Saxon frontman Biff Byford is featured in a new interview with Metal Rules. During the chat, Byford addressed the band's difficulty breaking into the Unites States in the '80s.

Byford: "At that point, Power & The Glory, we could have broken America quite big. We should have broken America on Wheels Of Steel (1980), but it was a French company (we were on), so they really didn't know what the fuck they were doing. Crusader (1984) was the first headline tour we did of America, and that was with Accept, which was very, very successful.

I just think that, for some reason, Wheels of Steel, Strong Arm Of The Law (1980), and Denim And Leather (1981) didn't really have enough momentum in America as Maiden's albums did, for some reason.

I think it's down to management and record company. I think Denim And Leather and Strong Arm Of The Law are just as good as The Number Of The Beast (1982). A lot of American people, Power & The Glory is their favorite Saxon album. It was the first time we ever saw some of them, and it was the first time we got airplay on MTV. And I think we were on the Billboard charts at some point with Power & The Glory, and the tour was absolutely massively successful. So it was a great tour to be on.

I just think that whether it was our manager that decided we could do it on our own, or something happened, and it just didn't quite take us far enough, if you know what I mean. In some states in America, we were massive, and in other states, we couldn't draw any crowds, and that's the problem. I don't think we had the record sales in America that anybody else had. So I don't think we had that big check. 

Power & The Glory didn't sell a million albums in America when we were there. I think if it had, then that would have given us the power to go on and to get quite a lot of money. The way it was then, I don't think it was set up for the band to make any money. At that point there, we could have broken America. Power & The Glory could have been a platinum album - definitely."