ideally if you come up with one, explain why it was atypical; compare/contrast it with other hits from the same year/period.

If we feel like running with it, we can then examine WHY it became a hit when it didn't sound like anything else popular at that time.

Or don't do any of that and just name a song in your reply line. Whatever.

Seems like an interesting topic but off the top of my head, I got nothin'.

I'm not sure I completely understand the premise...

Do you mean stuff like "Come On Eileen"?

such an AFKAPpy answer... but yeah. That was '82, wasn't it?
that year is kind of "different" in the 1980s. Perhaps my favorite year of music period.

Well... one of them, anyway. It's definitely WAY up on the list.

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to be fair, even back then I said that that era had powerful emotional resonance for me on a personal level but I strongly disagreed with your assertion that it was "the golden age of Black music" lol

as for Come on Eileen, let's see the argument.

I'd say it's not completely atypical, as other white groups devoted to interpretations of classic R&B sounds moved in a pop direction and scored big hits (J. Geils Band) around the same time.

The explicitly Irish too-rye-aye could be argued to be unique, but then I'd cite the similarity between Geils's chorus to Centerfold and the Irish sing-along 'The Rattlin' Bog.'

Who was doing THAT?

1. Aside from the opening fiddle line, the fiddles occupy the role of the string section, which was not far outdated in 1982;

2. The banjo's generally inaudible; I have my doubts that a real banjo was actually used on the song, since the 'banjo solo' sounds more like a pre-Midi-fied banjo synth effect. I did find a live performance that wasn't lip-synched and uses a banjo though so I guess it was really used.

3. The video also shows accordion and tea-chest bass, neither of which are audible on the song as well and likely weren't rreally used.

In other words, the trappings that were atypical of the time were just that - trappings, visual aids rather than musical ones, at least in the final product.

You need to listen to their full albums (lol) and watch some live footage. They were hardcore with their shit!

Actually, an even more atypical "hit" (I think it was a moderate one) came from a Dexy's spinoff group called Blue Ox Babes.

I think this is pretty oddball for 1988: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKUb7KorZfs

even if it IS on there, my point is: listen to that song, and it at least sounds fairly standard, instrumentation-wise at least. You can barely hear the banjo, and I can't pick out any identifiable accordion.

>You need to listen to their full albums (lol) and watch some
>live footage. They were hardcore with their shit!

I actually have a CDR of Young Soul Rebels in my car that a friend burned a gave to me last fall. Haven't gotten around to listening to it, though.

>Actually, an even more atypical "hit" (I think it was a
>moderate one) came from a Dexy's spinoff group called Blue Ox
>Babes.
>
>I think this is pretty oddball for 1988:
>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKUb7KorZfs

Read about ;em. I'll try to check it out.

i can think of hits that were atypical of their genre in their particular era (Herbie Hancock, 'Rockit'). but none that were atypical of anything else happening anywhere in music.

I used Fast Car below because there had been no indication of acoustic music's hitmaking potential in the '80s. I've got a few others lined up.

Generally though I'm looking for songs that were successful despite the fact that there was no aesthetic equivalent in the pop charts at the time. When you think of '80s pop music, even if this song crosses your mind amidst the Safety Dances and Like a Virgins, it's likely to be the only song that sounds the way it does.

In soe cases those songs might be the ONLY pop hits to have had that aesthetic, and in other cases they might have opened the flood gates for a new pop music. ie you could argue for Smells Like Teen Spirit, though there could easily be arguments against it.

*shrug*

the only argument I can conceive against it is that it sampled a song that was already (and recently) a well known hit so prominently and identifiably.

While the charts were dominated by teen pop and hair metal, and rock fans mostly remember the '80s for labels like SST, the '80s singer/songwriter revival was mostly a non-mainstream affair, the domain of labels like Flying Fish and Rounder and eventually Windham Hill.

