Big in the Philippines
Brilliant fake 80s song and music video from Music & Lyrics starring Hugh Grant as a pop singer based on Andrew Ridgeley, a.k.a. the guy in Wham who wasn’t George Michael. We still remember the review of his solo album: “Sounds like the work of an evil back-up singer who erased the lead vocals!” According to his wikipedia page he married someone from Bananarama.
Foreign pop artists/songs that were big hits in the Philippines but not necessarily in other countries
– More to Lose by Seona Dancing. Yes, that is Ricky Gervais in his New Wave incarnation.
– Mike Francis
– Clair Marlo
– Way Back Into Love, the song “composed” by Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore in Music and Lyrics, was a hit in some Asian countries including the Philippines.
– Dennis Lambert had some success as a songwriter in the US, but nothing like the fame he had in the Philippines.
– Who’d we miss? (That’s not a song title, that’s a question.)
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
August 12th, 2012 at 07:06
John Legend!
August 12th, 2012 at 09:33
Tadao Hayashi
August 12th, 2012 at 15:05
David Pomeranz, Stephen Bishop
August 12th, 2012 at 16:05
Stephen Speaks – “Passenger Seat” :)
August 12th, 2012 at 16:11
*ahem*ShakeBodyDancer*ahem*XtasiXtano*ahem*
[/hangs head in shame]
This list may not be complete without the collective greatest hits collections of Kalapana (rarely famous outside of Hawaii and Japan) and Fra Lippo Lippi (were they even famous anywhere else?). And for some reason, I’ve always thought that 2 Unlimited’s “Twilight Zone” was better known in Southeast Asia than anywhere else… until I found out that it was used in a flashback sequence for a Ryan Reynolds movie.
In other news, here are some lovely photos of Ricky Gervais as a member of Seona Dancing: http://fire-your-agent.tumblr.com/post/21023975544/ricky-gervais-as-one-half-of-80s-new-wave-duo
August 12th, 2012 at 16:52
Keith Martin with “Because of You.” He came, and never left.
August 12th, 2012 at 18:13
Fra Lippo Lippi, of course. I incidentally found a box set re-release of all their albums while going through shelves at the neighborhood record store here in the US a few months ago. Definitely had to snap it up for the nostalgia factor.
I’m not sure of the extent of Aztec Camera’s relative success in Asia outside of the UK, but methinks they’d also fit this category. They’re certainly a cult favorite in the US.
Others that may come to mind:
Kevyn Lettau (did I spell the name right?)
Moonpools and Caterpillars
Lotus Eaters (especially for German Girl)
Fiction Factory
Gazebo
August 12th, 2012 at 19:02
Fra Lippo Lippi, Tears for Fears (even without Curt Smith or Roland Orzabal), The Lotus Eaters, The Wild Swans, and any other New Wave Band from the 80s who should’ve been left in the 80s along with the big hair and Brett Michaels’ bandana.
August 12th, 2012 at 19:16
Per Sorensen of Fried Lapu -lapu
Jim Brickman (Itigil na ang Valentine na yan!)
David Pomeranz (Born for You…naman.)
Taylor Dane (Wish ko lang wag nang i-lead back dito.)
And syempre kung may Taylor Dane, dapat may…
Rick Astley!!! (Never gonna give you up/never gonna let you down… Ay, si Kuya Dick na lang.)
August 12th, 2012 at 20:15
The A.V. Club has this article “Big in Japan (and elsewhere): 29 American cultural entities that found greater popularity overseas” where it lists Christopher Cross, Dennis Lambert (which you mentioned), and Paul Williams as people who found greater popularity in the Philippines. Of the three, I’m only aware of Paul Williams’s work since he wrote “We’ve Only Just Begun”. (My dad is a huge Carpenters fan.)
Link: http://www.avclub.com/articles/big-in-japan-and-elsewhere-29-american-cultural-en,81933/
August 12th, 2012 at 20:33
Keith Martin, oh my gosh, that “Because of you” guy!
August 12th, 2012 at 20:55
I don’t remember Dennis Lambert — what was he famous in the Philippines for?
August 13th, 2012 at 03:27
Technically, we can include every 70s and 80s foreign act who performs in Araneta, whose concerts are organized by people from RJ FM. But I may be generalizing.
August 13th, 2012 at 05:42
Workshy. If memory serves me right, they were based in Japan because they made it really big there. In college, they were quite a number of us who liked them (I still do), not large enough so that they could be considered a “college favorite” but also not small enough to be called a cult one.
And yes, they had the prerequisite: they were not that successful in the USA.
August 13th, 2012 at 08:58
When in Rome (The Promise), the group responsible for “You to me are everything”,. Las Ketchup.
@parisjetaime: TFF was HUGE in the US.
