The "It Should've Been A Hit" Thread

[Pip Madeley]

Si's new thread talks about the disastrous choices of songs as single releases from our favourite artists... but what about the fantastic gems of songs that were never even released as singles? Which songs were crying out for chart success? Tell us about the times that they cocked it up..

I'll start the ball rolling - Keane's "Put It Behind You" from the album "Under The Iron Sea". Upbeat, uptempo, catchy... stuck on the album as a rare gem for only hardcore fans to discover.

[Si Hunt]

"Nothing Fails" was the best Madonna single there never was. Go and hunt it down! It's not like "American Life" is going to set you back a lot of cash.

Si.

[Pip Madeley]

I might iTunes that one...

Another Keane cock-up I should mention is "The Night Sky" - a great song released to support the Warchild charity in October, but ineligible for the UK singles chart, due to the 7" vinyl containing a free poster (in the UK these are seen as 'free gifts', thus making any vinyl singles containing prints disqualified from the charts). Also, a competition was run with the single's release, to win a programme guide, signed by all the artists who played at War Child's charity concert in Brixton Academy. This also rendered it ineligible, as it is deemed an incentive for those who would not under other circumstances have bought the single. Selling the single under USB format was also believed to be the reason for its disqualification from the charts as the charts do not recognize single sales released under the USB format which several Keane singles have been released under.

Well done Island.

[Si Hunt]

You should iTunes "Underneath" by Hanson as well, gorgeous ballad which they shunned for the by-numbers "Lost Without Each Other", which I oddly heard in a shop the other day. Random!

Si.

[Pip Madeley]

You should iTunes "Underneath" by Hanson as well

You had me all the way till Hanson.

[Si Hunt]

Bitch!

Si.

[Pip Madeley]

Cow!

Pip.

[WhiteCrow]

Oooh - this is a hard one, you tend to remember the hit records, it's the ones which didn't make it, because of the simple fact you don't hear them, they don't tend to stick in your head!

I'm constantly pleased no-one from Big Brother has yet managed to launch a pop career on the back of it all. Although I'm sure Jade is planning a cover of "Shaddupa ya face!".

[Dave Tudor]

I said in another thread that Girls Aloud have produced some of the best singles of the last five years or so (no, really!), but there are a couple of good great singles that never were, such as the sublime 'Some Kind Of Miracle' from the first album (we got the rather bland 'Life Got Cold instead), plus 'Wild Horses' and the rather risque 'Racey Lacey' off 'Chemistry'.

[SiHart]

All the singles off the last Crowded House album and the last Super Furry Animals album deserved to be bigger hits than they were.

Si xx

[P-Bal]

Kakko!!!!

[Pip Madeley]

Carried on from t'other thread:

My choice for first single off "This Is Hardcore"? "Party Hard" - the greatest Pulp hit single that never was. Bowie-esque riff, fantastic catchy bass line, sharp lyrics from Jarvis, different from 'Different Class' but not too far removed to be unrecognisable... I honestly and truly believe it could've been their first number one... but for some reason totally beyond me, it was the fourth and final single (helped by speeding the tempo up from the album version), and unsurprisingly it stalled at #29, their lowest chart position for five years.

Island? Once again, tossers.

[P-Bal]

They signed Javine. Once.

[Alex]

My Life Story's You Can't Uneat The Apple.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BW89ECm1Ts

It was going to be released by Parlophone, and as you can see above, they made the video for it and everything, but then the record label changed it's mind. It's a real shame in my mind, I think it would have been their break out hit, and they could have on gone on for a lot longer than they did after that.

[enzo1701]

Last time I checked, they never released The Verve's Sonnet as a single. I remember doing freelance T.O. work for a local radio station and this was always on their playlist.

[Pip Madeley]

I think they did:



As a promo CD at the very least. Milky or Tate should be able to fill us in.

[enzo1701]

It made me wonder actually Pip because with it being such a great song and even making it onto a Now That's What I Call Music album, I was beginning to have second thoughts so... I just dug out my copy of the Guinness book of British Hit Singles and Albums and this is The Verve's list of single releases (with highest chart position).

1993 She's a Superstar - 66
1993 Blue - 69
1995 This is Music - 35
1995 On Your Own - 28
1995 History - 24
1997 Bitter Sweet Symphony - 2
1997 The Drugs Don't Work - 1
1997 Lucky Man - 7
1998 SONNET (IMPORT) - 74
(that was their last "hit")

So Sonnet was never "officially" released in the UK as a single. Obviously since Richard Ashcroft went solo, not much has happened with The Verve since.

[Pip Madeley]

Wikipedia say:

It was released only as a limited edition run of 5000 12" vinyl singles in the UK, and featured five tracks which rendered it ineligible for the singles chart. However, sales of an imported format made it chart at number 74.

Another case of a great song scuppered by ineligibility rules! They did get back together for a reunion tour, but I can't see them doing a new album, given they don't get on at the best of times...

[enzo1701]

Couldn't they just list it as an EP? They used to allow these all the times in the singles chart?

[Pip Madeley]

I think it must've been a case of pedantry. Shame cause, as you say, it's a great track.

[Si Hunt]

Five tracks isn't really pedantry though is it? You have to have some sort of rule for deciding what is classed as a single and what is classed as an album. Old E.P's were usually something like four tracks. Five is pushing it for a single, so they can't really complain it fell foul of the definition of one.

Besides which, if they wanted it to chart they shouldn't have released it as a limited edition vinyl 12"!

Si.

[Pip Madeley]

Mmm, you have a fair point there. Si.

[Simon R]

I said in another thread that Girls Aloud have produced some of the best singles of the last five years or so (no, really!), but there are a couple of good great singles that never were

,

Ditto the Babes we call Suga.

The final single from the "Three" album was workman like ballad "Caught In A Moment" when the obvious next single from that album was the anthemic, in yer face "Whatever Makes You Happy".

There's a US Single Mix of the bloody thing so someone must have wanted it a single somewhere. It does rip-off/pay homage/unofficially sample "Let's Go All The Way" by Sly Fox but we won't dwell on that. They performed it on their recent tour in a section of songs they liked but didn't release as singles. So that's nice.