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"How was that their highest charting single?"

MikeyTaylor

Can anyone think of any famous bands or music artists whose highest charting single in the UK or US was weird or less known?

Examples:
*Pearl Jam's highest charting single in the US was 'Last Kiss' (#2). In the UK, it was 'Spin the Black Circle' (#10).
*Rage Against the Machine's only top 10 single (until December '09 obviously) was "Bulls on Parade" (#8).
*MC Hammer's 'Pray', 'Too Legit to Quit', 'Have You Seen Her?' and 'Addams Groove' ALL outcharted 'U Can't Touch This' in the US. Pray was the highest charting at #2.

Anyone have any more examples?

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MikeyTaylor

Sisqó's only US number one was Incomplete; Thong Song only reached #3.

MikeyTaylor

Geddy Lee of Rush's highest charting single in the US is "Take Off", a novelty single with Bob and Doug McKenzie from SCTV, outcharting anything he did with his band!
#16 to be precise - so he's never had a top 10 hit, solo OR with Rush.
sol

Declan A Walsh

Aha's only chart-topper in the U.K. was The Sun Always Shines on TV and not the more played Take on Me which stopped at No. 2 in the U.K.

Similarly with Right Said Fred: Deeply Dippy reached No. 1 in the U.K. while the much more played I'm Too Sexy got to No. 2.

Declan A Walsh

What is the first Yes song that most people think of and most daytime radio shows play? It is of course Owner of a Lonely Heart. According to Wikipaedia, that reached No. 28 in the U.K. charts. However, back in the '70s, Wondrous Stories got to No. 7 and Going for The One got to No. 24.

MikeyTaylor

Corey Hart's 'Never Surrender' peaked at #3, four places higher than 'Sunglasses at Night'.

MikeyTaylor

And until spring 2005, Tony Christie's 'I Did What I Did for Maria' was his highest peaking at #2 - '(Is This the Way to) Amarillo?' only made #18!

MikeyTaylor

Declan A Walsh wrote: »

Aha's only chart-topper in the U.K. was The Sun Always Shines on TV and not the more played Take on Me which stopped at No. 2 in the U.K.

Similarly with Right Said Fred: Deeply Dippy reached No. 1 in the U.K. while the much more played I'm Too Sexy got to No. 2.

Blame Jennifer Rush and Bryan Adams' 'The Power of Love' and 'Everything I Do' for that.

Declan A Walsh

Alvin Stardust had a number of hits in the U.K. in the '70s and a few in the '80s. The song that is most associated with him is undoubtedly My Coo Ca Choo, which got to No. 2 in the charts. However, Jealous Mind was his only No. 1 in the U.K.

MikeyTaylor

AC/DC's highest charting original single in the UK is Heatseeker (#12).

The Stone Roses' is Love Spreads (#2).

Guns N Roses' cover of Knockin' on Heaven's Door outcharted Sweet Child o Mine, Welcome to the Jungle and Paradise City, reaching #2.

In the US, Metallica's highest charter was Until it Sleeps at #10. In the UK, it's the more well remembered Enter Sandman (#5).

Dire Straits' two highest charting singles in the UK were Private Investigations, which peaked at #2, being held off the top spot by Eye of the Tiger, and the far better known Walk of Life which reached #2 as well. Mark Knopfler's only UK #1 was as part of the Dunblane charity supergroup, with the very same song GNR took to #2.

MikeyTaylor

Nick Lowe's only top 10 single was "I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass" (#7). The more recognisable "Cruel to Be Kind" only reached #12.

In the US however, CTBK peaked at #12, and ILTSOBG didn't chart at all.

Irish_rat

Declan A Walsh wrote: »

Aha's only chart-topper in the U.K. was The Sun Always Shines on TV and not the more played Take on Me which stopped at No. 2 in the U.K.

Not as fan but the "The Sun Always Shines on TV" is a guilty pleasure.

MikeyTaylor

Mansun had four UK top 10s: Legacy (#7), She Makes My Nose Bleed (#9), I Can Only Disappoint U (#8) and Closed for Business (#10). Their most recognisable song, Wide Open Space, only got to #15.

And the Inspiral Carpets' best known song, This is How it Feels, reached #14 in the UK in 1990. Yet, two years later, the less-remembered Drag Me Down went to... #12.

In the US, the Who's highest charting single was "I Can See for Miles" (#9).

MikeyTaylor

Irish_rat wrote: »

Not as fan but the "The Sun Always Shines on TV" is a guilty pleasure.

Take on Me did reach #1 in the UK when it was covered by boy band A1 (remember them??) in 2000.

seamus

Thing about charting no. 1 is that you have to the top-selling single that particular week. So where a song might be great, but the band lesser-known, single sales can burn slower - it may sell a ****load of copies over time, but just not enough in a given week to hit the top spot in the chart. People were slower to go out and buy the single until they'd heard it five or six times and decided they really like it.

However, where a band is well-known, then you have people flocking to buy their singles before they've even heard it, and regardless of whether it's any fncking good.

As a result you get examples everywhere of bands' best songs only hitting the top 10 or even 50, while some comparative duds they release hit the #1 spot because of the flood of sales in the first week.

This is likely all flipped on its head now that nobody buys singles any more. There's no commitment required to stream a song, so a band's popularity is probably less important than whether people like the song. There'll be an initial boost as fans listen to it, but if it's no good it'll just drop off again.

[Deleted User]

Depeche Mode have peaked at #4 on three occasions in the UK - People Are People, Barrel Of A Gun and Precious.
Not three singles people would immediately think of.

