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

[Hustle]

Hey, is it too late to dig this thing out of the trash?

Driving back from Pa. this morning, I was reminded of a few songs (and somehow this thread kept bouncing around in my brain).

Pepper from the Butthole Surfers. Heard it on radio a few times during my final high school days, but never enough. Fortunately, I had the good sense to immortalize it in the side saddle. (And dear Lord, how I wish there was a Mt. Yuengling.)

I was also struck by hearing "Sweetness" from Jimmy Eat World and "No One Knows" from Queens of the Stone Age; both of them were on the playlist of NHL 2003. But the best song on there was a rarity on radio: "Pitiful" from Blindside.

, though apparently they went to the of video production.

 

[Trouser_Buddah]

I'm going to give a big nod to Bubbler's earlier selection of "Rain" by the Beatles...

I was floored by that song when I bought the Past Masters Vol. II CD... Didn't know there was a Beatles song like that out there I hadn't heard of...

 

[Claws for Concern]

Welcome to the Boomtown -- David and David.

 

[Sam Mills 51]

Rush does have top-40-worthy songs, they've just not gotten any airplay.
Ghost of a Chance
Middletown Dreams
Analog Kid
Resist
Bravado
The Larger Bowl, Bravest Face and maybe one or two others on the latest CD

Also from Rush:
Dreamline
Marathon
Witch Hunt (dark theme ... but thought still stands)

In addition:
"Many Too Many" - Genesis
"Heathaze" - Genesis
"A Call To Arms" - Mike and The Mechanics
"She's Right On Time" - Billy Joel
"Running On Ice" - Billy Joel
"Blonde Over Blue" - Billy Joel
"Pinky" - Elton John
"I've Seen The Saucers" - Elton John
"One Day At A Time" - Elton John

 

[pallister]

"Indian Sunset" is my favorite EJ song; I've never heard it on radio.

 

[Sam Mills 51]

"Indian Sunset" is my favorite EJ song; I've never heard it on radio.

Nice get. And, while we're on "Madman Across The Water," I completely whiffed on "Razor Face."

 

[pallister]

I'd put that third behind Madman, but damn is that a great CD. I'm not sure how many people relaize Elton John made that kind of music. Much of his popular stuff kinda sucks.

 

[Sam Mills 51]

I'd put that third behind Madman, but damn is that a great CD. I'm not sure how many people relaize Elton John made that kind of music. Much of his popular stuff kinda sucks.

I'd disagree ... a good bit of his popular stuff is more than passable.

But going back to get those albums up to about the mid-1970s - when MCA held he and Bernie Taupin to basically a two-album-per-year deal - is where the real jewels reside.

People know about "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" for the well-known tunes. But what about "Grey Seal," "I've Seen That Movie Too," "The Ballad of Danny Bailey," "All the Young Girls Love Alice" and "Harmony"? Cripe, there's a pile of good stuff right there. Then "Captain Fantastic ... " and "Madman" and ... yeah, EJ's pre-drug days saw some amazing work and a lot more consistent, when the compilations were pretty much good enough.

 

[Rickys The Best]

Pretty much the entire NIN album, Pretty Hate Machine.

That CD is solid from front to back; not a bad song on it. Particularly Head Like a Hole (which I guess is the only song on the CD that was big), Santified and Something I Can Never Have.

Downward Spiral is a solid CD, but not the album NIN should be remembered for. Pretty Hate Machine was made in the 80s and still sounds fresh nearly 20 years later...simply revolutionary. Up there with PJ's "Ten" and Tupac's "Me Against the World" as the best album of the past 20 years.

 

[Kato]

Wilco: "Jesus Etc." and "I'm the Man Who Loves You" with a nice radio edit that cuts out the noise at the end

 

[suburbanite]

Welcome to the Boomtown -- David and David.

Great call. I wonder if the reference to someone dealing dope at a Denny's hurt it--that maybe Denny's had threatened legal action behind the scenes. For that matter, D&D's followup single, Ain't So Easy, deserved a better fate, too.

Also from the 1980s: Discipline of Love was the first single off Robert Palmer's Riptide, and I liked it better than the overplayed Addicted to Love. ... After the Fall was released way too late off Journey's Frontiers. ... That's the Way by Katrina and the Waves was much better than Walking on Sunshine, which had been released three years earlier, but I guess the Billboard gods decided to even the score. ... Always the Sun by the Stranglers should have crossed over from alternative to pop.

Oh, and I agree with Shottie [Possession--Sarah McLachlan] and Sam Mills [Dreamline--Rush].

 

[Huggy]

"Do You Want Crying" and "Que Te Quiero" were two other singles from Katrina and the Waves first album that should have been huge hits.

 

[93Devil]

If it is being used in a commercial 25 years after it was released, I'm guessing that qualifies it to be an overlooked song of its time.



Age of Consent - New Order

Even though it is not in a commercail and it is a newer recording...



Another Traveling Song - Bright Eyes

And my God is The Hold Steady a great band or what?

 

[doubledown68]

I've always been fond of "Sunflowers" by Everclear... though it was the only song off of "So Much for the Afterglow" that wasn't a single, at least to my knowledge...

I'm not sure how big The Urge is/was outside of the St. Louis and mid-Missouri area, but I'm fond of Too Much Stereo as well.

 

[the fop]

'Wild Blue Yonder' — Screaming Blue Messiahs

Great call. I'll add "Happy Hour Again," Housemartins; "Pure," Lightning Seeds

 

[suburbanite]

"Do You Want Crying" and "Que Te Quiero" were two other singles from Katrina and the Waves first album that should have been huge hits.

Never bought that album, but I don't doubt what you say. Saw them open for Don Henley at that time, and my then-girlfriend and I were quite impressed at the non-Walking on Sunshine material.

 

[FishHack76]

"I Am Mine", "Smile," "E.W.B.T.C.I.A.S.T." and "I Got Id" -- Pearl Jam
"Ladder" -- Joan Osborne
"Two Step" -- Dave Matthews Band
"My Sweet Annette" -- Drive-By Truckers
"Trouble" -- Ray LaMontagne
"Eleventh Hour" -- Jars of Clay
"Have You Seen Me Lately?" and "St. Robinson in his Cadillac Dream" -- Counting Crows
"Hard to Make a Stand" -- Sheryl Crow
"I Can't Move" -- Everlast
"Lemon Parade" -- Tonic
"Landed" -- Ben Folds

 

[Huggy]

"Do You Want Crying" and "Que Te Quiero" were two other singles from Katrina and the Waves first album that should have been huge hits.

Never bought that album, but I don't doubt what you say. Saw them open for Don Henley at that time, and my then-girlfriend and I were quite impressed at the non-Walking on Sunshine material.

I saw that tour too. Katrina and the Waves were a great live act.

 

[Fenian_Bastard]

"Do You Want Crying" and "Que Te Quiero" were two other singles from Katrina and the Waves first album that should have been huge hits.

Never bought that album, but I don't doubt what you say. Saw them open for Don Henley at that time, and my then-girlfriend and I were quite impressed at the non-Walking on Sunshine material.

I saw that tour too. Katrina and the Waves were a great live act.

I sometimes believe I live on a different planet.
Katrina And The Waves?

 

[Kato]

"Blue" by The Jayhawks. Great song. In a NYT story on alt.country a couple years ago, Def American's George Drakoulias said: “When ‘Blue’ didn’t take off, I knew (the Jayhawks) weren’t going to be any bigger. If people didn’t react to that, they weren’t going to react.”