Shoulda been hits - and weren't

On my personal jukebox, where Justice reigns

EDITOR’S NOTE: Since I realize some of my 623 subscribers are not college baseball fans, when I can, I like to offer another an alternate Substack for your reading pleasure when I can think of one. Hope you like it. — Nogo

Justice seems like a stupid thing to bring up when you’re talking about popular music. There is not now and never will be an explanation for why some songs are hits and some aren’t. When you think of the air pollution we suffered through, particularly in the days of disco, it’s a wonder that we found a way to live through it.

A while back, I wrote a Substack asking for the worst songs in the world. And we had three dandies, for sure —”Gangnam Style” and “Ice, Ice Baby” and especially, “Soulja Boy” but there were so many to pick from and some of my sharp-eared readers threw in their own suggestions — Terry Jacks’ “Seasons In The Sun” and Henry Gross’s “Shannon” among several other stomach-turning tunes that would have instantly made me — and probably you — switch the station.

Actually, to be fair, compared to some of the “music” that passes for “music” these days, disco was sort of ok. There’s one “tune” that’s in a current car commercial that I actually will turn down the sound when it comes on (and find myself hoping quietly the car goes off the road.) And some poor kid thinks that’s good to listen to. Talk about brainwashing.

Here's a couple you might not have heard: Robin Trower and Big Country with what shoulda been hits

I admit my sense of outrage has pretty much disappeared since the advent of Sirius, where I can choose what I want to listen to, unlike the days where the listener was at the mercy of whatever the DJ decided to play. However, there remain a bunch of songs that, for whatever inexplicable reason, weren’t hits — and here’s the justice part - THEY SHOULD HAVE BEEN. Go ahead, give them a listen and tell me I’m wrong.

Almost all were all released as singles or B-Sides, except for Robin Trower’s unusual “About To Begin” which, to me, is such a creative, different-sounding track, you wonder why there wasn’t anybody at Chrysalis Records who gave it a listen and said, “Robin, you’ve got a really unusual track here, James Dewar sings his ass off, let’s get this out there on the radio, get people listening to Robin Trower’s “Bridge Of Sighs.”

Didn’t happen. I liked Robin Trower a lot, though I didn’t get the Jimi Hendrix comparisons all the record critics of the day seemed to throw out there because he used fuzz on his guitar. Trower was much more melodic and those first few albums “Twice Removed From Yesterday” and “Bridge Of Sighs” were full of good songs. Later, he worked with one of my favorites, Bryan Ferry and Trower is still recording and touring. I think Chrysalis Records missed something there. See what you think.

Dan Fogelberg’s “Part Of The Plan” did reach Number One on the “Adult Contemporary Charts,” so I guess you’d have to say it was a success. But not the crossover hit it should have been. I wasn’t a big Fogelberg fan but I did like the album “Souvenirs” and especially that song. It should have been bigger.

Big Country’s surging “Wonderland” did well in England where, evidently, they have taste, going to No. 8. But in America, the song only got to No. 86. What kind of crap is that?

I’ve written about Big Country before. I’m one of the American weirdos that thinks their “Steeltown” was their best record and that they should have been bigger here than, say, the half-assed reggae of The Police or maybe the tuneful mumbles of R.E.M. But no. The late Stuart Adamson’s exceptional compositions and guitar work never caught on here like they should have. They didn’t make a bad record and “Buffalo Skinners,” their sixth record, is first-rate. But you’ve never heard that, either.

Graham Parker’s cover of The Jackson Five’s “I Want You Back” was released as a B-side to his not-as-good original “Local Girls” and I saw him and the Rumour in a little club in Boston where Graham told us members of the band had been calling Boston radio stations and requesting it. IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN THE A-SIDE. (Sorry, Michael, but he kept his real nose). Great cover. He had some first rate records.

I can personally testify to the potency of Bryan Ferry’s cover of the Tim Buckley tune “Song For The Siren” that was on his “Olympia” album. It is one of those haunting, mysterious, siren-songs that gets inside your ear and refuses to leave until you’ve heard it three or four times.

I was playing it on my IPhone when I was walking in the sands at Grayton Beach a few weeks ago, working on my Hollywood tan and I had to keep listening to it. Ferry sings it flawlessly, the instrumentation is so evocative, I half-expected some mermaid to come up out of the beautifully sparkling green water and give me a hug.

There are, of course, many more songs that I love, have on my Iphone or on my Earbud headphones or on vinyl or CD — just as I’m sure there are many songs that you love and wonder why the world didn’t seem to agree with you.

I listened to all five of these songs again as I was writing this and dammit, I was right. The world was wrong. (Sure, John…) See what you think…write me!