Songs That Were Only Popular Locally

[Markxxx]

I remember growing up in the 70s and there were a few songs in Chicago that were very big here but not really elsewhere.

For instance, Helen Reddy's, Gladiola and Ariel by Dan Friedman were played all the time on Chicago radio when I grew up, but nationally not so much. Gladiola wasn't even a single for Reddy, but it was played in Chicago a lot. I also remember in the 80s, Leslie Pearl's, If The Love Fits was played and my biggest example was Matthew Wilder's, Break My Stride.

Now that actually got play all over the country too, (it was like #3 nationwide but the song was much bigger in Chicago). I still recall the DJs at B96 in Chicago saying "and now for the SIXTH straight are number one song is...OH NO...Break My Stride"

So my question is what songs did you hear in your area of the country and thought would be popular nationwide only to learn later on, that those songs weren't really hits or big hits at all and they were only played on heavy rotation in your city

[elfkin477]

Wouldn't these mostly be local bands? I was happily surprised when people outside of New England that I'd introduced to Guster and Jeremiah Freed reported hearing their songs on the radio, but I'd known that they were in heavy rotation only because they were local - "local" meaning from ME to MA in my case. Same with Vacationland, Paranoid Social Club, C60, Dear Leader, Twisted Roots, Taxpayer, and Angry Salad.

However, I've been downloading an internet radio site from Boston (Loudcaster), and was surprised to learn that Bleu, Tracy Bonham, and Mission of Burma are local.

[Tim R. Mortiss]

I've always wondered if people outside the Chicago area know the Aliotta, Haynes, and Jeremiah song, Lake Shore Drive.

[RealityChuck]

The Spin Doctors were very popular locally about a year before they became a national act, though the rest of the world caught up.

Blotto was very big locally.

[Justin_Bailey]

Originally Posted by elfkin477

Wouldn't these mostly be local bands? I was happily surprised when people outside of New England that I'd introduced to Guster and Jeremiah Freed reported hearing their songs on the radio, but I'd known that they were in heavy rotation only because they were local - "local" meaning from ME to MA in my case.

Guster blew up big in Rochester, NY because of heavy airplay on local alternative/indie station 90.5 WBER. They're so popular in Rochester that it was chosen as the location of one of only nine tour dates Guster played this year.

Another artist that WBER was really big in supporting was Canada's Sarah Slean. She even thanked the station in the liner notes to Night Bugs or Day One. I heard later that apparently she's practically unknown in the US outside of Rochester and that most of her albums have never been officially released in the US.

[GESancMan]

I lived in the Bay Area most of my life, and throughout the '90s Faith No More always got quite a bit of radio airplay. I was quite surprised when they were included in a "One Hit Wonder" list on VH1 some years back. While talking about it with a friend of mine, from New York, I learned that apparently outside of the Bay Area FNM was exactly that - a One Hit Wonder.

[Baal Houtham]

Originally Posted by Tim R. Mortiss

I've always wondered if people outside the Chicago area know the Aliotta, Haynes, and Jeremiah song, Lake Shore Drive.

It was a KSHE Classic in St. Louis. That means it wasn't a top 40 sorta hit, but the leading rock station played it occasionally for years and years.

I've introduced it to my daughter and have played it on the iPod within the week.

[It's Not Rocket Surgery!]

Originally Posted by Markxxx

For instance, Helen Reddy's, Gladiola and Ariel by Dan Friedman were played all the time on Chicago radio when I grew up, but nationally not so much.

Nitpick - it's Dean Friedman. And this song was also played a lot in the New York area, possibly because it references the Paramus Park mall in New Jersey (Friedman is from Paramus).

[elfkin477]

Originally Posted by Justin_Bailey

Guster blew up big in Rochester, NY because of heavy airplay on local alternative/indie station 90.5 WBER. They're so popular in Rochester that it was chosen as the location of one of only nine tour dates Guster played this year.

They've enjoyed national attention for the past 5-7 years (one of their songs was played on a FOX or WB show and they suddenly became a band other people had heard of after that. I want to say it was The O.C.), but they were already popular in New England 15 years ago. I first saw them in 1996, and at that point had already known about them through dormmates for quite a while; the girls across the hall had a poster from the Parachute cd on their walls when I met them in 1995.

[pancakes3]

Dispatch in DC

Sparky's Flaw/Parachutes in Charlottesville

[An Gadaí]

Originally Posted by GESancMan

I lived in the Bay Area most of my life, and throughout the '90s Faith No More always got quite a bit of radio airplay. I was quite surprised when they were included in a "One Hit Wonder" list on VH1 some years back. While talking about it with a friend of mine, from New York, I learned that apparently outside of the Bay Area FNM was exactly that - a One Hit Wonder.

