songs that weren't a bands biggest hit, but have gone on to be their legacy song and biggest iTunes seller

I saw the Prodigy last night and was surprised to find out that the biggest reaction wasn't for "Breathe" or "Firestarter" or "Poison", but for "Smack My Bitch Up." I checked on iTunes and it's their biggest selling track! Sometime in the last 10 years it became their legacy track. How? Why? What other bands is this true?

so, yeah. Please cross-reference with iTunes for this.

1. Prodigy - "Smack My Bitch Up"

great thread idea, i definitely have sat around and figured this out w/ a few bands, will have to look some up when i get home tonight

would be interesting to cross-reference this with licensing

like maybe in the long run that impacts sales more than radio/video play

my guess is that there are a large number of people out there who did not know the band Prodigy but knew there was a song called "Smack My Bitch Up"

i always thought smack my bitch was the big prodigy song!!

it wouldn't have sold as well as nearly half their other 90s songs esp. the two #1s

notoriety was helped by banned video, no?

2. Elton John - "Tiny Dancer"
^^ someone can doublecheck this and refute it if necessary since i'm looking at a cached browser page of his top iTunes songs, but that's a very prominent example of a song that movie licensing turned into a much bigger part of the artist's legacy than it had been before

wouldn't be surprised if 'Wonderwall' was biggest-selling Oasis song online (was probably their biggest hit in the US if not in the UK tho)

Don't have iTunes right here, but just guessing on a few...

Peter Gabriel - In Your Eyes (wasn't even a single from So)
Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody
Lou Reed - Perfect Day

Bohemian Rhapsody was always Queen's biggest hit surely

"Bohemian Rhapsody" benefitted from the 90s re-release and Wayne's World, but it was always one of their biggest hits, I gotta veto that. xpost

Perfect Day? It must still be "Walk on the Wild Side"

Journey's only two top 5 songs in the US were "Open Arms" and "Who's Crying Now."

"Don't Stop Believing," meanwhile, is the biggest-selling catalogue track in iTunes history.

no way was bohemian rhapsody a bigger hit than "another one bites the dust" or "crazy little thing called love"

What about "Son of a Preacher Man" by Dusty Springfield?

obv I don't know the UK chart stuff much, but was that actually her biggest hit?

ooh good call, put a 3 on that. xpost re journey

"Bohemian Rhapsody" held a sales record in the UK for almost a decade and was Queen's first US top 10. I would say songs that establish a band on that level count as one of their biggest hits whether there are higher charting songs or not.

Bohemian Rhapsody was always Queen's biggest hit surely

Not in the U.S., where No. 1 hits "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" (!) and "Another One Bites The Dust" both charted higher. (So did "We Are The Champions," at first, but then "Rhapsody" came back in 1992 and hit No. 2 off of Wayne's World; it had only hit No. 9 on its original release.)

The Romantics' legacy song is almost certainly "What I Like About You" (big jock-rock hit, right?), though in their lifetime "Talking In Your Sleep" charted way higher (No. 3, compared to No. 49.)

what about "Sweet Caroline" by Neil Diamond....again, i'm a lil ignorant of his history but wiki says "Song Sung Blue" was a bigger chart hit

yeah that's really interesting, i don't think i've ever even heard "Talking In Your Sleep" but I've heard "Like" a million times. xpost

this icon should be next to all these songs in the iTunes store: http://www.soulstrut.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/badassbuddy_com-slowburner.gif

I think I've heard those 2 about an equal # of times--but I guess "Like" is more of a party song.

what about "Sweet Caroline" by Neil Diamond....again, i'm a lil ignorant of his history but wiki says "Song Sung Blue" was a bigger chart hit

Yeah, I think "Sweet Caroline" and "Cherry Cherry" are both more famous today than "Song Sung Blue" or "Cracklin' Rosie" -- but they were all in the top 5.

Freebird? That's certainly Skynyrd's legacy song, but probably not their biggest iTunes seller (Sweet Home Alabama?).

