How did THAT ever make the charts?! Weirdest songs ever to have become top 20 hits.

The only other example I can think of is that spoken word piece about wearing sunscreen and other important things in life, released by Baz Luhrmann(?). But I'm not sure if it ever reached the charts, or if DJs merely liked to play it.

Family, In My Own Time

... reached No. 4, July 1971

... this thread must have been done before?

I'm fairly sure that Sunscreen song got to No. 1 in the UK.

Do they have top twenty count downs in Finland the way they have top ten and top forty countdowns in America? I don't get it. Why would you want the second ten, if they're not as good as the first ten?

Yeah, I'm sure there has been thread like this before, but it's kinda hard to search.

Ghosts by Japan was a fairly weird song at the time, and got into the Top 10 in the UK.

simple answer to orig question: charts and media in '81 far more open to things; not over-regimented by marketing-dominant short-term strategies such that last 20 years of "hits" have been more about the best-marketed record companies rather than best-selling records as such.

Your Woman by White Town, in an ontological way.

"Golden Touch" by Razorlight

hahahaha

'weirdest' hit song (from a sonic pov) this decade is v difficult

incidentally after it's use on Ashes To Ashes and now in trailers for new Waking The Dead (i think) i wouldn't be too surprised to see 'Ghosts' re-enter the top 100 on downloads (tho probably not the top 40 itself).

Family, In My Own Time

... reached No. 4, July 1971

I've never heard of this, what's it like?

Weird clumpy prog-rock sung by an asthmatic sheep

>>simple answer to orig question: charts and media in '81 far more open to things; not over-regimented by marketing-dominant short-term strategies such that last 20 years of "hits" have been more about the best-marketed record companies rather than best-selling records as such.

Maybe, but O Superman, Baz Luhrmann, White Town, and my nomination, Money by The Flying Lizards, were all one-off (dare-I-say) "novelty" hits, basically the definition of "short term strategies".
(I agree w/your point about '81 audience being more open to new listening experiences though. Even though two of the above were late-90s releases.)

And on reflection, something like Born Slippy or Firestarter is "weirder" than any 70s/80s chart record.

Indeed

then again Firestarter is probably the Prodigy's least 'weird-sounding' single

I'm not sure, even "Born Slippy" and "Firestarter" rely on a driving beat and, in the case of latter, a hook, whereas "O Superman" doesn't really have either of those.

http://www.dsfanboy.com/media/2006/06/omc_how_bizarre.jpg

Though maybe the vocal processing in "O Superman" is exactly the novelty that sold it, whereas today such vocals wouldn't sound odd at all.

Usually these 'odd' records were championed by late night DJs - whether it be Peel in the 70s/80s to Mark Radcliffe in the 90s - and then picked up by daytime DJs looking for something interesting and different. Maybe with the growth of last.fm and DAB and other new media, the ability of R1 and R2 to break something so odd these days has diminished.

I believe standard answer to this Q is To Here Knows When by MBV.

Minded By Voices?

Was that a hit?

Ah actually it may not have been top 20... it was top 40 tho pretty sure.

>>To Here Knows When by MBV.

Yes, that's probably the "correct" answer. Reached no.29 circa 1990(?)

I think "To here knows where" and the Tremelo EP in full got to number 28 on first week of release in Jan / Feb 91. Other chart stattos will know more. I laughed when whoever was doing the chart rundown played the 'intermission' section after the song and before "Swallow", cos obviously it was still track one on the cd... we're all xposting here...

I don't know that song either, what's it like?

(x-post)

The UK has always been more accepting of weird songs than the US. Our radio is so conservative and test-driven. It's amazing when a weird song manages to slip through.

It's amazing when a weird song manages to slip through.

"My Ding-A-Ling," 1972
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQ_B62k9sQk

Yep - still surprises me that Trout Mask Replica reached (I think) #21 in the UK. (xpost)

As for singles, "O Superman" still gets my vote. Its extreme length alone makes it a contender.

