Great song, but not their Bond theme.
Ooops, my bad.
Funny, I’ve always incorrectly associated Hunting High and Low with the Bond movies and as it turns out, The Living Daylights is also a solid single. It goes to show that a-ha actually has a pretty good discography.
I think “Take on Me” has endured pretty well. I feel like it’s constantly featured in commercials and soundtracks (Ready Player One for example), particularly when they want to convey “80s New Wave” vibe.
“Brandy” by Looking Glass was featured prominently in the second Guardians of the Galaxy film.
I mean how well does any pop music endure for 40-60 years?
Here’s a pop tune that was a hit when I was younger (don’t remember it particularly) with allusive lyrics and a rather non-pop tune to it that seems to have died out completely since the 1960s:
It’s featured on a couple of film soundtracks, and it was still played on radio here.
A personal ‘Top 10’ to fit in with this listing…
‘Yamasuki’ by The Yamasuki Singers
‘Fallout’ by Data
‘Einstein A Go-Go’ by Landscape
‘Gary Gilmore’s Eyes’ by the Adverts
‘Underpass’ by John Foxx
‘Safety Dance’ by Men Without Hats
‘Homosapien’ by Pete Shelley
‘Windpower’ by Thomas Dolby
‘The Boston Tea Party’ by The Sensational Alex Harvey Band
‘Dr Mabuse’ by Propaganda
Personally, I think it’s the greatest 48-odd minutes ever consigned to vinyl
Black Betty - Ram Jam I can’t remember the last time I heard this played. Perhaps radio stations are leery of the lyrics being considered racist, although I’ve never seen that interpretation.
One of these things is not like the others
One of these things just doesn’t belong…
Nine of those songs I don’t remember ever even hearing of, let alone hearing, and Thomas Dolby is the only one of the artists I’ve heard of. But “The Safety Dance” was very prominent back when it was released, and I suspect that lots of people remember it well even today. For instance, this popped up on YouTube recently:
Yeah, that one’s still reasonably popular. Hell, it was played at my wedding in the early 2010s. Fun, catchy tune.
And Al Yankovic sang the Brady Bunch theme (plus additional lyrics) to the Safety Dance tune.
Other than that, I don’t have much to contribute to this thread - the only oldies music I hear nowadays is what they play over the grocery stores’ sound systems. And I can rarely remember what I’ve heard there lately.
I think we hear his parody more often than the original:
They play that with some regularity on my local classic rock station (92.5 KZPS in Dallas).
In this case I will reiterate that the Lost Hits webpage is going to be far better than crowdsourcing everyone’s opinion on what is not played.
I think the king, or queen I guess, has to be You Light Up My Life by Debby Boone.
Song was an absolute monster, everyone heard it, everyone got sick of it and never ever needed to hear it again. I doubt most people under 40 have ever even heard the song. Debby Boone had no staying power in culture and I don’t think the song has ever been revived even ironically.
That dance wasn’t as safe as they said it was
There might an additional reason “You Light Up My Life” has never made a comeback:
“Brooks was awaiting trial on 2009 charges of allegedly raping 11 young actresses, according to the New York Daily News. He was charged with 82 counts of sexual abuse.”
They made a movie about it:
Kinda-sorta. The song was written for the movie, with Kvitka Cisyk providing vocals for the song (Didi Conn just lip-synched), according to Wikipedia. The song did not come first; it and the movie appeared at the same time. Debby Boone’s version came after the movie.
I’ve seen the movie. Wikipedia describes it as a “romantic drama,” but I’m not sure I agree. There is some romance, but it’s rather half-hearted; there is some drama, but there is also some comedy. It’s an interesting film, definitely.
Yeah, I was dimly aware of the movie, no idea it came first. Evidently Debby Boone was brought in because the songwriter/producer wanted to screw over the original singer.
Some people were likely put off by Debby Boone’s attempt to link the song to religion. It wasn’t a religious song, it was a love song, Debby Boone had nothing to do creatively with its genesis. She basically re-recorded the vocal as instructed. But I think that issue probably hurt the song in the long run.
Original B Side was “He’s A Rebel” by “The Boones.” Gene Pitney wrote He’s A Rebel, not Phil Spector.
Evidently Cindy Williams, who was dating songwriter Joseph Brooks, was supposed to have the movie role that went to Didi Conn, but Williams and Brooks broke up before filming.
The song was a particularly on the nose of the sort of lush ballad that Olivia Newton-John or Carly Simon might have done. No surprise it was a big hit.