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Louder
Louder
Entertainment
Paul Brannigan

"We'd like to discuss a chart position." How a secret $70,000 cash payment to Italian gangsters secured a British rock band their first US hit single

United States Alan Edwards Big Country Billboard
Dollars.

On December 3, 1983, Scottish rock band Big Country made their debut appearance on Saturday Night Live, America's best-loved comedy show. The band's debut album, The Crossing, had cracked the Billboard Top 20, peaking at number 18, and on the day they performed on SNL, it was revealed that the Dunfermline quartet had also secured their first US hit single, with In A Big Country leaping up to number 17 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.

What wasn't revealed at the time was exactly how that chart placing was achieved.

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