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

I didn’t know all this business about “This Must Be the Place”… interesting, it’s a pretty understated song to become a new “standard.”

It's a nice love song if you cherry-pick the words that support your thesis and ignore the words that don't. The same can be said of the Mueller report tbf.

"Sing into my mouth" has always meant a lot to me

the song has like 7 hooks, I'm amazed it wasn't recognized as one of their greatest achievements until relatively recently

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.