There had been some indication of its hit potential earlier as Suzanne Vega's 'Luka' made a bit of noise, but there's more sheen and 'pop/rock' production on that one song than there is on the entire Tracy Chapman debut.

Fast Car is at its heart a pop strong with impeccable structure and melody, but it's the sparse 'folk' production that makes it stand out as completely different from anything on the charts in those days.

>Fast Car is at its heart a pop strong with impeccable
>structure and melody, but it's the sparse 'folk' production
>that makes it stand out as completely different from anything
>on the charts in those days.

either my mother or my aunt (her youngest sister) had bought the album and we played that (and Bobby McFerrin's album) between Charlotte and Indiana that year on a ride home... totally left field of what was out there in that time, across genres.

>either my mother or my aunt (her youngest sister) had bought
>the album and we played that (and Bobby McFerrin's album)
>between Charlotte and Indiana that year on a ride home...
>totally left field of what was out there in that time, across
>genres.

I mean... an a capella reggae joint? I can't imagine that EVER not being a chart non-sequitur.

And neither can the fake bass (fish, not isntrument) someone gave my dad that sings it when you push the button. Thankfully it's stored in the basement.


Chapman (like Vega) actually came out of the vibrant Fast Folk-led singer-songwriter scene; there were lots of people doing what she was doing (though not nearly as many as there would be in a few years). but the fact that a major label would take a chance on her and score a major hit - several, even - was surprising as hell at the time, and the only other acoustic act* to reach anything close to that level of chart success since has been Indigo Girls.

*of course the Acoustic Joint has long been a staple of rock band repertoires, but it seems to me there was a noticeable uptick in quality following 'Fast Car' - GnR 'Patience' and Green Day 'Time of My Life' both being far superior to '80s dreck like 'Five Man Acoustical Jam.'

I just saw it in the documentary on Lemmy. He's got one in his bathroom. Watched his leathered snarl turn into a bright smile after hitting it.

who would get the beginning of this song mixed up with "Jack and Diane"?

But still a good choice...

This song sounded nothing like any other soul or funk song that was on the air at the time of it's release in December of '69. Most of the funk/hard soul out at that time was working from the JB template of staccato horns and hollerin' on the lead vocal. The vocals on this song were chanted in unison. The accent on the rhythm provided by Mr. Grahams thumb made this jam a harbinger of things to come in the world of funk.


_______________________________________
"I whipped him with a switch and a belt. I never beat him. You beat someone with a stick." - Joe Jackson

good choice, good choice

I was going to questions whether it was a true HIT but yes, it reached #1 on both Soul charts and the Billboard Hot 100. Which surprises me b/c I never really heard it growing up on classic rock or oldies radio.

at least according to some musicians who were working at the time.

I remember being in the car with some people who were listing to "JAMIN94.5" or "HOT106" (Boston/Providence stations) or some shit and like 15 songs in a row were autotune-hooks and minimalist keyboard beats with synth blips and fake 808 drum sounds. Then Jay-Z comes on with fairly lush and organic sounding instrumentation with (REAL!) horns blaring all over the place...and...he was actually rapping!

I'm not even sure this would classify for what you're looking for, because content-wise it wasn't outside the realm of what's typical for post-2000s hip-hop, but it didn't SOUND like anything else that was out at the time. The only reason it flew was that it was Jay-Z, and there are really only a handful of people who can put out whatever they want and the radios still have to play it and he's one of em.

(To be honest: Izzo, 99 Problems, and DOA are other Jay-Z songs that also didn't sound anything like anything else on the radio at the time either...and that's what this is about right? hits?)

I like this topic but couldn't come up with anything. But Roc Boys is certainly a good argument. I'm gonna give this some more thought. But amongst all the auto-tune bullshit, you're right in that Jay took a fairly basic hiphop formula and made it a hit amongst all that other stuff.

"Girls, Girls, Girls" was not a representative of the "hot" sounds of 2001, yet...

