Tunes that became hits only long after they were first released - and why

The Model was the b-side of Computer Love

Charlene, "I've Never Been to Me" - in 1982 a #3 US / #1 UK hit, but had only made it to #97 US when Motown first released it in 1977.

In the interim a DJ in Tampa, Florida named Scott Shannon had pushed the forgotten track into becoming a local hit and then used his connections with Motown to convince the label to re-sign Charlene and reissue the song as a single.

*i don't watch Scrubs, it was just on once.

It was featured really prominently iirc! The episode was called "My Journey"; Turk and J. D. sing the first few lines and the last bit of the episode was set to the song. That was 03, four years before the Sopranos finale apparently! It was still meant to be kind of funny that J. D. was such a big Journey fan.

I thought "The Model" only became a hit because there wasn't really a such thing as technopop in 1978?

xp i first heard it in the movie 'monster'

No, it was because it was a b side. Of a hit single, but it wasn't a big hit.

the song was eventually included on the B-side of the "Computer Love" single released in July 1981, which reached no. 36 in the UK charts. When radio DJs started playing the B-side, EMI re-issued the single in December 1981—apparently against the band's wishes—with "The Model" as the A-side. It reached no. 1 in February 1982

Whitesnake's Here I Go Again grazed the lower reaches of the UK Top 40 when it was originally released in 1982.

It was then re-recorded five years later and became a Top 10 hit in the UK and #1 in the US. No idea why other than Whitesnake were a much bigger band by then.

One funny/sad thing about the re-recorded version, apparently Whitesnake changed the line "like a hobo I was born to walk alone" of the original version into "like a drifter...", because they were afraid people would heard it as "like a homo I was born to walk alone".

Really? I don't remember any differences..

Maybe that was the original lyric, fwiw I think the 'drifter' line scans better.

Original sounds quite a bit different

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGIHaKCeVYk

goo goo dolls "iris" was obv massive in the us upon release but only reached #50 in the uk. in 2013 it charted at #3 b/c of an x-factor audition.

Wow I'd never heard that original version before, a lot more subdued overall than the hit re-recording

Xp

I'm reading all of these posts in the voice of Casey Kasem.

The Tommy James & The Shondells version of "Hanky Panky" only became a hit over 2 years after release, after the band had already broken up due to their lack of success.

"When I'm With You" by Sheriff has a similar story, released in 1983 but didn't become a hit until 1989.

There is no actual reason either one caught on years after release, just a single DJ started playing them.

Whoops, "When I'm With You" was already mentioned above.

"At This Moment" by Billy Vera & The Beaters only was a hit 5 years after release, when it was in an episode of "Family Ties"

sonique - "it feels so good"

it was first released in the uk in late 1998 and reached #24.

import copies of the single found their way into the hands of club djs and radio programmers in the tampa area in early 1999. it became a local club hit and before long started getting played on the top 40 station, wflz -- first as part of mixshow programming, then as part of regular rotation as it quickly became the station's most requested song. meanwhile, sonique still did not have a record deal in the us -- stan priest, the guy at wflz who started playing it on his mixshows, helped her get in touch with a label that would release the single over there, and eventually republic/universal decided to put their muscle behind it. as the label machinery began kicking into gear for the song's nationwide american release (plus the release of sonique's album), it had already amassed regular play at stations elsewhere in florida + in texas and new york. it debuted on the hot 100 in january 2000 and peaked at #8 in april.

in may it got re-released in the uk w/ a new music video and everything. it went straight in at #1 and stayed there for an additional two weeks.

A subgenre of this is drastically different cover versions becoming smashes, a'la Buckley's "Hallelujah," or Gary Jules' version of "Mad World" becoming a Christmas Number One.

The Proclaimers - I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)
Originally released in 1988, but didn't become a big hit in North America till 1993 when it was used in the opening credits of Benny & Joon.

I think it was in I Married an Axe Murderer in 93 too

Oh, that had "There she goes" by the Boo Radleys too.