# Popular Songs You've Never Heard Of **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 17, 2009, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-songs-youve-never-heard-of/486239 "2009-02-17T05:32:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-songs-youve-never-heard-of/486239/1 "2009-02-17T05:32:29Z")
I am going through my CDs and making mp3s in anticipation of getting an mp3 player, anyway I was looking for some new songs to add and I decided to look at the Number 1 hits in the United States. There was a song in 1979 called _Pop Muzik_ by an artist called “M” Even though it went to #1 I never heard it before a few days ago. I had NEVER heard that song before. I was talking to someone and she says "How could you possibly been alive at the time and NEVER have heard that song. And I was really into music at the time, being a teenager. Even today when I don’t listen to much radio, I know of huge hits like _Bad Day_ by Daniel Powter. It would be pretty hard NOT to hear that somewhere. Anyway my question what very popular songs just shot right by you and you missed hearing for a long time? ---
**Author:** ![Rachael\_Rage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71c47a/32.png) [@Rachael\_Rage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachael_Rage)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-songs-youve-never-heard-of/486239/2 "2009-02-17T05:37:36Z")
I’m good at this. I tend to “discover” music about ten years after it was the hip new thing. Anyway, I never heard Outkast’s “Hey Ya” that one summer it was _everywhere_. I knew of it, but I never heard it. I finally sought it out on YouTube about a year later, and I fell in love with it just when everyone one else was ready to shoot somebody of they heard it one more time. ---
**Author:** ![Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e480ec/32.png) [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Least_Original_User_Name_Ever)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-songs-youve-never-heard-of/486239/3 "2009-02-17T05:44:51Z")
> [@Rachael\_Rage](#): > > I’m good at this. I tend to “discover” music about ten years after it was the hip new thing. > > Anyway, I never heard Outkast’s “Hey Ya” that one summer it was _everywhere_. I knew of it, but I never heard it. I finally sought it out on YouTube about a year later, and I fell in love with it just when everyone one else was ready to shoot somebody of they heard it one more time. Sorry, my mind just boggled. Damn. ---
**Author:** ![Diz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/87869e/32.png) [@Diz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diz)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-songs-youve-never-heard-of/486239/4 "2009-02-17T05:47:20Z")
Well, I’d never heard of _Bad Day_ or Daniel Powter until now 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Art\_Rock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/art_rock/32/525_2.png) [@Art\_Rock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Art_Rock)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-songs-youve-never-heard-of/486239/5 "2009-02-17T06:07:16Z")
This will be difficult to imagine for Americans, but… Freebird - Lynyrd Skynyrd It did not get any significant radio play in Holland in the seventies, and even now it rarely features on classic rock stations. ---
**Author:** ![Rachael\_Rage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71c47a/32.png) [@Rachael\_Rage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachael_Rage)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-songs-youve-never-heard-of/486239/6 "2009-02-17T06:09:38Z")
> [@Least\_Original\_User\_Name\_Ever](#): > > Sorry, my mind just boggled. > > Damn. Yeah, honestly, I don’t know what I was doing, but apparently I wasn’t anywhere that anyone was playing music. Or perhaps I went temporarily deaf. Similarly, I heard Rhianna’s “Umbrella” for the first time around last summer. I thought I was getting better, but apparently it came out about a year before that. In my defense, I have both heard and seen the video for “Single Ladies,” but only after Beyonce was on SNL a few weeks ago. ---
**Author:** ![Meyer6](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cc9497/32.png) [@Meyer6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meyer6)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-songs-youve-never-heard-of/486239/7 "2009-02-17T06:10:12Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > I am going through my CDs and making mp3s in anticipation of getting an mp3 player, anyway I was looking for some new songs to add and I decided to look at the Number 1 hits in the United States. > > There was a song in 1979 called _Pop Muzik_ by an artist called “M” > > Even though it went to #1 I never heard it before a few days ago. > > I had NEVER heard that song before. I was talking to someone and she says "How could you possibly been alive at the time and NEVER have heard that song. I’m almost jealous that you’ve never heard Pop Muzik before - it’s so fun! And you can discover it for the fist time! Several years ago I travelled from London to Paris with a friend and while waiting for the bus I started singing that song (it seemed appropriate). She too had never heard of it, although to give her credit we were only about a year old when it came out. For some reason finding out she didn’t know it filled me with the near insatiable urge to sing it repeatedly, and try to describe it to her (impossible). We were on a hugely long bus ride and of course had no internet access, so we couldn’t hear it. After the 5th or 6th "New York, London, Paris, Munich! she must have been getting pretty damn annoyed but I couldn’t get it out of my head. It’s a real credit to our friendship that she didn’t kill me that day. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-songs-youve-never-heard-of/486239/8 "2009-02-17T06:23:01Z")
I have been pretty much out of touch with popular music for at least ten years. Sometimes I know the song. Sometimes I’ve heard of the artist. Rarely can I match up the two. For instance the domestic violence incident with Rhianna and Chris Brown has been in the news. No idea what either of them have done. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-songs-youve-never-heard-of/486239/9 "2009-02-17T10:01:04Z")