The Blueprint definitely changed the overall mainstream landscape. It was nothing that hadn't been done before but it took it back into the soul sampling direction for sure.

i think you going overboard with that one

We tend to think of the '60s, especially once the British Invasion had begun, firmly as the domain of Rock, Soul, and maybe girl groups and bubblegum.

So in the midst of Beatlemania, how bizarre was it for this tune sung partly in Portuguese to take over the world?

I'm having a hard time finding accurate chart positions for it but there's no denying its lasting impact and the short-lived bossa-nova craze it kicked off.

I attribute its success partly to its AOR appeal, appeal to the same crowd that was still rocking Nat King Cole and maybe Tennessee Ernie Ford records... the style is not at all the same but it fit neatly into an Easy Listening type of setting.

One thing I don't know is whether the same stations that were playing the pop songs of the day for teens were also playing this. Anyone have insight?

and apologies for not having any other concrete evidence to add on, but i at least agree!

Badu - on and on

Farris singing, that whole combo

Art of noise - "beat box", perhaps?

The other hits were at least raps records.

--
Outta line like titties in the open. The system of industry is kitty-litter ocean. - CH

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Who was dropping a song with no bass on black radio 84?
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>Who was dropping a song with no bass on black radio 84?

imho it's not the lack of bass that makes it so different, it's the utter... metallicness? Coldness? of it.

It's really the perfect atmosphere for the song/melody, and one I can't think of having heard elsewhere ever.

We got the promo single in a shipment and we're expecting some Let's Work type shit... the thing I remember most is how weird we all thought it sounded. The missing bass was what jumped out after about a minute in. The other strange thing about it was it sounded slower to me that it actually was. I heard it as a 115-118 bpm track when it fact it was 128. I usually have a good ear for that sort of thing but this cut totally threw me off.
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it's funny b/c (unlike a lot of you guys) I remember "'80s music" as being pretty homogeneous.

But most of what we're coming up with is from that timeline and reveals a pretty eclectic palette.

were pretty much to the left of typical '80s music...
yet that's one of the first things I remember about that age

all in good fun, my friend!

even if you didn't know anything about the pan-African infleunces P. Simon was mining and the musicians he was employing at the time, there's something identifiably unique about that song within the pop landscape, and it's clearly in the arrangement/instrumentation realm rather than the 'songwriting' realm.

While the bass and the pennywhistle stand out, imho the ebullient horn section and rhythm guitar that really bring the song out of the novelty territory implied by the solos and the video and into the realm of hte truly unique.

*shrug*

>even if you didn't know anything about the pan-African
>infleunces P. Simon was mining and the musicians he was
>employing at the time, there's something identifiably unique
>about that song within the pop landscape, and it's clearly in
>the arrangement/instrumentation realm rather than the
>'songwriting' realm.
>
>While the bass and the pennywhistle stand out, imho the
>ebullient horn section and rhythm guitar that really bring the
>song out of the novelty territory implied by the solos and the
>video and into the realm of hte truly unique.
>
>*shrug*

and LOL.
The thing that I remember most about that song... was the video.
Chevy Chase.

the video, that is.

something about african masks... like an unintentional play on words

i'm not sure i think there was a precedent in the singles from remain in light, at least for the african influence at the time.

"Strawberry Fields Forever" - Yeah I know this was from their Pet Sounds obsession days, but correct me if I'm wrong, wasn't that song the first by a mainstream band that used a mellotron?

"What I'd Say?" - I think he was the first, white or black, mainstream artist who used the electric piano. Again, correct me If I'm wrong.

apparently it was the 1st Pop hit w/prominent use of a drum machine.

well, sorta.

i remember that 1 lept out of my radio speakers back then. Coldcut's remix of 'Paid In Full' came out around the same time, but according to Wikipedia this 1 was 1st.

>i remember that 1 lept out of my radio speakers back then.
>Coldcut's remix of 'Paid In Full' came out around the same
>time, but according to Wikipedia this 1 was 1st.

