what i could never figure out was why Roger never enjoyed any real solo success in the USA?
after all, his solo stuff FIS, SF especially are very much more geared towards a US audience
but for some reason it just didn't take off
was it lack of promotion? or just plain no airplay?
Music is a tricky business. If quality and success were always directly proportional, imo Roger and Treana Morris should be swimming in platinum records right now.
Philipp Nothaft wrote: Good question. I guess it's a bit of both.
FIS was released at a time when Queen still were rather popular in US, so one might think it should've been a mild success. There was zero promotion though and the album apparently was pretty much ignored, only reaching a meagre no.121 (one week on charts).
With SF it was pretty much the other way round. It was released at a time when - sales-wise - Queen were on a crash-dive in the US. This time, however, there was some serious promotion activity (two video-clips, Roger actually made a special trip to the states to promote the album), alas it didn't even chart.
In both cases he was hardly met with interest, I think. I suppose all of his singles received very little airplay (LGC, MOF, SF). He tried it one last time with Shove It, but after that he turned his back on the US-market.
Not really an answer, I know, but that's all I can contribute.
Also, Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason released a solo album at the same time as FIS called Fictitious Sports which did worse than Roger's album!
I love most of Rogers solo stuff but I have found amongst my friends it is an aquired taste. Unfortunatly Phil Collins probably ruined it for any other Drummer going solo! The record buying public probably expected another PC and thought NO WAY!!! lol
Also I don't think Roger despite his "Pretty Boy" image projects himself very well as a front man. Maybe a little unfair as anytime he does people will ultimatly compare him to the Master.
Serry Funster wrote: Promotion, of course.
No videos, no guest super stars, no scandalous reputation, no live shows, no related links to Queen etc. etc. etc.
While it is certainly correct that Rog's solo output suffered a general lack of promotion, I don't think the remarks "no vids" (plenty of), no guest stars (Yoshiki, Freddie), no scandalous reputation (Nazis caused some mild stir), no live shows (TV appearances, tours for Happiness and EF) can be maintained without some modifications.