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Post by Razzle Dazzle on Oct 22, 2020 16:43:04 GMT 1
I have a growing number of songs in a notepad from 1960-1999 (over 1000) that didn't chart in the UK so thought I would start a thread to appreciate the hits that never were I only have 3 main rules: 1. The song can't have charted the top 40 in the UK
2. The song has to have been released before December 31st 1999 to be considered "retro"
3. The song has to be considered a hit that never was rather than an obscure band/song
feel free to add to the thread, whilst I'm going to be updating daily with songs I think fit the criteria, I would love to hear suggestions from others if a song didn't chart at all in the uk or usa! as I still have 1962-1989 to complete for my retro charts
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Post by Earl Purple on Oct 22, 2020 16:53:10 GMT 1
Lots of such songs that were big hits in the USA.
And a few classic songs that were simply not hits, although a few did later on even though they weren't hits at the time.
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Post by Razzle Dazzle on Oct 22, 2020 17:05:12 GMT 1
Blue Öyster Cult - Shooting Shark
UK Chart Position: #97 USA Chart Position: #83
Release Year: 1983
"Shooting Shark" is a song by American rock band Blue Öyster Cult, appearing on the band's ninth album The Revölution by Night. Written by guitarist/vocalist Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser with lyrics inspired by a Patti Smith poem, the song features a synthesizer-heavy pop sound mixed with rock elements and features Randy Jackson, of American Idol fame, on bass. Blue Öyster Cult are best known for cult classic hit "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" and for many this is the only song they know by them! which is criminal because they have such a excellent diverse back catalogue spanning almost 50 years, the band is often cited as a major influence by other acts such as Metallica and KISS whilst being refereed to as The world's biggest underground band, I mean that sax! that bass line!, that hook, Shooting Shark is one of a dozen Blue Öyster Cult songs that deserved to be a hit
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TheThorne
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*Hillside, slip and slide, feel the pain, it's no surprise!*
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Post by TheThorne on Oct 22, 2020 17:23:02 GMT 1
Very nice choice, I have to join in with this. Patty Smyth has returned to my chart after a 28 year absence to celebrate lets go back to her most well known song which sadly didn't chart in the UK.
Scandal ft. Patty Smyth - The Warrior
Uk Chart Position : #84 US Chart position : #7 Release Year: 1984
It was written by Holly Knight who wrote so many brilliant soft rock and pop hits in the 80s.This song is famous today as the theme to the Netflix show Glow. Patty Smyth had a few hits in the US with Scandal and solo, her biggest hit a duet with Don Henley 'Sometimes Love Just Ain't enough' which reached #2 in US and #22 in the UK. She is married to John McEnroe and was enjoying a long break from music but has just released a new album called 'Drive', her first since 1992. Current single is called 'Build a Fire'
I warn you I can go wild in this thread especially with stuff between 1986-1991
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Post by Razzle Dazzle on Oct 22, 2020 17:45:58 GMT 1
Ozzy Osbourne - Crazy Train
UK Chart Position: #49 USA Chart Position: -
Release Year: 1980
Ozzy had just been kicked out of the biggest rock band in the world Black Sabbath, his career was over, his lifestyle was self destructive but he was given a second chance in October 1979 when he met Bob Daisley who had been working with Rainbow at a venue called the Music Machine in Camden Town, Osbourne soon suggested they form a band with former Quiet Riot guitarist Randy Rhoads, whom Osbourne had recently met in Los Angeles. The trio hired ex-Uriah Heep drummer Lee Kerslake and settled on the band name The Blizzard of Ozz, though a record company billed the act simply as "Ozzy Osbourne". These three brilliant musicians predominantly wrote and produced "Crazy Train" with Randy Rhoads also coming up with the now iconic guitar riff of the song. Sadly in 1982 without permission, tour bus driver and private pilot Andrew Aycock took a single-engine Beechcraft F35 plane with Rhoads and makeup artist Rachel Youngblood aboard and decided it would be fun to "buzz" the tour bus, on the third pass the plane clipped the tour buss, broke apart and crashed bursting into flames, such a waste, Rhodes was only 25 and considered one of the hottest talents in the rock metal scene. Even though he wasn't around long he will be remembered though, this is such an iconic song, imprinted on the fabric of rock music and considered a classic but it didn't even chart in America and only peaked at #49 in the UK
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Post by Razzle Dazzle on Oct 22, 2020 17:54:29 GMT 1
Yes this is all very 80's so far, nice contribution, i love that, very 80s rock chick. Blue Öyster Cult have a new album out too after nearly a 20 year absence
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Post by raliverpool on Oct 22, 2020 18:38:24 GMT 1
I'll go big... with hindsight this seems unbelievable but ....
