Obscure Singles Heard at CVS

All I hear at the drugstore now is the opening riff of ''Down on the Corner,'' played ad infinitum as the theme to the Walgreen's in-house ad.

Sam Phillips- "Baby I Can't Please You" at Wendy's (seems like this song is an evergreen on restaurant/drug store/supermarket muzak)

REM - "All The Way To Reno"

― da croupier, Wednesday, October 17, 2012 10:53 AM (1 year ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

And this was played earlier.

i heard the beverley knight version of "keep this fire burning" in a shitty off-brand cafe in heathrow. i mean, okay it hit #16 but that's kind of a deep cut in 2014. when "rock with you" came on afterwards i was like okay cafe, you got me.

Neither one very obscure, but back to back in a rather high-end department store: George Jones' "The Race Is On" and Tiffany's "Only In my Dreams." Probably programmed by hipsters, maybe not all THAT surprising.

done on purpose by CVS corporate

reminds me of the great Not My Fault columns 'what is the minimum number of hanging plants required to give the illusion that we care?'.

Fleetwood Mac: "Think About Me"* @ Whataburger (followed by, uh, "One Week" by BNL)

*Maybe not obscure by ilx standards, but I don't think I've actually heard this on the radio outside of a 'classic disc' airing of Tusk.

Key Food in Brooklyn always has a deep-cut 1960s Top 40 mix going on, and I like the fact that they play even the cornball stuff that you would think would try the patience of many customers - not to mention the young folks who work there.

Thanks to them I got hipped to the 1967 track "A Girl Like You" by the Young Rascals.

Boys Club - I Remember Holding You #8 January 1989

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLA9oIemtG8

I heard this a couple times in late '88: a "Careless Whisper" pastiche recorded by skin trade before New Kids took off.

Hipsway, "Honeythief" at Walgreen. I almost knocked over an display 'cause I started dancing.

"a" display, not "an" display, ugh this phone

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

heard a weird muzaky cover of "I'm Looking Through You" by the Beatles the other week when i was buying pills

Jack In The Box: The Go-Gos--"Cool Jerk" from the '90 Greatest Hits.

Cvs yesterday: the bangles "if she knew what she wants"

Not obscure in its day but I'd completely forgotten this track

XTC: "Generals and Majors" at Wendy's

Cvs yesterday: the bangles "if she knew what she wants"

Not obscure in its day but I'd completely forgotten this track

― Gar Tooth (Jon Lewis),

beautiful cover

also at Jack In The Box: The Seeds - Pushin' Too Hard

Dairy Queen: Rodney Crowell - "Lovin' All Night", his last big Country hit from '92. I assume it hasn't got much radio love since.

Marshall Crenshaw: "Someday Someway" actually at CVS (and interrupted at least twice for ads)

i heard "cosmic dancer" by t-rex at walgreen's a while back

Aztec Camera's "Walk Out to Winter" at Ocean State Job Lot

(part of their Christmas programming, presumably)

T Rex's "The Slider" playing in a hardware store in Agawam, MA

heard Building Steam With A Grain of Salt at an airport yesterday, was real confused, looked around realized it was a Chevy commercial on a nearby TV

I caught Steppin' Out in CVS last week!

― how's life, Saturday, May 17, 2014 5:24 AM (5 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I've heard this twice in the last couple weeks, first at a restaurant and the second at a grocery store.

Swing Out Sister's "Breakout" playing in a supermarket this evening

that's enough to revive the thread

I too have heard "Someday, Someway" at CVS. Also heard "IGY" by Donald Fagen.

IGY is on a lot of retail playlists in my experience

True. Same goes for "The New Frontier" and the "Ruby Baby" cover.

i would love to read a piece about how these happen.

i mean it's probably just licensing + a mood analysis algorithm or something.

The Police: "Driven To Tears" at Wendy's

I swear, I hear "King for a Day" by XTC at least once a year in pharmacies or grocery stores

And I hear Thompson Twins' "King for a Day" often at CVS!

i heard celine dion's "that's the way it is" while i was at CVS a few days ago and it was quite thrilling

My sister just told me she heard "Three Strange Days" by School of Fish at Walgreen's.

I just heard "She Bangs the Drums" by the Stone Roses in Walgreens. Last week, I heard "Kookie, Kookie, Lend me Your Comb."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiYj9Ods4OQ

^^^ the very utmost.

If 6 was 9 by Hendrix in a Monoprix (sort of like the french CVS)

Blondie: "(I'm Always Touched By Your) Presence Dear" at Wendy's

Indio - "Hard Sun" heard at Walgreens tonight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1tVvQUAcf4

Was this song a hit anywhere? It really should have been.

At Kroger last weekend, I heard a remix of Emma Bunton's "Crickets Sing for Anamaria." Which, for a supermarket in the southern US, was a shock.

I discovered this song in a Chipotle kind of late one worknight:

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

I actually used the shazam/siri thing to ask what it was because I found it oddly compelling

Was this song a hit anywhere? It really should have been.

According to Wikipedia: "Hard Sun" was a top 10 hit in Canada, peaking at #10 in September, 1989

The Cars: "Touch and Go" at Wendy's

Haircut 100 - "Favourite Shirts" (Boy Meets Girl) in a Savers thrift store.

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.

― Montgomery Burns' Jazz (Tarfumes The Escape Goat), Wednesday, January 15, 2014 12:51 PM (1 year ago)

Heard the Burrito Brothers cover of "Wild Horses" at lunchtime sandwich shop the other day.

This happened to me today and I thought immediately of this, as I'd kind of thought this might not be real.
Then lo and behold, Ivy's 'I've Got A Feeling' makes my CVS trip.

Aretha Franklin: "Day Dreaming" at Wendy's