Wow, I'm away from the BIG B-R BOARD for about a week and this thread just explodes with posts... where to begin...
Loved the USB skip. ;D
QMan: Skylark (of "Wildflower") had among its members one David Foster, who went on to co-write and/or produce many songs that were way too big to fit the category, plus any number of songs that do, including for example several attempted chart singles by Bill Champlin from his excellent (IMHO) LP "Runaway". I am way too lazy to check to see if I have already mentioned Foster's duet with Olivia Newton-John "The Best of Me" which nearly cracked the Top 40. It is also the first song that Rosemary and I danced to on our wedding day. No, no one else had heard of it either.
(Which reminds me of a story: would you immediately banish the DJ who, at a wedding I attended, was supposed to play "We've Only Just Begun" by the Carpenters as a First Dance Song and instead spins "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" by Starship?!?)
I thought "Stumblin' In" was a big enough hit to not be a stiff by chart position, but other than an occassional spin on Fickle, it's a forgotten one here in Rochchacha.
While mentioning actors turned singers, one cannot leave out Mr. Rick Springfield.
OK, now for the original content...
I like listening to Fickle's Sunday replays of the "American Top 40" shows as well, and I happened to be in the car two Sundays ago when the song at #11 for a third straight week was played, "I Ain't Gonna Stand For It" by Stevie Wonder. No, #11 isn't really a "stiff" (and that is where it peaked), but that song is quite different from much of Stevie's other material. I wonder how much that contributed to its not making the Top Ten, and getting just about zero airplay of which I'm aware now. For one thing, it sounds more like a country song-- it has a steel guitar in it! And Stevie sings at least the first half in a much lower key than usual as well, which I think would make people wonder who it was before turning the dial. Finally, might you guys who actually were on the air then have been turned off by the lack of any musical introduction on that tune? There are lots of "cold closes" out there, but not nearly as many "cold opens," if that is a term.
(Which reminds me of another story: I was Best Man at another wedding, and the First Dance Song was "Because You Loved Me" by Celine Dion which also has a "cold open." I introduced it that way, had the bride and groom take their positions in advance, and cued: "Mr. DJ, if you please...")
I also note that today, there are songs that get no airplay at all on the radio, but do get spins on the soundtracks that play in stores. I submit one Natalie Imbruglia, who charted worldwide with "Torn" and had a minor Top 40 dent with the follow up "Wishing I Was There" but did nothing, zippo, nada in the USA with her next two albums. Except in Wegmans, where I fairly consistently hear her song "Wrong Impression" from her second CD "White Lilies Island."
I think I am #499 in this series...