# Songs, films, tv shows etc. that were supposed to fail, but didn't. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 5, 2018, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-films-tv-shows-etc-that-were-supposed-to-fail-but-didnt/813652 "2018-05-05T18:41:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**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:** [May 6, 2018, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-films-tv-shows-etc-that-were-supposed-to-fail-but-didnt/813652/21 "2018-05-06T03:45:55Z")
In 1990, NBC aired a series based on the Ferris Bueller movie. Fox countered with, “Parker Lewis Can’t Lose.” Talk was that “Parker Lewis” would tank in no time flat. Ferris went 13 episodes and vanished. Parker Lewis ran 3 seasons. In one of the PLCL episodes, the ending takes place in the auditorium and while the cast does their thing, two figures get up to leave and one says to the other, **C’mon, Ferris, let’s get outta here**. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![TCMF-2L](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tcmf-2l/32/16553_2.png) [@TCMF-2L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TCMF-2L)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2018, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-films-tv-shows-etc-that-were-supposed-to-fail-but-didnt/813652/22 "2018-05-06T15:34:07Z")
The makers of Australian film\*\* Crocodile Dundee\*\* (1986) always hoped it would be successful. However it has been reported for years that Australian band **INXS** invested in the film because they expected it, like most films, would actually end up failing and that, supposedly, would have created tax benefits for the then successful band. **Crocodile Dundee** went on to become a massive success. TCMF-2L ---
**Author:** ![TCMF-2L](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tcmf-2l/32/16553_2.png) [@TCMF-2L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TCMF-2L)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2018, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-films-tv-shows-etc-that-were-supposed-to-fail-but-didnt/813652/23 "2018-05-06T15:43:57Z")
The band **Radiohead** have supposedly always had mixed feelings about the song **Creep** which, in the end, was their first big hit. Supposedly the crashing guitar noises before the chorus were put in by the **Jonny Greenwood** (guitarist) trying to deliberately ruin the song to make it unreleasable. TCMF-2L ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2018, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-films-tv-shows-etc-that-were-supposed-to-fail-but-didnt/813652/24 "2018-05-06T17:42:13Z")
[Cum On Feel the Noize by Quiet Riot](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cum_On_Feel_the_Noize#Quiet_Riot_version): > [@](#): > > Originally, lead vocalist Kevin DuBrow was dead set on not covering the song, because he wanted the band to write every song on the album and was not a big fan of Slade. Instead, the band decided to try to cover the song as badly as they could so the label would refuse to release it. And what about _Metal Machine Music_ by **Lou Reed**? Did he want it to be a failure? And somewhat related… **The Residents** didn’t want _[Not Available](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Not_Available_(album))_ to be a failure. They simply didn’t want anyone to hear it (at least initially). ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2018, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-films-tv-shows-etc-that-were-supposed-to-fail-but-didnt/813652/25 "2018-05-06T17:42:57Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > Just last night, I heard on NPR that 50 years ago, when “Hair” debuted, nobody thought it would be a hit on ANY level. I find this hard to believe. I saw several productions of “Hair”, tried out for one of them and know someone (sort of, on the Internet) who was a cast member in the Great Lakes production. The concept of entire albums of music being thematic was new, but popular. This carried it a step further and was an entire musical. It was quickly followed by “Tommy” and “Jesus Christ - Superstar”, actual rock operas. The songs are perfect for the times. Some are obviously pop gold when you first hear them like “Good Morning Starshine/Aquarius”. Others are similar and they all are spot-on topical. Shelly Plimpton’s “Frank Mills” is such a sweet little song, probably my favorite. Hair resonated with a generation like nothing else I can think of. Dennis ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2018, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-films-tv-shows-etc-that-were-supposed-to-fail-but-didnt/813652/26 "2018-05-06T22:44:09Z")
> [@mixdenny](#): > > Hair resonated with a generation like nothing else I can think of. Off-Broadway and full of hippies was not a recipe for success back then. At the time it seemed like the only publicity it got was for the _naked_ hippies. It wasn’t a deliberate failure but a tough sell for Broadway, which might’ve not happened were it not for Michael Butler going all counter-cultural and, I assume, wanting to piss off his dad. ---
