Hi,
I was just watching my DVD of “The World Is Not Enough” and was blown away by the great title song by Garbage. Why on earth did this song not become a smash? Oh well…I figured I’d throw the question out to the Teeming Millions to come up with some other favorite tunes that never really ‘caught on.’ What do you think?
Another one I’d throw out there: “Into Temptation” by Crowded House.
“Hold My Hand” by Hootie & the Blowfish. A monster hit. Of course, being played on VH1 about a billion times probably helped. Listen to the song carefully and you’ll find it to be no more than a bunch of pop song cliches strung together.
That CD (Cracked Rear View) sold 14,000,000 copies while its follow up (Fairweather Johnson) sold ONLY 4,000,000 and it was considered a failure!!! Nearly every aspiring band would kill your mother to sell that many copies.
Oh well, such is fickle success…
I’ve always thought there are a lot of great Zeppelin songs that got ignored-Going to California, Good Times Bad Times, Trampled Under Foot. Of course, these are just in comparison to Stairway to Heaven.
Ben Folds Five’s Army (from their last album) is a great song–I can’t figure out why it (and the band) isn’t more popular.
I absolutely adore this group Lucy Pearl - it’s incredible. The female singer is from En Vogue, the male singer is from Tony Toni Tone, and the DJ is from A Tribe Called Quest. They are not very famous, even though they had a kickass song and video for the Love & Basketball movie, but I am hoping they will blow up soon.
There are two local Baltimore bands I love - Jah Works and Kelly Bell Band. Jah is all reggae/funk. I saw them on tour with The Roots, their lyrics are awesome and they have such stage presence and talent. Kelly Bell, the male lead singer of his eponymous band, has the smoothest voice, and his stuff is a blend of funk, R&B, reggae, and rock. These bands both just blow me away (I am seeing them live May 25th) and I can’t understand why they are not famous!
OK, the OP was about songs, but I got sidetracked. Everyone go to http://www.jahworks.com and listen to the samples, see if you like them. Their CDs are only $10!!
Yeah, I love the Garbage song too. I am even listening to it right now. I think that “At the Stars” by Better Than Ezra is really good. I have heard it on the radio a little bit, but I think it deserves more playtime. The lyrics are great, but considering most of the people who listen to top 40 i.e. teeny boppers, wouldn’t get past the title. Thanks for letting me rant!
“I Got a Line on You” by Spirit.
“She’s Such a Beauty” by Emmitt Rhodes. Rhodes put out the perfect top-40 album in the early 80s, but no one noticed.
“I Got a Line on You” by Spirit got to #25 on the U.S. Billboard chart, so it didn’t do too badly…
The “can’t miss” song from long ago that I best remember was one WHFS started playing in the Washington, DC area–“Because of You” by Kracker (not related to the later group named Cracker). The song ended up peaking at #104 on the Billboard Bubbling Under chart.
I was always surprised that the Wonder Stuff didn’t become huge – I guess they were poppy at the wrong time.
But I thought “Don’t Let Me Down, Gently” should have been a monster hit, and, in my perfect world, it would have been.
Anything by XTC. They should have been major stars, but instead are one of the most obscure bands ever.
I think the same thing about anything by Matthew Sweet. A lot of his stuff has great pop riffs and semi-intelligent lyrics, yet I never here any of his stuff on the radio.
He still seems to be very popular. His last time through Calgary, the concert sold out pretty quickly.
Hooray, someone who remembers that Led Zeppelin did some damn fine music other than THAT song… My favourite is a track called “Ten Years Gone” from the flip side of the Physical Graffiti album.
Ice Ice Baby, I just have always Hey!!OW!!! Quit throwing things!
so maybe it IS just me alone who likes that song…
I’m No Angel by Gregg Allman
Dead Ringer by Cher
I agree with the OP on the Garbage tune. Garbage may be the best band out there right now. I also agree on “Into Temptation” by Crowded House. That is a killer song. Those Finn boys know what they’re doing.
A few others:
[list][li]All of the songs on the Best of Elvis Costello. Only a couple of these songs were even minor hits in the U.S. Almost every song in the collection is a master work, and they should have been monster hits.[/li][li]“And It Stoned Me,” plus “Into the Mystic” by Van Morrison. Astral Weeks is overrated. Moondance (which contained the above songs) was his greatest album.[/li][li]Any number of early songs by The BoDeans. The Love and Hope and Sex and Dreams album contains one great song after another. If the BoDeans had come along post-Nirvana, after “alternative” music started getting actual airplay, they would have been hugely successful.[/li]Ditto for any number of early songs by R.E.M., back when they only got play on college radio. “I’m Sorry,” “Radio Free Europe,” “Driver 8,” …the list goes on and on.
Oh yeah, and a couple of tunes by Del Amitri: “Driving with Your Brakes On” and “Tell Her.” On the same CD, “Roll to Me” was a minor hit (with a pretty funny video) but it, too, should have received more airplay.
Talk about some pop hooks, and some great lyrics. These boys have 'em both.
“Only Love” by Nana Mouscouri, and “Where Mary Go” - can’t remember the group, but it came out in the 50’s.
“We Haven’t Turned Around” --Gomez
“Female of the Species” --Space
-Good Times, Bad Times gets my vote, I love that tune
I used to see them both when I was living in College Park. Is Blue Miracle still on the scene?
Now, about the topic,
I say “Suppers Ready” by Genesis, though most don’t get it.