What songs have you heard that although they scream “huge radio hit” for one reason or another never got released as singles? (Substitute “never promoted to radio” for the last decade.) I’ll start with two old Elton John songs. There are dozens of songs he recorded in the 70s that could have been big hit singles that were left on the albums, but these are my choices for the best shots at being big hits:
Elderberry Wine off Don’t Shoot Me…
Harmony the closing track to Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.
Black Sabbath - The Wizard
The White Stripes - The Air Near My Fingers
The Jimi Hendrix Experience - 51st Anniversary
Pearl Jam - Brain of J
Bob Marley and the Wailers - Kinky Reggae
Sublime - Burritos
You have the “classic” phantom #1 singles that almost certainly would’ve went to number 1 had they been released as singles.
Stairway to Heaven - Led Zepplin
Pinball Wizard - Elton John
More Than A Woman - Bee Gees
Into The Groove - Madonna
It wasn’t till the mid 90s when Billboard allowed non-released singles to be put on their charts.
Some of the choices for singles have always left me wondering, especially when there are so many better album tracks.
Anything from Emitt Rhodes’s first album. “With My Face on the Floor” is probably the best choice, but there are several others.
“Elderberry Wine” got quite a bit of radio play at the time of the album’s release, at least on FM radio.
It’s not clear to me that the Flamin’ Groovies released it as a single in '71, but “Teenage Head” should have been one of the all-time teen rock anthems. Maybe it was too fierce for Top 40 radio of the time.
And just for S&G, there are the single sides that should have been album cuts. “Silver Springs” by Fleetwood Mac, for example. For years it was only available as the “B” side to “Go Your Own Way.” It wasn’t until “The Dance” that it made an appearance on an album. AFAIK, the studio track still hasn’t made an appearance on an album.
“Couldn’t I Just Tell You” from Something/Anything by Todd Rundgren.
These I found hard to believe, but it’s true. However, “Into the Groove” was released as a 12" single which went to #1 on the Dance chart (and apparently became the 1st ever gold-selling 12" single). “More Than a Woman” I remember being on the radio constantly, so that’s very surprising. There was a single made of it by Tavares, but it didn’t come close to #1.
I remember reports at the time – from Casey Kasem himself – that the Bee Gees had planned to release “More Than a Woman”, but they held back to give Travares a shot at a hit record.
Most excellent call!
This one will be kind of circuitous: Leslie West, who released, with Mountain, the single “Mississippi Queen”, hooked up with Jack Bruce, formerly of Cream, and created the band West, Bruce, and Laing. IIRC, they had a single released called “The Doctor.”
From the same album, ‘Why Dontcha,’ they had an incredible song called “Pollution Woman”. This song should be an icon, but, it isn’t, and nobody has hardly heard it.
Best wishes,
hh
In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida
If you have to ask for clarification, it’s not worthy of an answer.
Actually, this was released as a single - edited down to 2’52".
I was going to start my own thread on this topic, but a quick search revealed this neglected one which I’m choosing to zombify. 
Here’s my list:
[ul]
[li]“Sin’s A Good Man’s Brother” by Grand Funk Railroad, from the 1970 album Closer to Home. A heavy, pounding guitar riff and anguished, caterwauling, rock-opera-style vocals. Would have been right at home at the top of the charts alongside Led Zeppelin and Ian Gillan-era Deep Purple.[/li][li]“Hey Bulldog” by the Beatles, from the 1969 Yellow Submarine soundtrack. Among relatively obscure Beatles songs, this one is commonly cited as the best. Lots of fun.[/li][li]“Who’s Your Baby Now” by Mark Knopfler, from his 2000 album Sailing to Philadelphia. The ringing guitars and background vocal harmonies remind me a lot of Jeff Lynne–produced Tom Petty songs.[/li][/ul]
I was expecting examples from Simon & Garfunkel.
“Don’t Speak” by No Doubt – despite being their most iconic song, it was never issued as a single in the U.S.
“Dear God” wasn’t included on the original issue of XTC’s Skylarking.
The first single released from Skylarking was “Grass” with “Dear God” as a non-album track B-Side because, yeah, sure that song should have just been relegated to B-Side obscurity. Fortunately, DJs in the U.S. knew better and started playing it as if it were an A-Side. Geffen records scrambled to rerelease the American issue of Skylarking with “Dear God” included as an album track.
:smack:
Wikipedia says it was, with its B-side being “Hey You”. Released April 15, 1996 on CD and casette(and a 7" single).
Although apparently only in Europe and Japan.
“20th Century Boy” By T. Rex.
Queen’s A Night at the Opera yielded two mainstream-radio hits: “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “You’re My Best Friend”.
Superior to anything else on the album but not put forward as a single was “The Prophet’s Song”.