What Rock Songs Should Have Been Radio Hits?

[Old Dude]

Don't forget we have never had rock radio, which I assume is taken for granted in the US. If my memory serves me correctly, Foreigner had two hit singles and Journey had one in the UK. Kansas had none. Yes only had one hit single here. Gary Wright's Dream Weaver stuff meant nothing here. We did have rock music programmes: early John Peel, Tommy Vance, and Alan Freeman (an Aussie ex-pat, who was brilliant), but these were glimmering lights in the darkness. There was also Radio Luxembourg 208 in continental Europe, so the broadcast quality was awful. The cliches about listening to the radio late at night under the sheets are absolutely true.

We had some rock music in the singles charts, from the late sixties to early seventies, like The Kinks, Curved Air, Alice Cooper, Hawkwind, Mott the Hoople, Roxy Music, Status Quo, Deep Purple, Golden Earring, Manfred Mann's Earth Band. Looking back, it is hard to believe we even had these. Our singles charts have always been dominated by the lowest common denominator. Currently, it is too awful to describe.

But that's almost the same over here. Broadcast radio is run by a handful of suits who don't give a damn about music, just getting ratings to sell more commercials. Nothing that doesn't fit into their tiny little boxes of format classifications gets played. The so-called "classic" rock stations only play a tiny collection of hit songs from a certain era. New songs by their core artists are never played. No matter how much new rock music is recorded and released, radio stations in the US that play current music stick to only pop hits.

 

[Big Ears]

I've been on forums where members often say, 'I got tired of such-and-such a record because it was overplayed on the radio.' That would never happen here because rock music could never be overplayed. They say never say never, but you can with absolute certainty in the context of rock music on the radio in the UK.

 

[Hydrazoic Acid]

For example, this song by Scorpions always had a gigantic hit-potential. It's criminally underrated, 'cause when they are released it, the band wasn't well-known. Just listen to it - it's 100% hit from the beginning to the end.

 

[DJ Spanky]

There were a few rock songs that were recorded that were definite radio material but for some reason were never pushed by the studio.

Maybe the song was a bit too long or the band was unknown at the time. Whatever the case, name the rock songs that were legitimate hits that should've been on the charts.

That one that always springs to mind with this criteria is Stairway To Heaven by Led Zep - it would have had to have been a 2 sided single (like American Pie by Don McLean) unless they mixed an abbreviated version. The song was hugely popular, just did not get all that much airplay.

 

[Old Dude]

I've been on forums where members often say, 'I got tired of such-and-such a record because it was overplayed on the radio.' That would never happen here because rock music could never be overplayed. They say never say never, but you can with absolute certainty in the context of rock music on the radio in the UK.

ZZ Top had a song called La Grange. It wasn't a bad song, but the local classic rock station we listened to at work in Pittsburgh played it to death. It got so bad that whenever it came on, we'd change the station to the other classic rock station in town. One day right after we did that, there was a commercial for a contest to enter your best recipe that used a particular brand of barbecue sauce. I entered, and won $1,100!

 

[Jake T]

Cherry - UFO

Nothing by UFO ever gets the play time it deserves, but the more I listen to Cherry, the more I like it. Even after all these years.

 

[Big Ears]

ZZ Top had a song called La Grange. It wasn't a bad song, but the local classic rock station we listened to at work in Pittsburgh played it to death. It got so bad that whenever it came on, we'd change the station to the other classic rock station in town. One day right after we did that, there was a commercial for a contest to enter your best recipe that used a particular brand of barbecue sauce. I entered, and won $1,100!

Good for you. I love La Grange, but have never heard it on our radio and probably never will. I heard Beerdrinkers & Hellraisers and Tush about once each. When ZZ Top did that stuff with synthesizers it was on the radio all the time, but only because it was very commercial and far removed from the original material. Even looking back, it is hard to believe, but I suppose they decided they wanted the big money.

Tres Hombres remains a great album to me. I bought it without hearing it, and loved it straight away. I did that with a lot of albums in the seventies.

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I've just remembered, A Man I'll Never Be by Boston was not a hit here. Again, I never heard it on the radio and I love Brad Delp's singing on the track.

 

[E-Z]

The song Stealer the follow up single to All Right Now by Free.

Stealer released in 1971 and reached only no.49 in the US but failed to chart in the UK and god nose why because it's a great blues/rock number.

E-Z

 

[Aero]

Hollyann by Boston. I think it's a better song than Amanda but it never even placed in the charts.

 

[Aero]

I'm going to add another one here: Private Investigations by Dire Straits. This song was pushed as a single in the UK and went to #2. But for some reason, it was never marketed in the US and thus, never placed. Maybe because it was just too long a song for the US audience. What a shame as it's nearly as good as their well-known hits.