Stubborn Kind Of Fellow, Marvin Gaye’s first single, is an amazing record that only went to #46 in late 1962. I just discovered it recently when I got the Motown Hitsville box set. I guess the world wasn’t ready.
Papa Oom Mow Mow by The Rivingtons only made it to #48 in the fall of 1962. A classic, rockin’ soul tune that many people only know from its chorus being sung in The Trashmen’s Surfin’ Bird.
Unless You Care by Terry Black is a Canadian record that was picked up from the Arc label out of Toronto by Tollie Records in the US. It’s a great, jangly electric 12-string tune in the British Invasion mold, by a Canadian artist, recorded in New York. It went to #12 on the 1050 CHUM (Toronto) chart, but in the States, it died at #99 in September 1964.
Tainted Love by Gloria Jones, the original recording, is a driving soul number with a great band. It didn’t chart at all when it was released in 1964, although Soft Cell’s minimalist 1982 cover went to #8.
Terry Stafford’s brilliant Elvis impersonation, Suspicion went to #3 in March 1964. Elvis’ own version from May 1964 went no further than #103.
Gloria by Them, the original recording from February 1965, only managed #71, but The Shadows Of Knight took it to #10 spring of 1966.
I Can’t Explain by The Who only went to #93! (April 1965)
Holy crap that was a great song. I haven’t thought about that song in about a dickety-million years. Cheers, bup, for making me feel 15 again for a minute.
And back on topic, how about “Lonelyhearts” by the Atlantics? Maybe a bit Bostoncentric, but a great, angsty, heavy pop song.
ok, two more, Mike Oldfield’s “Moonlight Shadow” and “Man in the Rain”. You could add his “Crime of Passion”, but its really just the same song as “Moonlight Shadow”…
Reality Chuck
I knew the SDMB had a few Spirit fans.
Yes, 12 Dreams of Dr Sardonicus is one of the all-time great albums and it is a shame it never really garnered much popularity or airplay.
“Outside Chance” (a song on the Turtles Greatest Hits) seemed to have “pop chart success” written all over it but it never connected as a hit.
I consider “I Who Have Nothing” by Terry Knight and the Pack to be the best rendition of the song but I think it only made it to the “forties” in the Top 100.
On the edge of the category: “Then I Met You” - The Proclaimers. I saw them a while ago, and while “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)” got some of the girls dancing (this was a dinner-and-a-concert place with tables and benches), it was TIMY that they saved for the encore and really got everyone off their butts.
With songs like TIMY, “Cap In Hand,” and “I’m On My Way,” as well as “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles),” I have to wonder why these guys were only a “One Hit Wonder” here. These are great songs. I haven’t heard everything they’ve done, but if it’s all as good as these, they should’ve been around the charts just a little more!
I could make a long list of what sound to me like perfect or near-perfect pop songs that, for one reason or another, never made it to the top 40 or, in some cases, to the radio at all.
However, the best example of what the OP is looking for that I can think of is
“Love Is The Answer” by Utopia
I can’t believe Surrender was never in the top 40.
The Sundays were almost underground. I don’t remember hearing much of them on the radio until we got a non-college independent alternative radio station in New Orleans. And right off hand, that’s the only song I can name by The Sundays. I know there were a couple of other songs I liked, but I never bought the album and it’s been years since they were played on the radio.
Amen to that. It probably would have been the most successful single on Rumours had band politics not made it a B-side.
My own vote goes to “Live” (short i) by Emitt Rhodes. It got intermittent airplay in Cleveland, generally only part of the song before the news. It’s finally available on CD, although the ending is slightly truncated. Great, great song.
Runnerup would be “The Wall of Death” by Richard & Linda Thompson. IMO, “Henry the Human Fly” and “I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight” are Thompson’s best albums, but there was nothing on them that was ever going to chart. But it took true record company genius to make “The Wall of Death” fail to chart.