FNM were very big here for a while and had at least two hits ;-) .

[Baker]

Back in the late 1980's I lived in East Lansing Michigan. A local station played a novelty song by a Michigan group called The Yoopers.

The song was titled "The Second Week of Deer Camp" I thought it was hilarious, but it was supposed to be just a one day novelty. But the darn song caught on and the station had to play it at least twice a day during the whole darn month of November, until hunting season was over.

Next year folks asked for it again! I actually bought a Yoopers tape with the song, to give it to my cousin in Kansas, who is an avid hunter.

[KneadToKnow]

Having grown up and lived my entire life within a few hundred miles of Myrtle Beach, I'm often unsure just how familiar beach music is in the rest of the world.

[elfkin477]

Originally Posted by An Gadaí

FNM were very big here for a while and had at least two hits ;-) .

Yeah... Epic, We Care a Lot, then much later on Last Cup of Sorrow and one other song from the same album as LCoS the title of which escapes me were played quite often. OTOH, I only ever heard these four songs by them on the radio.

[dropzone]

Originally Posted by Markxxx

Ariel by Dan Friedman

Ah, Jewish girls in peasant blouses! The forbidden fruit.

[Stephe96]

The Fools were really big in New England for awhile there in the 80s. Songs like "She Makes Me Feel Big," "World Dance Party" and "Life Sucks...The You Die" were in heavy rotation on Boston radio.

[jayjay]

The Pittsburgh Steeler Polka, circa 1978 or so. I'm pretty sure that wasn't played much west of Washington (PA), south of Somerset, east of Altoona, or north of Erie...

[Tim R. Mortiss]

Originally Posted by Baker

Back in the late 1980's I lived in East Lansing Michigan. A local station played a novelty song by a Michigan group called The Yoopers.

The song was titled "The Second Week of Deer Camp" I thought it was hilarious, but it was supposed to be just a one day novelty. But the darn song caught on and the station had to play it at least twice a day during the whole darn month of November, until hunting season was over.

Next year folks asked for it again! I actually bought a Yoopers tape with the song, to give it to my cousin in Kansas, who is an avid hunter.

I know that song (I live in Chicago) but only because Dr. Demento plays it every November......TRM

[GoodOmens]

Originally Posted by jayjay

The Pittsburgh Steeler Polka, circa 1978 or so. I'm pretty sure that wasn't played much west of Washington (PA), south of Somerset, east of Altoona, or north of Erie...

In the same vein, The Super Bowl Shuffle, courtesy of Da Bears, 1986. Which I still occasionally play for my students if I'm eager to humiliate myself on a given day.

[Sigmagirl]

There's No Surf in Cleveland by the Euclid Beach Band.
That was a novelty, but for a real HIT song, we had It's Cold Outside by the Choir, a forerunner of the Raspberries before Eric Carmen showed up. #68 on the Billboard charts!

[Bijou Drains]

The Connells were big in NC but not anywhere else in the US. For some reason they had a hit in Europe though.

[Justin_Bailey]

Originally Posted by Bijou Drains

The Connells were big in NC but not anywhere else in the US. For some reason they had a hit in Europe though.

The Connells had a song on the Scream soundtrack, "Bitter Pill", that I really love.

[An Gadaí]

Originally Posted by Bijou Drains

The Connells were big in NC but not anywhere else in the US. For some reason they had a hit in Europe though.

'74/'75 was enormous here on the radio but then they never followed it up. Great song, great video.

[mo50]

Originally Posted by Stephe96

The Fools were really big in New England for awhile there in the 80s. Songs like "She Makes Me Feel Big," "World Dance Party" and "Life Sucks...The You Die" were in heavy rotation on Boston radio.

Don't forget "Psycho Chicken" & "A Night For Beautiful Girls". Then there were the Stompers, Jon Butcher Axis, Charlie Farren, Del Fuegos, (who sorta broke out of Boston), & what seems like a zillion others. Lizzie Borden & the Axes, November Group, I could go on & on! (but mercifully won't). Geez, remember WBCN & all their great DJs in the 80's?
Just a whole different time. I'm sure people in other cities have similiar memories, but thanks for the Boston blast!

[Markxxx]

Originally Posted by It's Not Rocket Surgery!

Nitpick - it's Dean Friedman. And this song was also played a lot in the New York area, possibly because it references the Paramus Park mall in New Jersey

Thanks for the catch, I can see why Friedman never took off 'cause his style was very close to Billy Joel who came along (I think a bit after) and took off and left Friedman in the dark.

