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Great songs that test poorly

Somehow, two stations here are playing "Ice Ice Baby". I thought it was pretty well understood that while it was a hit when new, it is a stinker today. Did I miss something?
 
Then there are great songs that should have gotten more airplay, but didn't.

Miracles - Jefferson Starship
Wondering Where The Lions Are - Bruce Cockburn
Love And Affection / Down To Zero - (2) Joan Armatrading
I'm Just A Singer - The Moody Blues
 
CTListener said:
"All Cried Out" was a real snoozer. I really liked "I Wonder If I Take You Home" and "Head to Toe," though. Lisa Lisa is pretty much forgotten in any radio format these days -- but then again, we're talking about nearly 40 years ago.
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I still hear "I Wonder If I Take You Home" and "Head To Toe" on our local "Rhythmic Oldies" station. Both is pretty much still played on Rhythmic Oldies/Rhythmic AC stations throughout the Western U.S.

Last week I heard "Little Jackie Used To Be a Star" on SiriusXM's 80s channel. Now, talk about a snoozer.
 
KilowattKat said:
Then there are great songs that should have gotten more airplay, but didn't.

Miracles - Jefferson Starship
Wondering Where The Lions Are - Bruce Cockburn
Love And Affection / Down To Zero - (2) Joan Armatrading
I'm Just A Singer - The Moody Blues
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"Miracles" got a lot of airplay on Oldies stations 20 years ago.

One song I rarely hear anywhere but the first hour of retro Top 40 countdowns (because it only hit the Top 30) is "Don't Want To Wait Anymore" by The Tubes (1981). Some might look at it as a "stiff," but I'm surprised that didn't do any better than it did. Same with Foreigner's "That Was Yesterday," (in my opinion, a better song than the big hit it followed, "I Want To Know What Love Is") which hit the Top 15, and is rarely played anywhere anymore.
 
I play Wondering Where The Lions Are. It's not the original but sounds great. The version I play is performed by Vigilantes Of Love and is featured on a 2000 release called Roaring Lambs.

Dan <><​
 
Mike Stark said:
Yeah, the Monkees have gained a lot more credibility as the years go on. Some of their cuts with the "wrecking crew" as back up are REALLY good records. In fact, I'm going to add some Monkees to this project. Good call!!!
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Pleasent Valley Sunday has a funny story. Written by Carol King and her husband Gerry Goffin. They were native New Yorkers living for the first time in the suburbs, and Gerry wrote it as a 60s protest song. He hated the suburbs. When I was working in NYC, I also lived in that same suburb and traveled on Pleasent Valley Way, the street that inspired the song. Look on YouTube for Carol's solo performance of the song. She does a great version. I prefer her to Mickey Dolenz.
 
R.D.P. said:
I play Wondering Where The Lions Are. It's not the original but sounds great. The version I play is performed by Vigilantes Of Love and is featured on a 2000 release called Roaring Lambs.

Dan <><​
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Any particular reason you play that rather than Cockburn's original? Is it because of Cockburn's worldview and personal politics? Because he crossed over to pop while the Vigilantes remained in the Christian music genre?
 
CTListener said:
Any particular reason you play that rather than Cockburn's original? Is it because of Cockburn's worldview and personal politics? Because he crossed over to pop while the Vigilantes remained in the Christian music genre?
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Cockburn released an album called "Christmas" in 1993. I doubt any Christian stations ever played anything from that either.

Talk Talk recorded the definitive original version of "It's My Life". The only one you ever hear now is the inferior No Doubt cover. I actually heard it in a grocery store recently. There are other examples. Life's not fair...
 
TheBigA said:
Pleasent Valley Sunday has a funny story. Written by Carol King and her husband Gerry Goffin. They were native New Yorkers living for the first time in the suburbs, and Gerry wrote it as a 60s protest song. He hated the suburbs. When I was working in NYC, I also lived in that same suburb and traveled on Pleasent Valley Way, the street that inspired the song. Look on YouTube for Carol's solo performance of the song. She does a great version. I prefer her to Mickey Dolenz.
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Goffin-King provided many great songs to various artists.
Dolenz is an outstanding vocalist and his performance on that track is one of his best. Mike Nesmith wrote a lot of songs. The Monkees became a legitimate band in spite of the fact they were created for a TV show.

The Essential King CD is her doing demo versions of early songs that other artists turned into hits. It is quite good and interesting...
 
tbolt909 said:
Cockburn released an album called "Christmas" in 1993. I doubt any Christian stations ever played anything from that either.
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Exactly. Bruce is a Christian. He doesn't try to hide it, and some of his songs have Christian themes or allegory in their lyrics. But he's not a strident, ultra-conservative evangelical, nor does he sugar-coat his opinions on all sorts of issues. That's why I was curious about R.D.P's reason for playing someone else's cover of "Lions."
 
CTListener said:
Exactly. Bruce is a Christian. He doesn't try to hide it, and some of his songs have Christian themes or allegory in their lyrics. But he's not a strident, ultra-conservative evangelical, nor does he sugar-coat his opinions on all sorts of issues. That's why I was curious about R.D.P's reason for playing someone else's cover of "Lions."
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A station I worked at the 90's played some of his other songs. "Shepherds" and "Cry Of A Tiny Babe" are two of his compositions that are far superior to most "Christmas Music". They actually have depth and substance...
 
Do any of Rod Stewart's hit songs post-1977 still test well? I rarely hear them on the radio nowadays.

Hot Legs, Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?, Infatuation, Young Turks, Some Guys Have All The Luck, etc.

Not hearing them on Classic Hits
 
I still hear the unplugged version of "Reason to Believe" played a lot, as well as sometimes "Downtown Train". And his Christmas music gets yearly airplay as well.
 
TheBigA said:
The one I always think of when this comes up is You Light Up My Life by Debbie Boone. It was a 10 week #1 that consistently tests terribly. You can empty a room simply by playing that song.
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Serenade Radio (British, online only) has a weekly feature called "Song of the Week". This week the song was "Theme from 'New York, New York'" by Sinatra which, believe it or not, lost the Oscar for best song to "You Light Up My Life". The song that is so great that it follows "Auld Lang Syne" in Times Square and gets played before every Belmont Stakes race. And when the Yankees win.
 
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