# Hit songs that totally disappeared **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 11, 2016, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-songs-that-totally-disappeared/742825 "2016-01-11T17:08:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-songs-that-totally-disappeared/742825/61 "2016-01-13T19:52:31Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > not to mention “God Bless the USA” by Lee Greenwood (you know, "I’m proud to be an American… "). My fifth-grade class had to sing that at a school assembly. My middle school chorus teacher was all about Amy Grant’s “Baby, Baby” which has also mercifully vanished. No wonder I turned to White Zombie and Rammstein in high school. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [January 13, 2016, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-songs-that-totally-disappeared/742825/62 "2016-01-13T20:26:03Z")
> [@GargoyleWB](#): > > As a genre, most of these are now dustbinned it seems. Soul Asylum, Screaming Trees, Live, Creed, STP… I still hear STP played on hard rock and classic rock stations but the recent death of lead singer Scott Weiland might have something to do with that. ---
**Author:** ![Nema98](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d2c977/32.png) [@Nema98](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nema98)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2016, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-songs-that-totally-disappeared/742825/63 "2016-01-21T02:45:49Z")
> [@installLSC](#): > > We’ve had a good response with a thread about [songs that have hung around longer than most](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=779910), so why not the flip side? That is, hit songs that totally vanished from the public consciousness? I’ll start it off with [1981’s “Stars on 45”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bGQ1-Gmoso). I have never, in the 30+ years since it came out, heard this even once on the radio. And you’d think you’d hear an a occasional reference of really bad pop music (like “Afternoon Delight”) or really misguided attempt to modernize the Beatles (a la the “Sgt. Pepper” movie). But it’s not mentioned at all. What’s your best pick? I was born in the late 80’s and I have heard that song, admittedly long time ago and only during Saturday nights when that particular station played disco music. It no longer does and I have not heard it since. ---
**Author:** ![Nema98](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d2c977/32.png) [@Nema98](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nema98)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2016, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-songs-that-totally-disappeared/742825/64 "2016-01-21T02:50:12Z")
I don’t hear Annie Lennox’s “Diva” album at all, songs like “Why” and “Walking On Broken Glass”. I don’t hear Sting’s solo stuff anymore either, especially his 1999 “Brand New Day”, the self titled song, “After The Rain Has Fallen”, “Desert Rose” with that Arab back up singer. ---
**Author:** ![Arizona\_Mike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7cd45c/32.png) [@Arizona\_Mike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arizona_Mike)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2016, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-songs-that-totally-disappeared/742825/65 "2016-01-21T17:25:46Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > My local oldies station plays this occasionally. Barry Sadler had an interesting career after that song. He wrote a paperback adventure series (Casca: The Eternal Mercenary") about Casca Longininus, the Roman soldier who thrust the spear into Jesus’ side, who is condemned to live forever and fight from war to war. The series is still quite collectible, and was popular for Sadler’s knowledge of military history in the battles depicted. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-songs-that-totally-disappeared/742825/66 "2016-01-22T01:52:00Z")
> [@bup](#): > > [_The Politics of Dancing_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eabefjsJsAQ) by Reflex. I had that song, and a few others on a cassette tape several years ago, I wore the thing right out! 😃 I LOVED ‘The Politics of Dancing’ and thought, I must be all alone in the world listening to this thing. (The other songs were ‘Everybody Have Fun Tonight’ by Wang Chung, and ‘The Wild Wild West’ by Escape Club…several others, but those were my favorites.) Wow, where does the time go, seems like yesterday! ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-songs-that-totally-disappeared/742825/67 "2016-01-22T02:25:01Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > I haven’t heard Spirit In The Sky for ages. Or In The Year 2525. Or In-A-Godda-Da-Vida. Just the first three I thought of. I’ve heard Spirit in the Sky in the last few days. ---
**Author:** ![rsat3acr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@rsat3acr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsat3acr)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-songs-that-totally-disappeared/742825/68 "2016-01-22T03:13:31Z")
> [@botsgotme](#): > > All I remember: > “My friend the witchdoctor told me what to say:'he said ooh ee ooh ahh ahh…bing banhg walla walla bing bang”. > I’m sure it was a hit song. > [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > ^ Is this a whoosh? Just in case, it’s “[Witch Doctor](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cmjrTcYMqBM)” by David Seville. (Proto-Alvin & The Chipmunks) I still have the album, got it for my fifth birthday in 1963. ---
