Most bizarre first single off an album

[Brundle-Fly]

I suppose the market was a different beast back then, like when tours were all about promoting the album and then it became the other way round. What's the deal now, I wonder?

[dr beat]

They didn't want it as a single at all, as it wasn't really what they did.
Eventually released as a double A side with Time, but Time got ignored (despite being miles better).

Yeah I always felt Alright sat awkwardly with what otherwise is just a fantastic rush of tracks in that first half of an album.  I played I Should Coco to death when I was eighteen but always skipped it. 

[Tokyo van Ramming]

[tag]OMC leave thread disappointed[/tag]

Bravo.

[buzby]

'Finetime' by New Order.  Not that it isn't good, just a really bizarre choice.

It was the most 'housey' track off Technique, which given what was going on in the charts in late 1988 made it an obvious choice, I'd have thought. It was also their third-highest charting single to that point (it peaked at #11), behind Blue Monday and True Faith.

Round & Round was released as the follow-up against the band's wishes. The band and Gretton wanted Vanishing Point to be the second single off Technique, but Wilson thought Round & Round would go down better with dance music audiences and become a hit (he was proved wrong as it peaked at #21, and had to resign from Factory for a day for losing a bet with Gretton that it would get into the Top 5).

[Wayman C. McCreery]

Good thread. I always thought it mental supergrass releasing about 5 singles before Alright from I should coco.

Picking chorusless plodder Going Out as the first single from In It For The Money was an odd choice.

[badaids]

A fact I've found interesting is that in his life time, Mozart released 0 albums and 0 singles.

[Darles Chickens]

Picking chorusless plodder Going Out as the first single from In It For The Money was an odd choice.

Maybe they felt that the heavier direction of the big singles from that album (Sun Hits The Sky, Richard III) might scare off new fans they'd got off the back of Alright.  Going Out is a bit more trad Supergrass, though I normally skip it.

Likewise, their third album had Pumping On Your Stereo as its lead single instead of Moving, although it was released so far in advance of the album that there's the possibility they hadn't even finished Moving at that time.

[Darles Chickens]

A fact I've found interesting is that in his life time, Mozart released 0 albums and 0 singles.

Conversely, I learnt from Adam Neely the other day that Rachmaninoff had a Top 10 single with "All By Myself" in 1975, performed and co-written by Eric Carmen.  By all accounts, it was his most successful song.

[DrGreggles]

Picking chorusless plodder Going Out as the first single from In It For The Money was an odd choice.

It was a stand-alone single first, in 1996.
Doubt the rest of IIFTM was finished then.

Great mid-section on Going Out though.

[xxxx xxx x xxx]

Not bizarre exactly, but I always thought 'Making Plans For Nigel' was a strange choice of single from an album that had 'Reel By Reel' and 'Helicopter' on it.

[The Culture Bunker]

Not bizarre exactly, but I always thought 'Making Plans For Nigel' was a strange choice of single from an album that had 'Reel By Reel' and 'Helicopter' on it.

I think the label was more favourable towards Colin Moulding at the time - he'd written previous single 'Life Begins at the Hop', which had been their first (minor) chart single and Andy Partridge reckoned Virgin saw Colin as the more obvious pop star material of the two.

[Satchmo Distel]

The Beatles didn't use singles to promote albums, except perhaps at the very end (1969-70). There were no singles off Sgt Pepper or the White Album.

[xxxx xxx x xxx]

I think the label was more favourable towards Colin Moulding at the time - he'd written previous single 'Life Begins at the Hop', which had been their first (minor) chart single and Andy Partridge reckoned Virgin saw Colin as the more obvious pop star material of the two.

Looks-wise I suppose he was - they were definitely on the same page as songwriters though.  You can't
really tell which one wrote which song without looking at the credits (I can't, anyway). Strange that two  such compatible songwriters should be thrown up at the same time in a small-ish provincial town.  Anyway, I'm derailing, sorry..

[Wayman C. McCreery]

It was a stand-alone single first, in 1996.
Doubt the rest of IIFTM was finished then.

Great mid-section on Going Out though.

Well I'd completely forgotten it was a standalone single, despite buying the CD at the time. Though they did use the same logo for the single as they did for the album.

[peanutbutter]

I suppose the market was a different beast back then, like when tours were all about promoting the album and then it became the other way round. What's the deal now, I wonder?

All about abusing algorithms, innit? Either something that'll absolute pile up plays on spotify et al (Chris Brown's 5 disc album being the most blatant) or ensuring you've things that are TikTok friendly

[sutin]

I'm voting for The Butcher's Tale by the Zombies. From album full of brilliant sunshine pop sung by one of the 60's best voices, the US record company chose this? A wheezing, moribund anti-war dirge, sung by the bass player with no drums and barely anything but an Ivor Cutler harmonium. No wonder the band folded soon after.

Butcher's Tale was a single?! The FIRST single? What the absolute fuck?? Did the record label hate them?!

[sutin]

Another, of course, that came out well before the rest of the album.
I'm a Man and Sylvia would have been my choices for later singles. Instead they went for This is Hardcore and Party Hard. Can't knock their audacity, I suppose.

