# Most Unlikely or Unusual Popular Song? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [June 26, 2022, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unlikely-or-unusual-popular-song/966902 "2022-06-26T18:05:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2022, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unlikely-or-unusual-popular-song/966902/21 "2022-06-26T21:57:16Z")
The stupid fake-Italian accent song “Shaddap You Face” was a big hit outside of the U.S. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/sFacWGBJ_cs/hqdefault.jpg "Shaddap You Face - Joe Dolce") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFacWGBJ_cs) ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2022, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unlikely-or-unusual-popular-song/966902/22 "2022-06-26T21:59:44Z")
Another one: Convention 72 by the Delegates, in reality a radio DJ. It’s one of those songs where it’s a question-and-answer format, where the interviewer asks questions, and the answers are snippets of popular songs. It reached number 8! [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/XBrjdKntZIs/hqdefault.jpg "The Delegates - Convention 72") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBrjdKntZIs) ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2022, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unlikely-or-unusual-popular-song/966902/23 "2022-06-26T22:00:56Z")
For a long time, I thought I had just hallucinated that one. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2022, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unlikely-or-unusual-popular-song/966902/24 "2022-06-26T22:03:38Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > It’s one of those songs where it’s a question-and-answer format, where the interviewer asks questions, and the answers are snippets of popular songs. That reminded me of a similar song, “Mr. Jaws,” which came out on the heels of the movie _Jaws_ in 1975, and was a top-10 hit. The 1970s were weird, man. 😃 [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/JeYCOFblZRg/maxresdefault.jpg "Mr. Jaws (1975)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeYCOFblZRg) ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2022, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unlikely-or-unusual-popular-song/966902/25 "2022-06-26T22:04:22Z")
lol you guys know DR demento is alive and well and doing a webcast show right ? ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2022, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unlikely-or-unusual-popular-song/966902/26 "2022-06-26T22:06:42Z")
Oh, certainly, and not everything in this thread is a novelty song – though it’s interesting to note novelty songs that actually became big hits. A lot of the other songs in this thread are just, well, _unusual_, by pop music standards, and surprising hits. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2022, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unlikely-or-unusual-popular-song/966902/27 "2022-06-26T22:22:34Z")
The Legendary Stardust Cowboy made it into the Billboard Hot 200 with “Paralyzed”. It was popular enough to be used by NASA as a wake-up song. The astronauts were so traumatized they made a record number of errors performing their duties that day. To this day it is the only song to ever be officially banned by NASA. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/viK3i0fRDRs/maxresdefault.jpg "THE LEGENDARY STARDUST COWBOY - paralyzed") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viK3i0fRDRs) ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2022, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unlikely-or-unusual-popular-song/966902/28 "2022-06-26T22:35:20Z")
It was a big hit IN the U.S., too. I definitely remember it, because it was popular around the time I graduated from high school. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2022, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unlikely-or-unusual-popular-song/966902/29 "2022-06-26T22:39:36Z")
This professor of classical and sacred music does commentaries on progressive and heavy metal songs, and this is an excellent one, although I’ll warn anyone who might be triggered that he takes a few hits off a bong during the video. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/OfC6-rlEO0Q/hqdefault.jpg "Classical Composer Reacts to Hocus Pocus (Focus) | The Daily Doug (Episode 253)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfC6-rlEO0Q) He recently did one, with his wife, on side 1 of Boston’s debut album (something else that ended up being WAY more popular than anyone could have imagined) and incredibly, he did not recognize “Foreplay/Long Time.” Back to the unlikely or unusual songs, don’t forget “Afternoon Delight”, “Havin’ My Baby”, “Disco Duck”, “Everyone’s Free To Wear Sunscreen”, and any number of other novelty tunes that have hit the charts over the decades. If this has anything to do with Kate Bush having a #1 song 37 years after it was first released, yeah, that too. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2022, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unlikely-or-unusual-popular-song/966902/30 "2022-06-26T22:45:58Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > To this day it is the only song to ever be officially banned by NASA. This sentence makes me smile. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2022, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unlikely-or-unusual-popular-song/966902/31 "2022-06-26T22:47:42Z")
I had a boyhood friend whose father enjoyed wacky records. In addition to the Dolce effort was another song, don’t know by who, that went something like: When you visit American city You will find it very pretty Just one thing you must beware Don’t drink the water And don’t breathe the air! (Of course this was when the river in Buffalo still kept catching fire, and Lake Erie was much less clean.) ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2022, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unlikely-or-unusual-popular-song/966902/32 "2022-06-26T22:56:47Z")
Tom Lehrer, Pollution. Lehrer is great. Try Poisoning Pigeons in the Park or National Brotherhood Week. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/JPrAuF2f_oI/hqdefault.jpg "Tom Lehrer - Pollution") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPrAuF2f_oI) ---
**Author:** ![XOldiesJock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/ec9cab/32.png) [@XOldiesJock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XOldiesJock)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2022, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unlikely-or-unusual-popular-song/966902/33 "2022-06-26T23:43:30Z")
Spoken word “songs” are dreadful to the extreme. “An Open Letter to my Teenage Son” by Victor Lundberg is one of the most egregious. It sold a million copies and went to #10 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1967. It’s the worst kind of right-wing extremist diatribe, with the Battle Hymn of the Republic played as a background. One critic said, “The track is essentially a rambling rant…about long hair, beards, glue-sniffing, whether God is dead, and George Washington.” To end it all, the “father” tells his “son” that if he burns his draft card, he may as well burn his birth certificate, because he will no longer have a son. Dreadful it is. It’s on YouTube. Listen at your own peril. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2022, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unlikely-or-unusual-popular-song/966902/34 "2022-06-27T00:05:21Z")
[No Matter What Shape (Your Stomach’s In)](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Matter_What_Shape_(Your_Stomach%27s_In)) Began life (in my consciousness) as an Alka-Seltzer commercial. Made it to #3 on the Billboard Hot 100. Another commercial (for Maxwell House coffee) also hit it big on the airwaves, IIRC (The Percolator Song). ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2022, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unlikely-or-unusual-popular-song/966902/35 "2022-06-27T00:08:53Z")
I know that the OP asked for individual songs. But I’ve always thought that the degree of Nirvana’s popularity was astonishing. Since I _like_ defeatist, depressing music, Nirvana is my favorite rock band since the Beatles. But it amazed me that so many others (mostly seemingly well-adjusted young people) liked them. Cobain himself seemed similarly puzzled, as expressed in “Bloom”. Oh, and to the OP: [“Seasons in the Sun”.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tPcc1ftj8E) And even thought it wasn’t exactly a blockbuster hit, an honorable mention for [“Gloomy Sunday”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUCyjDOlnPU). > [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > (Of course this was when the river in **Buffalo** still kept catching fire, and Lake Erie was much less clean.) [Cleveland.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuyahoga_River) ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2022, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unlikely-or-unusual-popular-song/966902/36 "2022-06-27T01:04:04Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > How about MacArthur park? Seven minutes of a rambling song about a cake I mean about romance “sung” by an actor. Very polarizing (I like it) I just got back from some errands and was surprised to hear a disco cover of McArthur Park by Donna Summer on the radio. Naturally, it’s pretty bad. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4ZaUoTRydU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4ZaUoTRydU) ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2022, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unlikely-or-unusual-popular-song/966902/37 "2022-06-27T01:07:24Z")
> [@jnglmassiv](#): > > I just got back from some errands and was surprised to hear a disco cover of McArthur Park by Donna Summer on the radio. Naturally, it’s pretty bad. Oh, lawdy, I remember that one when it was on the radio all the time in '78. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2022, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unlikely-or-unusual-popular-song/966902/38 "2022-06-27T01:36:41Z")
> [@jnglmassiv](#): > > Naturally, it’s pretty bad. Oh lordy. I remember when it was new. “Old men playing …_Chinese_ checkers by the trees”? WTF, Was that change necessary? ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2022, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unlikely-or-unusual-popular-song/966902/39 "2022-06-27T02:12:54Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > “Old men playing …_Chinese_ checkers by the trees”? WTF, Was that change necessary? Probably after Nixon’s detente and visit to China. /pulledoutofmyass ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2022, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unlikely-or-unusual-popular-song/966902/40 "2022-06-27T03:46:06Z")
There was also one about the Jessica Lange “King Kong” movie which just as horrendous. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unlikely-or-unusual-popular-song/966902.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-unlikely-or-unusual-popular-song/966902.md?page=3)