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And The Stiffs Just Keep On Comin'
- Thread starter Radknowski
- Start date
Debaser said:
Greyhound used "Go Where You Wanna Go" for a 1989 radio campaign (Just before they recycled Roy Clark's "Thank God And Greyhound"). When I heard it...it sounded familiar but I couldn't place it. I found the Mama's & Papa's version on a CD copy of 16 Greatest Hits I picked up at Half Price Books over the weekend...
Now here's a Juice Newton gem I haven't heard in 26 years..."Can't Wait All Night". I think the "hit" from that album was "A Little Love"...actually it was just less of a stiff.
John C said:
Boy does that ever...
Much like the Hues Corporation's follow-up to "Rock The Boat": "Rockin' Soul". One year prior, they had "Freedom For The Stallion". It was even stiffer.
The Hues Corporation and George McCrae definitely had the right songs at exactly the right time as Philly Soft Soul and other elements of R&B were gelling together as disco. "Rock Your Baby" had the added benefit of establishing tiny TK Records, best known for KC & The Sunshine Band.
My second cousin had his kid's stag party in a bar just outside Pittsburgh (or was it Beaver Falls?) a little bit ago and the DJ (who was pretty decent, i might add) played a song that sounded familiar but I couldn't quite identify it. What's a half in-the-bag painter from Buffalo to do but saunter (not walk or stroll) up to the sound booth and ask, "Who the hell is this?" The affable DJ says, "it's an Ausie band called Split Enz, 'Message To My Girl.'" Being a wise ass I say, "WTH, you couldn't play the hit?!" He says "This was the follow-up." I bought him a Pabst and we had a good talk, but for the life of me, I can't remember "Message To My Girl" as a single, just another track on a Split Enz LP. Was it a single? If so, it more than fits this thread.
BTW, the sound booth had better equipment than a few radio stations I've seen over the years. A rack full of CD players, EQ, processors, turntables, mini-disks, monitors, foldback monitors, EV RE20 mics (two! TWO! This set off the overkill alarm) a sweet board/mixer and even a computer automation system (which was on idle.) All top notch and clean. Unlike the bar.
BTW, the sound booth had better equipment than a few radio stations I've seen over the years. A rack full of CD players, EQ, processors, turntables, mini-disks, monitors, foldback monitors, EV RE20 mics (two! TWO! This set off the overkill alarm) a sweet board/mixer and even a computer automation system (which was on idle.) All top notch and clean. Unlike the bar.
Radknowski said:
I DJ an annual car show in my township (that's "town" to you, WNY'ers
) west of Pittsburgh and drag some of my home studio equipment there...including an EV RE 27 N/D mic, Symetrix 528E and laptop full of processing and effects...the overkill actually keeps me from killing my voice."I Got You" is an all-time favorite, I was living in Metro NYC that year and WPIX-FM - in one of their Top 40 stints - was giving it a lot of play. But this is the first I'd heard of "Message to My Girl".
Since Split Enz led to Crowded House, here's a stiff of theirs: "Better Be Home Soon".
B
Bob1370
Guest
Is this an all-time record for the length and duration of active threads on this board?
Anyway, if no one's mentioned it already, as we return to stiff-land, we can talk about singles that stiffed in the middle of artists' careers who had more successful releases both before and after said stiffs. Case in point; the Guess Who issued the single "Albert Flasher" early in 1971, as a single-only release in between the Share the Land and So Long Bannatyne albums. Barely cracked the top 30 in the US although it was top-15 north of the border. Drew a lot of snickers from the jocks during the few weeks in 1971 when it was on stations' playlists, though....(make up your own jokes, they're probably a lot like what you'd have heard on the air 39 years ago)...
Anyway, if no one's mentioned it already, as we return to stiff-land, we can talk about singles that stiffed in the middle of artists' careers who had more successful releases both before and after said stiffs. Case in point; the Guess Who issued the single "Albert Flasher" early in 1971, as a single-only release in between the Share the Land and So Long Bannatyne albums. Barely cracked the top 30 in the US although it was top-15 north of the border. Drew a lot of snickers from the jocks during the few weeks in 1971 when it was on stations' playlists, though....(make up your own jokes, they're probably a lot like what you'd have heard on the air 39 years ago)...
Bob1370 said:
Bob...I'm sure I put that "Albert Flasher" out there about 100 or so pages ago but that song was sooooo good it could come up almost every other page...well, almost.
The Double-A side was "Broken". I'm trying to remember how I ran across the original promo 45 but I have it in my collection. The Guess Who at their best, it's a shame it didn't do better.
"Love Or Leave" by The Spinners would be another one.
Our hero Jack Armstrong had the story on his MySpace about being asked by Atlantic to play it at WIFE/Indy. After telling the rep "no way", before hanging up, he needle dropped the album - looking for a hit - and came across the 10:00 version of "Rubberband Man". Apparently Jack talked the rep into doing an edit and of course that fall it took off.
So "Love Or Leave" falls inbetween "They Just Can't Stop It" (Games People Play) and the aforementioned "Rubberband Man".
B
Bob1370
Guest
By request, we continue this thread... ;D
One definition of a "stiff" is a followup song that fails to follow up, and turns an act into effectively almost a one-hit wonder. By that definition, Lee Michaels, the west coast blue-eyed soul singer of the early 70s, had that happen to him. He hit the top ten with his fall 1971 record "You Know What I Mean". He followed up with a rocking cover of Marvin Gaye's "Can I Get A Witness"--a good record in its own right which spent all of one week in the national top 40 (barely getting there, peaking at #39 on the Billboard Hot 100). It got a couple of weeks' play on WKBW and WBBF, IIRC, but never made the tight playlists of stations like WABC.
Guess that's a pretty good example of a "stiff"...
One definition of a "stiff" is a followup song that fails to follow up, and turns an act into effectively almost a one-hit wonder. By that definition, Lee Michaels, the west coast blue-eyed soul singer of the early 70s, had that happen to him. He hit the top ten with his fall 1971 record "You Know What I Mean". He followed up with a rocking cover of Marvin Gaye's "Can I Get A Witness"--a good record in its own right which spent all of one week in the national top 40 (barely getting there, peaking at #39 on the Billboard Hot 100). It got a couple of weeks' play on WKBW and WBBF, IIRC, but never made the tight playlists of stations like WABC.
Guess that's a pretty good example of a "stiff"...
"Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in." Michael Corleone -Godfather III
Let's get back to the countdown. After a looong commercial break and the brink of obscurity, here's the follow-up to the smash hit, Year Of The Cat. From Al Stewart, it's On The Border, which peaked at #42 on the Billboard charts in 1977.
Give it your best Casey voice. I know you'll sound great.
Let's get back to the countdown. After a looong commercial break and the brink of obscurity, here's the follow-up to the smash hit, Year Of The Cat. From Al Stewart, it's On The Border, which peaked at #42 on the Billboard charts in 1977.
Give it your best Casey voice. I know you'll sound great.
Radknowski said:
Al Stewart - "Song On The Radio" (1979)
John Stewart w/Stevie Nicks - "Midnight Wind" (1979)
Rod Stewart - "Ain't Love A Bitch" (1979)
Interesting footnote to Rod Stewart..."Hot Legs", which I'm sure everyone on this board knows and loves, only went to #30. Yet another prime example of a song's popularity being driven by research and album sales. But if BB Hot 100 position is your only criteria, then it's a stiff.