Another music thread: Songs that should have been huge but weren't

I remember thinking when I got the Use Your Illusion albums that November Rain was among the greatest songs I'd ever heard. Then it got released, got popular and got overplayed. I saw the song completely differently after that, like nothing's quite as special as the first few times I heard it - not the symphony backing, not the snare drum cadence toward the end, nothing. Occasionally now I can find that pre-release feeling, but sadly it's fleeting.

The same thing happened with "Killing Me Softly" (Fugees version), but I've been able to rediscover it.

Back on topic: I'll add Alice in Chains' "Would?", among many other songs from a superb band.

 

How about anything from Mute Math, StellaStarr, Pinback, Minus the Bear, Voxtrot, Hold Steady, Clap Your Hands and Say Yeah, The Cloud Room, Built to Spill or The Flaming Lips?

They should all get airtime, but 95 percent of "alternative" stations play the same drivel all day long. 311, Korn or Linkin Park just get played over and over. There is nothing cutting edge if everyone sounds the same.

 

I'd say 311 is MUCH BETTER than Linkin Park. At least they were 5 years ago.

 

My favorite Nirvana song. Nothing comes close.

 

I can't figure out why Spoon aren't really big...they write really catchy, tight pop songs. It's probably something stupid like the songs don't sound big enough for radio, or 16-year-old girls don't think Britt Daniel is cute.
Of course, I used to wonder why Sonic Youth didn't have pop hits in the early 1990s, so what the hell do I know?

 

"Black Gold", Soul Asylum

"Drown", Son Volt

"Foolish Behavior", Rod Stewart (although the lyrics, despite being tongue firmly in cheek, are too anti-pc today to allow this song any sort of airplay)

"Someday. Someway", Marshall Crenshaw

 

I'll throw two Bruce songs out there -- "Better Days" and "Long Time Comin' ".

 

I agree. There's at least three songs on the new album -- You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb, Black Like Me, The Underdog -- that SHOULD be huge.

Maybe it has something to do with Daniel's voice ... definately an acquired taste.

 

'Alligator' - Gratefeul Dead

 

What It Takes---Aerosmith

 

Wow. So you're the other guy who liked Tonight It's You?

I absolutely loved that song when it was out. Loved it. I bought the 45 for it ... the only person in the United States to do so. I thought it broke the bottom of the top 40, but apparently not.

Others ... I could probably name 1,000 given time ...

Faster - George Harrison (Full disclosure: F1 fanboy picks song about F1 with video of George Harrison riding in a car with Jackie Stewart and vintage late 70s F1 footage. But it's an excellent song from Harrison's mostly forgotten late 70s period)

Miss Amanda Jones and Winter -- Stones
Rain -- Beatles
-- the original Sweet Jane by Velvet Underground. The Loaded album has many songs that could have been singles.
-- most of REM's 80s singles.
-- most of Big Star's catalogue
-- several by the Raspberries, but particularly Tonight, Hard To Get Over A Heartbreak and Ectasy, all of which rock. I'll even throw out Eric Carmen's wimpy I Saw The Light, which is a beautiful song. The Raspberries are very overlooked in the power pop pantheon.
-- I agree with Nirvana's Drain You. Best song on that album.

 

That was a hit.