Songs that should have been hits of the 00's

This is a song that basically anyone who listens to indie music knows well, but it never really got much radio play as far as I know:

"Such Great Heights" by the Postal Service:

Couple others (clearly I have nothing better to do tonight):

"You are the Best Thing" by Ray LaMontagne (this song sounds like it could have been made in the 1960s):

"Spiralling" or "Lover are Losing" by Keane (they're pretty big in the UK and "Somewhere Only We Know" got some play here):

And Meat, I really liked that song by the Matches.

 

"Such Great Heights", I believe, is either on a UPS or a FedEx commercial. Way to blow THAT one, U.S. Postal Service! And I think it's the theme song or one of the bumper songs for Fresh Air or some such NPR show.

Keane's awesome, though I really dislike Spiralling for some reason. XM's alternative rock channel way overplayed it. Everybody's Changing, the follow-up to Somewhere Only We Know, got decent play and is pretty awesome in its own right.

 

Yeah, "Such Great Heights" has gotten play like that and there's the covers by the Shins and Iron and Wine and it's been on some TV shows, but I guess I'm going strictly by mainstream radio play since that's what gets out to the most people.

Speaking of the Shins, there's a bunch of songs to pick for from them, but I'll go with "Australia":

 

Nice links, Meat. I hadn't heard Your Vegas or The Matches before.

I'll throw out a plug for a favorite that just sort of fits this category: The Pernice Brothers. Their last album, "Live a Little," is probably the best album I've heard in the last 10 years. I absolutely love these guys. Joe Pernice may be the best songwriter working now. Having said that, I can't quite see them ever displacing Eminem on the charts.

Here's "Working Girls." Favorite line in the song: "Contemplating suicide or a graduate degree..."

http://pernicebrothers.com/media/videos/workinggirls_lg.mov

 

Glad to see the Butch Walker love on the thread!

Here's a couple songs from this year that I think should have been smash hits, but don't appear to be on that trajectory: "Damage" by Tim Brantley (http://www.myspace.com/timbrantley) and "I Like You So Much Better When You're Naked" by Ida Maria (http://www.myspace.com/idamaria). Absolutely my two favorite new songs of this year. I find it hard to beleive they'll be topped, either. I think Tim Brantley has a chance to be a superstar as soon as a show like American Idol or One Tree Hill picks up his stuff. His song "The Race" is great as well.

Brantley is currently touring with Will Hoge. Hoping to see them next month in Cleveland. Ida Maria is from Norway and recently did a mini-tour of the states which included a stop on Jay Leno. Looks like she'll be back again for a few East Coast dates in June.

Love that Ray LaMontagne song mentioned earlier.

 

Z-Man would be much better at this than me, so I'm stealing one a few I burned from his collection ...

Modern Kicks, Exploding Hearts (no decent link available)

Here's one out now I'm partial to ...

 

Ingrid should be the biggest star in the world!!!!

 

Joe Purdy - Wash Away.

Or anything Joe Purdy, for that matter.

 

Okay. A couple of these were hits in the UK, so I'm kind of cheating.

New Pornographers - "Letter From An Occupant"

Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - "Timorous Me"

Belle and Sebastian - "Another Sunny Day"

Black Lips - "Dirty Hands"

Art Brut - "Emily Kane"

Super Furry Animals - "Juxtaposed Wit U"

Guided By Voices - "Back to the Lake"

Flight of the Conchords - "Most Beautiful Girl in the Room (Part-Time Model)"

 

So cool to find another Shades fan. "Eyewitness" is one of my three favorite albums ever (the other two are pretty embarrassing so I won't mention them here ). There is not a bad note anywhere on that album. Just fucking perfect power pop from start to finish.

"One Starry Night" is maybe the most gorgeous song I've ever heard. "Dare she let her heart take this one chance? She says 'Do you want to dance?'"

I thought "Valentine" was going to be a monster hit for them. It got some AOR love on the local rock station here, but that was about it. I saw them as an opening act three times (for 3 Doors Down, SR-71--that was the first show where I felt really old, and I was only 27, fuck--and Sum 41) and they were fucking great every time.

 

My nominations are:

"I'll Figure It Out" -- Lisa Marie Presley
"Destiny Rules" -- Fleetwood Mac
"Fall From Grace" -- Stevie Nicks
"Real Mean Bottle" -- Bob Seger and Kid Rock

 

dreunc, I've always thought that LaMontange song was one of the sexiest songs ever. Can't quite understand why it isn't playing over the credits of just about every romantic comedy released in the last 10 years.