"Hangman's Beautiful Daughter" - No. 5

All the Britishes are awake at this hour, wowing me with their wacky charts that's already like 70% Christmas songs by the Darkness and 30% ex-members of Take That.

When Doves Cry is an exceedingly weird song.

Of course it depends on how one defines weird. Sonic-wise, The Buoys' "Timothy" fits unobtrusively on any Have A Nice Day-style 1970s comp. But the song is a tale of two guys trapped in a mine munching on the unfortunate title character, i.e. not exactly Top 20 fare.

Tons of R&B and rap count - Brandy's "What About Us?" or myriad Timbaland/Missy extravaganzas.

Napoleon XIV's "They're Coming to Take Me Away Ha-Haaa!" is genuinely disturbing both sonically and lyrically.

Then there are songs which sound demented the closer you listen like Annette Funicello's Kleenex/LiLiPUT preview "Tall Paul."

And what do you do with Steely Dan?

P.S. There's nothing remotely weird about that odious "Sunscreen" horror, easily the worst single of the 1990s. It's about as conservative as songs/tracts go.

It isn't weird as such, but the fact that a spoken word piece became a hit is. The only other recent example I can't think of is "Funk Dat".

yeah it's fair to say any spoken word-only song being a huge hit is relatively unusual. instrumentals too (i'm talking top 5 here rather than top 20).

Didn't Telly Savalas have a spoken word hit in the 1970s?

His version of Bread's "If" was a hit in the UK, but didn't make it stateside.

What about Hotlegs' "Neanderthal Man"? Four and a half minutes of off-mike warbling over a tribal beat. I love it, but...huh?

edit: Ooops, it didn't make the top 20. Still.

Napoleon XIV's "They're Coming to Take Me Away Ha-Haaa!" is genuinely disturbing both sonically and lyrically.

I met someone once who was genuinely surprised to learn that Napoleon XIV was not actually a former emperor of France.

Didn't Terry Wogan have a hit single with The Floral Dance? It was novelty, but it was objectively strange novelty.

That reminds me, this was a top 10 hit in Finland 1996 or 1997. It's basically some sampled comments and screams from a famous ice hockey TV commentator put over a crappy trance beat. It was actually the official theme of the ice hockey world cup when they had it in Helsinki.

Gotta give props to Doop too for having a Europe-wide hit with a charleston loop over a handbag house beat.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/65/Ying_Yang_Twins_-_Wait.jpg

And then there's off course the ever-lovable Scatman John (RIP). I guess the song in itself isn't that weird, but whoever came up with the idea of making a middle-aged American scatting pianist into an Eurodance star?

the fall's "totally wired" and "doot" by freur both got to no. 1 in nz.

I laughed when whoever was doing the chart rundown played the 'intermission' section after the song and before "Swallow", cos obviously it was still track one on the cd... we're all xposting here...

To be fair to Tommy Vance he did say, "Amazing atmosphere on that record," after playing it on the chart rundown.

Didn't "The fucking cunts treat us like pricks" by A Flux Of Pink Indians make the top ten in the mid-eighties?

Yeah, or on the same perv-techno tip: that "Short Dick Man" tune from around '94.

20 Fingers ft Gillette- Short Dick Man

http://youtube.com/watch?v=uMvpP9Rq3t4

This is proper minimal, lol.

Did anyone say "MacArthur Park" yet?

I'm going to be controversial and say O Superman isn't all that weird really. Constant pulse, major-key harmony pretty much the whole way through... Just sayin'.

Pat Benatar - "We Live For Love"
Duran Duran - "Union of the Snake"
Raekwon - "Incarcerated Scarfaces"

Johnny Cash--"Boy Named Sue"--Country #1, pop #2
Lorne Greene's "Ringo" made #1?
Walter Brennan had a hit or two. Gol durnit, Pepino!