(Meant to add "Song Sung Blue" and "Cracklin' Rosie" were his only two solo #1s.)

oh wow here's the ultimate one:

according to wiki, "Dancing With Myself" by Billy Idol only reached 102 on the U.S. charts and FAILED to chart in the U.K.

usually a soundtrack or placement in a television show will raise a song out of the bands "hits" into a totally different demographic

Peter Gabriel - In Your Eyes (wasn't even a single from So)

This was released as a single off of the "Say Anything" soundtrack and received massive amounts of radio play.

oh wow here's the ultimate one:

according to wiki, "Dancing With Myself" by Billy Idol only reached 102 on the U.S. charts and FAILED to chart in the U.K.

― stank pony (M@tt He1ges0n), Friday, March 27, 2009 1:27 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

yeah but "Rebel Yell" and "White Wedding" are both bigger iTunes sellers

i mean this could very easily turn into "early hits that established a band's identity but didn't chart as high as later singles when they were more famous" list and get away from the original idea

yeah that's true

i was more just shocked that that hadn't even charted at the time, being how catchy it was and all

"Should I Stay or Should I Go?"

Peter Gabriel - In Your Eyes (wasn't even a single from So)

...

This was released as a single off of the "Say Anything" soundtrack and received massive amounts of radio play.

"In Your Eyes" was released as a US single, peaking at #26 Billboard Hot 100 and #1 Billboard Mainstream Rock in 1986.

Say Anything gave "In Your Eyes" a second chart run in 1989, but it peaked at #41. No Top 40 for you!

...and became PG's first certified Gold single in 2005 lol

"Only You" did marginally better than "Situation" on the US charts (67 vs. 73) and much better on the UK charts (2 vs. wasn't even released), but "Situation" seems much more like Yaz's legacy song.

"Born to Run!" Peaked at #23.

(Well, technically it's outsold by "Radio Nowhere" on iTunes, but I think that was thanks to some "Magic" promotion)

yeah acts with recent singles kinda skew this, but i think it's safe to assume "Born To Run" ultimately sells more than "Radio Nowhere"

Oh oh oh!

"American Girl" was the second single off Tom Petty's debut album, after "Breakdown," but did not even chart.

Radiohead. Creep is their biggest hit, but probably not their "signature" song. NOt sure what is, though.

Bruce's biggest chart hit is Dancing In The Dark

"Creep" is Radiohead's legacy song to millions of non-Radiohead fans

I'm not sure what Bob Marley's legacy song is, but I have a feeling that "Roots, Rock, Reggae" (his only U.S. Hot 100 hit, peaking at # 51) isn't it. It might not even be in the Top 10.

(Well, Marley has lots of Legacy songs, obviously. Or at least an album full of them.)

Cheap Trick's only #1 is "The Flame." ("I Want You to Want Me" was #7, "Surrender" #62.)

What about remixes doing this with a song? Because Run DMC's It's Like That was just a b-side until it became like their biggest song (v. walk this way obv.)

Also presumably this must have happened by tunes that were sampled a bunch, although none come to mind immediately.

'Hallelujah' wins this thread, surely?

Run DMC's It's Like That was just a b-side

Not really. It was on side one of the 12-inch, and came before "Sucker MCs"; ditto with the instrumentals on side two:

http://www.discogs.com/viewimages?release=257372

How do I find out Itunes sales numbers? Is there some page for them?

Talking Heads. Their biggest charting US single is Wild Wild Life. Biggest in UK is Road To Nowhere. Their signature/legacy song is clearly Once In A Lifetime, which never even charted.

I tried to a search for a specific tune on the Itunes store, but when I click on the song name, I'm thrown back to the Apple store home page.

This ain't no Taco Bell
This ain't no Pizza Hut
This ain't no combining around

No time for Crunchwraps
or quesadillas

When i got into TH sometime in the 90s "This Must Be the Place" is the one song -- aside from "Once in a Lifetime" and "Road to Nowhere" -- that i recognised from having heard it on the radio when i was a kid (this was in the UK).

Lost my shape
Trying to act casual
Can't stop
I might end up in the Taco Bell

I remember hearing TMBTP more & more on college & alt radio stations as the 2000s went on, and especially at millennial weddings, to the point that when the 2011 movie came out I was like jfc enough with this song. its sort of the definitive "song that feels like a cool deep cut that you discovered yourself but actually its pretty well known & beloved"

I got into Talking Heads in the late 80s, but I could only find the albums from Little Creatures onwards and Stop Making Sense, so I was not aware of This Might Be the Place. To me it was a deep cut when I first heard it, probably some time in the 90s.

