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    #26
    Candle In The Wind was not Elton's biggest hit in the 70s.

    Perfect Day was not Lou Reed's biggest hit as a writer in the 70s

    David Bowie's most popular single today would probably be Heroes but it wasn't in 1977, and I don't think Ziggy and Hunky Dory were as big as Aladdin Sane originally. Hunky Dory did not chart until Starman was a hit.

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      #27
      Almost all Lou Reed's singles stiffed, with the exception of Walk on the Wild Side. Perfect Day was never a single originally, although Transformer sold fairly well.

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        #28
        Originally posted by Bruno
        The last episode of the Sopranos (in 2007) played the song at the end and into the closing credits. That was a couple years before Glee started. Your statement kind of reads like a non sequitur.
        Journey hadn't had a proper UK hit before the reissue of that song on the back of Glee (2009) via a couple of further cover performances on X Factor. It may well have been used in The Sopranos beforehand, but that didn't have the same kind of impact over here. (I mean, despite how much more culturally valuable it was.) And that certainly wasn't what made it a hit here.

        So, nope, not a 'non-sequitur' at all.

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          #29
          Jah is correct. The Sopranos episode resulted in the track entering the Top 100 at #94, but no higher. Glee got it to #6.

          One surprise I found while checking is that, although Journey had no Top 40 singles before 2009, they did have an album reach #6 in early 1983.

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            #30
            Originally posted by Amor de Cosmos View Post
            Blitzkrieg Bop must be the most popular Ramones song, yet it never even nudged the top 100 anywhere. Their remake of Baby I Love You made the top ten in the UK but that's about it.
            Sheena Is A Punk Rocker, maybe?

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              #31
              Seven years after its original release, David Bowie's The Laughing Gnome finally made its chart breakthrough, although it sadly never made his live set.

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                #32
                Originally posted by Amor de Cosmos View Post
                Similarly I'd have expected Lust for Life to be Iggy Pop's biggest hit, but it's well in the shadow of Real Wild Child.
                Looking at his single and LP releases, it's surprising how little Iggy Pop bothered the charts throughout his entire career, even with Bowie's patronage.

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                  #33
                  I can only assume Don't Stop Me Now's recent popularity is because of this sequence from Shaun of the Dead...

                  The Ramones appear to sell more t-shirts now than I think they ever would have done in their heyday.

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                    #34
                    Fine margins perhaps but Motorhead's biggest hit was the live version of Motorhead from No Sleep Til Hammersmith which while not entirely trusting my memory I like to recall buying as a 14 or 15 year old on the same day I bought OMD's Organisation. Today you'd be forgiven for thinking that Ace of Spades was the only song they ever recorded.

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                      #35
                      Originally posted by Furtho View Post
                      Sheena Is A Punk Rocker, maybe?
                      #22 in the UK, #81 in the US. Checking their discography makes you realise how marginal, in terms of sales, The Ramones, and punk in general, were in North America. They had three Top 100 singles, all from Rocket to Russia the biggest, Rockaway Beach got to #61. End of the Century, their most successful album, made #44.

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                        #36
                        Originally posted by andrew7610 View Post
                        I can only assume Don't Stop Me Now's recent popularity is because of this sequence from Shaun of the Dead...
                        Hah! I forgot to mention that before, but yes that's certainly of the era I mentioned. Again though, I don't know which came first: a general 'grassroots' upswing in the song's popularity that made its way in osmotic fashion over into Shaun of the Dead, or the film helping spark off a wider appreciation for it.

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                          #37
                          Originally posted by Various Artist View Post
                          Like This Charming Man, as mentioned by Satchmo above, How Soon Is Now? was reissued in the UK in 1992 and had its highest peak then. Following TCM reaching no.8, HSIN? reached no.16 a month later, beating its original no.24 peak from 1985. There was also a third reissue that year, There Is A Light That Never Goes Out, which made no.25 after having never been a hit single before.

                          Stumpy, I think the TV show you're thinking of would be Charmed, the 'three sisters being witches in modern-day San Francisco' thing with Alyssa Milano and co. The theme was a cover version, though, not the Smiths' original.

                          I don't think the latter went into Elvis' live set after its chart-topping exploits in 2002, mind...