"One Night in Bangkok"

Actually, thinking about it

"Flat Beat", Mr Ozio

It only made it to #23 in 1972, but Think's Once You Understand is rather odd sonically and lyrically (though I'm not the first one to note this).

I love "Once You Understand." It taught me that yes, there is more to life than joining a group.

Also, listen to how the dad's voice changes. It's normal at the end, but for the first half of the record, he sounds like a stroke victim.

Did "Detachable Penis" chart anywhere?

Was probably top 50 in Australia, but I'd have to go through thousands of pages of photocopies to check.

Actually, thinking about it

"Flat Beat", Mr Ozio

The "how" part of Tuomas' title is pretty easy to answer there, though.

"A Boy Named Sue" is pretty much the most obvious hit pop song of all time though.

Will Power's "Kissing With Confidence" was, I think, top 10 in Australia and made it to #17 in the UK:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dp-4o0IodsE

Memorable line: "I thought my perspiration stains / Would turn the fella off". Steve Winwood had something to do with this...?

That's 'Will Powers', not 'WIll Power'. More info on the album and collaborators:

http://cdbaby.com/cd/willpowers

Truly bizarre, even at the time.

positive k to thread.

this reminds me of an onion headline...

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/39118

i don't think the bears actually charted very high.

Prince, "Batdance", taken on its own terms is pretty damn weird for a #1 hit.

I like most of these songs... I wish "weird" stuff would chart more often, although then it wouldn't be considered "weird." I dont get why "Golden Touch" by Razorlight was mentioned, but I think that's their only good song.

"Once You Understand" completely and totally OTM.

O Superman isn't all that weird really. Constant pulse, major-key harmony pretty much the whole way through... Just sayin'.

There are weirder things, and it's in at least the same neighbourhood as Peter Gabriel/Talking Heads, but don't you think an eight-and-a-half-minute track that's that repetitive without standard instrumentation or song form is a little non-traditional for a top 10 hit? (I'm seriously eager to know about any hits without a constant pulse or diatonic harmony though.)

And I just listened to "Once You Understand". Um.

"Batdance", yes. I found that fascinatingly bizarre as a kid.

#4 (US) - "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" - Crash Test Dummies

Also: #13 (US) - "Hell" - Squirrel Nut Zippers

It doesn't sound weird now, but Yello's "Oh Yeah" was a big hit in the U.S. in 1987, via Ferris Bueller's Day Off... and not only was it kinda weird then, but it also may have been the last instrumental U.S. pop single to make the charts.. maybe?

Although the 70s have a lot to answer for..

Think - "Once You Understand" in late 1971/early 1972.

Hmm, should novelty songs qualify, considering they're practically an institution since who knows when? I used to point out Kay Keyser's "Three Little Fishies" to older people who'd complain about nutty rock music.

last instrumental U.S. pop single to make the charts.. maybe?

"oh yeah," "the moon...beautiful," "the sun... more beautiful" "ohhhhhh yeah" etc

Did Lily Was Here chart in the US?

I think "Oh Yeah" is a good example of a weird but non-novelty tune making it to the charts, because it's totally in line with the rest of Yello's output. Though maybe it was a novelty for those who'd never heard anything of the band except that tune.

charts and media in '81 far more open to things; not over-regimented by marketing-dominant short-term strategies such that last 20 years of "hits" have been more about the best-marketed record companies rather than best-selling records as such.

Hmmm, I'm not so sure about this. Looking at the top 40 records of Ocotber 1981 it's hardly cutting edge...and some of it is not even beloved of ilm. The Birdie Song, Ottowan, Shakey (very big in 1981!), Cliff, Olivia Newton John. Much of the rest was very heavily marketed, The Police, Adam and the Ants, Human League. Thre's some good records on there but there's some good records on the charts this month.

Having said all that maybe even comparing the charts of now and then is difficult.

Friends Of Mister Cairo

last instrumental U.S. pop single to make the charts.. maybe?
Did Lily Was Here chart in the US?

