Never mind artists for a second: Here’s a list of singles that reached #1 on the Billboard charts since 1968 that I haven’t heard on any radio station in over 20 years:
“Honey” by Bobby Goldsboro
“Grazing in the Grass” by Hugh Masekela
“Love Theme from Romeo and Juliet” by Henry Mancini
“Everything is Beautiful” by Ray Stevens
“One Bad Apple” by the Osmond Brothers
“Go Away Little Girl” by Donny Osmond
“Brand New Key” by Melanie
“Baby, Don’t Get Hooked on Me” by Mac Davis
“I Am Woman” by Helen Reddy
“Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Old Oak Tree” by Tony Orlando and Dawn
“The Morning After” (Theme From The Poseidon Adventure) by Maureen McGovern
“Brother Louie” by the Stories
“Delta Dawn” by Helen Reddy
“Top of the World” by the Carpenters
“The Most Beautiful Girl in the World” by Chalie Rich
“Show and Tell” by Al Wilson
“You’re 16” by Ringo Starr
“Sunshine on my Shoulders” by John Denver
“The Streak” by Ray Stevens
“Billy, Don’t Be a Hero” by Bo Donaldson & the Heywoods
“Having My Baby” by Paul Anka
“The Night Chicago Died” by Paper Lace
“Rock Me Gently” by Andy Kim
“Angie Baby” by Helen Reddy
“Laughter in the Rain” by Neil Sedaka
“Have You Never Been Mellow” by Olivia Newton-John
“Before the Next Teardrop Falls” by Freddy Fender
“Bad Blood” by Neil Sedaka
“Kiss and Say Goodbye” by the Manhattans
“You Don’t Have to Be a Star” by Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis
“Don’t Give Up On Us, Baby” by David Soul
“Southern Nights” by Glen Campbell
“Undercover Angel” by Alan O’Day
“You Light Up My Life” by Debbie Boone
“Hot Child in the City” by Nick Gilder
“You Needed Me” by Anne Murray
“Stars on 45”
“The One That You Love” by the Air Supply
“Truly” by Lionel Richie
“Islands in the STream” by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton
I notice a lot of one-hit wonders but also a lot of couintry crossover hits.
To add to the Barbra Streisand discussion, she spent the first 6-7 years of her popular acclaim singing old songs: standards, show tunes, etc. Her early albums sold tons but she just wasn’t a top 40-oriented artist, and as far as I know only reached the top 40 twice during the 1960s, with her signature tune “People” and with “Second Hand Rose,” only the first of which can I imagine being played on commercial radio today.
By the 1970s she was singing contemporary material and had a number of hits, but even these sometimes had an old-fashioned or out-of-time feel to them - “The Way We Were” and “Evergreen” for example. It could be that radio programmers of today don’t know what to do with this kind of material, which is of the '70s but not as evocative of the '70s as Fleetwood Mac or something like that.
That pretty much summarizes it. Streisand’s songs from the 70s and 80s have the same problems as the music from such hugely popular MOR/Adult Contemporary artists of the era as The Carpenters, Helen Reddy, Barry Manilow, Olivia Newton-John, Anne Murray, and Lionel Ritchie. Oldies stations generally play the songs their target audience listened to when they were in their teens and early twenties and Streisand, Manilow, Ritchie, et al, mostly appealed to people who were in their thirties and forties (i.e., their parents). Those people are now past retirement age and, as far as radio programmers are concerned, no longer exist so there’s little need to play the type of music they used to listen to.
Olivia Newton-John still gets a lot of airplay for the songs she did on the ***Grease ***soundtrack and for some of her more danceable 80s songs (“Physical”). It’s her earlier mellow country songs that have fallen off the face of the Earth. I can’t remember the last time I heard “Please Mister, Please” or “Let Me Be There.”
Really? I am 27 and I have heard several songs from Roberta Flack, especially “Killing Me Softly With His Song”, which is also covered by the Fugees when I was a kid in the 1990’s. Hate both versions, I also know several “Feel Like Making Love To You” I read she had a like three number 1 songs in the 70’s and a comeback single in the early 90s with “Set The Night To Music”.
But I guess its normal, we all forget some artists that were out during our time.
