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Thread: Not the greatest hits

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    Progstreaming-webmaster Sunhillow's Avatar
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    Not the greatest hits

    So many well-known bands and artists have had a string of succesful greatest hits, but also - often more - 'not so great hits'. Reason behind this is often this was the third or fourth single from an album, which by then was pretty saturated. Or there wasn't budget to make a videoclip, plus lots of other reason why some songs charted high, and some charted low.

    But these low-charted songs are often the most interesting, I think. For one, they haven't been overplayed on Classic Rock Radio.

    A few examples:

    Mike Oldfield. Pretty much everyone knows Moonlight Shadow, but follow-up Shadow On The Wall was a small hit as well, but it seems to have been forgotten about.
    Fleetwood Mac. I'm personally pretty fond of 'Hold Me' from "Mirage". But that one gets virtually no airplay at all nowadays, because so many other FM-songs were bigger hits.
    Paul Simon. 'Allergies' was a small hit in the Netherlands. No-one seems to know that one nowadays.

    For the record, I'm NOT talking about songs that EVERYONE knows as a classic nowadays, but weren't big hits at all. That's another subject, and for another thread, interesting as it may be also. I'm looking for your favorite hitsingles that haven't reach the top 20, which means it has sold quite a bit, yet you seldom hear it these days.

    Here's a fun example:


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    Progstreaming-webmaster Sunhillow's Avatar
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    And two more:




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    Progstreaming-webmaster Sunhillow's Avatar
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    Oh, how about some David Bowie:



    Or a Queen hit you never hear (the shame!)


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    The Cars - Heartbeat City

    Easily the best song from the album of the same name.


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    Member davis's Avatar
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    is this personal taste or songs that were low on the charts?

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    This seems to be a very small niché thread.

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    Quote Originally Posted by davis View Post
    is this personal taste or songs that were low on the charts?
    I took the thread as meaning songs that were not massive hits, being overshadowed by other songs by the same act, but which you think SHOULD have been just as popular. So, both of the above.

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    Progstreaming-webmaster Sunhillow's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by bob_32_116 View Post
    I took the thread as meaning songs that were not massive hits, being overshadowed by other songs by the same act, but which you think SHOULD have been just as popular. So, both of the above.
    Indeed!

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    OK, since I have apparently got the right idea...

    I can't recall the name of the second song that Daniel Powter released, but I remember thinking I liked it a lot better than "Bad Day".

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    Quote Originally Posted by PeterG View Post
    This seems to be a very small niché thread.
    Not really.

    Elvis Presley has tons of songs that were minor hits at the time, but not so remembered now. Lately I've been enjoying listening again to some of his 70s tracks like 'I'm Leavin', 'T.R.O.U.B.L.E', 'Promised Land', 'For The Heart', 'I've Got A Thing About You Baby' etc. In fact most of these weren't hits at all in Britain but they did better in the US, yet still seldom appear on compilations or on 'oldies' playlists. Some great 60s ones as well like 'Guitar Man', 'Big Boss Man', 'US Male' etc.

    'Hold Me' is a good call, 'Oh Diane' was on the same album and was a big hit in the UK but is pretty much forgotten now and never did much in the US. I don't like that one much though.

    I'd imagine Paul McCartney is a prime candidate too. 'My Brave Face' I think is a wonderful record but doesn't seem too well known. And the 90s ones like 'Beautiful Night'.
    Last edited by JJ88; 06-16-2014 at 10:59 AM.

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    I don't know what a "niché" is, but I am guessing it's something like a niche, but more pretentious.

  16. #16
    I'm assuming we're aiming for stuff here that was actually released as singles, not just random album tracks that some people like better than the singles. A couple of my favorites:

    Rolling Stones: Hang Fire (better song, in my view than Start Me Up)


    ELO: Twilight (the video includes Prologue, I chose that one because I can't accept Twilight with a cold intro, ie not segueing out of the previous track)


    According to Wikipedia, this wasn't released as a single, but there was a video (and it was the B-side of a single):

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    Member No Pride's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by bob_32_116 View Post
    I took the thread as meaning songs that were not massive hits, being overshadowed by other songs by the same act, but which you think SHOULD have been just as popular. So, both of the above.
    Quote Originally Posted by Sunhillow View Post
    Indeed!
    Aha!
    Don't ask me why, but these were the first to come to my head;




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    Progstreaming-webmaster Sunhillow's Avatar
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    Good call overall but try to get more the small hits. Those who got stuck at 30 instead of reaching the top 5.