Indeed, "Lily Was Here" went Top 10, improbably enough. The last instrumental to chart in the U.S. Top 40 (and Top 10) was Adam Clayton & Larry Mullen's remake of the "Mission: Impossible" theme.

I'd actually add to the conversation David Essex's "Rock On" (it's not anti-formalist, but its production remains bizarro to my ears) and Timmy Thomas's "Why Can't We Live Together" (fine songwriting, but awful recording; I've never heard so many flubbed notes on a chart hit).

"Ne-Ne Na-Na Na-Na Nu-Nu" by Bad Manners was just a No. 28, but still wondering, how?

You mean it should have been higher?

It was in there for 14 weeks, mind you. You shoved Buster Bloodvessel out of the charts back then at your own risk.

It should have been No. 1 of course!

The best they did was No. 3, twice, with "Special Brew" and "Can Can."

Yeah, but none of them so weird than "Ne-Ne Na-Na Na-Na Nu-Nu" was...

This was a top ten hit in Australia.

N-n-n-nineteen was a number one.

Some of the very biggest hits are weird, but you don't notice because the vocal line is so strong. Relax as an instrumental would be a very strange thing, as would Umbrella without the drum track.

I know a few people have adressed this already, but in answer to the initial question, as I remember it the early 80's were the peak of acceptance for "weird" high concept post-disco new wavey pop hits w/ then futuristic-sounding electronics or cut & paste techniques - "o superman", M's "pop muzik", trio's "da da da", paul hardcastle's "19", wall of voodoo's "mexican radio", various trevor horn projects (buggles, art of noise, frankie), thomas dolby, malcolm mclaren's "madame butterfly" and "buffalo gals", 'axel f", "rockit", the miami vice theme (#1 hit), etc. etc.

It doesn't sound weird now, but Yello's "Oh Yeah" was a big hit in the U.S. in 1987, via Ferris Bueller's Day Off... and not only was it kinda weird then, but it also may have been the last instrumental U.S. pop single to make the charts.. maybe?

It never hit the Top 20 though, and maybe not even the Top 40 (someone can check; I can't open Allmusic now).

Allmusic sez:

1986 Oh Yeah Hot Dance Music/Club Play 35
1986 Oh Yeah Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales 45
1987 Oh Yeah The Billboard Hot 100 51

I guess "Oh Yeah" had regional success. It was played all the time on Los Angeles Top 40 radio. (Not KROQ... like, KIIS FM)

I'm pretty sure the last instrumental to make top 20 was the Miami Vice theme in 1985.

^ was in the top ten at the same time as 'Hey Matthew' by Karel Fialka, which also belongs in this list.

There are weirder things, and it's in at least the same neighbourhood as Peter Gabriel/Talking Heads, but don't you think an eight-and-a-half-minute track that's that repetitive without standard instrumentation or song form is a little non-traditional for a top 10 hit? (I'm seriously eager to know about any hits without a constant pulse or diatonic harmony though.)

"Don't Eat The Yellow Snow" arses around quite a lot with the pulse, but no, there's no likely to be many examples.

As for the length, I'm pretty sure there was a radio edit of O Superman. I'm not denying that it's weird for it to chart, but in terms of the actual musical content it's not that weird. It's more a criticism of the genericness(?) of the majority of pop than anything.

Similarly, "Flat Beat" is weird musically, but as was said, it makes sense that it charted because of how it was marketed. Same as with Babylon Zoo really.

"O Superman" was the first song I thought of when I saw the thread title.

It seems "Einstein a Go-Go" isn't mentioned yet.

http://www.crackmuffin.com/images/icons/startrekkin.jpghttp://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/ilove/years/1993/gallery/340/blobby.jpg
http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2007/05/31/teletubbies_narrowweb__300x414,0.jpg

http://thursdays.com/pic200/snurfs13759.jpg

Surely, its place just beyond the Top 40 notwithstanding, "Some Velvet Morning" lords over this thread.

"My Neck, My Back"