Bros only made #1 once - with I Owe You Nothing. They had four #2s - When Will I Be Famous (arguably more well known), Drop The Boy, Cat Among The Pigeons / Silent Night, Too Much.

[Deleted User]

While New Order's Blue Monday sold loads, its highest chart position was #9.

Their best achievement chartwise was Blue Monday '88 which reached #3. Releasing it on 7", 12" and CD single surely helped.

Edit: While World In Motion did reach the summit it's credited to England New Order.

Declan A Walsh

Chuck Berry was known wolrldwide for his rock and roll tunes, such as No Particular Place to Go, School Day and Johnny B Goode. Some of them did quite well in the U.S. and/or U.K. charts. However, he only ever had one No. 1, both in the U.S. and U.K. That song was the novelty hit My Ding-a-Ling! An example of a weird song being the highest placed song!

MikeyTaylor

Barry Manilow has only had one UK top 10 single. It wasn't 'Mandy', 'Can't Smile Without You', 'Copacabana', 'I Made it Through the Rain', 'Could it Be Magic?' or 'I Write the Songs'... but the nowhere near as well-remembered 'I Wanna Do it with You' which reached #8 in 1982. 'Could it Be Magic?' and 'Mandy' ultimately did peak higher the UK charts... but only when they were covered by Take That and Westlife, respectively.

joeguevara

Prince only had 1 uk number 1 when alive and it wasn’t 1999.

Last Christmas by wham never made number 1 (at least while George was alive. Not sure after).

Bittersweet symphony one of the most iconic songs ever by the verve was kept at number 2 by puff daddy ( I think)

And most shocking of all, The Who,s my generation was kept off the top spot by the carnival is over. Disgraceful.

noby

joeguevara wrote: »

Prince only had 1 uk number 1 when alive and it wasn’t 1999.

...and he wasn't even called Prince at the time!

MikeyTaylor

Not that Foo Fighters' "Best of You" is a lesser known song, but it actually charted higher than "Everlong" (#18), "Monkey Wrench" (#12) both of which I thought would have been somewhat better-known. It also outcharted anything Dave did with Nirvana.

Same with the Red Hot Chili Peppers - it wasn't until the 00s they had their highest charting singles. "By the Way" and "Dani California" both peaked at #2, outcharting "Under the Bridge" (#13), "Give it Away" (#9) and "Californication" (#16) which I would have thought of first when asked to name a RHCP song. Yet the two #2 hits were big when they came out but are not as well remembered as the 90s hits.

Simple Minds' only #1 in their native UK was "Belfast Child/Mandela Day" - a double A-side.

MikeyTaylor

joeguevara wrote: »

Prince only had 1 uk number 1 when alive and it wasn’t 1999.

Last Christmas by wham never made number 1 (at least while George was alive. Not sure after).

Bittersweet symphony one of the most iconic songs ever by the verve was kept at number 2 by puff daddy ( I think)

And most shocking of all, The Who,s my generation was kept off the top spot by the carnival is over. Disgraceful.

My Generation was #2 (only #74 in the US!), The Who never had a #1 either side of the Atlantic. Also "Last Christmas" is the biggest selling non-#1 of all time.

MikeyTaylor

ELO, Birmingham's finest, had their highest charting domestic single not with 'Don't Bring Me Down' (although it peaked just two places lower), 'Mr Blue Sky', 'Livin' Thing' or 'Sweet Talking Woman'... but the 1980, Olivia Newton-John hookup 'Xanadu'. It went all the way to #1!

MikeyTaylor

NewbridgeIR wrote: »

Depeche Mode have peaked at #4 on three occasions in the UK - People Are People, Barrel Of A Gun and Precious.
Not three singles people would immediately think of.

Bros only made #1 once - with I Owe You Nothing. They had four #2s - When Will I Be Famous (arguably more well known), Drop The Boy, Cat Among The Pigeons / Silent Night, Too Much.

If you asked me to name a Bros song, I would say WWIBF? before even thinking of I Owe You Nothing.

MikeyTaylor

Wizzard had two number ones, neither of which were "I Wish it Could Be Christmas Every Day" (#4), but "See My Baby Jive" and "Angel Fingers", neither of which you hear so much any more.

Also, Status Quo's only UK number one was 'Down, Down' rather than 'Rockin' All Over the World', or 'Whatever You Want'.

Gizmo55

‘Vienna’ by Ultravox was presumed by most to have reached no.1 but got stuck at no.2 by ‘Shaddap you Face’ by Joe Dolce.

And Duran Duran’s only no.1 was ‘The Reflex’.

MikeyTaylor

Gizmo55 wrote: »

‘Vienna’ by Ultravox was presumed by most to have reached no.1 but got stuck at no.2 by ‘Shaddap you Face’ by Joe Dolce.

It was still their highest charting single. Midge Ure had three number ones, but never with Ultravox - 'Forever and Ever' as part of Slik, 'Do They Know it's Christmas?' as part of Band Aid and 'If I Was...' as a solo artist.

MikeyTaylor

Gizmo55 wrote: »

And Duran Duran’s only no.1 was ‘The Reflex’.

If you mean in the UK, they had two, the other being 'Is There Something I Should Know?'

Gizmo55

MikeyTaylor wrote: »

If you mean in the UK, they had two, the other being 'Is There Something I Should Know?'

You’re dead right, my bad.

MikeyTaylor

Steely Dan's highest-charting UK single? Not Do it Again, Ricki Don't Lose That Number, Reeling in the Years, Peg, FM, Hey Nineteen... but the reggae-tinged #17 track "Haitian Divorce" from 1976. I have a greatest hits by them and that song isn't on it.