                          Are You Ready For Love, although you probably couldn't fairly call it Elton's "biggest hit now", is a great tune and deserved far better than to miss the Top 40 altogether in 1979 – so topping the charts in 2003 certainly made up for that.
                          Charmed used the Love Spit Love cover, I believe.

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                            #38
                            Oh yes, that rings a faint bell HP. Was it a 'known' (hit?) version already, west of the Atlantic, or was it something recorded specially for the show, or just something done randomly by an act who never did anything else of note and which happened to get picked up by TV producers?


                            Originally posted by Bruno
                            Not what I meant. You tacked the observation onto "Journey were horrendous - " as though (by implication) only the song's use on Glee could explain its popularity, which seemed kind of patronizing. Yes, the song's popularity shot up thanks to Glee, but that was because people liked the song, not simply because they liked Glee.
                            But it's still fair to say most people in the UK simply hadn't heard of Journey or the song before Glee made it mainstream in late 2009, early 2010. As Jah notes, The Sopranos for all its critical praise only had a very niche viewership so had little effect on what was previously a vanishingly low profile for the band this side of the pond: I can say for certain that despite growing up in the '90s listening to radio stations that introduced me to all manner of bands from the '70s and '80s who played a similar style of music, Journey had never once crossed my radar that I knew of.
                            When the TV-related buzz about the song kicked off (the original was actually preceded into the chart – by a few weeks – by a Glee cast version at the point where that show was at its highest pop-cultural visibility), this led directly into the original getting airplay and downloads (and X Factor manglings) that eventually propelled it into the Top 10 at the same time as the cover, as I recall. Before I heard it I was sort of fascinated to do so, in the assumption that I'd go "Oh, that song" when I came across it – but when it did finally reach my ears I discovered I genuinely had never heard it before.

                            Sure, its remarkable 'second life' may not still be powered purely by that connection now, as it's taken on an independent status as a radio staple in its own right; and let's face it, there were umpteen other songs spotlighted on that show that didn't experience a similar surge in exposure, so Don't Stop Believin' evidently had something going for it. Yet if not for the Glee factor (so to speak) we probably wouldn't have heard of it, so the roots of its modern popularity do undoubtedly stem from there.

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                              #39
                              Originally posted by Artificial Hipster View Post
                              Fine margins perhaps but Motorhead's biggest hit was the live version of Motorhead from No Sleep Til Hammersmith which while not entirely trusting my memory I like to recall buying as a 14 or 15 year old on the same day I bought OMD's Organisation. Today you'd be forgiven for thinking that Ace of Spades was the only song they ever recorded.
                              The collaboration with Girlschool was a bigger hit than the live single.

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                                #40
                                Originally posted by Bruno
                                I'm not disputing any of that, VA. The sort-of implied explanation "Journey are horrendous" was what struck me.
                                That's just my opinion and obviously not connected directly to how and when they may or may not have broken in Britain. Which is without argument anyway. (You mentioned The Sopranos, which I disputed.)

                                Non-sequitur or otherwise, Journey always felt to me the worst of those 'stadium/logo' bands - Foreigner, Styx, Boston, REO Speedwagon, Toto, etc - there being something really simpering and second-hand about their output: the concept, the ideas - and even the group's name - felt very 'by-numbers'. I recall an NME Journey album review that talked of 'eleven songs about people running away from things' - which rather summed it up for me, I'm afraid.
                                Last edited by Jah Womble; 26-07-2017, 18:48.

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                                  #41
                                  Originally posted by Various Artist View Post
                                  Oh yes, that rings a faint bell HP. Was it a 'known' (hit?) version already, west of the Atlantic, or was it something recorded specially for the show, or just something done randomly by an act who never did anything else of note and which happened to get picked up by TV producers?
                                  Wikipedia has your answer:
                                  "Near the end of 1995, the band was approached by the music supervisor of the movie The Craft, who inquired if the band might record a cover of The Smiths' "How Soon Is Now?" After initial reluctance, the band recorded the song, and it was released as a single from the movie's soundtrack in 1996. Some years later, Warner Bros reused the band's cover as the theme song for the television series Charmed.[2]"

                                  I'm not sure why they were approached to cover it, but I can see why the producers wanted that song. The intro guitar riff feels ideal for something about teenage witches. And even now, but especially in the heydey of "every movie aimed at teenagers had to have a hit soundtrack," a lot of the songs for movies and TV are covers. For example, Echo and the Bunnymen did the Door's "People are Strange" for The Lost Boys soundtrack, NIN did Joy Division's "Dead Souls" for The Crow, and Trent Reznor and Karen O did "Immigrant Song" for the English The Girl With A Dragon Tattoo, just to name three that come to mind.

