Atomic Kitten: what America is missing
Commentary: Music
Josh Ridgway, Contributing Writer
Issue date: 10/1/04 Section: Lifestyles
With the first single from @@@~~~Feels So Good, Atomic Kitten debuted their new image with a sexy video for the song, "It's OK." The song snatched the number three slot on the British Top 40 and also went on to become one of MTV Europe's biggest videos of 2001.
Americans say that Europeans are much more liberal with their sexuality, and attribute this as the reason European images do not catch on here.
While this may be true of some things, Atomic Kitten does not fall into this category. They have never rolled around in red jumpsuits chanting "Oops...I did it again." Neither have they rolled around in showers either, singing about how "Dirrty" they are.
With one final push on the American market, the second single from ~~~@@@Feels So Good was do or die on this side of the pond for Atomic Kitten. The song was the remake of Blondie's 1979 number one hit, "The Tide Is High." The year was 2001.
Atomic Kitten teamed up with Disney on the soundtrack for "The Lizzie McGuire Movie," starring Hilary Duff. "The Tide Is High" was played along with the movie's closing credits. A major push was made by Virgin Records to get Britain's biggest group on airplay with American radio stations and music video channels like MTV and The Box. Hopes were high for Atomic Kitten.
After a week of increased radio ads and numerous spins on MTV, "The Tide Is High" seemed to be pushing Atomic Kitten into the American mainstream. When the single reached number 42, an Atomic Kitten album, titled Atomic Kitten, was released in the United States. The album debuted at 102 on the album charts but wouldn't get any higher. The following week, all hope for "The Tide Is High" was lost when the single plummeted to the number 88 spot.
Atomic Kitten gave up hope on America, as did Virgin Records. They continued to crank out the hits in Europe and Australia though, with two more worldwide top five singles from ~~~@@@Feels So Good. Since Hamilton had taken a break in between Right Now and Feels So Good, Atomic Kitten pushed on, releasing their 12th single in September of 2003.
Americans say that Europeans are much more liberal with their sexuality, and attribute this as the reason European images do not catch on here.
While this may be true of some things, Atomic Kitten does not fall into this category. They have never rolled around in red jumpsuits chanting "Oops...I did it again." Neither have they rolled around in showers either, singing about how "Dirrty" they are.
With one final push on the American market, the second single from ~~~@@@Feels So Good was do or die on this side of the pond for Atomic Kitten. The song was the remake of Blondie's 1979 number one hit, "The Tide Is High." The year was 2001.
Atomic Kitten teamed up with Disney on the soundtrack for "The Lizzie McGuire Movie," starring Hilary Duff. "The Tide Is High" was played along with the movie's closing credits. A major push was made by Virgin Records to get Britain's biggest group on airplay with American radio stations and music video channels like MTV and The Box. Hopes were high for Atomic Kitten.
After a week of increased radio ads and numerous spins on MTV, "The Tide Is High" seemed to be pushing Atomic Kitten into the American mainstream. When the single reached number 42, an Atomic Kitten album, titled Atomic Kitten, was released in the United States. The album debuted at 102 on the album charts but wouldn't get any higher. The following week, all hope for "The Tide Is High" was lost when the single plummeted to the number 88 spot.
Atomic Kitten gave up hope on America, as did Virgin Records. They continued to crank out the hits in Europe and Australia though, with two more worldwide top five singles from ~~~@@@Feels So Good. Since Hamilton had taken a break in between Right Now and Feels So Good, Atomic Kitten pushed on, releasing their 12th single in September of 2003.