Elton John - Tiny Dancer
UK Chart Position: DNC (but apparently #9 on the breakers chart for songs below the top 50 which had yet to chart) USA Chart Position: #41 (But it did peak at #13 in Australia, & #19 in Canada, and went top twenty across Europe, with a highest peak of #6 in France, after it was re-promoted after "Rocket Man" made him a two hit wonder)
Release Year: 1972
Taken from the "Your Song" hit-maker's fourth album, Madman Across the Water, and was released as a single in February 1972. The song's lyrics were inspired by Taupin’s first visit to the US in 1970, and were intended to capture the spirit of California, where he found the women he met highly contrasted with those who he had known in his home country of England. Despite performing it on Old Grey Whistle Test, UK Radio would not playlist it due to its lengthy 6:12 duration. The song really took off after its boost of popularity after having been prominently featured in the 2000 film Almost Famous.
In May 2017, an official music video for "Tiny Dancer" premiered at the Cannes Film Festival including Marilyn Manson, and Lady Gaga (the old red haired woman). It is currently his second most streamed song on Spotify with 367+ million plays (compared to the ghastly Candle In The Wind 1997 7.2 million plays).
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Post by Razzle Dazzle on Oct 22, 2020 20:08:45 GMT 1
Yeah Tiny Dancer is huge, amazing it never charted in the UK with Elton John being a UK act and already had a top 10 hit and its a brilliant song, it makes no sense other than maybe it was just relatively unheard due to the length of the song
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Post by Whitneyfan on Oct 22, 2020 20:13:36 GMT 1
Elton's probably got as many great songs that weren't hits as ones that were!
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Post by smokeyb on Oct 22, 2020 20:21:29 GMT 1
David Bowie - Changes
UK chart : miss USA chart :66
This was Tony Blackburn's record of the week in early Jan 1972, and although it got played to death it failed to chart. It only reached #66 in the US.
One of his best known songs it was used in the film Shrek 2.
After his death in 2016 it re-charted at #49.
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Post by Smurfie on Oct 22, 2020 20:25:20 GMT 1
Does this qualify?
Beach Boys - Fun Fun Fun
UK Chart Position: DNC USA Chart Position: #5
Release Year: 1964
Written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love about a daughter who goes out on a jolly, and gets rumbled by her father so confiscates her car keys. One of the Beach Boys songs I knew from an early age and always assumed it was a big hit in the UK - though Status Quo ruined it much later on.
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Post by Earl Purple on Oct 22, 2020 21:28:40 GMT 1
Ok, #3 in the USA, #1 in my chart for 5 weeks in 1975 but not a UK hit though it's a well known song. No official video, some audios but I'll go for a live version
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Post by Razzle Dazzle on Oct 23, 2020 11:28:37 GMT 1
Neil Young - Old Man/The Needle and the Damage Done
UK Chart Position: - USA Chart Position: 31
Release Year: 1972
Not just a fantastic A side but one of the greatest B sides ever too, both brilliant songs released as a single in 1972, the same year as parent album Harvest which went to #1 all over the world including the UK. You could chose a number of Neil Young songs from the 70s to feature here, "Only Love Can Break Your Heart", "Like a Hurricane", "Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)" all come to mind,
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Post by Razzle Dazzle on Oct 23, 2020 11:46:29 GMT 1
Shocking Blue - Send Me A Postcard
UK Chart Position: - USA Chart Position: -
Release Year: 1968
Dutch rock band Shocking Blue best known for their 1969 #1 US hit Venus (#8 in the UK) had already had success in their home country with this fast paced organ infused psychedelic rock song charting at #10 in the Netherlands and no doubt if it was released after the success of Venus it would've been a big hit for the band
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TheThorne
Member
*Hillside, slip and slide, feel the pain, it's no surprise!*
Posts: 27,512
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Post by TheThorne on Oct 24, 2020 8:57:25 GMT 1
Ok lets bring it a bit more recent The Auteurs - ShowgirlUK Chart Position: - USA Chart Position: - Release Year:1992 The debut single from Luke Haines first band, to me this song was the first proper Brit Pop song but even if a lot of support from Radio 1 and The Chart Show it still missed. It just sounds like every cool 60s band and more Blur than Blur were at that point, you can hear 'Beetlebum' in this for example. He would soon go on to have a few minor hits with The Auteurs never quite crack the top 40, although his future bands would. 'Lenny Valentino' their biggest hit reached #41 in 1993. Oh and when I heard this on late night radio, I thought he sung 'Sprinkled stardust on my Y fronts'
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TheThorne
Member
*Hillside, slip and slide, feel the pain, it's no surprise!*
Posts: 27,512
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Post by TheThorne on Oct 24, 2020 9:07:15 GMT 1
That last song was for yesterday, todays non hit song, is a song out of time. Sometimes a band releases a brilliant single about 10 years late.
