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Post by Razzle Dazzle on Oct 26, 2020 13:20:05 GMT 1
Jermaine Jackson, Pia Zadora - When the Rain Begins to Fall
UK Chart Position: #68 USA Chart Position: #54
Release Year: 1984
Slight change of pace, so far i have mostly gone for rock but this synthpop song was huge in Europe, #1 in Netherlands, Belgium, France, Germany, Switzerland and #2 in Austria but failed to break the top 50 in the UK and USA. I still remember where I was the first time I heard this song, i was in Benidorm sat outside in a beer garden outside the Riviera Beach Hotel enjoying a nice cold Kopparberg cider, melting because it was July and this song came on and i thought wow how have i not heard this before!
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Post by Whitneyfan on Oct 26, 2020 19:48:27 GMT 1
Roxette - Stars
UK Chart Position: #56 USA Chart Position: n/a
Release Year: 1999
This was the follow-up to their successful comeback single 'Wish I Could Fly', and to my mind is even better. I couldn't believe it when it failed to make the top 40 altogether and it's still a mystery to me, because it's brilliant!
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Post by Smurfie on Oct 26, 2020 19:59:07 GMT 1
I love Stars. In fact I loved the whole of Have A Nice Day - although I would a very minor breakdown if you asked me to choose between the latter and Crash Boom Bang as my favourite of the two for Roxette.
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Post by raliverpool on Oct 26, 2020 20:25:04 GMT 1
Phil Lynott - Old Town
UK Chart Position: #DNC USA Chart Position: #DNC
Release Year: 1982
The bassist & frontman of Ireland's quintessential rock outfit, without whom quite probably neither the Boomtown Rats nor U2 would have taken off. Who are famous for being the only band chucked off a tour supporting Queen, because according to contemporaneous reviews and accounts they blew away the main act, in part thanks to their frontman's charisma & crowd banter which made the front man of Queen jealous with rage.
In 1980, though Thin Lizzy were still enjoying considerable success, Lynott launched a solo career with more modern sounding synth pop & atmospheric music. He also married Caroline Crowther, a daughter of much loved British comedian/presenter Leslie Crowther which gained media attention similar to that of Michael Hutchence & Paula Yates over a decade later. Not least due to the tabloids racist attitude towards a mixed race marriage. This pressure saw Lynott start to drink heavily alongside a growing Heroin addiction which led to his untimely death in January 1986 aged just 36.
Excluding the UK #5 "Out In The Fields" which was always more of a Gary Moore effort. He scored four solo UK top 40 hits including "Parisienne Walkways" & "Yellow Pearl" (Top of the Pops theme); but none are as popular on streaming as this flop single about his home city of Dublin, which was only a hit in the Netherlands. Not least as this song is retrospectively viewed as a clear out of character cry for help "This boy is crackin' up / This boy has broken down" . On 17 May 1986, Thin Lizzy reformed for the Self Aid concert with Bob Geldof replacing Lynott on lead vocals, as a finale they finished with this solo number. Likewise, on the last night of U2's two Dublin gigs on their 1987 The Joshua Tree tour they replaced their usual final number "40" with a cover of "Old Town".
In addition "Old Town" was the first record to be officially played on Irish legal Independent Radio. It was the first song played by Dublin's Capital Radio 104.4 on its launch on 20 July 1989; whilst it was released as a single from The Corrs off their 2005 album Home.
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Post by Razzle Dazzle on Oct 27, 2020 12:26:37 GMT 1
Rush - Fly By Night
UK Chart Position: - USA Chart Position: #88
Release Year: 1975
"Fly by Night" is the title track of Rush's second album. The music was written by bassist Geddy Lee and the lyrics were penned by drummer Neil Peart. Peart wrote this song about his first trip away from home. In 1971, at 18 years old, he left behind his small-town Canadian life and flew to England. One of the most influential prog rock bands of their time writing extended songs with irregular and shifting time signatures, combined with fantasy and science fiction-themed lyrics, inspiring a whole generation to follow in their footsteps, sadly Neil Peart passed away earlier this year so I had to include them here.
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Post by raliverpool on Oct 27, 2020 20:58:23 GMT 1
Badfinger - Baby Blue
UK Chart Position: #DNC (Top 50) USA Chart Position: #14
Release Year: 1972
The half Swansea half Liverpool power pop rock band who will go down in music annuls as the most unluckiest band in pop music history.
Badfinger had three consecutive worldwide hits from 1970 to 1972: "Come and Get It" (written and produced by Paul McCartney, 1970), "No Matter What" (produced by Mal Evans, 1970), "Day After Day" (produced by George Harrison, 1971). Their song "Without You" (1970) has been recorded many times, and became a US and UK #1 hit for Harry Nilsson and, decades later, for Mariah Carey.
