Why wasn't "Europe After The Rain" a massive hit? - 07/13/09 12:28 PM
So it’s September 1981 and a 13 year old Herbert the turbot is tuning into Top Of The Pops, the UK’s biggest music TV show. Amongst the acts that have gained a coveted slot on the show is John Foxx, who performs a sprightly version of his new single “Europe After The Rain”, which is a new entry in the top 40, albeit at number 40.
The single is also being heavily played on Radio One, particularly in the teatime and evening slots, as Radio One DJs such as Janice Long and Richard Skinner are big John Foxx fans. “Europe After The Rain” seems to have captured that late summer mood perfectly, its more organic feel likely to attract new fans who found the Metamatic era too electronic, but at the same time not alienating those who’d followed John’s career since the Ultravox days.
The next Tuesday, Herbert the turbot is tuned into his radio for the rundown of the new top forty, which is announced in a reverse order, ten chart placings at a time. Chart placings from 40 to 31 are announced and John isn’t in there – yes, at last! John’s got his first top 30 hit!
But it gets even better – the single isn’t between 30-21 either, so it must have gone top twenty.
When there’s no mention between 20-11 either, it’s starting to sound incredible; so many people must have been impressed by “Europe After The Rain” that it’s shot up over 30 places into the top ten, one of the biggest chart rises ever! It’s unlikely but not impossible; after all other synthpop acts like Numan, OMD and even Ultravox have become top ten regulars in the past year.
Songs 10 to 2 are read out and still no “Europe After The Rain”. Could it really be that it’s crashed into the Number One slot? Again it sounds incredible, but if some comedy Italian impersonator like Joe Dolce can do it……
But no – the number one is something else altogether; there’s no sign of “Europe After The Rain” in the charts at all. I even listen to the repeat of the chart rundown at teatime just in case the DJ’s made a mistake, but no, it’s not there.
Only when I buy Record Mirror later in the week do I find that, far from shooting up the charts, “Europe After The Rain”, actually fell one place and is now just outside the top 40 and therefore ineligible for further Top Of The Pops performances or heavy rotation on Radio 1.
It seemed amazing then and it still does that John performed his best, most commercial song to an audience of millions on the mainstream BBC1 peak time music show and the song actually sold less copies than it did the week before! Remember this was the days before internet, commercial radio, even satellite television; even MTV was a couple of years away. Hence if you wanted to hear new music, there really was only Radio One and Top Of The Pops; as such both had audiences well into their millions.
You might think; so what – just as well John never made it truly big. He probably never craved massive fame, and when you see what it did to contemporary singers like Adam Ant, Steve Strange and Boy George, it’s probably just as well. And by remaining on the fringes as a “niche” artist, John was able to get away with making music in his own distinctive style rather than selling out and doing bland MOR music for the masses like Simple Minds or Tears For Fears,
Yet deep down, wouldn’t it have been nice just once if John’s music had really made an impact on the mass market and achieved the commercial success it deserved?
The single is also being heavily played on Radio One, particularly in the teatime and evening slots, as Radio One DJs such as Janice Long and Richard Skinner are big John Foxx fans. “Europe After The Rain” seems to have captured that late summer mood perfectly, its more organic feel likely to attract new fans who found the Metamatic era too electronic, but at the same time not alienating those who’d followed John’s career since the Ultravox days.
The next Tuesday, Herbert the turbot is tuned into his radio for the rundown of the new top forty, which is announced in a reverse order, ten chart placings at a time. Chart placings from 40 to 31 are announced and John isn’t in there – yes, at last! John’s got his first top 30 hit!
But it gets even better – the single isn’t between 30-21 either, so it must have gone top twenty.
When there’s no mention between 20-11 either, it’s starting to sound incredible; so many people must have been impressed by “Europe After The Rain” that it’s shot up over 30 places into the top ten, one of the biggest chart rises ever! It’s unlikely but not impossible; after all other synthpop acts like Numan, OMD and even Ultravox have become top ten regulars in the past year.
Songs 10 to 2 are read out and still no “Europe After The Rain”. Could it really be that it’s crashed into the Number One slot? Again it sounds incredible, but if some comedy Italian impersonator like Joe Dolce can do it……
But no – the number one is something else altogether; there’s no sign of “Europe After The Rain” in the charts at all. I even listen to the repeat of the chart rundown at teatime just in case the DJ’s made a mistake, but no, it’s not there.
Only when I buy Record Mirror later in the week do I find that, far from shooting up the charts, “Europe After The Rain”, actually fell one place and is now just outside the top 40 and therefore ineligible for further Top Of The Pops performances or heavy rotation on Radio 1.
It seemed amazing then and it still does that John performed his best, most commercial song to an audience of millions on the mainstream BBC1 peak time music show and the song actually sold less copies than it did the week before! Remember this was the days before internet, commercial radio, even satellite television; even MTV was a couple of years away. Hence if you wanted to hear new music, there really was only Radio One and Top Of The Pops; as such both had audiences well into their millions.
You might think; so what – just as well John never made it truly big. He probably never craved massive fame, and when you see what it did to contemporary singers like Adam Ant, Steve Strange and Boy George, it’s probably just as well. And by remaining on the fringes as a “niche” artist, John was able to get away with making music in his own distinctive style rather than selling out and doing bland MOR music for the masses like Simple Minds or Tears For Fears,
Yet deep down, wouldn’t it have been nice just once if John’s music had really made an impact on the mass market and achieved the commercial success it deserved?
I know what you mean, and I’m sure I did my own fair bit of posing 
It’s just the way that some ‘critics’ back then would tar everything with the same brush that they considered as appearing to be either slick or transient, and more annoyingly, not necessarily being ‘serious music’ with something to say. Does music have to ‘say’ anything, as long as its emotive enough to create a resonance in your mind.