**Author:** ![GreenElf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@GreenElf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenElf)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-songs-that-totally-disappeared/742825/69 "2016-01-22T05:09:21Z")
“Dancing on the Ceiling” by Lionel Richie ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-songs-that-totally-disappeared/742825/70 "2016-01-22T05:19:38Z")
> [@drad\_dog](#): > > Dropped off a cliff a year later. Nov 62 was vaughan meaders heyday. “Man, is Vaughn Meader fucked.” - Lenny Bruce, Nov 22, 1963 ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-songs-that-totally-disappeared/742825/71 "2016-01-22T05:43:54Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#): > > Think of all the 90s grunge-lite songs that were all over MTV in the 90s and then sank without a trace. Some examples: “Runaway Train,” “D-A-M-N-A-T-I-O-N,” “My Sister,” “It’s a Shame About Ray,” “I Hate Everything About You,” “If You Don’t Love Me I’ll Kill Myself,” “Cannonball,” “Steal My Sunshine,” “Sex and Candy,” “Fly,” “Iris” (Goo Goo Dolls), “Today” (Smashing Pumpkins), “Mrs. Reader,” “Laid,” “Sit Down” and “No Rain.” > [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](#): > > I hear a good number of these regularly on an an independent alternative rock station that takes itself pretty seriously as having good taste (and generally playing on the more indy/obscure college/alternative side, not the Clear Channel modern rock end). I heard “My Sister” (Juliana Hatfield) and “Damnation” (Squirrel Nut Zippers) within the last few days on local radio. I think it was on the same day. [http://bhammountainradio.com](http://bhammountainradio.com) ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-songs-that-totally-disappeared/742825/72 "2016-01-22T06:53:55Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > I still hear STP played on hard rock and classic rock stations but the recent death of lead singer Scott Weiland might have something to do with that. Yeah, STP gets plenty of play around here, too. I just checked yesterday’s playlist for our classic rock station, 97.9, and there were three STP songs on them. The alternative station, 93.1 WXRT, which plays songs from pretty much any era also had one track from them played yesterday. > [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](#): > > I have a hard time not thinking of “Today” (Smashing Pumpkins) as an alternative rock radio staple, for example. And I’ve heard "It’s a Shame About Ray, “Cannonball,” and “Laid” recently. Granted, I live in the Pumpkin’s backyard, so there may be some homerism with the local playlists, but I’d bet hardly a day goes by where “Today” isn’t played on some radio station. Sure enough, checking XRT’s playlist for yesterday, that song got played. (And how is that song or the Pumpkins “grunge light?”) Soul Asylum I still hear regularly enough. (I heard “Runaway Train” earlier this week.) Live is a little harder to come by, but probably once a week I’ll hear them. Screaming Trees never got any play here to begin with, besides “I Nearly Lost You.” Can’t remember the last time I heard them on the radio but, as I said, they weren’t big here. I wish “Two Princes” would go away, but that’s still pretty common here, too (played yesterday on XRT, in fact.) “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” also seems to somehow inexplicably survived the test of time and still gets play, too. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-songs-that-totally-disappeared/742825/73 "2016-01-22T13:50:15Z")
> [@Accidental\_Martyr](#): > > I heard “My Sister” (Juliana Hatfield) and **“Damnation” (Squirrel Nut Zippers**) within the last few days on local radio. I think it was on the same day. > [http://bhammountainradio.com](http://bhammountainradio.com) The bolded song is actually “Hell.” [I have the album](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_%28Squirrel_Nut_Zippers_album%29). It got a lot of play for about a year after it came out in Charlotte, probably because SNZ was from just up the road in the Triad. ---
**Author:** ![piepiepie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e47774/32.png) [@piepiepie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/piepiepie)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-songs-that-totally-disappeared/742825/74 "2016-01-22T14:45:10Z")
> [@Derleth](#): > > [List of Billboard Hot 100 number ones of 2002 - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Billboard_Hot_100_number-one_singles_of_2002) > > How many of these songs can you honestly remember? I was going to pick one or two for my picks, but it’s easier for me to pick out the songs I _have_ heard since then. (“How You Remind Me” by Nickelback and “Lose Yourself” by Eminem.) 2002 wasn’t a hugely bizarre year, it was average, and, therefore, not memorable. It might be memorable in a decade, after those songs have gone from being Old And Worthless Pop to New And Hot Classic Rock. For example, I know pretty much every song in [the corresponding list from 1983](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Billboard_Hot_100_number-one_singles_of_1983), which wasn’t and isn’t known as a massively wonderful year for pop music. > > [Anyway, my contribution is “MMMBop” by Hanson.