@dearlyderangeddarla: Rick Astley and Taylor Dayne are multi-platinum selling artists in the US and UK. And Taylor Dayne could give Celine Dion some singing lessons even after her stint with David Foster.
August 13th, 2012 at 09:21
Angela Bofill singing Break It To Me Gently! yun na.
August 13th, 2012 at 09:44
The band who sang:
“…You really know at the staaart, fixing a broken heaaarrt. You really know what to do.”
August 13th, 2012 at 12:02
Michael Learns to Rock. (Which we’d like to ask: did they ever learn how to rock?)
August 13th, 2012 at 15:11
The “Fixing a Broken Heart” people were Indecent Obsession.
Then there’s that damn song The One You Love, with the saxophone intro.
August 13th, 2012 at 17:13
Heaven Knows – Rick Price
August 14th, 2012 at 02:37
Just Got Lucky by Jo Boxers. Rico Mambo by Breakfast Club. Seduction. I’ve Been Waiting For You by Guys Next Door.
August 14th, 2012 at 09:10
I remember tuning in to a Mellow Touch-type station over here, and hearing “You Don’t Love Me Anymore” by Weird Al Yankovic. I wanted to hit my head on a post.
Rick Price (was he also the lead singer of Southern Sons?) and Michael Learns to Rock (aka the poor man’s Fra Lippo Lippi) seems to be a Southeast Asia thing. Don’t tell me how I know this, but you can still request “Heaven Knows” and “The Actor” at certain American karaoke bars as well.
Also: “You Oughta Know By Now” and “Don’t Want You to Go” by Lani Hall – who, ironically, has a strong pedigree in REAL bossa nova, being Herb Alpert’s wife and one of Sergio Mendes’ longtime backup singers.
@Akyat Bahay Gangster: Although Dennis Lambert has written a lot of hit songs in the US (“Ain’t No Woman (Like the One I’ve Got),” for starters), “Of All the Things” is what put him on the map here in the Philippines. I believe that there’s a Dennis Lambert documentary, plus a possible biopic starring Steve Carell.
@Ejia: “The One You Love” by Glenn Frey (of all people!) – worst use of a saxophone intro, and up there with the Kenny G oeuvre in the Songs for Guys Who Try Too Hard to Score.
August 14th, 2012 at 09:12
Information on the Dennis Lambert biopic: http://cltampa.com/dailyloaf/archives/2009/02/26/from-boca-to-the-philippines-dennis-lamberts-musical-rebirth#.UCmlA9mWzj4
August 14th, 2012 at 23:31
stellalehua — Thanks so much for all the information. Now I remember that song “Of All the Things”. I never knew who the singer was — now I do. [In my mind, it’s one of very many sentimental radio songs from the 1970’s that for some reason I associate with the period 1978-1982 (when I moved to Manila for high school).]
August 15th, 2012 at 10:24
I’m still wondering why all this music made it big in the Philippines and not elsewhere.
Were the record companies’ marketing people in the Philippines simply better at doing their jobs than their foreign counterparts? Were they very good at identifying what songs would become hits in the Philippines even if they had not become popular in other countries?
And the international music that WAS popular in other countries — why did they not become hits in the Philippines? Or were they hits in the Philippines too, which means that Filipinos really have a very large capacity for appreciating pop music?
August 15th, 2012 at 12:41
The Philippines has been a test market for many musical acts. Michael Buble was popular in Manila before he made it big elsewhere.
August 15th, 2012 at 14:15
Interesting. But it couldn’t have been all that effective as a test market, because apparently plenty of music that became popular here did not even get noticed elsewhere.
Or maybe that’s precisely its test market value — if it makes it big in the Philippines, it will likely be a failure elsewhere!
August 15th, 2012 at 20:44
Stella – Nope Rick Price is not the vocalist of Southern Sons. I think it was Phil Buckle then Jack Jones from Australia.
Another artist & song for you : John Farnham the guy who sung”Please don’t ask me”. I have a frekking last song syndrome all day O_o
August 16th, 2012 at 06:16
One that I also remembered was that Swing Out Sister was big in The Philippines before they even made a dent in the US pop charts. While the US was off discovering how catchy Breakout was, we’ve already heard more singles on local radio from their debut record. It’s another case of The Philippines being a pop music test lab.
I also remember visits to The Philippines in 2008 and 2010 where I was first exposed to The Click Five’s Happy Birthday (they never translated that success to the US, did they?), Jason Castro’s Let’s Fall In Love Again (that didn’t work in the US either), then Jason DeRulo and Justin Bieber (what the hell happened to those guys?). Also, what’s up with Tokio Hotel being big in The Philippines too?
One that also I think hasn’t been mentioned was Julia Fordham. It seems she’s been so popular in The Philippines that the compilation album ‘Songbook’ was exclusively released in-country.