Forgotten follow-up songs to big hits?

[tall_guy1]

Thinking about the song "You're Not There" by Lucas Grahm, what other follow-up songs have come and gone in the public mind that you can think of that never really took off the way the initial hit did?

 

[Kent]

“White Houses” by Vanessa Carlton comes to mind, though it really wasn’t a follow up to her first big hit. She'd had several duets (and possibly another solo song) between it and “A Thousand Miles.” It was a truly awful song about acquaintance rape, and I really hated playing it during my mercifully short tenure at a top-40 station.

 

[KML0224]

Two examples from 1986:

Falco hit #1 for 3 weeks with "Rock Me Amadeus". The follow up was "Vienna Calling", which reached #18. I don't think he had another hit in the US again.
Nu Shooz hit #3 with "I Can't Wait". The follow up was "Point Of No Return", which only reached #28. Their attempted comeback single in 1988, "Should I say Yes?", just missed the top 40, peaking out at #41.

 

[installLSC]

We could spend days just pointing out the late 90s acts this applies to. Did anyone really expect hits like "Tubthumbing", "Barbie Girl", "Macarena", "Mambo No.5" to have successful followups? Does anyone even remember what the followups were?

 

[firepoint525]

"Tubthumbing"

I remember thinking even then the Chumbawamba would be a one-hit wonder. "Pissing the night away," really?

We had a good discussion about this on a Facebook page recently.

 

[gr8oldies]

There were a lot of sound-alike follow-ups in the 60s. For every one that made it ("It's My Party/Judy's Turn to Cry"---"I Can't Help Myself" "It's the Same Old Song"), there were a lot that didn't.

 

[firepoint525]

Nu Shooz hit #3 with "I Can't Wait". The follow up was "Point Of No Return", which only reached #28. Their attempted comeback single in 1988, "Should I say Yes?", just missed the top 40, peaking out at #41.

I liked "Point of No Return" better than "I Can't Wait," and I couldn't figure out why local radio never played it. Only heard it during the national syndicated countdowns.

I will offer up my own example: "Two Tribes" be Frankie Goes to Hollywood. It took a reissue for "Relax" to become a hit, so this paved the way for "Two Tribes," but it still didn't do much.

 

[firepoint525]

There were a lot of sound-alike follow-ups in the 60s. For every one that made it ("It's My Party/Judy's Turn to Cry"---"I Can't Help Myself" "It's the Same Old Song"), there were a lot that didn't.

Intentional on the part of Berry Gordy, especially in the example that you cited here.

 

[gr8oldies]

Absolutely. It can be argued that The Four Tops only had 3 songs in the HDH era, and everything else was derived from one of them (Baby I Need Your Lovin', I Can't Help Myself and Reach Out (I'll Be There).

Intentional on the part of Berry Gordy, especially in the example that you cited here.

 

[installLSC]

Actually remembered the followup to "Tubthumping", "Amnesia"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3e7vfZIC_U0
Actually a good song, but nothing about it screams "top 40".

Absolutely. It can be argued that The Four Tops only had 3 songs in the HDH era, and everything else was derived from one of them (Baby I Need Your Lovin', I Can't Help Myself and Reach Out (I'll Be There).

To be fair, isn't pretty much every AC/DC song a rewrite of the same song?

 

[CTListener]

Intentional on the part of Berry Gordy, especially in the example that you cited here.

Yes, even the title was a sort of in-joke.

 

[CTListener]

The Classics IV recycled the "Spooky" riff in "Stormy." ? and the Mysterians turned "96 Tears" into "Can't Get Enough of You, Baby." And the Ohio Express borrowed or stole (don't know if they begged) the Kingsmen's organ riff from "Louie Louie" for their "Beg, Borrow and Steal."