I’ve been hearing How Long by Ace on all the classic rock stations for years, but I don’t remember that it wast that big a hit. It was #3 at best, though I’m not sure for how long (NPI). The group sort of fizzled after that.
Why does this song seem to persist?
I remember hearing that song a lot in the late 1970s. Also, for a hit song #3 ain’t exactly bad. I haven’t checked the charts, but it may have only made it to #3 just because some really big, hot acts at the time garnered the top 2 spots. It could be that some big disco songs or other genre that didn’t do well over the years were #1. Also “How Long” is soft or MOR rock, and that genre has done well over the years. Now if the song had only made it to #27 on the charts at the time, THAT it is still widely played might surprise me.
#3 is nothing to sneeze at. Just to pick one example that comes to mind, “Brown Eyed Girl” only made it to #10, and it’s one of the most-played oldies around.
And I’m sure with a some digging many here could come up with a large number of well played songs on classic rock stations today that never made it up to #3. Basically, Ace was a one hit wonder band that had a very notable hit. I suspect that the OPs problem is he grew up somewhere where “How Long” when it was released got very little airplay. Where I happen to live now, on the classic rock stations “How Long” gets scarce airplay. But back in the late 1970s and into the 1980s, it was a staple on rock radio stations.
Wow. Good point. Interesting how a real classic like that wasn’t a #1 smash when it was released. It appears that Margaritaville only hit #8. I see another thread coming on. . . .
I have nothing to add other than to say this is one of my favorite songs.
It probably didn’t hurt that Ace’s Paul Carrack went on to provide the vocals for another radio classic, Squeeze’s “Tempted.”
Carrack was also a vocalist for Mike + the Mechanics, who had “Silent Running”, “All I Need is a Miracle”, “The Living Years”, etc. (I think Paul Young sung lead on “Taken In”). Plus, Carrack had a few solo hit late in the late 80s.
Yeah … I definitely blanked on those.