# Songs That Were Only Popular Locally **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 23, 2009, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-were-only-popular-locally/518654 "2009-11-23T16:37:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2009, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-were-only-popular-locally/518654/21 "2009-11-24T14:04:32Z")
The Connells were big in NC but not anywhere else in the US. For some reason they had a hit in Europe though. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2009, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-were-only-popular-locally/518654/22 "2009-11-24T14:11:56Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > The Connells were big in NC but not anywhere else in the US. For some reason they had a hit in Europe though. The Connells had a song on the Scream soundtrack, “Bitter Pill”, that I really love. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2009, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-were-only-popular-locally/518654/23 "2009-11-24T14:32:25Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > The Connells were big in NC but not anywhere else in the US. For some reason they had a hit in Europe though. '74/'75 was enormous here on the radio but then they never followed it up. Great song, great video. ---
**Author:** ![mo50](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@mo50](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mo50)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2009, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-were-only-popular-locally/518654/24 "2009-11-24T14:33:08Z")
> [@Stephe96](#): > > The Fools were really big in New England for awhile there in the 80s. Songs like “She Makes Me Feel Big,” “World Dance Party” and “Life Sucks…The You Die” were in heavy rotation on Boston radio. Don’t forget “Psycho Chicken” & “A Night For Beautiful Girls”. Then there were the Stompers, Jon Butcher Axis, Charlie Farren, Del Fuegos, (who sorta broke out of Boston), & what seems like a zillion others. Lizzie Borden & the Axes, November Group, I could go on & on! (but mercifully won’t). Geez, remember WBCN & all their great DJs in the 80’s? Just a whole different time. I’m sure people in other cities have similiar memories, but thanks for the Boston blast! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2009, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-were-only-popular-locally/518654/25 "2009-11-24T14:41:11Z")
> [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](#): > > Nitpick - it’s Dean Friedman. And this song was also played a lot in the New York area, possibly because it references the Paramus Park mall in New Jersey Thanks for the catch, I can see why Friedman never took off 'cause his style was very close to Billy Joel who came along (I think a bit after) and took off and left Friedman in the dark. I think, at least in Chicago, in the 70s, DJs had much more control over their playlists than radio stations do now. So if a DJ liked a song he’d play. Charlene’s “I’ve Never Been To Me,” is an example of this A Tampa radio DJ liked the song and kept playing it and it caught on locally and internationally (going to #3 in the US and #1 in Britian) ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2009, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-were-only-popular-locally/518654/26 "2009-11-24T19:05:08Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > Charlene’s “I’ve Never Been To Me,” is an example of this A Tampa radio DJ liked the song and kept playing it and it caught on locally and internationally (going to #3 in the US and #1 in Britian) For that, he should have been put on the FBI’s Most Wanted list. ---
**Author:** ![Motorgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e36b37/32.png) [@Motorgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Motorgirl)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2009, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-were-only-popular-locally/518654/27 "2009-11-24T19:11:28Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > Wouldn’t these mostly be local bands? I was happily surprised when people outside of New England that I’d introduced to Guster and Jeremiah Freed reported hearing their songs on the radio, but I’d known that they were in heavy rotation only because they were local - “local” meaning from ME to MA in my case. Same with Vacationland, Paranoid Social Club, C60, Dear Leader, Twisted Roots, Taxpayer, and Angry Salad. > > However, I’ve been downloading an internet radio site from Boston (Loudcaster), and was surprised to learn that Bleu, Tracy Bonham, and Mission of Burma are local. LOL - Angry Salad. Haven’t listened to them in a while. I’ll have to get them onto my iPhone this weekend. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2009, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-were-only-popular-locally/518654/28 "2009-11-24T19:16:17Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > I’ve always wondered if people outside the Chicago area know the Aliotta, Haynes, and Jeremiah song, _Lake Shore Drive_. I used to love this song as a college student in Chicago in the early 90’s. > [@Stephe96](#): > > The Fools were really big in New England for awhile there in the 80s. Songs like “She Makes Me Feel Big,” “World Dance Party” and “Life Sucks…The You Die” were in heavy rotation on Boston radio. And, I was a Massachusetts teenager in the 80’s. I’d forgotten about The Fools! _She Makes Me Feel Big_ was a fun song. Speaking of Boston, another song I used to hear on the radio there but nowhere else was The Kingston Trio’s _Charlie on the MTA_. ---
**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:** [November 24, 2009, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-were-only-popular-locally/518654/29 "2009-11-24T19:42:07Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > Back in the late 1980’s I lived in East Lansing Michigan. A local station played a novelty song by a Michigan group called The Yoopers. Da Yoopers! They got some play in Wisconsin, too; I bought several tapes. I loved “Second Week of Deer Camp”, but “Rusty Chevrolet” (to the tune of “Jingle Bells”) is still my favorite. ---
**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:** [November 24, 2009, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-were-only-popular-locally/518654/30 "2009-11-24T19:43:19Z")
> [@Skammer](#): > > Speaking of Boston, another song I used to hear on the radio there but nowhere else was The Kingston Trio’s _Charlie on the MTA_. My parents were both folkies when they met in the '60s, and the Trio was their favorite group. I grew up listening to them, and that was one of my favorite songs. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![stpauler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@stpauler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stpauler)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2009, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-were-only-popular-locally/518654/31 "2009-11-24T19:50:36Z")
Local band Limited Warranty had a ton of airplay in the Twin Cities in the 80s. In the 90s, one of the indie stations played the hell out of New York band Soul Coughing and that band sold the most records here than anywhere else in the US. ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2009, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-were-only-popular-locally/518654/32 "2009-11-24T22:45:59Z")
“The Young Rascals” rebilled themselves as “The Rascals” on an album which probably sold better here in Hawaii than anywhere else in the country, called “Once Upon A Dream”. It was due to not the title song or the hit, “It’s Wonderful”, but due to the song, “[My Hawaii](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bER5qd6lwpM)”. ---
**Author:** ![Musky\_Moon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90db22/32.png) [@Musky\_Moon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musky_Moon)\ **Post date:** [November 24, 2009, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-were-only-popular-locally/518654/33 "2009-11-24T23:00:48Z")
In Philly, G Love had a huge hit with “Cold Beverages”…I’m sure it got some airplay elsewhere, but nothing like here. Same can be said for Marah’s “Point Breeze” to a lesser extent. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2009, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-were-only-popular-locally/518654/34 "2009-11-25T02:00:05Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > I remember growing up in the 70s and there were a few songs in Chicago that were very big here but not really elsewhere. > > For instance, Helen Reddy’s, _Gladiola_ and _Ariel_ by Dan Friedman were played all the time on Chicago radio when I grew up, but nationally not so much. As a former intern for the man, I would like to point out that it was _Dean_ Friedman. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [November 25, 2009, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-were-only-popular-locally/518654/35 "2009-11-25T05:52:17Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Blotto was very big locally. Broadway Blotto was my high school substitute teacher newspaper advisor! I thought no one else had heard of “I wanna be a lifeguard” lol. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2009, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-were-only-popular-locally/518654/36 "2009-11-26T17:48:27Z")
Bill Quateman also got a lot of airplay in Chicago around the same time as Aliotta, Haynes & Jeremiah. I always wondered why he wasn’t bigger nationally, as good as he was. David Mallet had a song that got a lot of airplay on FM radio in the 70’s, “Photographs and Memories” (not the Jim Croce song) that I had always assumed was popular nationally, but I’ve never met another person who ever heard of it outside of die-hard folkies. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-were-only-popular-locally/518654.md?page=1)