Great songs that deserved to be hits but weren't

Oops, found another video of a song from “Fun”! :slight_smile: However, it’s not official. This is called “Everybody Loves You”.

A good solid, roundhouse of a number, for “loud” rock hits -

The Jesus Lizard - Nub

No million-notes-per-minute stuff here, just stripped down, meat and potatoes GRRRR!!! rock.

whoa, that slide.

I was in high school at the time, and my recollection is that “Black” was pretty big on our local alternative stations, which were 93.1 WXRT (still around) and WKQX Q101 (not around) at the time. It was one of the usual songs off Ten to get airplay. I would say in rough order of popularity, the tracks most heard at the time here were Alive, Even Flow, Jeremy, and Black.

ETA: looking online, it hit #3 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks. And it actually charted higher than Alive and Jeremy on that particular chart, and equalled Jeremy.

Sorry, too damned slow to finish editing:

So here’s the chart:

Alive: US Mainstream: 16, US Modern 20
Even Flow: US Mainstream: 3, US Modern 21
Jeremy: US Mainstream: 5, US Modern 5
Black: US Mainstream: 3, US Modern 20

Jeremy was the only one to hit the Hot 100 at 79, but I seem to recall there being something about how the singles were released or not as to why they more didn’t hit the Hot 100, or maybe I’m thinking of something else. At any rate, yes, Jeremy was the most popular of the bunch, and I should have had it first in my list. But Black looks like it could be #2 or #3, depending on how you want to weigh the charts.

The band’s name probably interfered with them getting airplay, although that didn’t keep the Butthole Surfers out of the top 40.

Until 1998, Billboard required a song to be released as a physical single to be eligible for the Hot 100. Most notoriously, No Doubt’s “Don’t Speak” topped the Hot 100 Airplay chart for sixteen consecutive weeks, went to #1 in numerous overseas territories and was a huge hit on MTv, but never charted on the Billboard Hot 100 because it was never officially released as a single in America.

“Fool in the Rain” went to #21.

Does anyone know off the top of their head if any other songs were top 40, or even top 100?

As do I! Ive been hearing the song most of my life. Bless Canadian Content rules! It’s always been on the edge of my radar and then last fall it kind of clicked and I learned it on guitar for the Open Mic at my fav pub. Now it’s one of my best songs. Matter of fact, I did it on Friday. I do “What The Hell I Got” too.

“A Whole Lotta Love” made the Top 5.

Queen’s " '39", from A Night at the Opera. Still my favorite song of theirs.

Good pick. Not only was it never a single, it barely made it onto any album at all! (About a third of the songs on Physical, included this one, were recorded earlier in their career and rejected from inclusion in a previous album).

“Pressure Off” by Duran Duran: So darned catchy, sing-able, danceable, and it has Nile Rodgers and Janelle Monae, for og’s sake. Cool video too.

And while I'm at it.... Duran Duran's "What are the Chances": Beautiful song, and John Frusciante played on the track.

It’s jarring to see Duran Duran and Janelle Monae described as musical collaborators. Let’s do the time warp again!

Very strange sounding, trilling vocals on that one. Was that a studio effect, or the singer’s actual voice?