But after Apple Records folded in 1973, Badfinger struggled with a host of legal, managerial and financial issues, leading to main singer/songwriter Pete Ham taking his own life in 1975. Over the next three years, the surviving members struggled to rebuild their personal and professional lives against a backdrop of lawsuits, which tied up the songwriters' royalty payments for years. Their subsequent albums floundered, as Joey Molland and Tom Evans alternated between co-operation and conflict in their attempts to revive and capitalise on the Badfinger legacy. (Their drummer was now employed by Bonnie Tyler, having co-written her single "It's A Heartache" about Badfinger's situation) In 1983, Evans also died by committing suicide.
This song experienced a resurgence of popularity in 2013 when it was featured in the television program Breaking Bad during the closing scene of the series finale (resulting in it charting at #73 in the UK). It's use with the knowledge of the band's history perfectly matched that show's protagonist's ending. It was taken from their third album "Straight Up". Its album cover could be seen in a scene in the home of Jackson "Jack" Maine (Bradley Cooper) in the 2018 A Star Is Born blockbusting award winning film.
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Post by Whitneyfan on Oct 27, 2020 21:39:59 GMT 1
Cher - Rudy
This non-charting single from 1982, taken from the album 'I Paralyze' is classic Cher to my ears. It's quite hard to get hold of too as the album is long out of print and it's not even on Spotify.
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Post by Razzle Dazzle on Oct 28, 2020 14:13:53 GMT 1
Ramones - Blitzkrieg Bop
UK Chart Position: - USA Chart Position: -
Release Year: 1976
Released as the band's debut single in February 1976 in the United States failed to chart but has since been certified Gold in the US and Silver in the UK. "Blitzkrieg Bop" was number 92 on the Rolling Stone list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. In March 2005, Q magazine placed it at number 31 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks, and in 2008 Rolling Stone placed it number 18 of the top 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time. In 2009 it was named the 25th greatest hard rock song of all time by VH1, Ramones never got the chart success they deserved at the time and are much moreapreciated these days, even million selling platinum single "I Wanna Be Sedated" failed to chart back in 1980 when it was released
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Post by onehitwonder on Oct 28, 2020 14:54:31 GMT 1
I love Stars. In fact I loved the whole of Have A Nice Day - although I would a very minor breakdown if you asked me to choose between the latter and Crash Boom Bang as my favourite of the two for Roxette. Anyone and Salvation <3
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Post by raliverpool on Oct 28, 2020 20:55:02 GMT 1
Bruce Springsteen - Born To Run
UK Chart Position: #DNC USA Chart Position: #23
Release Year: 1975
"Born to Run" was Springsteen's first worldwide single release, although it achieved little initial success outside of the United States (where it was the lead single & title track of his third album). It also peaked at Australia #38, & Canada #53.
In the UK Radio 1 early afternoon DJ Johnnie Walker made it his record of the week (which he seems to reference every time he plays the track on his Radio 2 Sound of The 70s show), but the British public was too busy buying records by the Bay City Rollers; the Rubettes; & Kenny to care.
Before he belatedly became huge in the UK in 1985 & the Born In The USA era, Frankie Goes To Hollywood covered this song on their debut album Welcome to the Pleasuredome in 1984.
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Post by Smurfie on Oct 28, 2020 23:05:56 GMT 1
I love Stars. In fact I loved the whole of Have A Nice Day - although I would a very minor breakdown if you asked me to choose between the latter and Crash Boom Bang as my favourite of the two for Roxette. Anyone and Salvation <3 Versus Vulnerable and What’s She Like - I really couldn’t choose.
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Roo.
Member
Posts: 17,855
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Post by Roo. on Oct 29, 2020 1:49:02 GMT 1
I'm going to have to go for:
Nine Inch Nails - Head Like A Hole
UK Chart Position: #45 USA Chart Position: #DNC
Release Year: 1990
Charlie Brooker and Miley Cyrus certainly did a great job proving that this song has hit potential - it has long been one of Nine Inch Nails' most well known tracks, and they have made the top 20 of both the UK and US charts with other things so why this one never even scraped a week somewhere is shocking.
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Post by Razzle Dazzle on Oct 29, 2020 18:24:01 GMT 1
Van Halen - Panama
UK Chart Position: #61 USA Chart Position: #13
Release Year: 1984
With the recent death of guitar legend Eddie Van Halen it was only a matter of time before they featured here. Panama was reportedly written about a car. In an interview with Howard Stern, lead singer David Lee Roth explained the meaning behind the song. Although the song features some suggestive lyrics, it is about a car that Roth saw race in Las Vegas; its name was "Panama Express", hence the title of the song. Roth wrote the song after being accused by a reporter of singing about only women, partying, and fast cars. He realized he'd never written a song about fast cars, and decided to write one. During the bridge of the song where Roth says "I can barely see the road from the heat comin' off," guitarist Eddie Van Halen can be heard revving his 1972 Lamborghini Miura S in the background. The car was backed up to the studio and microphones were attached to the exhaust pipe to record the sound for the song. One of their biggest songs with only Jump having more streams on Spotify but the song stalled at #61 in the UK chart
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Post by raliverpool on Oct 29, 2020 19:25:50 GMT 1
Johnny Cash - Ring Of Fire
UK Chart Position: #DNC USA Chart Position: #17
Release Year: 1963
Quite literally the answer to a multiple choice question on tonight's The Chase ........ "The Man In Black"'s second most streamed song (behind his cover of Nine Inch Nails "Hurt") was recorded on March 25, 1963, and became one of the biggest hits of Cash's career, staying at number one on the country chart for seven weeks, as well as crossing over to the top 20 on the national chart. A feat it matched in Canada & Australia. However, the UK snubbed it despite its love of country music. We had to wait until 1969 for Eric Burden & the Animals to take the much covered song into the charts over here.
