Obscure Singles Heard at CVS

Boston: "Something About You" at Randall's.

All at Five Guys:

Spoon: "You Got Yr Cherry Bomb"
Foo Fighters: "Next Year"
Steve Miller: "Living In The USA"
Ratt: "Back For More"
Bad Religion: "21st Century Digital Boy"

I really want to know where my little Foodtown gets their music.

"Little Children" by Billy J. Kramer & the Dakotas was obscure enough, but then they hit me with this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyxU9jmk21E

"Walk Tall (Like a Man)" by the Cincinnati girl group The 2 of Clubs from 1967. Going by the YouTube comments, this was a pretty big regional hit in the Midwest. I'm now obsessed with this song.

Blur "There's No Other Way" at Target.

it's funny as this song was not played on KROQ at the time as this was not a hit in America. MWRS 103.1 was around and did play it in the Los Angeles market.

meantg, MARS

Both at CVS:

Evan & Jaron: "Crazy For This Girl"
Steve Winwood: "The Finer Things"

Was walking into Trader Joe's just as Slade's "Get Down and Get With It" was ending.

Gin Blossoms: "Alison Road" at Fuddruckers.

'70s Gold at HEB:

Delaney & Bonnie: "Never Ending Song of Love"
Linda Ronstadt: "Silver Threads & Golden Needles"
John Stewart: "Gold"
Bob Welch: "Sentimental Lady"

Had I stayed longer I might have heard "Werewolves of London" or "Magnet And Steel" and completed the "Non-Mac Mac" hits set.

Grand Funk Railroad: "Shinin' On" and Elton John: "Little Jeanie" at Walmart Neighborhood Market.

The Police: "Driven To Tears" at Jack In The Box

That's when you know the Lord's just fuckin' with ya.

"Walk Tall (Like a Man)" is a totally awesome discovery, thanks for that!

If you're interested, it appears on one of the better Where the Girls Are volumes: https://acerecords.co.uk/where-the-girls-are-volume-6

(pushes thick glasses up on bridge of nose; runs hand thru greasy hair)

That volume ends with "Jilted," one of my all-time fave songs. ALL. TIME. FAVE.

"Walk Tall (Like a Man)" is a totally awesome discovery

I Shazam'ed it several times in the supermarket but came up empty-handed. I just had to hope that "Walk Tall" was the title so I could search my hard drive when I got home.

I've also got a British version by The New Faces on Sequel's Here Come the Girls, Vol. 8 comp, which isn't as good. Strangely, it's titled "(Walk Tall) Like a Man" instead of "Walk Tall (Like a Man)". Also strangely, the 2 of Clubs version sounds very British--I hear a lot of Petula Clark in the vocals.

Together or separately, the songwriters Paul Vance & Lee Pockriss also wrote:

Perry Como "Catch a Falling Star"
Brian Hyland "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini"
The Cuff Links "Tracy"
Simon Dupree "Kites"
Anita Bryant "My Little Corner of the World"
Shelley Fabares "Johnny Angel"
Clint Holmes "Playground in My Mind"
The Detergents "Leader of the Laundromat"
David Geddes "Run Joey Run"
and songs for the movie The Phantom Tollbooth

Donovan: "Epistle To Dippy" at Buc-ee's

god damn this thread fascinates me. it's just people saying "here's some shitty music I don't even really care about that I heard playing at some shitty place that I'd prefer not to go to but I kinda have to based on convenience and/or my pharmaceutical obligations." yet I keep reading it and making note of this seemingly arbitrary cross-section of hints gone by. I listen to enough of my own tastes, now it's time I be suggested that I listen to a forgotten Mike and Mechanics psuedo-hit because the tastemakers from the CVS muzak department decided it

and why do they seem to like Paul Westerberg so much

I just heard Portishead’s “Glory Box” booming out of someone’s open car window. Not too obscure, but cool to encounter in that setting.

apparently songs that were big radio hits once are obscure so "glory box" counts

I think "songs you were surprised to hear in a retail establishment" would be a more accurate title but this is an okay place to remark that you heard "Love Vigilantes" in Safeway or whatever. It's harmless fun; let ppl have it ffs.

The posts challenging whether something is or is not an "obscure single" are to be expected. It's already an odd category: singles tend to be less obscure than other songs. But I don't see what that debate adds to the discussion except to pooh-pooh the whole premise. No one is forcing you to read the thread; just look at one of the bajillion other ones if this one doesn't meet your high standards I guess?

Fwiw, in the quoted post by Croup in this thread's op, he's talking about hearing "Sleeping Bag", a forgotten Top Ten Pop hit by ZZ Top, at CVS.

this thread is ILM HOF material IMO

I love the thread because I love the act of putting on a song, I just love loving real songs for real reasons even more

Luv 2 luv 2 luv ya

baffled utterly by del griffith's interpretation of what goes on itt

last minute wedding gear shopping at Nordstrom Rack, serenaded by the Acid House Kings

Best wishes!

not my wedding, but thanks!

Cheap Trick: "Big Eyes" (studio version) at Walmart.

Jane's Addiction: "Classic Girl" at Freebirds.

Joe Jackson: "You Can't Get What You Want..." at CVS.

The Monroes: "What Do All The People Know" at Whole Foods.

Stevie Wonder: "Until You Come Back To Me..." At Cafe Express.

Heard The Dickies’ “Killer Klowns from Outer Space” at Whole Foods a couple weeks back

"Under My Thumb" at Walmart yesterday.

I think some customers noticed the holy ghost had
took hold of me.

so not obscure

Alejandro Escovedo: "Anchor" at Walmart.

I used to hear songs from his lp Real Animal (the one prior to this one) reasonably frequently in different chain store/restaurant muzaks when they were new.

Lesley Gore: "She's A Fool" at Walmart.

Guns N' Roses
"Welcome to the Jungle"
Appetite for Destruction
Geffen Records, 1987

KROGER
Dec. 8, 2018 | 2:34 pm CST

AND LISTEN, I'm very much aware that this 31-year-old song is hardly obscure, having reached the Top 10 in both the U.S. and New Zealand. BUT, standing in the cereal aisle when from out of nowhere that intro started cranking up and watching old ladies shop for jam while "I'm gonna watch you bleed!" and "feel my serpentine!" shouted at them from the P.A. system was QUITE THE EXPERIENCE.

Best part was hearing the segue "When you're high, you never... ever want I NEED ALL BAGGERS TO THE FRONT. ALL BAGGERS TO THE FRONT PLEASE so dowwwwnnnnnn!"

Pretty aggro for Kroger, agreed

XTC: "Earn Enough For Us" and Split Enz: "I Got You" at Jack In The Box.

Just heard Eddie Floyd's "Knock On Wood" at the supermarket. Not really obscure, but I haven't heard it on the radio or otherwise in the wild since the '80s.

that's a good one!!

i had a really weird moment not long ago when i heard "ship of fools" at trader joe's during the kavanaugh hearings
was a bit too much tbh

"ship of fools" by world party, that is

I always think "Knock On Wood" was a bigger Top 40 item than it was because it was an Oldies constant during me youth. But it only went to #28 (#1 R&B) and in fact the later Amii Stewart cover was way bigger (#1 Pop).

The Three Wise Men (XTC): "Thanks For Christmas" at Denny's.

I was just in 99 Ranch Market, a massive Asian grocery, and they were playing a song that was the music from Tomorrow Never Knows, but with a John Lennon soundalike singing Jingle Bells over it. I don't know it was genius or a travesty.