Obscure Singles Heard at CVS

I like Afterburner but yeah outside of "why am I hearing Sleeping Bag at CVS?" insanity I don't know why anything from it would make regular rotation on rock radio now

― da croupier, Thursday, October 11, 2012 2:32 PM

I tweeted this a few days ago. Recently:

Duran Duran - Do You Believe in Shame
Michael Penn - This and That

Semisonic: All About Chemistry

Grocery store, not CVS, but "Echo Beach" by Martha and the Muffins.

Not a CVS but I recently heard "I Am The Slime" by Zappa when I was getting my hair cut

once heard the entirety of they might be giants' flood on the walmart radio station.

jesus buddy were you waiting for an oil change or something?

ie it wasn't some worker blasting flood thru the store pa, it was the corporate radio station piped into walmarts coast to coast for some reason doing a 'showcase' on flood.

haha i think (dear god i hope) it started soon after i arrived and i may have indeed lingered to take it in, hear 'twisting' for the first time in however many years, take half an hour to decide whether or not i want poptarts, etc. something very fucked about hearing this blasting at walmart though: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zNoxjUUyec

hahaha that's better than what I was guessing, which was "Your Racist Friend"

I heard Cracker's cover of "Shake Some Action" in CVS just two nights ago.

Others:

Boz Scaggs - Miss Sun
a-ha - The Sun Always Shines on TV
Tyler Collins - Girls Night Out
Toni Childs - Don't Walk Away

Huh I heard echo beach at Barnes & noble last week.

weirdest one i remember was "change your mind" by neil young while i was standing in line to get painkillers a few years ago. must've been a radio edit. felt appropriate.

Michael Penn - This and That
also, this song is so classic

Heard "Let's Hang On" which was a minor Top 40 for Barry Manilow at a Rite Aid once.

Sunrise by Duran Duran at Papa Ginos a month or so ago.
Why would THAT happen?

lite rock cover of Catch the Sun by Doves @ my bank

"Heaven's on Fire" by KISS was playing on at least two separate occasions at the CVS by my college

not an obscure single really but jarring in the soft-rock context, heard "More Bounce to the Ounce" at the local grocery store a few months ago

REM - "All The Way To Reno"

ie it wasn't some worker blasting flood thru the store pa, it was the corporate radio station piped into walmarts coast to coast for some reason doing a 'showcase' on flood.

― balls, Thursday, October 11, 2012 5:25 PM (6 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

That is exceptionally weird and now I want to listen to that album which I haven't done in years.

It's not obscure but I was euphoric when I heard Amy Grant's "I Will Remember You" yesterday.

was picking up prescription for antidepressant at walgreens and they were playing "i wanna be sedated." no lie.

heard velvet underground - oh! sweet nuthin' at walgreens last week

Sugar Ray's "Chasin You Around" at Met Foods. The second single off In Pursuit Of Leisure, the album after the last one anyone cared about

not obscure but heard like a 10-minute Tool deep cut in a 24 hour kroger once. it was weird because there was usually just soft rock & r&b playing there

a couple visits to shop rite ago i heard the 12-inch edit of "she's always in my hair"

I'm just gonna use this thread for obscure songs heard in any retail setting:

Roxy Music - 2HB in Noodles and Company yesterday.

The other week in Morrisons they were playing 'If I Could Talk I'd Tell You' by the Lemonheads (a #39 smash in 1996).

Heard the Kinks' "Juke Box Music" in a grocery store a couple of years ago. Barely a hit in the US in 1977, never played on "classic rock" radio.

lol i heard donna lewis's flop second single "without love" in a cvs once

Heard "For What It's Worth" by The Cardigans in the grocery store the other day.

not that obscure really but heard dennis deyoung's "desert moon" followed by madonna's "this used to be my playground" on KRGR kroger radio last night, the algorithm was feeling some super intense nostalgia apparently

Thought this was a revival of this thread: albert hammond, "it never rains in southern california"

Not obscure, but I really enjoyed hearing Scritti Politti at CVS yesterday.

I heard the song 'On the Beach' by Neil Young at the grocery store once.

