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

I saw the Prodigy last night and was surprised to find out that the biggest reaction wasn't for "Breathe" or "Firestarter" or "Poison", but for "Smack My Bitch Up." I checked on iTunes and it's their biggest selling track! Sometime in the last 10 years it became their legacy track. How? Why? What other bands is this true?

so, yeah. Please cross-reference with iTunes for this.

1. Prodigy - "Smack My Bitch Up"

great thread idea, i definitely have sat around and figured this out w/ a few bands, will have to look some up when i get home tonight

would be interesting to cross-reference this with licensing

like maybe in the long run that impacts sales more than radio/video play

my guess is that there are a large number of people out there who did not know the band Prodigy but knew there was a song called "Smack My Bitch Up"

i always thought smack my bitch was the big prodigy song!!

it wouldn't have sold as well as nearly half their other 90s songs esp. the two #1s

notoriety was helped by banned video, no?

2. Elton John - "Tiny Dancer"
^^ someone can doublecheck this and refute it if necessary since i'm looking at a cached browser page of his top iTunes songs, but that's a very prominent example of a song that movie licensing turned into a much bigger part of the artist's legacy than it had been before

wouldn't be surprised if 'Wonderwall' was biggest-selling Oasis song online (was probably their biggest hit in the US if not in the UK tho)

Don't have iTunes right here, but just guessing on a few...

Peter Gabriel - In Your Eyes (wasn't even a single from So)
Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody
Lou Reed - Perfect Day

Bohemian Rhapsody was always Queen's biggest hit surely

"Bohemian Rhapsody" benefitted from the 90s re-release and Wayne's World, but it was always one of their biggest hits, I gotta veto that. xpost

Perfect Day? It must still be "Walk on the Wild Side"

Journey's only two top 5 songs in the US were "Open Arms" and "Who's Crying Now."

"Don't Stop Believing," meanwhile, is the biggest-selling catalogue track in iTunes history.

no way was bohemian rhapsody a bigger hit than "another one bites the dust" or "crazy little thing called love"

What about "Son of a Preacher Man" by Dusty Springfield?

obv I don't know the UK chart stuff much, but was that actually her biggest hit?

ooh good call, put a 3 on that. xpost re journey

"Bohemian Rhapsody" held a sales record in the UK for almost a decade and was Queen's first US top 10. I would say songs that establish a band on that level count as one of their biggest hits whether there are higher charting songs or not.

Bohemian Rhapsody was always Queen's biggest hit surely

Not in the U.S., where No. 1 hits "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" (!) and "Another One Bites The Dust" both charted higher. (So did "We Are The Champions," at first, but then "Rhapsody" came back in 1992 and hit No. 2 off of Wayne's World; it had only hit No. 9 on its original release.)

The Romantics' legacy song is almost certainly "What I Like About You" (big jock-rock hit, right?), though in their lifetime "Talking In Your Sleep" charted way higher (No. 3, compared to No. 49.)

what about "Sweet Caroline" by Neil Diamond....again, i'm a lil ignorant of his history but wiki says "Song Sung Blue" was a bigger chart hit

yeah that's really interesting, i don't think i've ever even heard "Talking In Your Sleep" but I've heard "Like" a million times. xpost

this icon should be next to all these songs in the iTunes store: http://www.soulstrut.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/badassbuddy_com-slowburner.gif

I think I've heard those 2 about an equal # of times--but I guess "Like" is more of a party song.

what about "Sweet Caroline" by Neil Diamond....again, i'm a lil ignorant of his history but wiki says "Song Sung Blue" was a bigger chart hit

Yeah, I think "Sweet Caroline" and "Cherry Cherry" are both more famous today than "Song Sung Blue" or "Cracklin' Rosie" -- but they were all in the top 5.

Freebird? That's certainly Skynyrd's legacy song, but probably not their biggest iTunes seller (Sweet Home Alabama?).

(Meant to add "Song Sung Blue" and "Cracklin' Rosie" were his only two solo #1s.)

oh wow here's the ultimate one:

according to wiki, "Dancing With Myself" by Billy Idol only reached 102 on the U.S. charts and FAILED to chart in the U.K.

usually a soundtrack or placement in a television show will raise a song out of the bands "hits" into a totally different demographic

Peter Gabriel - In Your Eyes (wasn't even a single from So)

This was released as a single off of the "Say Anything" soundtrack and received massive amounts of radio play.

oh wow here's the ultimate one:

according to wiki, "Dancing With Myself" by Billy Idol only reached 102 on the U.S. charts and FAILED to chart in the U.K.

