songs that weren't a bands biggest hit, but have gone on to be their legacy song and biggest iTunes seller

"Original Prankster" being their attempt to make that "Pretty Fly..." lightning strike twice.

Bryan Adams' "Summer of '69" got to number 5 in the US, but it didn't break the top 40 in the UK and my recollection is that it wasn't played on the radio much when I was young - "Run to You" was his signature song from that period. It sold nowhere near as well as "Everything I Do", but according to Last.fm it's his most-streamed song. I'm not sure how broad Last.fm's charts are.

The same charts show that Nik Kershaw's "The Riddle" is his most-streamed song, which is curious. I've always assumed it was more a historical curiosity than something people actually listened to. "Wouldn't it be Good" was his masterwork. But people really do prefer "The Riddle". Perhaps they're still trying to work out what it means. I've always liked the chord progression. It goes all wiggly, as if he was showing off.

I could go the rest of my life without streaming anything by Bryan Adams.

Pulling up "The Kids Aren't Alright"...Yeah, I know this from a bunch of ads and Movie/TV soundtracks.

The long, slow ascent of Summer Of 69 in the UK is a mysterious thing, and I’m not sure how it happened.

American emigrants, no doubt.

*Canadian emigrants

Are those last.fm charts UK-specific? Because there's a country of 1B people that fucking love Bryan Adams and "Summer of '69" in particular (10yo article but still relevant): https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2011/02/11/bryan_adams_star_burns_brightly_in_india.html

From this year: https://www.firstpost.com/entertainment/as-bryan-adams-releases-his-15th-album-heres-a-love-letter-to-indias-favourite-canadian-rocker-10436661.html

https://slate.com/podcasts/hit-parade/2022/09/pop-chart-flops-can-turn-into-latter-day-classics

What do you call a song that bombed on the charts back in the day, that now booms out of radios and streaming apps nationwide? Chris Molanphy has a name for these songs: legacy hits. Elton John’s “Tiny Dancer.” Etta James’s “At Last.” The Romantics’ “What I Like About You.” Peter Gabriel’s “In Your Eyes.” Talking Heads’ “Once in a Lifetime.”

Many catalysts can change a song’s trajectory, from movie scenes to stadium singalongs, wedding DJs to evolving tastes. Sometimes the hivemind just collectively decides that this Whitney Houston hit, not that one, is her song for the ages.

Join Chris as he explains how the charts sometimes get it wrong, and how legacy hits correct the record—and counts down 10 of his favorite flops-turned-classics.

To me the canonical Offspring song, the one that comes attached to their name, is "Come Out and Play," had no idea it had been surpassed by others.

The canonical Bryan Adams song SHOULD be the never-equalled "Cuts Like a Knife," but there's no justice, even in Canada.

“Once in a Lifetime” feels like a song that was “ahead of its time,” if there ever was one.

The video got fairly heavy play back in the day. It was definitely a departure from their previous work.

There are many records from 1983 (and from the earlier ‘80s) that I can assure you were massive hits despite what Billboard says, bc I was a teen watching MTV and they were In heavy rotation, or even occasional rotation but we all knew them bc we would watch MTV or TBS’s ‘Night Tracks’ for hours at a time. “Cuts Like a Knife” is one such record. I know every split second of that video. I know every bead of David Byrne’s sweat from the “Once in a Lifetime” video. There are many records like that. US radio was lost at sea in those days, that’s why many classic tunes have low chart placings.

We watched "Teletunes," broadcast on UHF out of Broomfield, Colorado, late into the night. They were far more adventurous than MTV; I remember seeing videos like "Fish Heads" and "The Man in the Dark Sedan." They always signed off with "Goodbye to You" by Scandal; I can still picture Patty Smyth's pout.

‘Night Tracks’ was also better than MTV bc they played black music and dance music

xp to Josefa

exactly, and that is just looking at it from the US. I always like to broaden the focus when it comes to hits and charts.

really, how much of a ‘flop’ was “What I Like About You” when it reached #2 in Australia and was a top 10 hit in the Netherlands and (nearly) Belgium? it was a smash hit to Dutchies of my generation.

same thing with “Once In A Lifetime”. sure, it just missed the Hot 100 in 1981, but it was a bona fide hit in the UK, Ireland (top 20), Australia, NL and Canada (top 30).

well, of course, but the article's about their American chart success

…and probably several other (European) countries too (and possibly in other places as well)

xp to myself

‘Night Tracks’ was also better than MTV bc they played black music and dance music

― Josefa

otm, pretty sure the first time I heard Jeffrey Osbourne

The blackest Denver TV usually got was Prince.

I might be a little too young (wasn't listening to much radio in 81) but I very clearly remember seeing "Down and Out in Beverly Hills" in the theater and when "Once in a Lifetime" came on I was just like holy shit WHAT IS THAT? That movie is from 1986 so I must have already known "Burning Down the House," which WAS a legitimately huge hit in the US, but I don't think I even understood it was the same band.

well, of course, but the article's about their American chart success

DAOIBH used the live version of "Once in a Lifetime" iiirc -- and it still sounded otherworldly. 1985-1986 was the peak of the Heads' American ubiquity.

http://wp.production.patheos.com/blogs/sickpilgrim/files/2016/01/david-byrne-dance.gif

Damn it

http://wp.production.patheos.com/blogs/sickpilgrim/files/2016/01/david-byrne-dance.gif

And to tie this in to the Roxy Music thread, their singles from Avalon were played to death on MTV. That was before I realized they were the “Love Is the Drug” band. But “More than This” was a hit in any practical sense of the word among US teens. Billboard tells us that Avalon was a relatively disappointing non-top 40 album (although it’s now certified Platinum).