I would say that releasing the utterly bland and forgettable A Little Soul as a single was the most baffling move of Pulp's entire career. Party Hard makes sense to me though, that's a banger.

[sutin]

I love 'Get In The Swing' but Sparks should have released Happy Hunting Ground or In The Future as the first single off Indiscreet as to not scare Kimono My House/Propaganda fans off.

[Video Game Fan 2000]

I love 'Get In The Swing' but Sparks should have released Happy Hunting Ground or In The Future as the first single off Indiscreet as to not scare Kimono My House/Propaganda fans off.

I think Sparks have a lot of these. For someone who just gets the single form than anyone else in a rock band since the Beatles, I can't understand Ron's love of leading with puerile offensive songs with a swear in the title - ironic misogyny anthem "La Dolce Vita" before "Number One In Heaven", "Dick Around", the dire "Piss Off" being the promo FFS before the actual single "Johnny Delusional", etc. "Dick Around" in particular is grating to me, its like a parody of Sparks by someone who doesn't get them. "Perfume" and "Metaphor" were right there. Of course it didn't get airplay. Two novelty-ish singles before "Edith Piaf (Said It Better)" recently too. And "I Predict" first of Angst in my Pants is weird, but at least we got that video out of it.

I originally had "Balls" down as a single too, but I don't think it actually was. Don't think anyone listens to that record much anyway.

[sutin]

I think Sparks have a lot of these. For someone who just gets the single form than anyone else in a rock band since the Beatles, I can't understand Ron's love of leading with puerile offensive songs with a swear in the title - ironic misogyny anthem "La Dolce Vita" before "Number One In Heaven", "Dick Around", the dire "Piss Off" being the promo FFS before the actual single "Johnny Delusional", etc. "Dick Around" in particular is grating to me, its like a parody of Sparks by someone who doesn't get them. "Perfume" and "Metaphor" were right there. Of course it didn't get airplay. Two novelty-ish singles before "Edith Piaf (Said It Better)" recently too. And "I Predict" first of Angst in my Pants is weird, but at least we got that video out of it.

I originally had "Balls" down as a single too, but I don't think it actually was. Don't think anyone listens to that record much anyway.

Ahhh, I couldn't possibly agree with a lot of this. To me, Dick Around is one of the greatest pieces of music ever written (up there with the best of The Beatles and Brian Wilson), and Sparks at their absolute peak. Piss Off I also thought was one of their best 2010s singles. But yeah, i'm with you on pretty much the rest, especially I Predict and Hippopotamus (the song).

[Johnny Textface]

Has "This is Hardcore" by Pulp been mentioned? Great track but not exactly a pop hit.

Or was "Help the Aged" before that?

[Tokyo van Ramming]

Colin Moulding

Never heard of him. Goes to show...

[Rev+]

As Radiohead have been mentioned, the ropey 'My Iron Lung' being the first single off 'The Bends' - an album full of viable singles - was just perverse.  It makes complete sense on paper though, as it was followed by some much less lively singles.  That was the 'rock' one.

[DrGreggles]

Another case of first song ready, I think.
Came out a good 6+ months before the album.

[Jockice]

I would say that releasing the utterly bland and forgettable A Little Soul as a single was the most baffling move of Pulp's entire career. Party Hard makes sense to me though, that's a banger.

I agree with you about A Little Soul but I thought Party Hard was dreadful. Not their worst ever song (although that's on the same album. TV Movie) but possibly their worst ever single.

Regarding Supergrass, I really like Going Out AND Alright. Not too fond of Pumping On Your Stereo or Moving though. They're okay but by that time they'd started losing what made them great to start with.

[Spiteface]

As Radiohead have been mentioned, the ropey 'My Iron Lung' being the first single off 'The Bends' - an album full of viable singles - was just perverse.  It makes complete sense on paper though, as it was followed by some much less lively singles.  That was the 'rock' one.

Another case of first song ready, I think.
Came out a good 6+ months before the album.

"This is our new song, just like the last one"
It was the followup to Creep, and they were taking the piss because they already resented it by then.

[Video Game Fan 2000]

Put out a single about how they resent their hit and then putting out another label mandated attempt at a hit ("High and Dry") with an actual decent song on the bside. Classic Radiohead.

[A Hat Like That]

"This is our new song, just like the last one"
It was the followup to Creep, and they were taking the piss because they already resented it by then.

Pop is Dead is inbetween?

[PaulTMA]

I reckon Pulp's biggest problem with This Is Hardcore was that they released it about a year too late, but yeah it ain't exactly packed with choruses.  Help The Aged was clearly a stopgap before they got anywhere near finishing the album.  I'd argue the title track was an inspired lead-off choice, but it didn't make the artistic-statement splash (a la Paranoid Android) it could have done due to momentum waning a bit. 

[Spiteface]

Pop is Dead is inbetween?

I stand corrected. Stop Whispering was also a single in that gap as well, upon doing actual research.

The lyric was their reaction to Creep being a hit, though.