Clubbed to Death 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.
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).
Except maybe Norwegians know more. Still a great video.
Resurrection by PPK got used in a lot of trance-y/techno-thriller type things around the same time, from what I recall too.
Is it “The Eyes Of The Truth” by Enigma?
Perhaps these songs were more successful on MTV than in the charts.
“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.”
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.
Some people have probably said that about Vengaboys’ “We Like To Party”.
[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” 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.
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.
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.