Heard "Couple Days Off" by Huey Lewis & The News last night at Whataburger.

Heard "Emerge" Fischerspooner at a Florida water-park

https://soundcloud.com/hennessyyoungman/cvsbangers

haha thank you, a classic

Jack In The Box is good for these. Today it was "Wild Wild Life" by Talking Heads, and last time a couple weeks ago I heard "Canary In A Coalmine" by The Police.

It's not obscure but I was euphoric when I heard Amy Grant's "I Will Remember You" yesterday.

alfred i'd start straight up bawling

I heard that really sterile, generic, terrible ballad by "Sergio Mendes" from the 80s...."Never Gonna Let You Go"...in a Zaxby's.

whenever i'm in cvs i hear "shattered dreams"

I heard Jack Wagner's "All I Need" and Richard Marx's "Hazard" once in an Albertsons during a 4 hour shift. I remain convinced that they had not changed their Muzak since my childhood.

and whenever I hit the "from this empty heart" falsetto several mothers in the cold medicine section scowl

hahaha. I can't help not singing along to that tune either. that or "All I Need is a Miracle".

haha otm

Shopping for pencils and invisible tape at CVS this morning I heard "Soul Drifter" by Lindsey Buckingham!

^^^^ I've heard it at CVS too

Manu Dibango - "Soul Makossa," in H.E.B. yesterday (though for some reason, in that store, the only place you can usually hear the music without straining your ears is in the restroom)

My doctors office plays all slow, maudlin solo piano covers of pop songs. Nothing different. Have been for 5+ years.

It's always funny to hear something modern and driving like HOTTTOGO be turned into Gary Jules's "Mad World"

I used to have a yoga teacher who played a kind of sad sack acoustic guitar and twee singer covers playlist during class. That was rough going. The pop house cover seems like the next evolution of this trend. Having that be the vibe for a pricey restaurant is just wrong.

Heard Tori Amos - Cornflake Girl at Giant Food over the weekend.

Did it make you want to pick up some corn flakes?

MOD Pizza

Led Zeppelin: "Since I've Been Loving You"
The Cure: "The Blood"
Elton John: "Honky Tonk Women" (live)
The Who: "Smash The Mirror"

and "Maria" by Blondie, which was a little funny to me because I was <this> close to wearing a Blondie shirt today.

Vons: Time - Culture Club

can't tell if

c. grisso/mccain simply gets out/notices ambient music more than i do

Probably more of the latter than the former. I don't get out near as much as I did pre-2020/Covid, but I've always been super-attentive to background music pretty much everywhere.

it's a texas thing

Maybe, although something that helps is going to places--specifically restaurants-- between peak times when the music is still loud but I have the place to myself.

c. grisso/mccain has magical properties that foster the playing of deep cuts

Maybe? But don't discount the algorithm and the influence on same by labels. Like, Rhino has done absolute bang-up job getting The Cure (a band I admire but otherwise am not super into) played in places I never would have encountered them even five years ago.

aah i hadnt considered label influence

Not obscure, really, but just heard “Finest Worksong” at a honeygrow, which is a Philly-based salad and noodle chain. never heard that track in the wild!

I took my wife to a fancy hotel in Ambleside recently (UK Lake District) and their bar area had the usual soft soundtrack of contemporary smooth pop etc. The playlist rolled on predictably, but my ears perked up at the unexpected sound of late 90s/early 00s indie stalwarts The American Analog Set.

feel like you should somehow let them know that they, however adjacently, decades later, inspired ~fucking~

"Hey mate, could you turn it up *slightly* and put on 'We're Computerizing and We Just Don't Need You Any More', it's our song" :D

MOD Pizza

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club: "Spread Your Love"
Soup Dragons: "I'm Free"
Doors: "Back-Door Man"

not really obscure but "angel of my dreams" by fleetwood mac was the first song that came on at the trader joe's when i walked in right as they opened a while back and i lipsynced the whole thing.

