HIT SONGS THAT WEREN'T HITS ON YOUR FAVORITE STATION

[Markieo]

When you were growing up, what hit records were not played on the station you listened to? I'm not talking about banned songs such as "The Ballad of John and Yoko", "My Ding-A-Ling", etc., but any other song that was a major hit?

Example" "Brown Eyed Girl", "Bottle Of Wine" and "Ballroom Blitz", being top 10 singles according to Billboard (R), bombed in New York City. :-\

 

[NoWayNoCC]

In the mid-'80s, Q-102 Cincinnati kept shunning new wave stuff that was popular everywhere else (though they did play some of it).

 

[mleach]

For some unknown reason the rock band Guns & Roses and the Christian rock band Stryper, even though in 1988 both had big hits on CHR with tunes like "Sweet Child O'Mine" and "Honestly"..for some unkown reason those two songs ( and the bands themselves ) bombed in Denver despite the fact that the city was a MAJOR market for heavy metal rock music at the time thanks to local concert promoters Drew Armstrong and Barry Fey, sold out concert venues such as Red Rocks, The Gothic Theatre & McNichols Arena, a ton of hard rock clubs, liberal drug laws, radio stations like KAZY, KBPI, KBCO, KLZ-AM, Y108, etc...Denver really was a headbanger dream come true so as a result many metal bands who failed elsewhere ( who remembers the Bullet Boys? ), anyway they did great in Denver.

But Guns & Roses and Stryper for some reason didn't do well there though I think G&R did become "popular" later on in that city I believe. Back in 1988 I was student at the University of Denver, one night I called up both KBPI and Y108 and asked them to play "Sweet Child O' Mine". Their repsonse? Say the "F" word several times..you get the idea. But back home in Virginia...all the top 40 and AOR stations played it including Washington's DC101 and Baltimore's 98Rock.

 

[MsMusicRadio]

In 1970, KIKK and KENR in Houston never played "County Roads" or the civil war song by Joan Baez. Tthey were played regularly on WEET in Richmond VA. the same year

 

[Corky Marlowe]

Of course, there's the case of "Disco Duck" getting no airplay in Memphis, because Rick Dees was still at WHBQ. They shied away from it for obvious reasons of avoiding any implications of payola, and their main competition, WMPS, didn't play it either. Of course, many would argue that the whole situation was Memphis' gain...

 

[firepoint525]

Of course, there's the case of "Disco Duck" getting no airplay in Memphis, because Rick Dees was still at WHBQ. They shied away from it for obvious reasons of avoiding any implications of payola, and their main competition, WMPS, didn't play it either. Of course, many would argue that the whole situation was Memphis' gain...

Dees was on WMPS at the time "Disco Duck" was a hit. He was fired for mentioning it on the air, and landed at WHBQ soon afterwards.

 

[BIG APE]

I believe Rick was on WRQK in Greensboro, NC whe the song was out!

 

[michael hagerty]

Songs that went Top 10 in Billboard that KHJ ignored during the Drake years (1965-1973):

Barbara Ann - Beach Boys

Valleri - The Monkees--they played an earlier version from the TV show in '67

The Pied Piper - Crispian St. Peters ---they played an earlier version by the Changin' Times in '65

Yummy Yummy Yummy - Ohio Express

Nice To Be With You - Gallery

1, 2, 3, Red Light - 1910 Fruitgum Co.

Funky Broadway--Wilson Pickett

Nashville Cats--Lovin' Spoonful

I Got The Feelin' and Say It Loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud--James Brown

You Keep Me Hangin On--Vanilla Fudge---played original by the Supremes

I Say A Little Prayer--Aretha Franklin---played original by Dionne Warwick and played the flip of this (The House That Jack Built)

Atlantis--Donovan---KHJ played the flip side.

Ballad of John & Yoko--Beatles

Rock Me--Steppenwolf

Thank You (Falletin Me Be Mice Elf Agin)--Sly & The Family Stone--KHJ played the flip. Sister KFRC played it as a two-sided hit.

