# Most obscure song that gets played most frequently **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 28, 2017, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-obscure-song-that-gets-played-most-frequently/792319 "2017-07-28T12:40:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2017, 10:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-obscure-song-that-gets-played-most-frequently/792319/41 "2017-07-29T10:42:04Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > I’m drawing a blank on the name of that cyberpunky song that was in a bunch of trailers in the early 2000s. [Clubbed to Death](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbxZargtXug) by Rob D? A-Ha are a hugely financially successful group but the only song by them pretty much anyone can name is [Take On Me](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djV11Xbc914). ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2017, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-obscure-song-that-gets-played-most-frequently/792319/42 "2017-07-29T10:48:22Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > [Clubbed to Death](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbxZargtXug) by Rob D? No, but that’s one I briefly thought about before discounting. Tomoyasu Hotei - Battle Without Honor or Humanity is another similarly common one around that time (Kill Bill). > [@](#): > > A-Ha are a hugely financially successful group but the only song by them pretty much anyone can name is [Take On Me](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djV11Xbc914). Except maybe Norwegians know more. Still a great video. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2017, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-obscure-song-that-gets-played-most-frequently/792319/43 "2017-07-29T10:59:05Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > No, but that’s one I briefly thought about before discounting. Tomoyasu Hotei - Battle Without Honor or Humanity is another similarly common one around that time (Kill Bill). [Resurrection](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EB5HhWW_uXg) by PPK got used in a lot of trance-y/techno-thriller type things around the same time, from what I recall too. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2017, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-obscure-song-that-gets-played-most-frequently/792319/44 "2017-07-29T11:27:40Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > I’m drawing a blank on the name of that cyberpunky song that was in a bunch of trailers in the early 2000s. Is it “The Eyes Of The Truth” by [Enigma](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIQN8Cw7nN4)? ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2017, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-obscure-song-that-gets-played-most-frequently/792319/45 "2017-07-29T11:38:42Z")
> [@installLSC](#): > > This happens a lot with songs from the 80s. > “What I Like About You”, the Romantics. Topped out at 49 on the singles charts. > “I Melt With You”, Modern English. Never got beyond 76. > And a number of iconic songs, from “Once in a Lifetime” to “Atomic Dog”, never even hit the pop singles charts. Perhaps these songs were more successful on MTV than in the charts. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2017, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-obscure-song-that-gets-played-most-frequently/792319/46 "2017-07-29T12:48:17Z")
“Unpopular” and “lots of airplay” aren’t mutually exclusive. The Grateful Dead did not, in their heyday, have any top 20 hits (“Touch of Gray” may have been their first), but were certainly a part of the youth culture zeitgeist. Velvet Underground were in a similar position. I recall the words of Matt “Citizen Dick” Dillon from **Singles** : “We are _beloved_–in Italy and Belgium.” ---
**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:** [July 29, 2017, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-obscure-song-that-gets-played-most-frequently/792319/47 "2017-07-29T14:17:47Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > Isn’t “Obscure songs that get a lot of play” an…oxymoron? Yeah, I’m having difficulty figuring out what songs I’m supposed to be mining my brain for. If it gets lots of airplay, it’s not exactly obscure. If **Hey Hey What Can I Do** works for the purposes of the thread, I would assume something like **Yellow Ledbetter** by Pearl Jam, which was a Jeremy B-Side that wound up on the radio somehow (and as now also included on a B-side and rarities collection called _Lost Dogs_, and then their greatest hits album) should count. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2017, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-obscure-song-that-gets-played-most-frequently/792319/48 "2017-07-31T02:17:15Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > Thread winner. I don’t even know if I’d actually heard this track beyond its opening. I figured it was generic library music categorised under “exciting activity”. Some people have probably said that about Vengaboys’ “We Like To Party”. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/6Zbi0XmGtMw/maxresdefault.jpg "Vengaboys - We like to Party! (The Vengabus)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Zbi0XmGtMw) ---
**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:** [July 31, 2017, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-obscure-song-that-gets-played-most-frequently/792319/49 "2017-07-31T02:26:35Z")
[quote=“nearwildheaven, post:48, topic:792319”] Some people have probably said that about Vengaboys’ “We Like To Party”. [/QUOTE] Along these lines, I don’t think I’ve ever heard the [“Cha Cha Slide”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIdLRftdrH8) outside of weddings. But, being in the wedding industry, I hear it quite often. It’s even worse than the “Electric Slide.” If you haven’t heard it, I’m not totally surprised and you should consider yourself thankful; but it’s all over weddings in my part of town here and has been for the last 15+ years. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2017, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-obscure-song-that-gets-played-most-frequently/792319/50 "2017-07-31T12:35:47Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > “Hey Bulldog” by the Beatles. Somebody on SiriusXM is getting the royalties, because over the last month they have been playing this lousy song constantly. Good example of what the OP may have been talking about - a not very well known song that for various reasons starts getting played a lot. Other example - the Fountains of Wayne’s “Stacy’s Mom”, a great power pop song that I never heard in any public setting until it got used in a TV commercial. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2017, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-obscure-song-that-gets-played-most-frequently/792319/51 "2017-07-31T16:18:15Z")
> [@installLSC](#): > > This happens a lot with songs from the 80s. > “What I Like About You”, the Romantics. Topped out at 49 on the singles charts. > “I Melt With You”, Modern English. Never got beyond 76. > And a number of iconic songs, from “Once in a Lifetime” to “Atomic Dog”, never even hit the pop singles charts. A perfect measure of how out of touch the singles charts were then. Those songs got lots of play on FM stations and at rock clubs and discos. I’m going to say they were not obscure then, or now. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-obscure-song-that-gets-played-most-frequently/792319.md?page=2)