Devo's "Freedom of Choice" at Whole Foods...while scanning the yogurt refrigerator for almond milk Greek yogurt.

hahaha

*me in chipotle— muffled background folky sounds*
Is this like nick drake?
*weird sub alto*
oh that’s nico, which is this?
ah “these days.” was this a single? i doubt…
*NO *
fuck it, it’s kinda weird for a chipotle

Tove Lo - "How Long" @ Target

The Lightning Seeds - Life of Riley

at Ace Hardware. I mean, I like hearing obscure singles from my childhood when I'm out at a store, but sometimes it doesn't make much sense.

Arcadia's "Goodbye is Forever" right now at this Starbucks.

Will this be the year we get the Arcadia revival we so dearly deserve?

Flock of Seagulls - "I Ran" at the supermarket this afternoon

In the midst of Heart, Journey and Little River Band I’m also hearing Stray Cats deep cuts and a live Leo Kottke track (!) in Zantigo.

And “Then Came You” by Dionne Warwick

HEB

Nada Surf: "Popular"
Stereo MCs: "Step It Up"

Not obscure by any definition, and yet I did not expect to hear Def Leppard's "Bringin' on the Heartbreak" at my local discount supermarket today. Doesn't sound like a supermarket song to me.

Chuy's

Jessica Simpson: "I Think I'm In Love With You"
Paul McCartney: "Queenie Eye"

I've heard all three third eye blind songs that I know exist within the last week - in a walgreens, a trader joes, and an asian grocery store

I've never even heard of those songs.

Slim Chickens

Animals: "Roadrunner"
Joe Hill Lewis & Big Walter Horton: "Hydramatic Woman"
Lee Dorsey & Betty Harris: "Love Lots of Lovin'"
CCR: "Hey Tonight""

i swear this entire thread is C. Grisso/McCain's epic 13-year effort to troll us

kudos either way, really

The Lightning Seeds - Life of Riley

at Ace Hardware. I mean, I like hearing obscure singles from my childhood when I'm out at a store, but sometimes it doesn't make much sense.

― peace, man, Thursday, April 2, 2026 6:14 PM (four weeks ago) bookmarkflaglink

Where the fuck were my Ian Broudie-heads at? This joke was a small slice of heaven!

simple minds - i travel on Co-op instore radio today

No trollin'

Freebirds

Kiss: "Deuce"
Deep Purple: "Pictures of You" (unfortunately not a Cure cover)
Pablo Cruise: "Raging Fire"

Talk Talk "It's My Life" at Heathrow airport Terminal 3, Gate 22. Strange place to spend a few minutes with Mark Hollis.

Mod Pizza

Small Faces: "Don't Burst My Bubble "
Rolling Stones: "Off The Hook"

A soft, slow, achingly wistful cover of A-Ha’s “Take On Me” (minus the pistoning synths) is not the magic bullet for a Mother’s Day morning trip to the grocery store, no sir

Whataburger

Pat Benetar: "All Fired Up"

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Maps in the men's room at the Houston Intercontinental Airport, guitar solo while taking the piss

Arcadia's "Goodbye is Forever" right now at this Starbucks.

Came here to say it was nice hearing Bananarama's "The Wild Life" at Starbucks this morning, which for the first half-minute I thought was Roxette before recalling it. Looks like they're honing in on mid-80s obscure follow-up singles.

not obscure but hearing al green's "here i am (come and take me)" at a flying j fuel pump in the middle of nowhere two weekends ago was awesome and surreal.

...and sexy

worlds hottest flying j

not super obscure but just heard 'Astral Weeks' (the song) at Trader Joe's, not really a single as it's seven minutes long

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Maps in the men's room

we have crosswalk buttons that say 'Wait!' when you push the button, and I invariably reply with 'they don't love you like I love you'

lol I'm gonna have to exert an effort to not start doing that

Local pub for wings, one 45-minute window: "Cinnamon Girl," "Highway Star," "Maggie May," "No Time," "Reelin' in the Years." It's almost like I'm a type, a cliche, and someone's pushing all my buttons.

Modest Mouse’s “Dashboard” at my Starbucks.

A few years ago now but heard Tina Turner's "Look Me in the Heart" for the first time at a bookstore in Vietnam, of all places. Beautiful song

CVS

George Jackson: "Aretha, Sing One For Me"