Should have tried what Billy Vera and Sheriff did

[ronnie21]

what month and year did rappers delight hit number 36??

[vto66]

Dec 19, 2012 21:08:35 GMT -5 ronnie21 said:

what month and year did rappers delight hit number 36??

"RD" hit No. 36 on January 5, 1980 and stayed there for a second week before heading down the chart.

[freakyflybry]

Dec 19, 2012 18:45:21 GMT -5 mkarns said:

That same year, the Romantics hit #49 with "What I Like About You". I'm somewhat surprised that was never reissued/recharted given how well known it became later, in commercials, soundtracks, and such.

I wonder if it would've been re-released had Michael Morales not covered it?

[woolebull]

Dec 19, 2012 23:23:51 GMT -5 freakyflybry said:

Dec 19, 2012 18:45:21 GMT -5 mkarns said:

That same year, the Romantics hit #49 with "What I Like About You". I'm somewhat surprised that was never reissued/recharted given how well known it became later, in commercials, soundtracks, and such.

I wonder if it would've been re-released had Michael Morales not covered it?

LOL! Probably so...Morales stopping the fun for everyone!

Another song that became a staple later that never hit the Top 40 was "Tempted" by Squeeze. I think "Tempted" could have been a big hit in the last part of the 80's-early 90's.

[jlthorpe]

I think there's a few songs from the early 90s that sound like they fit in a few years later, when modern rock and alternative music became really big. There was "Pure" by The Lightning Seeds (#31 in 1990), "There She Goes" by The La's (#49 in 1991, and later covered by Sixpence None the Richer), and "There's No Other Way" by Blur (#82 in 1992).

[woolebull]

Dec 20, 2012 9:20:27 GMT -5 jlthorpe said:

I think there's a few songs from the early 90s that sound like they fit in a few years later, when modern rock and alternative music became really big. There was "Pure" by The Lightning Seeds (#31 in 1990), "There She Goes" by The La's (#49 in 1991, and later covered by Sixpence None the Richer), and "There's No Other Way" by Blur (#82 in 1992).

You read my mind on "Pure"...Switch the name Lightning Seeds with Toad The Wet Sprocket, and you're in the Top 10 three years later. The La's definitely seemed bigger than it was as well.

In that same time frame...if Tori Amos had released "Silent All These Years" four years later, she would have had a huge hit on her hands.

[ronnie21]

i first hear ""what i like about you" played at a school dance in fall of 1988, never heard of it before that. I knew who the group was cause of talking in your sleep. But hated that f ing song back then. and still can't stand it now.. glad it wasnt mor eof a hit..

[chrislc]

Dec 19, 2012 15:51:42 GMT -5 matt said:

Dec 18, 2012 22:46:35 GMT -5 woolebull said:

"More Than Just The Two OF Us" was a song I had never heard and when I heard it back in '03 or so, I was like, "Wow...this song should have done way better than it did".

I know the Korgis made it up to 18 in 1980...but that song sounds like it should be in another part of the decade as well...great song.

Totally agree on the Korgis' "Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometime"-- I think that song sounded ahead of it's time for late 1980 and could definitely have had a good chart run later in the 80s. That's a song I don't remember at all from when it was out, but rediscovered thanks to the Premiere reruns. Great song...

This is amazing. I came thisclose to including the Korgis in my post that mentioned Sneaker! Two really great songs!

Also, Burnin' For You by Blue Oyster Cult. Should have been much bigger.

[woolebull]

"Girl Like You" by the Smithereens would have been huge a couple of years later if it came back 3 or 4 years after it peaked at 39 in 1990.

[jlthorpe]

"A Million Miles Away" by The Plimsouls hit #82 in 1983. This is a song I always thought sounded like it was by Soul Asylum (the group even has "soul" in its name). Perhaps if it was re-released ten years later it could have capitalized on Soul Asylum's success and been a bigger hit.

[lasvegaskid]

New England. Don't Ever Wanna Lose Ya was a #40 hit in 1979 in the heart of disco; but would have been much bigger IMO in 81/82.

[lasvegaskid]

I think Cherry Baby by Starz might have had a 2nd life in 81-82 during the post disco void.

[jlthorpe]

I was listening to the November 23, 1974 AT40 on Sirius XM earlier today and Gino Vannelli's "People Gotta Move" was playing. It peaked at #22, which is decent, but listening to the song's music made me think it was more appropriate for the late-70s instead of the mid-70s. It reminded me of some of Steely Dan's later hits, or even Donald f*gen's "I.G.Y." from 1982.

[at40petebattistini]

As influential and talented as they were, it's interesting that no single release from Jimi Hendrix or Jim Morrison/Doors (either previously unreleased or re-released material) reached Billboard's Top 40 after they died. Posthumously-issued (tribute) singles by well-known artists were often a sure-shot for Top 40 airplay.

"Purple Haze" or "Fire" by Hendrix, and "Break On Through (To The Other Side)" by The Doors might've charted higher if released soon after they died.

[dth1971]

In Summer 1989, then Shadoe Stevens AT40 affiliate WYTZ 94.7 FM Chicago had on its playlist these old school 1970's songs even making its WYTZ Chicago Top 30 chart on the Z-95 STREET SHEET you used to get at Chicago area record stores, but never returned to the Billboard Hot 100 at all if other Top 40/CHR radio stations (not counting oldies/classic hits stations) jumped on the bandwagon:
"Pinball Wizard" by Elton John
"Love is the Drug" by Roxy Music

I also learned in the Billboard Book of #1 Adult Contempary Hits in the 1990 Righteous Brothers "Unchained Melody" entry that one song made it to the 1986 Top Gun movie soundtrack but never got a chance to be re-released because of a contract problem or something like that: The original Righteous Brothers "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling"