# Music groups that used to be very popular and get very little radio play today. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 21, 2014, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-groups-that-used-to-be-very-popular-and-get-very-little-radio-play-today/688930 "2014-05-21T14:59:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-groups-that-used-to-be-very-popular-and-get-very-little-radio-play-today/688930/1 "2014-05-21T14:59:48Z")
My local oldies station doesn’t play a lot of pre 1980’s music that often. I’ve started listening to the 60’s and 70’s channels on DirecTV. Channels 803, 804, 837 and 808 for classic country. DirecTV dropped SiriusXM a few years ago and uses SonicTap. There are groups that I rarely hear except for maybe one signature song. Dr. Hook is an example. _Cover of the Rolling Stone_ gets (over) played. But when was the last time you heard _Sylvia’s Mother_, _Sharing the Night Together_, or _When A Man Loves A Woman_? Huge hits for Dr. Hook. It makes me sad an entire generation doesn’t know Dr. Hook. Whats some other popular groups that radio seems to have forgotten? ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-groups-that-used-to-be-very-popular-and-get-very-little-radio-play-today/688930/2 "2014-05-21T16:09:11Z")
Believe it or not there are broadcasting industry sites with entire forums dedicated to what artists have disappeared and why. The basic answer is that oldies radio playlists eventually turn into just or two songs per artist. Here’s a few off the top of my head: Paul Revere and the Raiders – except for _Kicks_, the act got a reputation as too teeny-bopperish they could never shake. And the pre-disco work of the BeeGees was pretty much buried by their 1974-1980 output. Any Motown act that isn’t the Supremes, Four Tops or Temptations. All pop stylists, a list too long to even attempt, but think of Andy Williams, B.J. Thomas, Anne Murray, Helen Reddy, etc. Soft rock acts whose hits started to sound identical. With America, you’ll still get “Horse With No Name,” but probably not “Ventura Highway;” “Summer Breeze” by Seals & Crofts still gets airplay, but not “Get Closer.” Simon and Garfunkel had a lot more hits than “Bridge Over Trobuled Waters.” Cat Stevens was pretty much boycotted by the industry after the [Salman Rushdie](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_Stevens%27_comments_about_Salman_Rushdie) incident, but his image has been somewhat rehabilitated. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-groups-that-used-to-be-very-popular-and-get-very-little-radio-play-today/688930/3 "2014-05-21T16:54:57Z")
The only song you ever hear from Traffic is “The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys” (and you’d think its length it wouldn’t be). Similarly, “The Weight” is the only song by the Band you hear. Neither groups had many hits, but were mainstays of album oriented radio in the 60s and 70s. (I will say that the Deep Tracks channel of Sirius XM does play a much wider variety of all groups of that era.) ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-groups-that-used-to-be-very-popular-and-get-very-little-radio-play-today/688930/4 "2014-05-21T17:01:38Z")
Oldies stations seem to think _Band on the Run_ is the only Wings hit. :smack: It’s ridiculous that they define an iconic band to one song. Then they ruin that song by over playing it. What happened to Let 'Em In, Junior’s Farm, and Uncle Albert? I used to like _Band on the Run_ until I heard it a thousand times. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-groups-that-used-to-be-very-popular-and-get-very-little-radio-play-today/688930/5 "2014-05-21T17:07:53Z")
Emmerson Lake & Palmer used to be big and deservedly so. Now I only seem to hear them on Pandora and then only because they’re one of my ‘stations.’ Even some of their bigger hits are awol… when was the last time you heard _In The Beginning_ on the radio? ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-groups-that-used-to-be-very-popular-and-get-very-little-radio-play-today/688930/6 "2014-05-21T17:25:59Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Simon and Garfunkel had a lot more hits than “Bridge Over Trobuled Waters.” I never hear “Bridge” on the radio, but “Mrs Robinson” seems to come up fairly often. > [@kunilou](#): > > Cat Stevens was pretty much boycotted by the industry after the [Salman Rushdie](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_Stevens%27_comments_about_Salman_Rushdie) incident, but his image has been somewhat rehabilitated. I heard “Wild World” just yesterday morning while driving to work and it kind of surprised me. I don’t think I’ve heard any Cat Stevens songs in years. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-groups-that-used-to-be-very-popular-and-get-very-little-radio-play-today/688930/7 "2014-05-21T18:06:51Z")
Chicago would be my nomination. They were probably hurt by the untimely death of their guitarist, which may or may not have contributed to their creative cratering in the late 70’s, but at one time they were pretty huge. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-groups-that-used-to-be-very-popular-and-get-very-little-radio-play-today/688930/8 "2014-05-21T18:51:11Z")
It’s a Beautiful Day’s first album was a stunner, as good or better musically than any of the other San Fran groups of the day. You used to hear “White Bird,” “Bombay Calling,” and “Time Is” all over FM. I heard “Bombay Calling” on an internet radio station the other day and it took me a moment to recognize it because it’s been so long. Great song, though. Roxy Music almost never gets played either, and they have a greatest hits albumful of recognizable songs. Some book once put the _Avalon_ album in the top thirty albums **ever** and today you probably wouldn’t find it in the top 530. ---
**Author:** ![protoboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/fbc32d/32.png) [@protoboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/protoboard)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-groups-that-used-to-be-very-popular-and-get-very-little-radio-play-today/688930/9 "2014-05-21T18:52:13Z")
Supertramp? I don’t really hear them that much on the radio, or people talk about them. The only song that seems well known today is the Logical Song and maybe “Give A Little Bit”. ---
**Author:** ![protoboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/fbc32d/32.png) [@protoboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/protoboard)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-groups-that-used-to-be-very-popular-and-get-very-little-radio-play-today/688930/10 "2014-05-21T18:54:00Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Roxy Music almost never gets played either, and they have a greatest hits albumful of recognizable songs. Some book once put the _Avalon_ album in the top thirty albums **ever** and today you probably wouldn’t find it in the top 530. Yes! It’s a shame too, since they’re a good band. I bet most people don’t know who Bryan Ferry is. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-groups-that-used-to-be-very-popular-and-get-very-little-radio-play-today/688930/11 "2014-05-21T19:02:42Z")
**Rick Springfield** ruled the pop world for a time on radio and tv. IMO, he and many others are victims of programmed Clear Channel format lists, and those that aren’t quite as categorizable just don’t get played. He had a few too many hits to get one-hit-wonder nostalgia, and not enough to cement himself in the public consciousness. ---
**Author:** ![cococ173](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3ab097/32.png) [@cococ173](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cococ173)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-groups-that-used-to-be-very-popular-and-get-very-little-radio-play-today/688930/12 "2014-05-21T19:11:27Z")
Blood Sweat And Tears. Hall and Oates. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-groups-that-used-to-be-very-popular-and-get-very-little-radio-play-today/688930/13 "2014-05-21T19:15:51Z")
Well, I can think of MANY artists who were HUGE in the Seventies but whose songs never get played on the radio. The acts who leaned toward mellow pop or folk-rock especially.Among them: John Denver Tony Orlando and Dawn The Captain and Tennille Helen Reddy If you want to go a little farther back, when’s the last time you heard a Peter, Paul and Mary song on the radio? ---
**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:** [May 21, 2014, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-groups-that-used-to-be-very-popular-and-get-very-little-radio-play-today/688930/14 "2014-05-21T19:24:30Z")
> [@protoboard](#): > > I bet most people don’t know who Bryan Ferry is. I’ll take that bet. I just saw him play to a packed house in Oakland last month. His set was 75% Roxy Music material. (Wanted to put a “cool” smilie after that, but the new one is so wrong-looking that I can’t bring myself to use it. Take it as read.) ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-groups-that-used-to-be-very-popular-and-get-very-little-radio-play-today/688930/15 "2014-05-21T19:26:05Z")
The answer to this question is Bob Seger. He was huge from the mid 70’s until about 1990, putting out hit song after hit song. “Old Time Rock and Roll” was the song featured in one of the most iconic scenes of the 1980’s movie world (Tom Cruise in his underwear) and “Like a Rock” was a constant song on TV as the theme to the Chevy ad campaigns. When’s the last time you heard Bob Seger on the radio? ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-groups-that-used-to-be-very-popular-and-get-very-little-radio-play-today/688930/16 "2014-05-21T19:42:36Z")
DO you know who the 2nd and 3rd most popular recording artists of the 1950s were? #1, of course, was Elvis, and there are still oldies stations playing his songs. But #2 was Pat Boone and #3 was Perry Como. I haven’t heard a song by either man on the radio in the last 40 years. I’m just old enough to remember when Como had a few songs in rotation on AM radio ("It’s Impossible, " “And I Love You So”). ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-groups-that-used-to-be-very-popular-and-get-very-little-radio-play-today/688930/17 "2014-05-21T19:50:36Z")