I think, at least in Chicago, in the 70s, DJs had much more control over their playlists than radio stations do now. So if a DJ liked a song he'd play. Charlene's "I've Never Been To Me," is an example of this A Tampa radio DJ liked the song and kept playing it and it caught on locally and internationally (going to #3 in the US and #1 in Britian)

[NDP]

Originally Posted by Markxxx

Charlene's "I've Never Been To Me," is an example of this A Tampa radio DJ liked the song and kept playing it and it caught on locally and internationally (going to #3 in the US and #1 in Britian)

For that, he should have been put on the FBI's Most Wanted list.

[Motorgirl]

Originally Posted by elfkin477

Wouldn't these mostly be local bands? I was happily surprised when people outside of New England that I'd introduced to Guster and Jeremiah Freed reported hearing their songs on the radio, but I'd known that they were in heavy rotation only because they were local - "local" meaning from ME to MA in my case. Same with Vacationland, Paranoid Social Club, C60, Dear Leader, Twisted Roots, Taxpayer, and Angry Salad.

However, I've been downloading an internet radio site from Boston (Loudcaster), and was surprised to learn that Bleu, Tracy Bonham, and Mission of Burma are local.

LOL - Angry Salad. Haven't listened to them in a while. I'll have to get them onto my iPhone this weekend.

[Skammer]

Originally Posted by Tim R. Mortiss

I've always wondered if people outside the Chicago area know the Aliotta, Haynes, and Jeremiah song, Lake Shore Drive.

I used to love this song as a college student in Chicago in the early 90's.

Originally Posted by Stephe96

The Fools were really big in New England for awhile there in the 80s. Songs like "She Makes Me Feel Big," "World Dance Party" and "Life Sucks...The You Die" were in heavy rotation on Boston radio.

And, I was a Massachusetts teenager in the 80's. I'd forgotten about The Fools! She Makes Me Feel Big was a fun song.

Speaking of Boston, another song I used to hear on the radio there but nowhere else was The Kingston Trio's Charlie on the MTA.

[kenobi 65]

Originally Posted by Baker

Back in the late 1980's I lived in East Lansing Michigan. A local station played a novelty song by a Michigan group called The Yoopers.

Da Yoopers! They got some play in Wisconsin, too; I bought several tapes.

I loved "Second Week of Deer Camp", but "Rusty Chevrolet" (to the tune of "Jingle Bells") is still my favorite.

[kenobi 65]

Originally Posted by Skammer

Speaking of Boston, another song I used to hear on the radio there but nowhere else was The Kingston Trio's Charlie on the MTA.

My parents were both folkies when they met in the '60s, and the Trio was their favorite group. I grew up listening to them, and that was one of my favorite songs.

[stpauler]

Local band Limited Warranty had a ton of airplay in the Twin Cities in the 80s.

In the 90s, one of the indie stations played the hell out of New York band Soul Coughing and that band sold the most records here than anywhere else in the US.

[ouryL]

"The Young Rascals" rebilled themselves as "The Rascals" on an album which probably sold better here in Hawaii than anywhere else in the country, called "Once Upon A Dream". It was due to not the title song or the hit, "It's Wonderful", but due to the song, "My Hawaii".

[Musky Moon]

In Philly, G Love had a huge hit with "Cold Beverages"....I'm sure it got some airplay elsewhere, but nothing like here.

Same can be said for Marah's "Point Breeze" to a lesser extent.

[E-Sabbath]

Originally Posted by Markxxx

I remember growing up in the 70s and there were a few songs in Chicago that were very big here but not really elsewhere.

For instance, Helen Reddy's, Gladiola and Ariel by Dan Friedman were played all the time on Chicago radio when I grew up, but nationally not so much.

As a former intern for the man, I would like to point out that it was _Dean_ Friedman.

[jackdavinci]

Originally Posted by RealityChuck

Blotto was very big locally.

Broadway Blotto was my high school substitute teacher newspaper advisor! I thought no one else had heard of "I wanna be a lifeguard" lol.

[needscoffee]

Bill Quateman also got a lot of airplay in Chicago around the same time as Aliotta, Haynes & Jeremiah. I always wondered why he wasn't bigger nationally, as good as he was. David Mallet had a song that got a lot of airplay on FM radio in the 70's, "Photographs and Memories" (not the Jim Croce song) that I had always assumed was popular nationally, but I've never met another person who ever heard of it outside of die-hard folkies.