**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:** [May 7, 2018, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-films-tv-shows-etc-that-were-supposed-to-fail-but-didnt/813652/27 "2018-05-07T00:42:25Z")
> [@digs](#): > > I’m too lazy to google it (Kids, don’t let this ever happen to you!), but I remember from an article that “Steam” wasn’t really a band. It was one guy who grabbed whoever was in the studio to play on the track. When it hit the top of the charts, the “band” got booked for gigs, and he had to find some musician friends to go on the road with. > > He \*might \*(sorry, I’m on the couch and google is waaay too far away…) be the guy who had two (three?) hit songs with different cobbled together groups at the same time. Looks like you’re at least partially correct. “Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye” was written, years before it was recorded, by three bandmates (Gary DeCarlo, Paul Luka, and Dale Frashuer). That band broke up, and, when DeCarlo was recording songs as a solo artist, with Luka as producer, they needed a B-side song. They resurrected the song, recorded it themselves (repurposing drum tracks from other songs), and attributed it to “Steam,” which didn’t actually exist at that point. > **[Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Na_Na_Hey_Hey_Kiss_Him_Goodbye)** > > "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye" is a 1969 song written and recorded by Paul Leka, Gary DeCarlo and Dale Frashuer, attributed to a then-fictitious band Steam. It was released under the Mercury subsidiary label Fontana and became a number-one pop single on the Billboard Hot 100 in late 1969, and remained on the charts in early 1970.\[failed verification\] > Paul Leka, Gary DeCarlo and Dale Frashuer wrote a blues shuffle version of the song in the early 1960s when they were members of a doo-wop grou... ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2018, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-films-tv-shows-etc-that-were-supposed-to-fail-but-didnt/813652/28 "2018-05-07T01:19:06Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > 30 Rock was the show that was only supposed to last one season, not Studio 60. Yeah, that may have been what the critics assumed, but **30 Rock** ’s creators didn’t intend for it to fail. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Mondegreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/91b2a8/32.png) [@Lord\_Mondegreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Mondegreen)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2018, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-films-tv-shows-etc-that-were-supposed-to-fail-but-didnt/813652/29 "2018-05-07T02:19:06Z")
> [@TCMF-2L](#): > > The makers of Australian film\*\* Crocodile Dundee\*\* (1986) always hoped it would be successful. > > However it has been reported for years that Australian band **INXS** invested in the film because they expected it, like most films, would actually end up failing and that, supposedly, would have created tax benefits for the then successful band. > > **Crocodile Dundee** went on to become a massive success. > > TCMF-2L This is believable because there was a time when investing in Australian movies gave a tax deduction of (if I recall correctly) 150%. There were lots of rubbish movies made that never made it to cinemas. ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2018, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-films-tv-shows-etc-that-were-supposed-to-fail-but-didnt/813652/30 "2018-05-07T02:47:06Z")
Why would it be more beneficial for them to have the movie fail? ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Mondegreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/91b2a8/32.png) [@Lord\_Mondegreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Mondegreen)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2018, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-films-tv-shows-etc-that-were-supposed-to-fail-but-didnt/813652/31 "2018-05-07T03:59:16Z")
Not more beneficial in this case, but more a case where it didn’t really matter one way or the other. I guess they thought it would fail but that wouldn’t matter because of the massive tax advantage. I’m sure they didn’t complain when it was a huge success. ---
