Obscure Singles Heard at CVS

oh that reminds me of the one time i heard "ilu" by school of seven bells (which i first heard via ilm) at a which wich

Fleetwood Mac: "Save Me" (their last Top 40, from '90) at Kroger.

By now, I shouldn't be surprised, but hearing freaking "Kiss Me On the Bus" by the Replacements at Kroger was crazy.

I mean, if I heard "I'll Be You" I'd be "Well, strange hearing the Replacements at Kroger, but this was a minor Top 40 hit, I guess."

And if heard "Can't Hardly Wait" - like I did a few months ago - I'd be surprised, but again, it might be the band's most notable song, off a major-label album, at that.

But "Kiss Me On the Bus"? I get that Kroger might be hesitant to play a song called "Bastards of Young" over its P.A. system, but I would've expected to hear "Left of the Dial" or "Hold My Life" before KMotB. And yet, I pretty much would not have expected to hear anything from the Bob Stinson era over those speakers.

If I go in there next week and hear "I'M A CUSTOMER", I'm gonna flip out.

that would be awesome. i too would flip out if i heard "customer" while i was a customer, anywhere but a record store

Camera Obscura: "Lloyd, I'm Ready To Be Heartbroken" at Food 4 Less.

haha! i've never heard camera obscura but i know lloyd cole's "are you ready to be heartbroken" and that song title cracks me up

Gary Wright: "Got The Feelin'" at Randall's

ok where do you live, because i'm not sure i believe you anymore

Houston-area, many of these come from places in the western 'burbs.

I had to Shazam that Gary Wright, initially thought it was some '80s Rod Stewart thing.

hmm

Mark Lindsay: "Arizona" at Walmart.

yesssssss

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

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

― pplains, Saturday, December 8, 2018 5:20 PM (two months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

THIS JUST HAPPENED AT MY USUAL KROGER.

i know that song is unlistenable noise, but it's really not that unusual to hear it in a public place. even my city's dull, generic classic hits station that plays virtually the same playlist every single day will spin it

BUT IN KROGER.

STANDING IN THE CAT FOOD AISLE NEXT TO SOME LADY WHO WAS 37 WHEN THAT SONG CAME OUT.

WE BOTH HEAR A MAN SCREAM OVER THE P.A. "BRING YOU TO YOUR KNEES! I'M GONNA WATCH YOU BLEED!"

HER MOUTH OPENS IN HORROR. THE LIDS ON THE CAT FOOD TINS START RIPPING OPEN BY THEMSELVES, RAZOR BLADES SLICING THROUGH THE AIR.

Christine McVie - "Love Will Show Us How" at Walgreens

I just heard ‘Change Of Heart’ from Cyndi Lauper’s 2nd album in a shopping plaza in upstate NY. But I was surprised to see that it made it to #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1987.

this is one of my favorite threads

White Town: "Your Woman" at Kroger.

brand new heavies 'dream on dreamer' at CVS

kylie minogue "slow" at the grocery store

(apparently it was a big hit in australia and europe but in the usa it barely charted and i literally never heard it on the radio)

Bananarama: "He Was Really Sayin' Somethin'" at Jack In the Box.

Belle & Sebastian: "The Blues Are Still Blue" at Which Wich.

X: "Los Angeles" and Mothers of Invention: "Hungry Freaks, Daddy" at Freebirds

RL Burnside: "It's Bad You Know" at Jack In The Box.

U2: "Instant Karma!" at Jason's Deli.

Camera Obscura: "Lloyd, I'm Ready To Be Heartbroken" at Food 4 Less.

When I moved to the US from UK 10 years ago I heard that EVERYWHERE! In shops. Not on radio or anything.

^^Same thing w/"French Navy".

Olivia Newton-John's "Twist of Fate" at Wal-Mart.

Do we deserve a second chance
How did we fall into this circumstance
We weren't so straight and narrow
This is much more than we deserve

Neko Case: "Man" at Jack In The Box.

Hilary Duff: "So Yesterday"* & The Band: "The Shape I'm In" at Randall's

Also heard the not as obscure but still totally random Hard Rock selection of "Jailbreak" by Thin Lizzy (Maguire)

*I think this is another one of those tracks that just lives on in in-store audio networks.

I was working "in radio" when "So Yesterday" was released; I still think about it randomly sometimes (and yes, I think I've also encountered it sporadically in supermarkets, etc. over the intervening years).

Slade: "Run Runaway" at Wendy's

Sir, this is a Wendy's

Slade: "Run Runaway" at Wendy's

― a large tuna called “Justice” (C. Grisso/McCain), Friday, March 22, 2019 2:08 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I heard that at Kroger too. Seems like we were just talking about it.*

______________

*"we were just talking about it" = I was talking about it somewhere on ILX.

Such a weird song and video

"These guys wrote 'Cum On Feel the Noize'?"

I encountered the video on MTV as a child, and was completely baffled as to why they existed, having no awareness of anything that occurred in music in the 70s.

The Hollies: "On A Carousel" at Goodwill.

Sweet: "Little Willy" at HEB.

Robin Trower: "Day of The Eagle" at Randalls

Jason Collett - “These Are The Days” at Whole Foods

Sheena Easton's "Telefone" at the same WalMart.

Delta 5: "Mind Your Own Business" at Freebirds.

While there I also heard "On The Run" by Pink Floyd, which sounded really odd out of context.

Pink: "Feel Good Time" at HEB. First thought it was "Fresh Garbage" due to the sample.

oh damn yeah, i haven't heard that in the wild since approximately the week it came out

I just heard Nelson's "Love and Affection" in Shoppers Drug Mart (Canadian equivalent of CVS), which made me think that music really does not die anymore. Also, it sounded like decent power pop. What does Tim think?

Kinks: "This Time Tomorrow" at Jack-In-The-Box.

Franz Ferdinand: "Do You Want To" and Mooney Suzuki: "New York Girls" at Kroger.

No one has thought about the Mooney Suzuki in at least ten years, not even members of the Mooney Suzuki.

Huey Lewis & The News: "It's Alright" at Walmart.

Used to hear it all the time in stores back in the mid-'90s, and I was today years old when I discovered it came from a Curtis Mayfield tribute album and not from the band's first covers album as I'd previously thought (matters were confused by that LP featuring a modest hit version of "But It's Alright").