Bands with hit singles that were not hit singles

[Dannyalcatraz]

I’m not really defining hit single. Some of the ones I’ve listed were big hits globally, others simply didn’t make it in the USA.

I‘m thinking more in terms of buzz. Expectations. Cult status. Cultural significance.

I mean, some really influential and important music gets made that never even charts. Some of a song’s chart position is based on pure popularity. But some of that is about “business decisions” and broadcast regulations.

For example, NWA’s “Straight Outta Compton” was released in 1988…and didn’t chart until 2015, at #38. That’s their biggest hit as a group. It’s not a big hit based on its chart history, but that song is significant.

 

[MGibster]

I‘m thinking more in terms of buzz. Expectations. Cult status. Cultural significance.

Okay, that's fair. Released in 1970, The Buoys "Timothy" is a song about about a group of miners caught in a cave in who are rescued after an unspecified amount of time has gone by. All except for poor Timothy whose fate is never explicitely explained, but it's implied that he's been eaten by the other miners. Despite being banned from many American radio stations, it peaked at #17 in the top 40. I'm including it here because it caused sensation at the time, but I had neve heard of the song until 2015 or 2016. Fun Fact: Written by Rupert Holmes who wrote the song "Escape" which is better known as the Pina Colada song.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Okay, that's fair. Released in 1970, The Buoys "Timothy" is a song about about a group of miners caught in a cave in who are rescued after an unspecified amount of time has gone by. All except for poor Timothy whose fate is never explicitely explained, but it's implied that he's been eaten by the other miners. Despite being banned from many American radio stations, it peaked at #17 in the top 40. I'm including it here because it caused sensation at the time, but I had neve heard of the song until 2015 or 2016. Fun Fact: Written by Rupert Holmes who wrote the song "Escape" which is better known as the Pina Colada song.

Never heard that one!

An interesting footnote I found while looking for its lyrics: the song was released as a 45 with an illustration of a mule (then still used in some mines) and “Timothy” written in such a way implying that was the mule’s name. So the record label and/or the band muddied the waters as to the lyrics actual meaning.

That said, I don’t know that the narrator would have had a blackout if they had just killed and eaten their mule…

 

[Mad_Jack]

I remember hearing about "Timothy" about ten or fifteen years ago...

 

[MGibster]

Here's another oddball song. "Fire" by The Crazy World of Arthur Brown (that's the band name) is a psychedelic rock song sung from the perspective of the God of Hellfire who is destroying everything his victims had built up over their lifetimes. This song was released in 1968, and I'm including it because it was fairly influencial on the nascent heavy metal genre which was forming at the same time.

The reason I call this an oddball song is because I have never heard it on the radio. At least not in whole - and I'll explain in a minute. The song just doesn't fit into any good category for American radio. It's not heavy metal or hard rock, it doesn't fit into the classic rock genre, it's not used for the soundtrack to movies set in the 60s, and there just doesn't seem to be any place for it. The only time I've heard it on the radio was a local station which played the opening to the song where Arthur Brown says, "I am the god of hellfire!" which they played during the traffic report any time there was a vehicular fire.

 

[Mad_Jack]

I think "Fire" falls into the exceptionally fuzzy and ill-defined genre of "proto-metal"... Though I can't think of a particular example at the moment, a number of songs and bands from that time period sort of straddle the line between multiple categories of music as people were getting much more experimental... I've heard a fair number of songs that were classified as prog rock, surf rock, acid rock, and a dozen other things where you can clearly hear the roots of heavy metal forming.

 

[Eyes of Nine]

Okay, that's fair. Released in 1970, The Buoys "Timothy" is a song about about a group of miners caught in a cave in who are rescued after an unspecified amount of time has gone by. All except for poor Timothy whose fate is never explicitely explained, but it's implied that he's been eaten by the other miners. Despite being banned from many American radio stations, it peaked at #17 in the top 40. I'm including it here because it caused sensation at the time, but I had neve heard of the song until 2015 or 2016. Fun Fact: Written by Rupert Holmes who wrote the song "Escape" which is better known as the Pina Colada song.

TIL that Escape was the last #1 hit song of the 70's, closing out as #1 at the end of December 1979...

 

[Eyes of Nine]

Here's another oddball song. "Fire" by The Crazy World of Arthur Brown (that's the band name) is a psychedelic rock song sung from the perspective of the God of Hellfire who is destroying everything his victims had built up over their lifetimes. This song was released in 1968, and I'm including it because it was fairly influencial on the nascent heavy metal genre which was forming at the same time.

The reason I call this an oddball song is because I have never heard it on the radio. At least not in whole - and I'll explain in a minute. The song just doesn't fit into any good category for American radio. It's not heavy metal or hard rock, it doesn't fit into the classic rock genre, it's not used for the soundtrack to movies set in the 60s, and there just doesn't seem to be any place for it. The only time I've heard it on the radio was a local station which played the opening to the song where Arthur Brown says, "I am the god of hellfire!" which they played during the traffic report any time there was a vehicular fire.

Love this song. I have heard it only on the radio; but very rarely. I first heard it on the radio before the internet and had no idea who it was. When the internet finally came around, and all the lyrics were getting recorded, I FINALLY learned about the Crazy World of Arthur Brown...

 

[Art Waring]

That time Jello Biafra, Al Jourgenson, and Paul Barker decided to collab in 1988.

 

[aco175]

Nobody said Afroman. Back in 2000 he cracked this out and got some play from the Howard Stern Show and the internet, but I do not recall and play on radio.