PUMP UP THE VOLUME
PUMP UP THE VOLUME

I just had the flashback when you said "leapt out of the radio speakers"... I faintly remember Nickelodeon having some music video show and they would play that one a lot

Also "19" by Paul Hardcastle and that annoying song by Yello.

Basically, electronic dance-music songs that lacked conventional verses and choruses. There was a time that felt like really new and unusual.

BTW, I always preferd Bomb the Bass "Beat dis" to both "Pump up the volume" and the Coldcut "Paid in full"...

no matter the year, anytime a ukelele-toting, falsetto-crooning hippy hits the charts with a cover of a 1926 showtune, it's going to be atypical.

Unlike a lot of the others being mentioned, he was not a harbinger of things to come, but a straightup anomaly. If you've ever sat through his Green Room performances from Monterey Pop, they're pretty painful. Hell, even the hit version is pretty painful: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90JCY0Eh1s4&feature=related

So were beats by Kanye West and Just Blaze.

Through the Wire was a bit unique in its approach content-wise, but the "chipmunk soul" sound that was popularized by The Bluerpint an Dipset was already in full effect by the time Kanye got around to releasing College Dropout.

It might not be quite as left field as some of the other songs being mentioned but I find it baffling that it got significant club play.

Yea, there were hints of that sound on the *album cuts* of The Show, The Afterparty, The Hotel. Really vague hints. But that song sounded like NOTHING on the radio in 1996. Yea, it was kind of rooted in the singing of R&B songs over hip-hop beats, but at the same time the syncopated beat and sparse soundscape were a complete and utter departure for R&B and pop radio. We kind of forget it now because EVERYTHING on the radio sounded like that 2 years later.

First fwe songs with that triple cadence bounce before EVERY album had that sound

Such a totally rocking and brutal song being a hit during the hippie-era. You could argue that it's similar to Hendrix but while he (and Cream) was the obvious influences, I find Blue Cheer quite different in that the psychedelic flower-power vibe is *totally* missing...

something of a darker year for many of the flower power bands, even the bigger ones.

I mean, compare 'After Bathing At Baxter's' to 'Surrealistic Pillow.'

As for Summertime Blues, I still find a sense of fun in the verse/chorusm, but when they go off the road map - I agree that it wasn't much like anything else around.

The Who was already bashing Summertime Blues out pre-1968, but it'd be interesting to compare their versions pre- and post-BC's.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LB3OlxNkt9E

~Austin

~Austin

>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LB3OlxNkt9E
>
>~Austin

though I don';t know her songs well enough to pick one.

It's not that her stuff was unique, but it was unique in that it *crossed over into the pop market* in a way that no other country star had done in at least 15, maybe 20 years... no matter how big Garth got, his popularity remained firmly stuck in the country market. Shania and her abs busted right on out and into EVERYONE's living room (and dentist's office).

If I think of 1999-2000, the pop music that springs to mind:
Britney
pre-Xtina
Kid Rock
Eminem
NKO... I mean, Backstreet & n*Sync
Rickie Martin
J. Lo
Mambo # whatever (which ain't a mambo but could still be considered as a separate entry for purposes of this post)
maybe Janet

The last time I can recall that a country song/artist had gone mainstream was Islands In the Stream (1983), and Elvira (giddyup bawoombop bawoombop, #5 pop hit in 1981).

All drums, no melody at all? No "real" hook besides him saying "Grindin?" That shit was left field as hell

There were a FEW Boom Bap hits in the last ten years, but most of them were really just drums with modernized synths and instruments on it. This shit sounded straight from the 90's, at a time where even the East Coasters were on the South's dick (or Scott Storch, Neptunes, etc etc)

that shit was raw as FUCK.

and they played it on the radio! amazing.

Busta Rhymes - Put your hands where my eyes can see.
I as younger at the time...maybe 6th grade or so..but I remember being like " WTF is this ?!! this is awesome !!! "

Think I saw it on the Box for the first time..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xg_f2r8gAzU

Even outside of Rap, it didn't sound ANYTHING like modern Pop. But for him to be that bold and to have it played on Rap/R&B stations??? Wild as hell.