Gimme Dat Ding--Pipkins

Cherish--David Cassidy

What The World Needs Now/Abraham, Martin & John--Tom Clay---Tom was on a competing station at the time

Jungle Fever--Chakakas

Hey Girl--Donny Osmond

Sugar Daddy--Jackson 5

 

[michael hagerty]

I believe Rick was on WRQK in Greensboro, NC whe the song was out!

Nope. Dees moved to WMPS in '75, recorded "Disco Duck" in '76, was canned for mentioning it, and was off the air for 45 days before starting at WHBQ. The aircheck is at Reelradio.

Corky: WHBQ played "Disco Duck"(it's on the aircheck). WMPS didn't.

In fact, RKO was so friendly to the record that they had Dees sit in with Charlie Van Dyke at KHJ one morning (aircheck also at Reelradio).

 

[firepoint525]

I believe Rick was on WRQK in Greensboro, NC whe the song was out!

No, he was in Memphis while his "duck" was "quacking." I remember it well. I grew up just a couple of hours away from Memphis, and remembered listening to him on WHBQ (after "Disco Duck" had been a hit) in the morning before going to school.

 

[firepoint525]

The top 40 station in the town where I grew up never played anything from the Cars' first album while it was a hit! I actually became familiar with the Cars from hearing them on Casey Kasem's countdown, on the very station that never played them. "Just What I Needed" got as high as #27, so it was definitely a "hit." This station never played the Cars until "Let's Go" (from Candy-O) was released a year later.

Several years later, this station added an FM sister station, and I do recall hearing "Just What I Needed" aired over this station, but by that time, it had been several years since it had been a hit, and they were already playing most of the Cars' other hit singles.

 

[michael hagerty]

"Just What I Needed" got as high as #27, so it was definitely a "hit." This station never played the Cars until "Let's Go" (from Candy-O) was released a year later.

"Let's Go" was #14...a lot bigger.

In fact, KHJ, KFI and KFRC all ignored the Cars until "Let's Go". So your hometown station wasn't alone.

Many stations held off, especially on new and unproven acts, to see if the record would crack the Top 20 in Billboard. Some wouldn't touch a record until it was Top 10...meaning they were late and held on to records that were on their way down the Hot 100.

By most standards, #27 is a stiff. From today's perspective, "Just What I Needed" clearly isn't a stiff, but we know how many LPs it sold and how well it's stood up over 31 years. A 1978 radio programmer watching the singles charts could be excused for not jumping in with both feet.

It didn't help the Cars' Top 40 airplay that their next two ("My Best Friend's Girl" and "Good Times Roll") stalled at #35 and #41 respectively....meaning not even Casey Kasem played their third single.

 

[firepoint525]

"Just What I Needed" got as high as #27, so it was definitely a "hit." This station never played the Cars until "Let's Go" (from Candy-O) was released a year later.

"Let's Go" was #14...a lot bigger.
In fact, KHJ, KFI and KFRC all ignored the Cars until "Let's Go". So your hometown station wasn't alone.
Many stations held off, especially on new and unproven acts, to see if the record would crack the Top 20 in Billboard. Some wouldn't touch a record until it was Top 10...meaning they were late and held on to records that were on their way down the Hot 100.
By most standards, #27 is a stiff. From today's perspective, "Just What I Needed" clearly isn't a stiff, but we know how many LPs it sold and how well it's stood up over 31 years. A 1978 radio programmer watching the singles charts could be excused for not jumping in with both feet.
It didn't help the Cars' Top 40 airplay that their next two ("My Best Friend's Girl" and "Good Times Roll") stalled at #35 and #41 respectively....meaning not even Casey Kasem played their third single.

Good points, all. But subsequent singles usually don't do as well as the first one. And my station couldn't stop me from hearing the Cars on competing stations. I don't remember at what point they added "Let's Go," but it was fairly early in its chart run, and nowhere near its peak.