Elton John’s “Tiny Dancer.” Etta James’s “At Last.” The Romantics’ “What I Like About You.” Peter Gabriel’s “In Your Eyes.” Talking Heads’ “Once in a Lifetime.”

minus etta, these were all staples for me growing up. 81 baby, so huh dunno.

slate article is good and i'm here for it.

I didn’t realize “OIAL” actually predated MTV:

Yours Cool, Chris Molanphy: But in 1980, there was no way once in a lifetime was getting on the radio. Once in a lifetime bubbled under the hot 100. Spending just one week at number 103 in February 1981. Note that this was about six months before the launch of MTV, which might have helped it up the charts. Indeed, after MTV launched, Talking Heads were a much easier sell to record buyers and radio programmers. Their 1983 electro funk single Burning Down the House with an especially memorable music video, actually cracked the Billboard Top ten

Once In A Lifetime seems the exact opposite of what this thread is about (at least from a British perspective): not only was it a hit, but it was practically their only hit. The only other one I can remember that might have been bigger was Road To Nowhere.

"Burning Down the House" was a pretty big hit, at least in the U.S.

And to tie this in to the Roxy Music thread, their singles from Avalon were played to death on MTV. That was before I realized they were the “Love Is the Drug” band. But “More than This” was a hit in any practical sense of the word among US teens. Billboard tells us that Avalon was a relatively disappointing non-top 40 album (although it’s now certified Platinum).

― Josefa,

I can't check now but this is great, thanks. Billboard used to run MTV charts well into the early '90s and I keep forgetting to check summer '82 MTV charts for those Avalon singles. It would make that they earned at least medium rotation: Bryan Ferry's Boys + Girls, besides being a substantial UK hit, hit #65 and rode the chart for months three years later.

In the US, Talking Heads’ first top 40 hit was “Take Me To The River” (#26), which got regular airplay on “classic rock” stations at least through the mid-‘90s. Their only other US top 40 hits were “Burning Down The House” (#9), and “Wild Wild Life” (#25).

1985-1986 was the peak of the Heads' American ubiquity.

This is absolutely true. Stop Making Sense surfed the wave of “Burning,” which fed into anticipation for Little Creatures, later leading to heavy rotation for the “Wild Wild Life” video, and by late ‘86 Byrne was on the cover of Time.

Backstage, things began to fall apart.

Narrator.

Re: Boys + Girls, I remember hearing “Slave To Love” almost daily on the radio at the time; surprised it didn’t even crack the Hot 100. Also surprised that Ferry’s only US top 40 hit was “Kiss and Tell” — a decent song, but one I heard far less on the radio than his earlier singles, or the Avalon singles.

But also check 1983, because I wasn’t watching MTV till then. I saw it a bit in January ‘83 but didn’t see a ton of it till that summer (I remember a vivid vacation to Destin, FL at that time when it was available to watch in our time share apartment). MTV was pretty scrappy in those days, they would play videos from ‘80-‘83 all the time as if they were new.

they would play videos from ‘80-‘83 all the time as if they were new.

as it should be.

I am not exactly sure how Apple Music ranks "top songs," but the first four on the list are "Psycho Killer," "Burning Down the House," "This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)" and "Once in a Lifetime."

Once in a Lifetime and Road to Nowhere are the two highest placings in the UK charts, #14 and #6 respectively, quite different from the US charts, . I think we have to accept that the Heads are one of those artists with no clear answer to this question. It's very cool to me how Naive Melody has risen in recognition over time based on hard to determine factors, sort of like Immigrant Song or, to look at another cult artist with a few fluke hits, Warren Zevon's Carmelita, which seems to have found a new audience, although it doesn't yet threaten the preeminence of Werewolves yet.

I never truly appreciated "Naive Melody" until I saw "Stop Making Sense."

have probably mentioned this before but "naive melody" wasn't even on my radar until i heard speaking in tongues and there are two noteworthy things about that:
1.it wasn't until ~summer 2002
2.it was a first listen love and immediately my favorite thing by them

My favorite song in 1987 was "And She Was."

It's still in my top 10, whatever that says about me.

At some point, "And She Was" became a go-to for them on nostalgia radio.

Wait no 1986.

"Stay Up Late" still cracks me up.

The big Chicago FM rock station not only played “And She Was” regularly in 1985, but also this remix:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8P6UgB_xOQ

Kind of waiting for the algorithm to throw "Stay Up Late" at a conservative and they decide it's a grooming anthem.

I’m realizing that even though the release year of their first album is in its title, I had a warped internal sense of the band’s timeline, with everything “pushed up” a few years… I felt like they went into the early ’90s. But they were done by ’88!

(Well, "Sax and Violins" was ‘91)