I’m very happy!

A-ha drew the biggest paying crowd at a rock concert at Rock in Rio, Brazil in 1991..it was a Guinness world record. That was 198,000 at the Maracana Football stadium in Rio. The only bigger crowds have been recorded for free concerts…the Rolling Stones for instance on Copacabana beach also in Rio, when 1.5 million attended in 2006. Free concerts naturally draw bigger crowds…but to pay money to hear an act is the true gauge of real pulling power. The Beatles biggest concert was at Shea Stadium in N.Y. In 1965 where they played to a paying crowd of 55,000 which was a record at that time. When a-ha pulled the almost 200,000 at Rio in 1991 it was part of a South American tour where they performed 20 concerts over 25 days in several countries drawing total crowds of over 2.5 million people.

@Marionville Funny thin then is that I never hear them talked about in Canada. At the moment it is all Talor Swift coming to play Vancouver where a $150 hotel room is now $3500 for those nights. But then, I believe a house in Vancouver now costs an absolute minimum of $750,000. I have no idea how young people cope. Rents are insane.

@rogerbenham In North America, both USA + Canada, a-ha’s record company Warner’s stopped promoting or even releasing their music because the band refused to move to the USA after their first massive hit Take On Me in 1985, and also they disagreed with the type of music they wanted them to make. The band wanted to be known as live musicians who had a diverse and innovative catalogue of original songs and not keep producing the same type of catchy pop songs as their first hit. The record company and their PR people wanted to market the band as good looking pin-ups for teenage girls, not serious musicians. In other words they fell out with their label, and Warners did all they could to sabotage their careers until their contract ran out. It didn’t stop the band from being successful and extremely popular elsewhere in the world, especially in Europe & South America where they became massively popular. It did cause the band to almost quit for good after they broke the record for biggest crowd in Rio despite a boycott from US music critics & journalists who never reported on or reviewed their success to the music buying public in North America. The editors in America told the reporters in Rio not to interview or write about a-ha even though the were the only act at the festival to completely sell out the stadium. The other acts were all given rave reviews …despite selling less tickets than a-ha. The other headline acts were Guns & Roses, George Michael & Prince, none of them sold out the stadium, only a-ha did. The band were despondent and were ready to give up, as instead of accolades they found they were still being blackballed in the biggest music market…the USA. They just stopped performing and producing new music together for seven years, going their own way and making music & art separately, until they were asked to write a new song and perform it at 1998’s Nobel Peace Prize concert, it was the impetus they needed to realise they still had a big audience outside of the USA and it didn’t matter whether the USA wanted to hear them or not, they’d still be a success in other parts of the world. They still fill stadia & concert halls everywhere they tour and are recognised as one of the best and most successful live bands in the world with 11 studio & 3 live albums, with record sales of over 100 million units. Can’t begin to imagine how many more millions they’d have sold if they’d been promoted and marketed properly in the USA too.
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@Marionville This is disgraceful that Warners should be so catty and blacklisting them for not doing what Warners demanded ispathetic. Warners presumably lost masses of revenue but not selling them in North America. But it all goes to show how popular music is controlled in what the people are given. It amazed me how Myley Cyrus jumped to the fore and noe Taylor Swift. But I believe that the Beach Boys and especially the Monkees were sort of manufactured music. I remember in the 60s how we loved Marty Wilde and Ricky Nelson but they went to the states and kind of faded away. Because they had Elvis, Cliff never made it big in the USA, though I have friends whoi thought the Shadows a great group/

@rogerbenham It’s disgraceful, I’m sure a-ha would have a case if they decided to sue them, but they must have decided not to. It just makes you wonder how many other careers have been ruined by artists not towing the music industry line! I only really know about a-ha and how they were treated because I really loved their music from the first time I heard it and have followed their career.

I really liked the Shadows too…originally called the Drifters, they changed their name because of the American band with the same name. I was never a Cliff Richard fan I must say though…probably because I was a big Elvis fan when I was a teenager and thought Cliff was a mere pale imitation of the real thing! Not very fair on Cliff of course who had a lot of catchy songs and has been extremely successful over 6 decades, especially here in the UK

@Marionville My sister and next brother up liked Elvis, but I being those few years younger, I was brought up with Cliff and Rock'n'Roll 1960-1963. What we had no idea was that pretty well all of his stuff was American Country music of the sloppy ballad side. His rock was still country as was much the same as Elvis. I have a friend in Prince Rupert who think the Shadows were one of the best bands of all time. I do not agree but each to their own. I was totally a Stones fan but now looking back, I think for invertiveness and playing skills, I think the Beatles were far and away in a class of their own. Just the chord structures of things like Yesterday.

@Marionville Buddy Holly was messed up by a record company.

@rogerbenham The Beatles will be remembered because of their songwriting skills rather than for being the best at performing. Their songs will live on in the mouths and hands of others from later generations. I prefer many versions of Beatles songs sung by other people to their original ones. Neither Elvis or Cliff Richard wrote their own music, relying on songwriters …really great artists write and perform their own material. The best of them cannot be bettered when another artist sings their songs because they are unique and cannot be imitated or improved on. These are the ones I admire most and tend to like best.