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Brilliant pop singles that were total chart flops

Started by non capisco, May 15, 2021, 11:08:41 PM

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non capisco

I think Laser Love by T Rex absolutely bangs, as good as anything Bolan released in his imperial phase if you're asking this guy. Unfortunately it came out four years after his moment in the sun, the tail end of glam rock was a couple of years in the rearview mirror and he went on Top Of The Pops to promote it looking less like a sexually mysterious elf and more like some jowly mate of your dad's with a "Pop Star" wig on he'd bought from a revolving "toys" rack at the back of a newsagents. The kids were not arsed, the cloth eared nerks. 

What other brilliant pop singles have there been that were also total chart flops? I don't think Sanctuary by New Musik did much and it's their best one, I reckon.

EDIT: Link if you can. I wanna hear these undervalued babies.

peanutbutter

All the singles from Carly Rae Jepsen's Emotion album asides from I Really Like You (the worst of the singles)

purlieu

Carly Rae Jepsen is one of those people whose lack of commercial success is really baffling. 'Call Me Maybe' and 'I Really Like You' are huge hits, and yet 'Cut to the Feeling' charts nowhere outside Japan? 'Run Away With Me's peak position, internationally, was 58 in the UK. 'Your Type' and 'No Drug Like Me' didn't chart anywhere in the world.

OMD's 'Telegraph'. Second single from a critically slated album, so there's some explanation, but at this point in their career it's still second only to 'Enola Gay' in terms of catchy, bouncy pop singles. Peak chart position: 42.

The end of the '90s was a difficult time for bands who found success with britpop, but I was always amazed that, despite having a ludicrously catchy chorus, and getting shedloads of TV and radio support, the Lightning Seeds' 'Life's Too Short' stalled at 27, their worst chart position in years, other than the uncharacteristically mopey Best Of-promoting 'What You Say'. The song sounds pretty naff in hindsight, and Ian Broudie's pretty much disowned the album it came from, but I've always been baffled by how badly it fared.

non capisco

Quote from: purlieu on May 16, 2021, 12:32:19 AM
OMD's 'Telegraph'. Second single from a critically slated album, so there's some explanation, but at this point in their career it's still second only to 'Enola Gay' in terms of catchy, bouncy pop singles. Peak chart position: 42.

Perfect example. My favourite OMD song, would have been massive if they'd put that out ahead of the album instead of 'Genetic Engineering' (which I love as well, but come on...)

Carly Rae is an artist I've come to love long after I've had any conception of what's done well in the charts so I'm amazed to discover she had virtually zilch hits off Emotion, that album sounds like anyone else's greatest hits to me. She was the last gig I went to before Covid struck and everything she played was received like a number one smash.

purlieu

I suppose it was an era when later singles could do really well, but agreed that leading a difficult album with anything other than its standout single is a pretty bizarre decision.

pigamus



pigamus

I Walk The Earth, Voice Of The Beehive. 42 on release, then when reissued - 46!

non capisco

Quote from: pigamus on May 16, 2021, 12:51:22 AM
I Walk The Earth, Voice Of The Beehive. 42 on release, then when reissued - 46!

Good shout. Chorus on that thing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SnW9bw9kU8o

Talk Talk - Such a Shame - only made no. 49 in 1984 (although it was a big hit in Italy and Germany, apparently).

And that was following the initial release of 'Its My Life' as the first single from that album, which only made no. 46 on its first release.  It did much better when re-released to promote the 'best of' album in 1990, though, reaching no. 13. They tried releasing poor old 'Such a Shame' again after that, apparently, and it limped to number 78.

pigamus


pigamus


pigamus


pigamus


PaulTMA

#14
Quote from: pigamus on May 16, 2021, 12:41:41 AM
Pulling Mussels (From The Shell). 44.

Goodbye Girl - 63
Is That Love - 35
Tempted - 41
Black Coffee In Bed - 51
Annie Get Your Gun - 43

If It's Love - nowhere

and so on



willbo

I thought Laura Mvula's 2nd album was gonna be a hit

I remember in new year 1999, Kerrang did a big feature on the bands about to break big, and they gave the most space to Atari Teenage Riot, a big full page spread, and below them a tiny box on Slipknot, saying they were a ridiculous cult metal band with a novelty stage show who were about to tour the UK. Of course Slipknot got huge that year and ATR stayed cult.

Natnar

Fleetwood Mac - You Make Loving Fun #45
Cyndi Lauper - She Bop #46
Kate Bush - Hammer Horror #44
Peter Gabriel - Shock The Monkey #58

steveh

Was never a single but the Lee Thompson / Chris Foreman Madness spinoff Crunch!'s It's OK I'm a Policeman deserves more appreciation than it got: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4JQfOPUgFI.

Norton Canes

#20
Isn't this just the 'Alternative pop history' thread?





Dr Rock

Cat-House by Danielle Dax should've been a pop hit I reckon.


purlieu

Quote from: pigamus on May 16, 2021, 01:29:50 AM
XTC, Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead - also 71!
True of their entire later career, when they were putting arguably their most distilled pop: The Meeting Place (100), Dear God (99), Mayor of Simpleton (46), King for a Day (82). Absolutely bonkers.

Quote from: pigamus on May 16, 2021, 01:27:24 AM
The The, This Is The Day. 71.

The re-recorded version did make no. 17 a decade later.

holyzombiejesus

Johnny Boy's You Are The Generation That Bought New Shoes.. should have been massive. Brilliant Spector pop that got almost completely ignored.

https://youtu.be/qp4GdI_bTD4

And also the obligatory Go-Betweens mention. Even when they sold their souls for overly slick production, gimmicks and shitty sleeves, they still couldn't get a hit single.

willbo

I quite liked Babylon Zoo as a kid and wish they'd carried on. I don't actually remember what their second single or following music sounded like, but I don't remember it being that bad. I guess its that, going huge then being hated thing.


Egyptian Feast

Quote from: willbo on May 16, 2021, 01:35:29 PM
I quite liked Babylon Zoo as a kid and wish they'd carried on. I don't actually remember what their second single or following music sounded like, but I don't remember it being that bad. I guess its that, going huge then being hated thing.

I remember quite liking the follow-up 'Animal Army' at the time. I haven't heard it since it sort-of flopped (it at least scraped the top 40) and not sure I want to bother, but it is better than the most part of 'Spaceman'.

McChesney Duntz

#28
EVERY. SINGLE. ZOMBIES. SINGLE. AFTER. "SHE'S NOT THERE."

"Tell Her No" peaks at #42, then "She's Coming Home," "I Want You Back Again," "Whenever You're Ready," "Just Out of Reach," "Is This The Dream?," "Indication," "Gotta Get Ahold of Myself," "Goin' Out Of My Head," "Friends of Mine," "Care of Cell 44," "I Love You," "Imagine the Swan," "If It Don't Work Out," and even "Time of the goddamned Season" (in the UK, at least) - nothing. Nada. Bupkiss. I'll give you "Butcher's Tale (Western Front 1914)" - brilliant song, but a truly bizarre choice for a single - but damn, what the hell does it take, people!?

McChesney Duntz

(Feel the need to put something here to fix my error, so howzabout Dolly Parton's "Jolene" never passing 60 on the Hot 100?)