 

[dlf]

It would be interesting to see where "Just What I Needed" charted (if at all) on AM Top 40 stations and where it charted on FM Top 40 stations. It seemed by mid-late 1978, a lot of AM Top 40 stations had softened somewhat and left the harder rocking songs to either FM AOR's or FM Top 40's.

The same survey that had The Cars at # 27 also featured "Hot Blooded"(Foreigner) and "Don't Look Back" (Boston) in the Top 10. "Hollywood Nights" (Bob Seger) at # 15 and "Come Together" (Aerosmith) at # 25.

dlf

 

[michael hagerty]

It would be interesting to see where "Just What I Needed" charted (if at all) on AM Top 40 stations and where it charted on FM Top 40 stations. It seemed by mid-late 1978, a lot of AM Top 40 stations had softened somewhat and left the harder rocking songs to either FM AOR's or FM Top 40's.

The same survey that had The Cars at # 27 also featured "Hot Blooded"(Foreigner) and "Don't Look Back" (Boston) in the Top 10. "Hollywood Nights" (Bob Seger) at # 15 and "Come Together" (Aerosmith) at # 25.

dlf

Surveys are hard to come by...probably the best indicator of The Cars' success during this period is LP sales, which totalled 6 million copies...peaking at #18.

Panorama, their third LP, which had two singles that failed to chart and "Touch and Go", which stalled at #37, peaked at #5 and sold a million.

Short version: FM stations (both AOR and Top 40) sold albums, not singles...and watching purely the singles charts as late as 1978 was a way to miss hits (that a lot of AM PDs fell victim to).

 

[firepoint525]

In the case of the 1978 Bruce Springsteen album Darkness at the Edge of Town, apparently the "hit" from that album was "Badlands," because it still gets airplay, it was on the live Springsteen collection which came out in the mid '80s, it appears on Springsteen compilations, and he played it live when he was here in Nashville last week. None of that is true of the lone single from that same album, "Prove it All Night," which peaked at #33 in 1978. Apparently, not only the radio station programmers, but also the record company (Columbia) missed the boat on that one.

Going back to the Cars, there are tracks from that first album, like "You're All I've Got Tonight" and "Moving in Stereo," which still get airplay despite not ever having been released as singles. I don't know of anything from Panorama that ever got airplay, other than "Touch and Go," but admittedly, I had lost interest in the Cars by then. They jumped the shark with Panorama. :'(

 

[michael hagerty]

Going back to the Cars, there are tracks from that first album, like "You're All I've Got Tonight" and "Moving in Stereo," which still get airplay despite not ever having been released as singles.

Again, the first album sold 6 million copies. At that point, you have to ignore the singles charts and engage in research to determine what the most popular tracks are on the album.

 

[dlf]

"Gimme Some Slack" and "Don't Tell Me No" from "Panorama" received some airplay along with "Touch & Go". I like the Cars, but I'm in agreement that "Panorama" was not a favorite. We are discussing a time frame (late 70's) where a lot of the best music came from Album Tracks. By the late 70's, I was fully into AOR; Top 40 had become either AC sounding or Disco (I didn't find either appealing as a young teen). Interestingly a few years later, several AOR artists (Yes, Van Halen, Springsteen to name a few) all had high charting Top 40 songs.

 

[Oldbones]

In the case of the 1978 Bruce Springsteen album Darkness at the Edge of Town, apparently the "hit" from that album was "Badlands," because it still gets airplay, it was on the live Springsteen collection which came out in the mid '80s, it appears on Springsteen compilations, and he played it live when he was here in Nashville last week. None of that is true of the lone single from that same album, "Prove it All Night," which peaked at #33 in 1978.

"Badlands" was also a single, it peaked at #42 in the late summer of '78.

As others have noted, you can't go by the singles charts, especially for rock artists of the 70s where most of their audience was listening to AOR and bought albums, not 45s.

 

[gr8oldies]

As far as Top 40 was concerned, there was nothing from Springsteen between Born to Run and Hungry Heart.