Does this happen to other people? You own the album, play it through countless times, can even sing along but somehow the greatness of a song escapes you for years or decades.
For instance, I just realized how awesome “Breaking the Girl” off of The Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Blood Sugar Sex Magik. Wikipedia says its only one of two songs they’ve played in 6/8 time, and its riff is Zeppelin-inspired. Is that why I love it now, or is that why I missed it? Whatever the reason it stayed off of my radar for 18 years, I’m sure diggin’ it now.
I’ve done this with The Kinks too, but then again they’re everyone’s most underrated band, so that’s somewhat expected.
Two, but these are almost whole albums, rather than individual songs:
The first time I heard ‘The Wall’ was when I saw them performing it, and the spectacle was so involving, that, apart from, inevitably, Comfortably Numb, the music swept by in a blur.
Yes’s ‘Tales from Topographic Oceans’ was, or at least, should have been the reason for the rise of punk. A double album with one impenetrable track per side. Even a full blown prog music lover like myself baulked at the cosmic waffle and endlessly twiddling music.
But with the visual splendour of ‘The Wall’ fading, I’ve come to find that the music isn’t half bad.
‘Tales’, now removed from its cultural context, has some fine moments amongst the dross.
Funny that you mention the Kinks, because the first song that came to my mind before even reading the whole OP was “Strangers” from “Lola vs. the Powerman & the Money-Go-Round, Pt. 1”. Although it’s a great album in general, I hadn’t listened to it for a long time (I only got a vinyl copy) when Golden Smog did a coverof “Strangers” a few years ago, and I was reminded what a great, great song it is.
Okay. This is not right in line with the setup in the OP, but the title made me think of it and it’s been on my mind since it happened and I had thought about mentioning it in a separate thread of my own, so I’ll just do that here.
We rented Kate & Leopold from Netflix this week or last and at the end over the credits there’s Sting’s Until which I had forgotten about since the Oscars that year. It should have won! Amazing song.
I first became a Beatles fan at age 13 in 1968, with the White Album. At the time, for some reason, I never listened to Side 3; it was a little too cacophonous for me. I proceeded to devour all the other Beatles I could find. Finally, a couple years later, I put on Side 3 and it was like I’d found a hidden stash.