― stank pony (M@tt He1ges0n), Friday, March 27, 2009 1:27 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

yeah but "Rebel Yell" and "White Wedding" are both bigger iTunes sellers

i mean this could very easily turn into "early hits that established a band's identity but didn't chart as high as later singles when they were more famous" list and get away from the original idea

yeah that's true

i was more just shocked that that hadn't even charted at the time, being how catchy it was and all

"Should I Stay or Should I Go?"

Peter Gabriel - In Your Eyes (wasn't even a single from So)

...

This was released as a single off of the "Say Anything" soundtrack and received massive amounts of radio play.

"In Your Eyes" was released as a US single, peaking at #26 Billboard Hot 100 and #1 Billboard Mainstream Rock in 1986.

Say Anything gave "In Your Eyes" a second chart run in 1989, but it peaked at #41. No Top 40 for you!

...and became PG's first certified Gold single in 2005 lol

"Only You" did marginally better than "Situation" on the US charts (67 vs. 73) and much better on the UK charts (2 vs. wasn't even released), but "Situation" seems much more like Yaz's legacy song.

"Born to Run!" Peaked at #23.

(Well, technically it's outsold by "Radio Nowhere" on iTunes, but I think that was thanks to some "Magic" promotion)

yeah acts with recent singles kinda skew this, but i think it's safe to assume "Born To Run" ultimately sells more than "Radio Nowhere"

Oh oh oh!

"American Girl" was the second single off Tom Petty's debut album, after "Breakdown," but did not even chart.

Radiohead. Creep is their biggest hit, but probably not their "signature" song. NOt sure what is, though.

Bruce's biggest chart hit is Dancing In The Dark

"Creep" is Radiohead's legacy song to millions of non-Radiohead fans

I'm not sure what Bob Marley's legacy song is, but I have a feeling that "Roots, Rock, Reggae" (his only U.S. Hot 100 hit, peaking at # 51) isn't it. It might not even be in the Top 10.

(Well, Marley has lots of Legacy songs, obviously. Or at least an album full of them.)

Cheap Trick's only #1 is "The Flame." ("I Want You to Want Me" was #7, "Surrender" #62.)

What about remixes doing this with a song? Because Run DMC's It's Like That was just a b-side until it became like their biggest song (v. walk this way obv.)

Also presumably this must have happened by tunes that were sampled a bunch, although none come to mind immediately.

'Hallelujah' wins this thread, surely?

Run DMC's It's Like That was just a b-side

Not really. It was on side one of the 12-inch, and came before "Sucker MCs"; ditto with the instrumentals on side two:

http://www.discogs.com/viewimages?release=257372

How do I find out Itunes sales numbers? Is there some page for them?

Talking Heads. Their biggest charting US single is Wild Wild Life. Biggest in UK is Road To Nowhere. Their signature/legacy song is clearly Once In A Lifetime, which never even charted.

I tried to a search for a specific tune on the Itunes store, but when I click on the song name, I'm thrown back to the Apple store home page.

I think the vocals don’t start until like a 1:00 in, which is another unusual feature for a popular song.

More songfacts: same three chords the whole way through, despite the varied vocal melody. There was some wacky instrument-switching (Tina on guitar and David on keys etc.)...

each instrument/voice is introduced incrementally, as in "Just Like Heaven," which occupies the same space in the culture as TMBTP

Wow... feel like fgti/Arcade Fire had a lot to do with the resurgence of that song... and making Talking Heads into an Important Band for the young '00s indie set as well

um

I Know, Right?

There was some wacky instrument-switching (Tina on guitar and David on keys etc.)...

I may be misremembering, but isn't the playing of unfamiliar instruments part of the reason for calling it "Naive Melody"?

ok, mid 00s. jeez.

The SMS/live version of TMBTP with Jerry on minimoog key-bass & Alex Weir on guitar absolutely destroys the LP version.

/startrekman

Most-played Sonic Youth songs on Spotify, in order:
Teen Age Riot, Superstar, Kool Thing, Incinerate (!). Highest modern rock chart placements, in order: 100%, Kool Thing, Bull in the Heather, Teenage Riot, Superstar

Was "Incinerate" in a movie or something? I do really like it but I had no idea it was this popular. Is this "Superstar" thing about Juno? "Teen Age Riot" was in one of those Rock Band video games, right?

Don’t know about a game, but I do feel like “Teen Age Riot” has become their signature song over time.

(Or to put it another way — the first three hits you listed feel very “of their time,” but not timeless...)

Teen age Riot was the first of thir time and timless song i heard

Tbc, I wasn't extremely surprised about "Teen Age Riot"; I just thought it was a good example for the thread. I was surprised about "Incinerate" and to a slightly lesser extent about the Carpenters cover.

I would have assume top three 100% Bull in the heather Superstar

The popularity of the Carpenters cover is definitely due to Juno

I'll grant that reaching #26 on the alternative/modern rock chart in 1994 probably meant more in terms of popularity/exposure than reaching #20 in the same chart in 1989.

