Pretty self-explanatory - what are some of the weirdest singles that have made the top 10? Songs that, when you first heard, you thought, “This is pretty out there for a mass audience”? A lot of these probably don’t seem so weird now that they’re entrenched cultural signposts, but here’s my short list:
The Beatles - Strawberry Fields Forever
A great song, to be sure, but it would be weird even if it was released today. Not even so much “psychedelic” as sounding like it’s completely from another realm.
Fleetwood Mac - Tusk
I’m not a fan of their too-laid-back SoCal easy listening “rock”, but I have to cheer this one for its kitchen-sink bizarreness. A million miles from “Don’t Stop”.
R.E.M. - Losing My Religion
As I said, this doesn’t seem weird now that it’s a standard, but I remember, as a fan from the 80s, when I first heard this single on the local “modern rock” station and thinking, “Well, that was a stupid choice as a bid for mainstream airplay”. Mandolin, stream-of-consciousness lyrics, and a decidedly downbeat feel? Never happen.
I was going to include Peggy Lee’s “Is That All There Is?”, but I see it only made #11 on the charts. But what the hell? I’ll include it anyway.
“Timothy” by The Buoys. Cannibalism. And repressed memories. At the end of the “innocent” sixties and the beginning of the disco seventies. Hard to get much weirder than that.
The Ying Yang Twins’ “wait (the whisper song)” springs to mind. Nothing but a kick drum, finger snaps, and a guy whispering obscenities. It got to #15 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
What’s so weird about it? Honest, I don’t get why you think that. It’s about a shipwreck. That’s not a typical subject for a song, but I don’t see it as particularly weird. And the song itself, musically, has nothing weird in it that I can hear, I actually quite like it.
“Desiderata” by Les Crane. Not even a song, really, just a overly dramatic recitation of a poem. Reached #8.
“They’re Coming to Take me Away, Ha Haaa!” by Napoleon XIV – A weird chant by a man going insane. Doesn’t even show up on oldies stations any more. Reached #3.
It’s catchy as hell and really happy sounding, but The Beach Boys’ “Good Vibrations” is one weird piece of music – constant stops and starts, numerous parts, and an instrumental lineup of drums, bass, manaical organs, electro-theremin, tack piano, and cellos sawing one note.
That’s probably because it’s now considered politically incorrect.
I think that song’s weirdness has more to do with the fact it was the charts in 1969. Imagine listening to a typical Top 40 station that year and hearing this Kurt Weilesque testament to mid-life ennui by a nearly 50-something former big band singer among the Rolling Stones and the Archies.
There’s a song I heard on regular pop radio the other day called “No Handlebars” by the Flobots. I don’t know how high it reached on the charts but I loved it and it’s definitely weird.
