[spoiler]This has happened many times before with me. You get to listening to some music and songs your whole life…that it becomes so well known to you that you become biased towards it somewhat. I mean, YOU’VE heard it a hundred times. It’s become instantly recognizable to you and probably your group (whoever first got you into listening to that music)…so you expect everyone to have heard it. It’s like “Wha? You don’t know this song? You’ve never heard this song before?? How can that be? This is, like, one of their most favorite songs!”
I cannot tell you how often this has happened to me. I will name a song or (in most cases) an artist/singer…and the other person will go “I’ve never heard of them…”, so I’ll start singing songs by the artist that, TO ME, are like obvious classics by said artist…and you so totally expect 'heh, once I start singing this, they’re going to be like “Of course! I know that song! Oohhh, okay…so that’s the person who sings THAT song. Haha”
Only that moment never comes. I’ll start singing the song I know so well by the artist…and…still a blank look. Nothing? Nothing at all?! “Nope. Never heard of it.”
Whaaaaaaaaaaaaat? No no, listen again, maybe I was singing it badly or out of tune… so you start singing it again and…and then it hits you…
…you’re the only one who knows this song. Of course to you it’s widely popular and well known. You’ve heard it a million times (slight hyperbole). But even as you start to sing it again, suddenly it sounds more foreign to you and you feel silly and finally realize that what is so well known to you might be an unknown thing to most people.
This happened to me today with the song below. Opus 17 by The Four Seasons…although it’s happened many, many times to me with many other songs in the past.[/spoiler]
TL;DR version above, inside the spoiler…but the main point of this topic is, do you know this song?
I’m old enough to remember many of the Four Seasons’ hits, all the way back to “Sherry,” and I’ve seen this song title mentioned here and there, but the song itself doesn’t ring a bell. But then, in looking at a list of their Top 40 singles–which is an extensive list!–I see some of their biggest hits don’t sound familiar at all (“Candy Girl,” “Ronnie”).
I think you’d have to listen to a lot of oldies radio to get the name of that song–which is where I finally learned it. Not as much fun to sing as Walk Like A Man or Big Girls Don’t Cry, or as well known, but I always liked it even before I knew what it was called.
I’m familiar with a lot of Four Seasons’ music, but this one doesn’t sound familiar. And that constant mind-numbing beat doesn’t make me want to hear it again.
I listened religiously to the oldies stations in Chicago when oldies meant fifties and sixties music, but I don’t recall ever hearing this. It has that trademark Four Seasons sound to it, but I don’t recognize the name, lyrics, or melody.
shrug Like I said, I listened to the two oldies stations here religiously for a three year period, and don’t recognize it at all. I can’t imagine it’s anywhere near as iconic as the other two songs you mentioned. (And I don’t find it difficult to avoid hearing “Freebird.” I doubt either of my parents ever heard it.) I’d be surprised if someone didn’t know, say, “Big Girls Don’t Cry.” The ones I remember being played on the stations here are that one, " Sherry," “Walk Like A Man,” Let’s Hang On," “Working My Way Back To You,” “Candy Girl,” and probably a couple that are slipping my mind. But those I’ve literally must have heard scores of times each. “Opus 17”? If it was played, it was not in constant rotation and not enough to register any familiarility.
Freebird and Hotel California are two of my favorite songs. I know the lyrics and can sing along to them (badly). I’m familiar with most of the Four Seasons and Frankie Valli’s hits, but I’ve never heard Opus 17.
Haha”