**Author:** ![TCMF-2L](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tcmf-2l/32/16553_2.png) [@TCMF-2L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TCMF-2L)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2018, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-films-tv-shows-etc-that-were-supposed-to-fail-but-didnt/813652/32 "2018-05-07T13:02:22Z")
> [@Lord\_Mondegreen](#): > > Not more beneficial in this case, but more a case where it didn’t really matter one way or the other. I guess they thought it would fail but that wouldn’t matter because of the massive tax advantage. I’m sure they didn’t complain when it was a huge success. When the story is told, and this might just be for comedic impact, the success of the film is usually presented as a negative. This is **INXS** bass player **Garry Gary Beers** relating the story Quote _**So… funny story. When we actually started to make some money after the Listen Like Thieves album and tour, we were told to “write off” some of it on a bad investment. One of our accountants recommended a movie with no chance of success called Crocodile Dundee. Mike and Andy flew up to the Northern Territory to meet Paul Hogan and the crew and came back saying that it would be a good Aussie film but that’s about it… So needless to say it was the biggest thing since sliced bread and we made our “problem” bigger… Great film… G**_ I note he puts problem in ‘scare’ quotes. TCMF-2L ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2018, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-films-tv-shows-etc-that-were-supposed-to-fail-but-didnt/813652/33 "2018-05-07T13:06:43Z")
Nobody predicted that Avenue Q would be as successful as it was. And tht yeatr everyone predicted the best musical Tony would go to Wicked. It seemed a sure thing. Guess what happened? ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2018, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-films-tv-shows-etc-that-were-supposed-to-fail-but-didnt/813652/34 "2018-05-07T13:10:03Z")
> [@Jacquernagy](#): > > Why would it be more beneficial for them to have the movie fail? Because if the movie had succeeded, the investors would have seen a profit - a taxable profit. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2018, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-films-tv-shows-etc-that-were-supposed-to-fail-but-didnt/813652/35 "2018-05-07T14:20:57Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Nobody predicted that Avenue Q would be as successful as it was. And tht yeatr everyone predicted the best musical Tony would go to Wicked. It seemed a sure thing. > > Guess what happened? That’s true…but I don’t think it was actually put together to fail. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2018, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-films-tv-shows-etc-that-were-supposed-to-fail-but-didnt/813652/36 "2018-05-07T16:06:33Z")
ABC didn’t have any faith in Grey’s Anatomy. It was premiered in the middle of a season as filler to plug a hole with little promotion. They seemed to be just throwing it against a wall to see if it stuck and it did and became a huge hit and franchise. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2018, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-films-tv-shows-etc-that-were-supposed-to-fail-but-didnt/813652/37 "2018-05-07T16:26:57Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > ABC didn’t have any faith in Grey’s Anatomy. It was premiered in the middle of a season as filler to plug a hole with little promotion. They seemed to be just throwing it against a wall to see if it stuck and it did and became a huge hit and franchise. Again, not quite what I’m looking for here. I’m looking for media that was deliberately designed to fail, but succeeded anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2018, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-films-tv-shows-etc-that-were-supposed-to-fail-but-didnt/813652/38 "2018-05-07T17:10:53Z")
There is the phenomenon of a band being contractually obligated to release an album. They often won’t see much if any money from the album, especially if they’ve signed away songwriting credits. So one option is to release something un-listenable. This is supposedly the reason for “Metal Machine Music”. Another option is to release an album full of covers. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2018, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-films-tv-shows-etc-that-were-supposed-to-fail-but-didnt/813652/39 "2018-05-07T17:59:51Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > And what about _Metal Machine Music_ by **Lou Reed**? Did he want it to be a failure? Possibly. Most critics thought it fulfilled his contract with a giant “fuck you” to his record company. I was a big LR fan at the time, but even I didn’t buy it. Then again, I bought _Berlin_, listened to it once, and it has sat ten feet away from me for forty years, so I’m not sure how big a fan I really am. ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2018, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-films-tv-shows-etc-that-were-supposed-to-fail-but-didnt/813652/40 "2018-05-07T18:53:30Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Again, not quite what I’m looking for here. I’m looking for media that was deliberately designed to fail, but succeeded anyway. And MMM wouldn’t count because it failed totally. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-films-tv-shows-etc-that-were-supposed-to-fail-but-didnt/813652.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-films-tv-shows-etc-that-were-supposed-to-fail-but-didnt/813652.md?page=3)