Just checked up on Beck, and--no surprise--"Loser" is far and away his biggest Spotify song (141 mil spins). HOWEVER, his next biggest songs are: "Dreams" (almost 46 mil); "Morning" (31 mil); "Wow" (30 mil); and "Up All Night" (26 mil). "Where It's At" lags behind w/14 mil*, "Devil's Haircut" at 12, and "Debra" at almost 12.

*Apparently the Odelay track totals are combined from the reg and deluxe editions.

And just because, I looked up Jeff Beck, whose top track is "Cause We've Ended As Lovers", which I wouldn't have thought would be that big.

ok how tf is a) "I Need My Girl" the most popular song by The National and b) how does it have 81 million plays? that's nearly 50 million more than their next biggest song (don't look at their top ten, it's full of new songs)

must've been a movie or a show

...or multiple curated playlists.

The gap between it and their other songs isn't as big, but a similar thing has happened with Sleater-Kinney & "Modern Girl".

And just because, I looked up Jeff Beck, whose top track is "Cause We've Ended As Lovers", which I wouldn't have thought would be that big.

What would you expect his top track to be?

must've been a movie or a show

― flappy bird, Thursday, June 13, 2019 4:03 PM (two hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

it was on the soundtrack to the Entourage movie lol

(not that I think this explains it)

XP Probably "Freeway Jam" or a Rod-era track.

Oh, that is interesting that it has more than twice as many plays as "People Get Ready", although idk how much life that one had outside the 80s. I don't see Truth on Spotify. I guess it didn't strike me as surprising that a Stevie Wonder song would be Beck's most-played song but Blow by Blow is almost what I listen to most by him, by far.

almost = also

that's crazy about "modern girl." is it an effect of brownstein's memoir using it for the title, or the other way around? i've heard it out in the world here and there but so weird to think of them even HAVING one single "legacy song."

could one make an argument for “good things” by the bodeans ? nearly tied with for spotify plays with “closer to free” — which i concede is probably the “bigger” song, though i feel it’s more closely associated with the TV show than the band, whereas “good things” feels very linked to the bodeans, this whole adult contemporary aesthetic, and the song is stamped into my memory for reasons i couldn’t explain (never released as a single, no ads i know of)

does anybody else remember this song, or have any insight into why it’s “big” ?

wiki says this:

Though not a single, the album's first track, "Good Things", achieved some success and became one of the band's best-known songs.

how / why ?

The most-played Pavement song on Spotify is not what I would expect.

― All along there is the sound of feedback (Sund4r), Friday, July 12, 2019 1:01 PM (four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Seriously, was "Harness Your Hopes" used in a movie? It sounds decent on first listen but how did a B-side from the Terror Twilight era become so popular?

That is weird. I tried searching for answers, but just found a Reddit thread asking the same question (and requests for gtr tabs, etc.)

I'm not even sure I remember what this sounds like!

it's probably on some like 'erudite indie for studying' playlist or something

last.fm is a better arbiter of track popularity imho:

https://www.last.fm/music/Pavement/+tracks?date_preset=ALL

"Athena" was the Who's last top 40 hit in the US (#28, 1982), but "Eminence Front" (#68, 1982) is far more streamed/downloaded/well-known.

spotify also ended easy last.fm scrobbling within the client, so i imagine that there is a gulf between the stats on each

I know nothing about Pavement, but a word of caution about Last.fm play counts: because as a site it’s dwindled so much in popularity (far less users), those counts are heavily skewed in favour of older material and current real-world popularity is poorly reflected (though with Spotify numbers it’s the other way around to some extent).

xp

any Apple Music subscribers in the house? what do Pavement's top tracks on that service look like?

Pavement on Apple Music:

Cut Your Hair
Goldsoundz
Spit on a Stranger
Range Life
Shady Lane

Thanks, no real surprises there (other than maybe “Spit”; I didn’t know it was that popular).

Spit has added recognition due to the Nickel Creek cover.

"I want Candy" ny Bow Wow Wow.

The only thing close to a single hit that Jeff Buckley ever had in his lifetime was "Last Goodbye".

That Cohen cover was never even a single, although it was a huge digital downloads hit ages later.

No one loves anything from Slanted & Enchanted?:(

« Grace » was a hit single, wasn’t it ?
That’s the first thing I heard from him anyway.

I think I Want Candy was BWWs only hit in America

"Go Wild in the Country" beat "I Want Candy" by two places in the UK chart but otherwise IWC was by far their biggest hit internationally.

No one loves anything from /Slanted & Enchanted/?:(

A lot of prog acts belong obv. Their best known "song" usually too lomg for single relesse.

For instance, I am pretty sure ELP are better known for "Tarkus" than for "Fanfare Forthe Common Man".