Foreigner - White Lie
UK Chart Position: #58 USA Chart Position: - Release Year:1994
Taken from their album 'Mr Moonlight' their last to feature Lou Gramm in lead vocals, it was a really surprise to me at the time. It was again so different from the music I was now listening to after being a huge fan in the 80s. The fact it flopped in the US showed how out of step they were and how US radio has switched from AOR and heavy rock to grunge and alt rock. To me this is one of their best every singles but nobody heard it. Lou Gramm will always be one of my all time favorite vocalists.
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Post by Razzle Dazzle on Oct 24, 2020 11:21:37 GMT 1
Foreigner are a good shout, White Lie got to #9 in my 90s retro chart, wasn't a song I'd heard of before and it had stiff competition in the top 10 around that time in 1994, Elastica - Connection, Dodgy - Staying Out For The Summer, Soul Asylum - Can't Even Tell, Green Day - Welcome to Paradise, The Cranberries - Zombie, Supergrass - Caught By The Fuzz, Sparks - When Do I Get To Sing "My Way", New Order - True Faith, Sheryl Crow - All I Wanna Do but still made a solid appearance
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Post by Razzle Dazzle on Oct 24, 2020 11:40:36 GMT 1
Iron Butterfly - In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida
UK Chart Position: - USA Chart Position: #30 Release Year: 1968
In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida (derived from "In the Garden of Eden") is a song recorded by Iron Butterfly and written by bandmember Doug Ingle, released on their 1968 album In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida. At slightly over 17 minutes, it occupies the entire second side of the In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida album. Jeff Beck claims that when he saw Iron Butterfly perform at the Galaxy Club in April 1967, half a year before the band recorded their first album, their entire second set consisted of a 35-minute-long version of "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida". A heavily edited 2:52 single version was released and was a minor #30 hit in the US but their album of the same name had more success reaching number four on the album chart and selling over a million copies
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Post by Razzle Dazzle on Oct 25, 2020 15:28:47 GMT 1
Cheap Trick - Surrender
UK Chart Position: - USA Chart Position: #62 Release Year: 1978
Their aesthetics confuse me. 2 handsome long haired glam rockers that wouldnt look out of place in Sweet teamed up with an accountant on drums and a prodigy 38 year old man child... There you have it... Cheap trick everybody. Another band that inspired a whole generation of musicians, the band was one of Joey Ramone’s all-time favourites and have received acknowledgment from such peers as Gene Simmons, Joe Perry and Angus Young. In 1979, Robin Zander was informally approached to join British glam rockers Sweet after the departure of singer Brian Connolly. In the 1980s, Cheap Trick garnered support from the hard rock community when bands like Mötley Crüe and Guns N' Roses cited their influence. The band also influenced musicians in the alternative rock scene: Kurt Cobain mentioned the band as an influence, while Smashing Pumpkins arranged for Cheap Trick open shows for them. According to Poison guitarist C.C. Deville the main riff to "Talk Dirty to Me", is taken from Cheap Trick's "She's Tight", while his solo for the song is taken from "California Man". The thrash metal band Anthrax has covered two Cheap Trick songs, "Big Eyes" and "Auf Wiedersehen". Other bands that have mentioned Cheap Trick as an inspiration and influence include Gin Blossoms, Urge Overkill, Pearl Jam, Weezer, Stone Temple Pilots, Everclear, Extreme, Green Day, American Hi-Fi, Simple Plan, Foo Fighters, Soundgarden, Fountains of Wayne, Red Hot Chili Peppers, OK Go, Terrorvision, Kings of Leon, Steel Panther, Slipknot, Jet, Alice in Chains, The Melvins and The Wildhearts. Alice Cooper, on his "Nights with Alice Cooper" radio show once called Cheap Trick "America's House Band", citing their following among a wide range of musical genres. Even R&B/Soul artist Reggie Sears has mentioned Cheap Trick to be a big influence. They are quite frankly one of the most underrated bands of all time, maybe they weren't taken seriously at the time but have since been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2016.
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Post by Whitneyfan on Oct 25, 2020 15:52:34 GMT 1
Kirsty MacColl - He's On The Beach
Kirsty had a lot of great singles miss the charts, but it's an absolute mystery how this one missed the top 100 altogether when it came off the back of the big hit that was 'A New England'. It's not like it's a massive drop in quality because it's instantly catchy and really summery. I can only assume that it must have been lack of promotion that was to blame.
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