am when insomnia keeps you up. Would you ever try doing a 'try not to laugh' challenge.?

Great video again JT. Would love to see some reactions to songs and live performances from some of these bands. Especially the Welsh ones (Stereophonics and Manic Street Preachers). If you love you're Wales people you'll certainly love your Wales bands 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

Surprised that Slade didn't make the cut. Awesome band, but they never managed to crack the US.