> [@Art\_Rock](#): > > This will be difficult to imagine for Americans, but.. > > Freebird - Lynyrd Skynyrd I first heard Freebird while watching The Texas Chainsaw Massacre in a hotel room a couple of years ago. I had also never seen any version of TTCM and didn’t realise that’s what I was watching until the end credits. ---
**Author:** ![Cyberhwk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7993a0/32.png) [@Cyberhwk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyberhwk)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-songs-youve-never-heard-of/486239/10 "2009-02-17T10:51:31Z")
**Queensryche**. I’m FROM Washington and I couldn’t pick out any of their songs if you played them for me. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-songs-youve-never-heard-of/486239/11 "2009-02-17T12:09:55Z")
> [@Cyberhwk](#): > > **Queensryche**. I’m FROM Washington and I couldn’t pick out any of their songs if you played them for me. This is how it always goes. I post about how clueless I am about most popular music and two posts later you talk about one of my favorite groups. I think officially they only had one mainstream hit. ---
**Author:** ![Art\_Rock](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/art_rock/32/525_2.png) [@Art\_Rock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Art_Rock)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-songs-youve-never-heard-of/486239/12 "2009-02-17T13:17:36Z")
Silent lucidity (Queensryche) - one of my all-time favourite songs. ---
**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:** [February 17, 2009, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-songs-youve-never-heard-of/486239/13 "2009-02-17T13:36:10Z")
Well, I haven’t been paying much attention to the top 40 charts since about 1970, so there’s plenty of #1 songs I’ve never heard. But I never paid much attention to a song’s popularity. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-songs-youve-never-heard-of/486239/14 "2009-02-17T13:58:51Z")
> [@Art\_Rock](#): > > This will be difficult to imagine for Americans, but.. > > Freebird - Lynyrd Skynyrd > > It did not get any significant radio play in Holland in the seventies, and even now it rarely features on classic rock stations. Giles sang quite a nice version of _FreeBird_ in “The Yoko Factor.” ( **Buffy** , of course.) ---
**Author:** ![BaconAndEggs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f4b2a3/32.png) [@BaconAndEggs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BaconAndEggs)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-songs-youve-never-heard-of/486239/15 "2009-02-17T14:25:12Z")
“Hey Ya” came out in 2003. You said you watched it on YouTube a year later, which means 2004. Was YouTube a website in 2004? ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-songs-youve-never-heard-of/486239/16 "2009-02-17T15:50:15Z")
> [@Diz](#): > > Well, I’d never heard of _Bad Day_ or Daniel Powter until now 🙂 You are very lucky. ---
**Author:** ![Lungfish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d78d45/32.png) [@Lungfish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lungfish)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-songs-youve-never-heard-of/486239/17 "2009-02-17T16:36:26Z")
> [@BaconAndEggs](#): > > “Hey Ya” came out in 2003. You said you watched it on YouTube a year later, which means 2004. Was YouTube a website in 2004? According to its page on Wikipedia the idea for YouTube was developed in February 2005. The beta test of the site was in the following May with the official launch in November 2005. The one song I didn’t know existed until a few years ago is Baker Street by Gerry Rafferty. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-songs-youve-never-heard-of/486239/18 "2009-02-17T16:46:09Z")
I’m an American 39 year-old male and I still wouldn’t recognize “Freebird” if I heard it. Something tells me if I heard it my reaction would be “oh, that song? yeah, I heard it before, just never knew what it was called, just something they play a lot on the classic rock stations.” Another popular one I never heard until a couple months ago where people here overwhelmingly voted it the worst Xmas song ever was “The Christmas Shoes”. Agreed, it is horrible. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-songs-youve-never-heard-of/486239/19 "2009-02-17T16:56:42Z")
I’ve still never heard “Hurt.” I heard a few seconds of Kermit the frog playing it, but it sounded stupid. Plus, I hate Johnny Cash and NIN doesn’t do it for me. ---
**Author:** ![Baal\_Houtham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baal_houtham/32/13604_2.png) [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2009, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-songs-youve-never-heard-of/486239/20 "2009-02-17T18:24:25Z")
The thread title is nice. _Popular Songs You’ve Never Heard Of_. That’s kind of like asking for Things You Don’t Know You Didn’t Know. Anyway. Mariah Carey is (I think) the most successful female singer of all time. The only thing by her I know is “Vision of Love.” My sister put it on a cassette for me 14 years ago and I finally listened to it earlier this year. It’s not bad. I must have heard Celine Dion’s “Our Love Will Go On” but I couldn’t tell you a thing about it other than the title. I couldn’t tell you anything at all about Ms. Dion’s other songs. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popular-songs-youve-never-heard-of/486239.md?page=2)