Yeah-- "Wild Wild Life" was a much bigger hit than TMBTP.

I remember hearing TMBTP more & more on college & alt radio stations as the 2000s went on, and especially at millennial weddings, to the point that when the 2011 movie came out I was like jfc enough with this song. its sort of the definitive "song that feels like a cool deep cut that you discovered yourself but actually its pretty well known & beloved"

this is otm, first time i heard it was when the arcade fire covered it on their first tour. not saying arcade fire is responsible for its popularity, just that it was one step in the process of TMBTP becoming the power ballad for "peak indie" millennials

yeah it wasnt anywhere close to a hit, but i meant more "well known & beloved" in the sense that its such an obvious standout on the album when you hear it, the catchiest or 2nd-catchiest tune on their highest-charting album in the US. theres no TH fan (no sane one anyway) who likes that album but is like "'this must be the place', how does that one go again? i always turn the record off after 'pull up the roots'"

With all the TMBTP talk, I forgot that Talking Heads' actual biggest streaming song is "Psycho Killer"--which was even less of a hit.

Being used so prominently in a scene in Wall Street must’ve helped it stick in people’s consciousness i’m guessing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yr8mn7dmJ8E

definitely first time I specifically recall hearing it, upon watching the movie circa 2013-2014.

it was all over nw hipster parties in like 2005/2006

A high-school classmate two years ahead of me put the full lyrics as her yearbook quote, and that was before I'd had a homemade cassette of Speaking in Tongues (Side B, with Remain in Light on Side A).

I got my Talking Heads education from their greatest hits comp, Sand in the Vaseline. This Must Be The Place was always a skip for me. I was definitely more of a Swamp guy, which preceded it on the cassette.

I got Sand In The Vaseline on a whim from Columbia House; I only knew the biggest singles. That is amazing great comp. Popsicle of Love 4 ever!

Creatures of Love >> This Must Be the Place

Talking Heads' American top 40 singles:

Take Me to the River = #26
Burning Down the House = #9
Wild Wild Life = #25

I liked "This Must Be the Place" when I bought Speaking in Tongues and Sand in the Vaseline in 1992 but I wasn't prepared for its takeoff into biggest legacy hit in the late 2000s/early '10s.

heres no TH fan (no sane one anyway) who likes that album

* raises hand *

I mean obv the Stop Making Sense versions rule but "Slippery People," "Swamp," "Making Flippy Floppy," and "Girlfriend is Better" were already good songs and solid performances.

One Eye Open's full statement was

theres no TH fan (no sane one anyway) who likes that album but is like "'this must be the place', how does that one go again? i always turn the record off after 'pull up the roots'"

However, Pull Up The Roots is a great song and I could totally see that as an album closer.

Oh, I get it now after rereading it, thanks

I don't really like TMBTP but have never listened to Speaking In Tongues I don't think. Maybe I'll give it a go tonight and stop playback after Pull Up the Roots.

TMBTP is TH's most New Romantic song - could almost be Spandau Ballet or something. Maybe that's why they felt the need to add that disclaimer: "(Naive Melody)". I've always liked it though.

Would be funny if they'd called the follow-up Little Creatures (Naive Album).

Though I just learned from Wikipedia earlier this week that:

Bassist Tina Weymouth stated in the liner notes of Once in a Lifetime: The Best of Talking Heads (1992) that the song was created through "truly naive" experimentation with different instruments and jamming. Weymouth played guitar, guitarist Jerry Harrison played a Prophet-5 synthesiser (including the bassline), Wally Badarou used the same synthesizer to add the stabs, and Byrne switched between guitar and another Prophet-5 synthesizer, the latter of which he played using the pitch modulation wheel and "campy" piano glissandos.

Also, produced by themselves and not Eno!

Of course. Naive Melody is an anagram for ENO DEVIL YAM.

Makes sense that the kids like it though. It's hard to think of a more Gen-Z couplet than: "Home is where I want to be/But I guess I'm already there".