Just mention another obvious issue: As the years go by, there are more and more artists, albums, and songs that get bumped down into “oldies/classic rock” status. But there are still only 24 hours in a day in which to broadcast those artists/songs, and only so many songs that can be played in that time. So think of the “oldies/classic rock” playlist as your house’s basement, and the artists and songs as old furniture and toys/dishes/clothes/whatever. There’s only so much room down there. As more and more and more artists and songs get reclassified as “oldies” or “classic rock”, your “basement” fills up. Eventually, you run out of room for more stuff. Ultimately, in order to store new stuff in the basement, you have to make the decision to remove and discard some of the stuff that is already there. So you look around and see that big old living room set that used to belong to your grandmother. It’s beautiful, it’s comfortable, and it’s in great condition … but it’s taking up a whole lot of space. Think of that living room set as a formerly popular artist with a large catalog of hits. You’d like to keep the whole set, but you have to get rid of at least part of it to make room for some newer stuff. So, you reluctantly drag the sofa (representing the bulk of the artist’s hits, but the “lesser” ones) out of the basement and sell it or give it away, but you keep the love seat and the recliner (representing only the artist’s most popular work). Some time later, to free up more space, you dispose of the love seat, leaving only the recliner: the one or two biggest hits. And finally, even that has to go. Where the basement represents “space”, a radio playlist represents “time”, and in this case they’re the same. You have to get rid of old stuff to make room for the newer stuff. A decision to play one song is also a decision to not play another. Several years ago, my local classic rock station tried something new (for them). They greatly expanded their playlist, and made the promise to listeners, “You won’t hear the same song twice in a day!” They actually went above and beyond that promise. I listened to that station 8 hours a day at work, and I’m pretty certain that I didn’t hear the same song twice during the first _two weeks_ after the format change. But that experiment lasted about a month, and then they switched back to their old format. I can see why. When your playlist is “everything” (or almost everything), you’re going to inevitably end up having long stretches in which one listener or another is not going to hear _anything_ they really like. While those streaks are going to be different from one listener to the next, collectively you’re going to have a bunch of listeners changing the dial because, “Man, they never play anything _good_ any more!”. ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2014, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-groups-that-used-to-be-very-popular-and-get-very-little-radio-play-today/688930/18 "2014-05-21T19:52:27Z")
> [@Lamar\_Mundane](#): > > The answer to this question is Bob Seger. > > He was huge from the mid 70’s until about 1990, putting out hit song after hit song. “Old Time Rock and Roll” was the song featured in one of the most iconic scenes of the 1980’s movie world (Tom Cruise in his underwear) and “Like a Rock” was a constant song on TV as the theme to the Chevy ad campaigns. > > When’s the last time you heard Bob Seger on the radio? “Old Time Rock and Roll” is one of those songs that is played probably every other hour on every oldies station in the country. “Night moves” gets played probably at least one a week on every oldies station. ---
**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:** [May 21, 2014, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-groups-that-used-to-be-very-popular-and-get-very-little-radio-play-today/688930/19 "2014-05-21T20:04:21Z")
All these bands mentioned get played regularly on Music Choice. And not just one song from each. Some songs do repeat in an appx 24 hour cycle, but not a majority. The classic rock channel covers most of the same bands associated with CR, and the 70s channel plays most of the “other” radio staple, though there is crossover. They also seem to have a longer cycle they go through, where some songs get played in rotation for a month or so, then become less frequent as another song by that band takes over. It’s funny to hear songs with ‘naughty words’ that get played on both channels. But it’s backwards from what you think, if you consider the 70s channel to be the am radio equivalent channel: _Jet Airliner_ has ‘funky kicks’ on the classic channel, but the ‘funky shit’ version on the 70s channel. (Of course, their classic rock channel feels it HAS to play Grateful Dead every three hours, like clockwork. Don’t know why they rate so high.) ---
**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:** [May 21, 2014, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-groups-that-used-to-be-very-popular-and-get-very-little-radio-play-today/688930/20 "2014-05-21T20:19:49Z")
> [@Push\_You\_Down](#): > > “Old Time Rock and Roll” is one of those songs that is played probably every other hour on every oldies station in the country. > > “Night moves” gets played probably at least one a week on every oldies station. …and find me a bar band that \*doesn’t \*do Bob Seger covers. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/music-groups-that-used-to-be-very-popular-and-get-very-little-radio-play-today/688930.md?page=2)