    In Holland we used to have this 'tipparade', which had pre-hits, kinda like an extra top 30 going with the regular chart. Often entries in this semichart reached the official, but not all. I wonder if other countries have or had something similar.

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    Member augdimsus's Avatar
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    Sunhillow: If you're focused on chart positions...have you considered songs' performance on different countries' charts? Even with the "special relationship," for example, the British and United Statian charts are chock full of songs that went #1 on one side of the pond and barely made a splash on the other. Factor in the Netherlands and the rest of the world, and the soup thickens quite rapidly.

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    Oh No! Bass Solo! klothos's Avatar
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    All released as singles





    One of Marilyn Manson's best songs, released as a single and got nowhere (Bowie-ish and riff rock at the same time):


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    Jazzbo manqué Mister Triscuits's Avatar
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    I was surprised to find that perhaps my favorite Doors single, "Wishful Sinful," didn't even crack the Top 40. (It peaked at #44.) I remember it getting plenty of AM radio play in 1969 but it's completely forgotten today. (By contrast, the Doors' first single, "Break on Through," flopped upon release, but today it's one of their best remembered and most overplayed songs.)

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    Quote Originally Posted by No Pride View Post
    Aha!
    Speaking of whom, they had one massive hit in this country (Take On Me), and this very minor hit, which I like much better:



    They also did much better songs later on, none of which got any significant airplay here.

  23. #23
    Quote Originally Posted by augdimsus View Post
    Sunhillow: If you're focused on chart positions...have you considered songs' performance on different countries' charts? Even with the "special relationship," for example, the British and United Statian charts are chock full of songs that went #1 on one side of the pond and barely made a splash on the other. Factor in the Netherlands and the rest of the world, and the soup thickens quite rapidly.
    Case in point: Slade's entire career (except for very briefly in the mid 80's). I don't know what their Stateside early 70's record company situation was like, but the fact that they could never score a US hit on their own merit is just plain STUPID!!!!! I can't imagine anyone claiming to "know a hit when I hear one" can hear a song like Gudbuy T' Jane, Cum On Feel The Noize, Everyday, or even Merry Xmas Everybody and not hear cash registers ringing.

    Dammit, how the frell does a work of art like Cum On Feel The Noize or Everyday not dominate the US charts, but dren like You Light Up My Life and Brandy does?! I've said it before, and I'll say it again, Americans are frelling stupid (me included)!

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    I think you need to get a grip, GuitarGeek. I think you would find that wherever you go in the world, there is rubbish on the charts (or there was, when singles charts meant something). Living in the US, you hear the best and the worst of it, but what you hear from other countries is filtered. If a song recorded in the UKI barely made it to the lower reaches of the UK top 40, for example, it's quite possible you would never hear it in the US, and the same holds true in reverse. It's probably less so these days, when music made anywhere in the world can be rapidly disseminated to wherever there is a market.

    When I look at my CD collection, a good 50% of it consists of US-based acts. For some reason I find that I tend to favour more the US solo acts, but I have more music from bands based in the UK or elsewhere.The U.S. does not do progressive as well as the British, but the U.S. did folk-rock like nobody else could.

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    Progstreaming-webmaster Sunhillow's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by augdimsus View Post
    Sunhillow: If you're focused on chart positions...have you considered songs' performance on different countries' charts? Even with the "special relationship," for example, the British and United Statian charts are chock full of songs that went #1 on one side of the pond and barely made a splash on the other. Factor in the Netherlands and the rest of the world, and the soup thickens quite rapidly.
    Yeah, I agree. Maybe I should have just said 'forgotten hits', no matter how high they charted.

    One example of the above is Styx' 'Mr. Roboto'. Wasn't this is huge hit in the States? But hasn't it been forgotten already? In the Netherlands, this wasn't a hit at all, doubt it was even released. It's not in the collective memory of the Dutch, and the one time I let this song hear to my girlfriend saying this was a big chartposition for the band, she looked at me if I was joking. Because, well, come on! Domo Arigato Mr Roboto!

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