As for Barbara Streisand, I totally agree. I know her duets with Barry Gibb of Bee Gees, and her duet with Bryan Adams in the middle 90s. But your comment made me think about how her songs are obscure considering she had a hits for five decades! Where are all these hits, she only has five number 1 singles.
I consider Streisand an actress even though she has a well known great voice.
For current artists some of you older folks would be surprised how little radio airplay Justin Bieber gets, he has no hits on the top 40 and has not had one for over a year. Considering how much he is in the press and his name has widespread recognition, but no radio airplay.
I was born in the late 80s, though am familiar with many artists from that decade and before. One I realized fit this thread is Simple Minds. Their most played song is “Don’t You Forget About Me”, though they had other singles like “Alive and Kicking”, “Sanctify Yourself”, and “All the Things She Said”.
Someone ought to crucify the motherfucker who decided it was a good idea to make 101 a Tejano station.
Not only does Tejano generally stink like a sweaty bum’s taint, but they wiped out one of the best and oldest classic rock/album rock stations I’ve ever known, with one fell stroke.
Justin Bieber’s claim to fame over the last year or so has been almost entirely based frequent incidents of public douchebaggery. Musically, his relevance has been steadily decreasing. He’s now too old to appeal to his target demographic of young female adolescents and the people who used to listen to him are moving on to different artists. It’s the same story that’s been repeated numerous times for nearly every teen idol and boy band (with some exceptions like Michael Jackson and Justin Timberlake).
On a related note, you don’t hear too many songs from most of these former teen idols and boy bands played on oldies stations (again, with the notable exception of Michael Jackson–both solo and as part of The Jackson Five). For example, when’s the last time you heard The Osmonds/Donny Osmond, Sean Cassidy, or Andy Gibb?
I think this happens to every band and era. Only the VERY popular songs get put on the replay list, so what happens is that there are maybe a couple dozen songs from the 1990s that get replayed, and a couple dozen from the first decade of the 21st century that get replayed.
So what’s going to happen in another 10 years, is that we’ll hear “Blurred Lines” get played once in a blue moon, and we’ll hear “Firework” by Katy Perry get played every now and again, but we won’t hear “Suit and Tie” by Justin Timberlake ever again on the radio, except on “Throwback 2013 Weekends!” on cheesy stations.
I always thought that was bullshit too. You have talented singers backed up by lip syncing and a dance act. What pop sensations doesn’t that describe? I still listen to them anyway no matter who the studio vocals came from. Girl, you know it’s true.
How about Bruce Hornsby and The Range? They did some really good, solid, toe-tapping rock music back in the day, and now people look at you funny when you mention them.
Moxy Fruvous. You never hear them on the radio. Though I only discovered them recently and I don’t know if they were ever really big on the radio (Canadian radio?) in the 90’s or not.
They were not. You’d hear King of Spain, occasionally, and My Baby Loves a Bunch of Authors if you watched the literary shows on TVO (I can’t remember which one used it as a theme song), but that’s it, really.
Hey check out Barbara Streisand doing “stoney end” That was her “hit” to me. I thought it was better than the original by Laura Nyro, and I love LN. Barbs hits all the marks.
p.s. I recently found the CD with this song on it at a rummage sale. In the mid 1990s, my city had a terrific alt-rock station that played this song. Oh, I knew it was heavily programmed, but for a while, it was fabulous.
I knew the format was going to change when it suddenly switched to The Sheryl Crow Channel. I kid you not; for several months, they literally played her for every 3rd or 4th song.
The song is “Black Steel” by Tricky. SFW.
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Too funny. My drummer from my local mid-life-crisis rock band was a record producer in his day job and actually produced Maxinquaye. Said Tricky was brilliant but was perpetually stoned and spent hours tweaking the bass drum sound.
These days, most folks think of Classical as Beethoven, Bach, Mozart and maybe one or two others. We’re seeing the same thing in rock.
How about Tommy James and the Shondells?
Mony Mony (also covered as a hit by Billy Idol)
Crimson and Clover (also covered as a hit by Joan Jett)
Hanky Panky
I Think We’re Alone Now (also covered as a hit by Tiffany)