                                  Love Spit Love never did much in the US. Or maybe in the UK either. The above-cited wikipedia article suggests they had a lot of trouble with their label, so I suspect they weren't well-promoted. They're better known here as the other band with the guy from Psychedelic Furs, who gained some popularity here on the back of Pretty in Pink. So I suspect the exposure of being in a film and on a fairly popular TV show did more for The Smiths than Love Spit Love. I can't seem to find the Love Spit Love version on Spotify, but it is on youtube. I'm fond of it.

                                  I don't think the Smiths ever had a "hit" in the US, but they got a lot of play on college radio in the heydey of college radio and were very popular a certain kind of young person* and "How Soon is Now" is widely beloved by us depressos for its classic lyric "There's a club if you'd like to go, You could meet somebody who really loves you, So you go and you stand on your own, And you leave on your own, And you go home and you cry, And you want to die." It's so over the top, mawkish, and junior-high-purple-poetry that even the most depressed of us found it funny in a self-deprecating kind of way. And if it comes on in a bar, everyone can sing along to that bit.

                                  Though I'm not sure Morrissey sees it that way.


                                  *If you've seen 500 Days of Summer, which manages to both exemplify and undercut the manic pixie dream girl genre, there's a bit where our hero played ably by Joseph Gordon Levitt is in an elevator with Summer played by Zooey Dechannel and she notes that he's listening to the Smiths and she also likes the Smiths. THAT kind of person. It turns out that I am that type of person, but never really liked the Smiths. I found Morrisey's voice kind of annoying. I'm odd in all sorts of ways. I like them ok now, but just a few songs. I'm not passionate about them.

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                                    #42
                                    Originally posted by Jah Womble View Post
                                    That's just my opinion and obviously not connected directly to how and when they may or may not have broken in Britain. Which is without argument anyway. (You mentioned The Sopranos, which I disputed.)

                                    Non-sequitur or otherwise, Journey always felt to me the worst of those 'stadium/logo' bands - Foreigner, Styx, Boston, REO Speedwagon, Toto, etc - there being something really simpering and second-hand about their output: the concept, the ideas - and even the group's name - felt very 'by-numbers'. I recall an NME Journey album review that talked of 'eleven songs about people running away from things' - which rather summed it up for me, I'm afraid.
                                    The Glee version of "Don't Stop Believin'" is better than the original.

                                    It's a popular sing-a-long song in cheezy bars and during time-outs at sporting events. But, at least around here, Bon Jovi's "Living on a Prayer" is the most popular. And probably more popular than it was released.

                                    The rest of those bands are terrible, but I can't believe you're knocking Toto. They deserve credit for their unintentional inclusion in this, if nothing else.
                                    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-X60hmn_lA

                                    I had the same experience with Radiohead's "Fake Plastic Trees."

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                                      #43
                                      Originally posted by Bruno
                                      Journey were very much an album band though. Escape went to #1 and Frontiers went to #2. They had seven consecutive multi-platinum albums between 1978 and 1987.

                                      According to Wiki, "Don't Stop Believin'" is the top-selling pre-2000 song on iTunes. That's pretty remarkable.
                                      Prior to Glee, "Don't Stop Believin'" became a big hit with the kids thanks to it being played in a scene in the MTV reality show Laguna Beach.