I didn't really like it til I saw the video...then I liked it for a good two weeks LOL.

B.O.B., So Fresh, So Clean, Roses, Ms. Jackson... you get the idea lol...
Kanye - All of the Lights, Runaway, Jesus Walks
Weezy - A Milli
White Stripes - Seven Nation Army, We're Going to be Friends
R.Kelly - Step in the Name of Love

DOA sounded like nothing out in 2009.

a lot of new songs at the club..maybe not radio though.

DOA is 5 years later.

George Michael - Faith (rockabilly?)

.

in 94?
i was actually going to post this song.

in 94? kast def fit in with the sound.

I remember HATING that song. In fact, I didn't like the OG until I played out the rmx. I didn't like Outkast until I heard claimin' true.

one
k. orr

From 1992, in between videos from pearl jam, en vogue, arrested development, red hot chili peppers, nirvana, tlc, etc., sounding like a car commercial right out the gate, old-person pop-rock at best. Recall hearing a country cover more recently in a store or restaurant and thinking it sounded more appropriate in that context, even two decades later. I have nothing against him, but out-of-place to me at the time.

>From 1992, in between videos from pearl jam, en vogue,
>arrested development, red hot chili peppers, nirvana, tlc,
>etc., sounding like a car commercial right out the gate,
>old-person pop-rock at best.

I couldn't have told you it was 1992... the song just sort of seeped into my consciousness over hte years, I guess. I would have guessed it was more like... 1986 or so.

>Recall hearing a country cover
>more recently in a store or restaurant and thinking it sounded
>more appropriate in that context, even two decades later. I
>have nothing against him, but out-of-place to me at the time.

but it turns out it's Rascal Flatts.

haha perhaps confusing it w/ "everyday is a winding road"?

other rap songs on the 5/6/02 billboard hot 100 r&b/hip-hop:

oh boy
pass the courvoisier
what's luv?
i need a girl
down a** chick
lights, camera, action
awnaw
welcome to atlanta
say i yi yi
always on time
hot in herre

Wasn't too many a cappella groups sing Gospel songs on the Pop charts back then (88).

live instrumentation, great singing. compare taht to the lady gagas, katy perrys and rihannnas out there now.

and that mischaracterization of course contributed very much to its success; even though this was considered a part of the supposed Latin pop boom:
-Lou Vega wasn't Latin
-it samples the Perez Prado tune of the same name, it's clearly not a mambo or even Latin in feeling at all

It also, of course, sucks, but so did a lot of what was on the pop charts at that time.

Ironically perhaps, but the song that stands up best for me out of the supposed Latin Pop Boom is probably La Vida Loca, which is basically a fiery 3d wave ska tune. Parts of it are annoying, but it still makes me wanna do the old man skank.

I had a good laugh too. Here....I'll prove it to you.....hohoho.

I think you (or someone else) mentioned 'Smells like Teen Spirit'. If you look at what accompanied it in the top 10 of that time....it's undeniable.

What about Average White Band's 'Pick up the Pieces'? An instrumental funk song that hit #1? I suppose you could suggest that the disco era had paved the way for such a thing to happen....but I'll still say it's a lone wolf.

Here's one that always annoyed me....but how bout 'My Sharona' by the Knack? I think it came out around 78/79 or so. Power pop was not exactly the in thing at that time.

Someone else mentioned Queen and i think they got a few to their name. 'Crazy little thing called love' was an elvis throwback in a time that elvis was not cool.

The dreaded 'Macarena' needs a mention.

I don't know...I wasn't there, and I know that the Go-Go sound had a few hits and inspired some, but I can't think of many hits from that time period that sounded like this

Good Album but I don't think anyone would have guess it was going to be the smash hit it was.

