Well, number 17 in the Challenge went about as badly as I feared it might. I think this one should go better.
There’s nothing requiring you to pick a radio-friendly song, but I’m picking one that I think could have been a radio hit in a fairer world: Free Energy - Time Rolls On. The bit that starts at 1:45 when the handclaps come in, it just hits a happy spot in my brain.
The Stooges - Down On The Street
Anything Drive-By Truckers. I think I’ve only ever heard two of their songs played.
More Zip City! More Hearing Jimmy Loud!
“Shabby Doll” - Elvis Costello
“Sunny Afternoon” - The Kinks
Ok, you asked for it. “Shimmy” from *Die Bajadere, *by Emmerich Kálmán (but not this awful recording).
Orphan by the under-rated TOTO.
So this is picking out songs that you don’t hear on the radio? Or just any song you want to hear on the radio? (I’m wondering, because I hear “Sunny Afternoon” often enough around here. I typically hear it about once a month on WXRT.)
I’ll submit…oh, I dunno. Let’s say, “Queen of Eyes” by the Soft Boys.
This was such a huge part of my childhood that I absolutely love to catch it once every couple of years on the radio. It evokes so many great memories. So, here’s Frankie Valli singing one of my all-time favorites, “Grease.”
Glenn Branca - Symphony No. 1 (Tonal Plexus), Movement 1.
No audio/video links, unfortunately. I can’t find any.
Dave Mason & Jim Capaldi - The Low Spark Of The High Heeled Boys, a live recording from the 40,000 Headman tour.
Jim Capaldi on vocals. Great live tune that stands apart from the (also great) Traffic version that featured Steve Winwood on vocals.
“Babylon” by Aphrodite’s Child
This should have been a huge hit single in the States…IMO, it had all the makings of such a thing.
Easy.
The Stems: The Man With the Golden Heart. Perfect little rocky-poppy guitar/organ song. I would love hearing it in the morning and pogo’ing out of bed as if in a montage from a Winona Ryder movie. 
God, anything by the Replacements being a hit might have shifted the world a little to the better. The Ledge or I’ll Be You, I’d say. it’s not just about a song, it would have been justice.
… and another thing that really grinds my gears:
I love to listen to Bo Roberts and Jim White on Lonestar 92.5 in the mornings when I’m driving to work, but there are some bands and singers that they only play when they are coming to town. It blows my mind that they’ve been in radio for over 30 years, but you’ll never hear “Cheeseburger in Paradise” unless Jimmy Buffet is going to be at the American Airlines Center that very Friday!
The latest episode of this just fueled the fire further. Don Felder is my favourite Eagle. I’m a little tired of hearing from Henley and Frey, but I will never get tired of hearing from Don Felder - mostly because of the movie Heavy Metal. So, the station’s sponsored concert, “Bo and Jim Bash V” was coming up. Boston was the headliner, but Rick Derringer was gonna be there, Don Felder, and Bo and Jim would be performing in their band, Stone Cold Sweat.
So, in the lead up to that Friday, they actually played “Heavy Metal (Takin’ a Ride)” from Heavy Metal by Don Felder on the air. They, like me, professed a love for that awesome song. That was the only time I have ever heard them play it, though, and I’m sure it will go back into the bucket with “Margaritaville” and “All of You” until and unless Jimmy or Don come around again.
Come on, lads. Let the rock play!
The soundtrack to Heavy Metal is full of great songs. Sure, everybody’s heard “Open Arms” by Journey, but the version of “Heavy Metal” by Sammy Hagar that you play on the air isn’t even the one from the movie’s soundtrack! There’s Black Sabbath (“The Mob Rulez!”), Cheap Trick (“Queen Bee”) …
… and Blue Oyster Cult! I would love to hear ”Veteran of the Psychic Wars” by Blue Oyster Cult on the air; and, while we’re at, it, how about some of the other songs they recorded on Fire of Unknown Origin besides “Burnin’ For You”, the only one that ever seems to get any airplay! For starters, why not the title track?
Here in the ‘Way Upper Left Coast’ we can listen to rock/pop channels from Vancouver and Victoria, as well as Seattle. So why do I never get to hear songs like this? Come on, Canada - give us some ‘Hometown Band’, for cryin’ out Pete’s sake.
I think she’s fairly well known in Australia, but I’ve never heard her on the radio here. I only know of her thanks to an Australian friend.
“Temporary Love” - Missy Higgins
I might giggle like a schoolgirl on nitrous oxide if I ever hear “My Pal Foot Foot” by** The Shaggs** on the radio.
Almost With You, by the Church.
Released in 1982. But not here (US). Their record label told them they needed to record “more radio-friendly” material.
An unbelievable statement for an album which to my ears at least has more hooks than any other that I’ve ever heard. But, alas, this was the MTV era and everyone else was playing synths.
Oh, the B-side was this seven minute long epic.