Coming up..............
the "Why didn't XTC crack the Aussie market" thread
I'm a bit older than you Kade but it was a pretty clear story out here - bands generally only cracked the market here if they were huge in one or more oveseas territories. So I grew up listening to (on the radio) Zep, Eagles, KISS, GnR, Bon Jovi , Europe (only in 86-88) , Whitesnake (87-88 only) Def Leppard (only 86-88), Skid Row (debut only) etc..........even Van Halen were really only a 84-88 deal for the most part. Sammy Hagar was a nobody before 5150.
Second tier bands like Cinderella, Tesla, Warrant (Cherry Pie aside) were pretty much non-existent. The only Gary Moore song I ever heard on radio (from his hard rock era) was Friday On My Mind
I spent most of my childhood tracking down all the second,third,fourth tier stuff that nobody knew. Turns out a lot of my rarities were quite big elsewhere without my knowledge. This is back in the days when magazines were our only link to the overseas markets - Hit Parader etc......