**********
a licky boom boom down

yeah, that was probably the first inkling the charts got of the eclectic neo-hippie/jam-band vibe that REALLY got going in the mid-90s (though without much chart success, I think, at least in terms of singles).

Similar to Fast Car and later Closer to Fine, those songs really stood out amidst the butt-rock and the teen pop.

but methinks What I Am was bigger.

Shit still sounds futuristic. I'd also say that Hey Ya and Rosa Parks were way ahead of their time. Props to Outkast.

Now if Scotty/Geeked up had become a single or hit, I'd DEF say that...as a club track, it still gets played more than ANYTHING else from 05.

I really stopped wearing them when that shit came out....and do you remember all the stupid ass remixes?? In my black/pink/half cut tee???

That style was COMPLETELY foreign in 94 when I first heard it

1993 I believe....

I can't even remember any RnB singer who had anything that stood ouf that year...

Me'shell came out of nowhere...damn near bald, short, dark skinned, mannish looking woman rapping about stealing someone's man, playing THE FUCK out of bass black and white video with just different and HOT ass looking women talking about the men they stole, who left them, etc.

then we find out Madge-boops (aka faux brit madonna) signed her to Maverick right after Alanis (or were they at the same time and Me'shell came out later?), and Me'Shell comes out as bisexual...

some controversy THEN we find out her (Me'shell's) history in DC gogo, etc.

SHE was atypical in 1993 onward...

how 'bout that one, R-Tistic?

And damn....have I played that song at all since 06? I don't think I have!

Also, "Zoot Suit Riot" by Cherry Poppin Daddies, and "The Way" by Fastball.

One of my favorite types of songs are mixtape songs that blow an artist up i.e. this, Wanksta, Best I Ever Had.... The singles post-success never have that homebred integrity and are usually just throwaway and/or generic singles with landmark producers trying to capitalize off of mixtape success..

I think "we had to do it again" in the first 10 seconds already explains itself.

This shit came outta nowhere...after that Laffy taffy shit that was mentioned earlier, this track here just had a completely different sound that still hasn't been imitated. Mafuckas took a damnn En Vogue melody and made it hood as hell on a boomin ass track that was basically them singing in that drunk rapper tone, but no Rap verses at all.

Flashing Lights
Homecoming
Love Lockdown
Heartless
Amazing
Paranoid
Power
Monster
Runaway
All of the Lights

You have to admit....probably 80-90% of Kanye's singles sounded nothing like whatever was on black radio.


---------------------------------------


---------------------------------------

This one could be argued against other minimal hits........but not really. Not even Lollipop was that minimal.

---------------------------------------


---------------------------------------

if youre talking about the kid cudi song, that's straight 808s and heartbreaks inspired. emo ass lyrics, minimal production, sing-song delivery.

Ye premiered Love Lockdown in August at the VMAs. Day and Night had been out for some months at that point. If anything, I should take back saying that the 808s singles sounded like nothing on the radio (it's still true technically) since they all came after Day and Night.

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---------------------------------------

Like most topics on here this is relative, that said here are some nominations:

Salt-n-Pepa - "Push It"
The Fat Boys - "Wipeout"
As a 7 year old living in rural New York these songs were some of the first hip hop played on the radio there, it sounded so different from anything else being played at the time. These songs planted the seed for my love of hip hop.


Dr. Dre - "Nuthin But A G Thang"
This was the first time I heard Snoop, his flow and voice stood out. The way Dre re-recorded the Parliament samples used on The Chronic gave him a lot more flexibility in flipping those samples in new ways. This production method would go on to be widely used by many producers.


Wu-Tang - "Protect Ya Neck"
Just like Dre, RZA had a unique production style which proved influential and at the time sounded different from everyone else. The whole squad was grimey and gutter in comparison to everyone else on the radio: Native Tongues, LL, Kris Kross. Plus, after Wu came out how many assembled squads tried to get in the music industry using their template: put out a group album and then solos for everyone.