As a fan of Liverpool FC, "Ring Of Fire" is the nickname associated with the Ataturk Olympic Stadium in Turkey. Which on 25 May, 2005 hosted the Champions League Final between AC Milan & Liverpool. Liverpool were 3-0 down at half-time (& quite frankly it could and should have been twice that) to a star-studded AC Milan side, but recovered led by Glasgow Rangers manager Steven Gerrard to force extra time and, eventually, win on penalties.
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Post by Razzle Dazzle on Nov 1, 2020 14:53:47 GMT 1
Supertramp - Goodbye Stranger
UK Chart Position: #57 USA Chart Position: #15
Release Year: 1979
"Goodbye Stranger" is a song by the English rock band Supertramp, which first appeared on their sixth studio album, Breakfast in America (1979). Despite being met with only limited success in the UK, it was a major hit elsewhere, even a Top 20 hit in the United States and Canada, reaching number 15 and 6 respectively with Billboard Magazine described "Goodbye Stranger" as "a fluid midtempo number highlighted by the band's near falsetto vocals, dominant keyboards and a strong melody line." Brett Milano of udiscovermusic.com rated Roger Hodgson's guitar solo at the end of the song as one of the 100 all-time greatest. A hugely underrated Supertramp song
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Post by Razzle Dazzle on Nov 1, 2020 15:02:15 GMT 1
Bryan Adams - Summer of 69
UK Chart Position: #42 USA Chart Position: #5
Release Year: 1985
I missed a few days with being busy with Halloween Vision s lets catch up with maybe the best song never to reach the top 40. On the UK Singles Chart, "Summer of '69" debuted at number fifty-nine, and managed to climb up the chart, and two weeks later reached its peak position of 42. In a poll conducted by Decima Research in 2006, "Summer of '69" was voted the best driving song among Canadians who sing in their cars. The song topped the survey with both sexes, and with French and English-speaking Canadians. In 2010, the song was voted the "hottest summer song" in Germany. In another poll, this time by Canadian magazine Chart, "Summer of '69" was voted the fourth best song of all time in 2000 and In 2008, the song was voted the 87th best-song of all time by radio listeners in Norway
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TheThorne
Member
*Hillside, slip and slide, feel the pain, it's no surprise!*
Posts: 27,509
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Post by TheThorne on Nov 1, 2020 15:12:01 GMT 1
Ok I can go pop prog as well
The Moody Blues - Your Wildest Dreams
UK Chart Position: n/a USA Chart Position: #9
Release Year: 1986
Their mid 80s comeback was very successful in the US but they were pretty much ignored over here although this and the other big single ' I Know You're Out There Somewhere' picked up late night radio play. I think this is very much as good as their 60s hits. Maybe The Kinks beat them to the chase with 'Come Dancing' as this video has a very similar theme. The video got the Billboard video of the year award. Although it has a very sad ending. But if you want to know what happens next, you need to watch the vid for the other song mentioned earlier.
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TheThorne
Member
*Hillside, slip and slide, feel the pain, it's no surprise!*
Posts: 27,509
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Post by TheThorne on Nov 1, 2020 15:21:26 GMT 1
Bryan Adams best song never to go top 40, maybe the best top 50 song to never go top 40 although I think this runs it close in that regard.
Huey Lewis And The News - Hip To Be Square
UK Chart Position: #41 USA Chart Position: #3
Release Year: 1986
It was the 2nd single to be taken from the multi platinum selling album 'Fore', which was a huge hit in the US and UK but it took a while longer to break here but thanks to the inclusion of 'The Power Of Love' on our version of the album, it was huge. This song had a major revival in the 00s after being featured heavily in 'American Psycho'. This album and song will always be special to me as it was the first one I bought with my own pocket money and the rest was history really.
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Post by Razzle Dazzle on Nov 1, 2020 15:26:43 GMT 1
The Moody Blues are unsurprisingly on my shortlist too, I have their best of on vinyl, cost 49p ha
I would probably chose between "The Story in Your Eyes" 1971 or "Ride My See-Saw" b/w "A Simple Game" which reached #42 in 1968, one of the best B Sides ever
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Post by Whitneyfan on Nov 1, 2020 17:00:31 GMT 1
Fleetwood Mac - Seven Wonders
UK Chart Position: #56 USA Chart Position: #19
Release Year: 1987
Hardly any of Fleetwood Mac's singles actually reached the position they deserved on the charts (I think people were more interested in buying the albums), but this absolutely brilliant Stevie Nicks song from 'Tango In The Night' was released in between 'Big Love' and 'Little Lies' - both of which were big top ten hits.
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