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                                        #44
                                        Originally posted by Hot Pepsi View Post
                                        Wikipedia has your answer:
                                        "Near the end of 1995, the band was approached by the music supervisor of the movie The Craft, who inquired if the band might record a cover of The Smiths' "How Soon Is Now?" After initial reluctance, the band recorded the song, and it was released as a single from the movie's soundtrack in 1996. Some years later, Warner Bros reused the band's cover as the theme song for the television series Charmed.[2]"
                                        ...
                                        Love Spit Love never did much in the US. Or maybe in the UK either. The above-cited wikipedia article suggests they had a lot of trouble with their label, so I suspect they weren't well-promoted. They're better known here as the other band with the guy from Psychedelic Furs, who gained some popularity here on the back of Pretty in Pink. So I suspect the exposure of being in a film and on a fairly popular TV show did more for The Smiths than Love Spit Love. I can't seem to find the Love Spit Love version on Spotify, but it is on youtube. I'm fond of it.
                                        Thanks HP, amusing to learn the song came from a different thing with witches originally. A bunch of my friends were a bit obsessed with The Craft in the late '90s but I never got around to watching it, hence hadn't come across the How Soon Is Now connection. Whatever happened to Fairuza Balk, by the way...?
                                        Amusing too about the Psychedelic Furs connection, given their only profile east of the Atlantic is basically due to Pretty In Pink's association with the film of the same name – so if Love Spit Love were "the other band with the guy" from that band it appears he had a certain knack for this sort of 'achievement'.

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                                          #45
                                          Originally posted by Bruno
                                          I don't remember hearing about that. Checked on Youtube and there's a video about "Lauren & Stephen" that's a montage with the song playing. Don't know if they really did a montage or if it's a creative uploader, but it's terrible. It's a working-class song and the kids look like they're all set.
                                          That's the exact scene. Trust me, it was a big deal at the time. Apparently it was in an episode of Family Guy around the same time, and it was also the anthem for the 2005 Chicago White Sox's run to the World Series that year, (Giants fans look away), 5 years before the Giants won the World Series for the first time in SF and used it as their song.

                                          The pool scene in The Craft was filmed at my high school's pool.

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                                            #46
                                            Originally posted by Various Artist View Post
                                            Amusing too about the Psychedelic Furs connection, given their only profile east of the Atlantic is basically due to Pretty In Pink's association with the film of the same name
                                            Objection. They were reasonably big in their day (which was sort of early 80s I think and therefore I perhaps remember them more as that was my prime music following time). I can't tell you the names of their songs/albums mind you, but they were reasonably high profile for a while. And you know they were British right? So at the very least they had a local following "East of the Atlantic"

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                                              #47
                                              UK singles http://www.officialcharts.com/artist...chedelic-furs/

                                              They were played on nighttime radio 1, probably Annie Nightingale, in 1981-82, but just fell below the Top 40 threshold needed for TOTP. They had gone off the boil in the UK by the time Hughes made the movie, because they had the New Romantics label that was dead by 1985.

                                              How Soon Is Now was definitely The Smiths breakthrough in the US because it was pushed more heavily by Sire than previous singles, including breaking the band's no videos policy. They were perhaps seen as a British REM, especially given the radically ambiguous sexuality of the bands' lead singers by the standards of that era.

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                                                #48
                                                How Soon Is Now is used in a lengthy scene in the 1986 Michael Mann movie "Manhunter", I think.

                                                Just looked it up on IMDB and it doesn't list it. Weird. I could have sworn it was used in the scene with the jogger.
                                                Last edited by Snake Plissken; 27-07-2017, 07:43.

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                                                  #49
                                                  Originally posted by Snake Plissken View Post
                                                  How Soon Is Now is used in a lengthy scene in the 1986 Michael Mann movie "Manhunter", I think.
                                                  Doesn't ring a bell, although it's been a few years since I've seen it. My abiding memory is the use of In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida.

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                                                    #50
                                                    Originally posted by Satchmo Distel View Post
                                                    UK singles http://www.officialcharts.com/artist...chedelic-furs/

                                                    They were played on nighttime radio 1, probably Annie Nightingale, in 1981-82, but just fell below the Top 40 threshold needed for TOTP. They had gone off the boil in the UK by the time Hughes made the movie, because they had the New Romantics label that was dead by 1985.
                                                    I still think they were bigger (not massive, obviously) but bigger than their chart record would suggest. Having looked at that page it's Heaven and Love my Way that stand out as memorable singles/tracks that got a lot of airtime (as well as Pretty in Pink).

                                                    Remember that anything vaguely "indie" didn't really trouble the charts back then, so you would have the NME and the MM full of bands and people who were never in the top 40.

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