It's not a recent or unexpected phenomenon, but Talking Head's most streamed song on Spotify "Psycho Killer" meets the definition of this thread in a literal sense.

Speaking in Tongues is a very good album. Of course it's not as good as Remain in Light but it's an amazing pop album, and much better than Little Creatures.

TMBTP did not get radio airplay in the US when the album came out, at least where I lived (which was southern colorado).

It's not a recent or unexpected phenomenon, but Talking Head's most streamed song on Spotify "Psycho Killer" meets the definition of this thread in a literal sense.

For sure, though that process started long before the streaming or even the iTunes era. It felt like a defining song in the early to mid 90s when I guess I first started listening to them beyond things I'd heard on the radio like Road to Nowhere.

Also, produced by themselves and not Eno!

― coffee-themed romance ads (Eazy),

Yeah, they self-produced their four albums.

*next four

Interestingly TMBTP didn’t feature on the original release of ‘Stop Making Sense’, so guess the band didn’t rate it as highly as some of the other work from ‘SIT’.

Leaving that one and "Heaven" off it always felt odd.

My kid has been singing "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now" for awhile now, seemingly because it's used in a lot of shorts. I kept checking to see if there was movement in the rankings, and yep, it's just overtaken "This Charming man" as the Smiths #2 most streamed song.

a group of young teens were just hanging out on my block near a tree swing and they were listening to the Smiths (and this song in particular) and I thought of this post.

Side phenomenon: the top ten Spotify tracks for Sonic Youth are all from different albums ( Judgement Night and the Carepenter tribute included). Can’t be many acts where that’s the case.

Or it was that way yesterday I swear. Judgement Night gone and two from Dirty when I look today.

“Psycho killer” was one of the first three talking heads songs I knew and naive melody I didn’t hear til adulthood

Anyway the reason “god bless the telephone” broke containment was it was in the final video an influencer posted before committing suicide … dark

Kanye sampling him probably also stacks his popular songs a certain way

God Bless The Telephone was synced for a high profile ad in the UK a little while back

I thought I had discovered one, but ctrl+f "Renegade" shows me it was already got back in 2020. I thought to check its streaming stats because I realized I'd heard it a few times recently on the local Jack FM station, and mostly don't hear other Styx at all (the occasional "Come Sail Away," the even more occasional "Babe"). 12-year-old me who thought "Renegade" was badass approves.

first tuesdays at our house the three year old and i listen to great american songbook type stuff. after some classics and ridiculous americana like “man on the flying trapeze” or “hunting tigers out in india”(she lives that one) i usually pick a big band or singer to explore that i don’t know so well and this week the voice of harry from night court whispered “mel torme, the velvet fog” to me.

turns out he had a #1 in 1949 with a rather pleasant toe tapper “careless hands” i’ve never heard of. i don’t know if his uk northern soul stomper “comin’ home” (#13 in the uk, #36 in the us) sold more eventually, but this seems like a good example of a singer from another era whose legacy song is slotted in a completely different genre, sort of like johnny cash’s “hurt” which feels like 90’s alternative track not a rockabilly or outlaw country track.

by the way, those amazing backing singers on coming home baby are the cookies, of “chains” fame (#17 hot 100, 1962; covered on please please me), which understandably has more streams than their biggest hit, “don’t say nothing bad about my baby” (#7 hot 100, #3 rnb), but i dare say don’t say nothing bad is the superior recording…

Just noticed that X-Ray Spex' "I Am a Poseur" (which was not a single) has ten million more streams than "Identity" (which was.)

Oh, I guess 'Poseur' made it to #23 as a B-Side. Still, it has 7 million more streams than "Germfree Adolescence" which made it to #19.

Have You Heard X-Ray Spex's "I Am a Poseur"?

I read twenty articles about it and decided the two minutes and thirty three seconds it would take is not worth my precious time.

yama yama yama

^^New borad description?

Dammit XP

... oh hold on, that's "I Am A Cliche".

Apparently "I Am A Poseur" was in an animated film I've never heard of.

i think bondage is their legacy song, it has more views on youtube, it’s just been off streaming services for a few years.