I've been listening to the Stereophonics today (check out their first two albums, Word Gets Around and Performance and Cocktails if you haven't heard them!) and it got me thinking how they're one of quite a few British artists that were (and in some cases still are) very successful in Britain, but not really elsewhere - especially in the US.

Other bands I'm thinking of: Manic Street Preachers, The Jam, Squeeze, most Britpop bands (Oasis being the main exception), The Libertines, IDLES, Sam Fender, Girls Aloud, Status Quo, The Stone Roses, The Specials, Take That, Robbie Williams, almost every British rapper, etc. etc. These artists may have been successful in Europe or South America, but I'm admittedly looking at artists that didn't make it big in the USA.

Why are these artists so successful in Britain but not elsewhere (particularly the US)? Is it an intrinsic "Britishness" that struggles to translate overseas, both lyrically and musically? I don't think that's the case with every artist. Are there any artists from other countries that made it big in their home country but not really anywhere else (the one example I can think of off the top of my head is The Tragically Hip from Canada)? Why is this the case?