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHozn0YXAeE) I remember it being inescapable until it left the radio entirely, and now it’s still too recent to be Classic Rock. (And, yes, if Duran Duran can become Classic Rock, so can Hanson.) I still listen to most of the songs on that 2002 list. There’s this XM station named Fly (channel 47) and I can guarantee you’ll hear “Dilemma” and “Hot in Herre” and maybe “Foolish” on there. They play 90s-00s hip hop and r&b. I love it. I also know all the songs on the 1983 list. I grew up listening to them. I was born in 1989. Someone I went to school with shared this picture of popular songs from 2006 on facebook recently. It was the first time I thought about The Fray in years. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-songs-that-totally-disappeared/742825/75 "2016-01-22T15:50:22Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Meco’s disco “[Star Wars](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhg2OuE7ef4)” (1977). WVLI played that an hour ago. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-songs-that-totally-disappeared/742825/76 "2016-01-22T17:09:49Z")
> [@AHunter3](#): > > From my sophomore year in high school (1975): [Sky High](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mudlXF3MA8Q) > > • top 10 hit > > • disappeared from the airwaves by 1977 if not sooner > > • nothing about it to make it endure > > • nothing about it sufficiently horrid to make it last as an oft-cited abomination > > ETA: • obligatory oooWACKoh 1970s-era pseudopercussion This is my favorite kind of suggestion for threads like this – from your description, absolutely nothing about it seemed at all familiar. But when I listened to it, sure, I remember this song. ---
**Author:** ![Accidental\_Martyr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ce7236/32.png) [@Accidental\_Martyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Accidental_Martyr)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-songs-that-totally-disappeared/742825/77 "2016-01-22T18:11:35Z")
> [@Accidental\_Martyr](#): > > I heard “My Sister” (Juliana Hatfield) and “Damnation” (Squirrel Nut Zippers) within the last few days on local radio. I think it was on the same day. > [http://bhammountainradio.com](http://bhammountainradio.com) > [@Catamount](#): > > The bolded song is actually “Hell.” [I have the album](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_%28Squirrel_Nut_Zippers_album%29). It got a lot of play for about a year after it came out in Charlotte, probably because SNZ was from just up the road in the Triad. You’re right. I knew that was the title of that song but for some reason it didn’t register with me when I posted that. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-songs-that-totally-disappeared/742825/78 "2016-01-22T18:36:13Z")
> [@drad\_dog](#): > > Dropped off a cliff a year later. Nov 62 was vaughan meaders heyday. > > I don’t know how the licensing was done for stars on 45. Maybe it was really expensive. Maybe it was a temporary license. maybe hearing a record of snippets just doesn’t appeal to any one at all now because it’s redundant. _Stars on 45_ was performed by a group of studio musicians who recreated the original recordings, so it probably was cheaper to produce than by licensing the rights to the originals. > **[Stars on 45](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stars_on_45)** > > Stars on 45 was a Dutch novelty pop act that was successful in Europe, the United States, and Australia in the early 1980s. The group later shortened its name to Stars On in the U.S., while in the United Kingdom and Ireland it was known as Starsound (or Star Sound). The band, which consisted solely of studio session musicians under the direction of Jaap Eggermont, formerly of Golden Earring, recorded medley recordings made by recreating hit songs as faithfully as possible and joining them togethe... ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-songs-that-totally-disappeared/742825/79 "2016-01-22T20:31:00Z")
Well, let me look through the Billboard Charts from the Sixties through the Eighties, and name you all the #1 hits I haven’t heard played ANYWHERE in ages: “The Happening” by the Supremes “Honey” by Bobby Goldsboro “One Bad Apple” by the Osmond Brothers “Go Away, Little Girl” by Donny Osmond “Brand New Key” by Melanie “Baby, Don’t Get Hooked on Me” by Mac Davis “Brother Louie” by the Stories “Half Breed” by Cher “Then Came You” by Dionne Warwick “I Can Help” by Billy Swan “Angie Baby” by Helen Reddy “He Don’t Love You (Like I Love You)” by Tony Orlando and Dawn “Island Girl” by Elton John “Torn Between Two Lovers” by Mary McGregor “Undercover Angel” by Alan O’Day “Too Much, Too Little, Too Late” by Johnny Mathis and Deniece Williams "Please Don’t Go’ by KC & the Sunshine Band “Islands in the Stream” by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton “A View to a Kill” by Duran Duran “Say You, Say Me” by Lionel Richie “Shake You Down” by Gregory Abbott “At This Moment” by Billy Vera and the Beaters “Head to Toe” by Lisa Lisa and the Cult Jam “Could’ve Been” by Tiffany “Seasons Change” by Expose “Anything for You” by Gloria Estefan ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-songs-that-totally-disappeared/742825/80 "2016-01-22T21:04:50Z")
> [@](#): > > “Honey” by Bobby Goldsboro > “Brand New Key” by Melanie You may not hear those two on the radio anymore, but you hear them \*mentioned \*a lot. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-songs-that-totally-disappeared/742825.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hit-songs-that-totally-disappeared/742825.md?page=5)