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Great Singles That Seem To Have Been Forgotten

by 221 Comments

Mostly, I’m guessing it’s because young people today don’t know what a single is, though there is still a chart announced every Sunday and music consumption is at an all time high.

I’ll go first.

1

Comments

        • Mick was the soul of The Clash – even in Carbon/Silicon he was doing good music.

          I would have LOVED to see BAD live. Complete magpies, taking the spirit of Sandinista as far as they could.

          • BAD played Leeds uni while I was in my 1st year there and it was terrific – the ceiling was dripping onto us. Support from the Chiefs of Relief, fronted by Matthew Ashman of Bow Wow Wow with Paul Cook on drums.

          • I saw BAD at the Birmingham Powerhouse on (Google tells me) 11.11.86, a great gig, my two main rememberances being:
            1) Mick introducing E=MC2 by saying “this is the kind of song that makes record companies send flowers to your dressing room”, and
            2) encoring with a cover of Prince’s “1999” which lasted about 20 minutes

      • I bunked off double P.E. (cross-country running) to buy This Is BAD when Tracks Records opened at its doors at 9am, and played it twice, in the house of one of The Two Garys (the other Gary was also present). We then splashed water about ourselves, climbed through a gap in the hedge, and jogged back to school.

        The last time I did that was to buy Hysteria by The Human League, which was definitely a wasted effort all round.

  7. I thought this was a great song and duly taped it off the radio. I remember it doing poorly in the charts and thought “well, we won’t be seeing them any more…”. In those days if you had a flop single is was really hard to get back.

    This footage is also a great cups & cakes moment for Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart to savour with added Roy North as a bonus.
    Another memory of that time is The Tourists played my brother’s University some time after this and a friend of his was involved in the sound for the show. He described Lennox as a “stupid cow” who spent far too long on the sound check as if she was a big star or something.

    • (Fairly) interesting thing about The Tourists is that Dave ‘n’ Annie weren’t the songwriters for the band, that was the never-heard-from-since Peet (sic) Coombs… talking of forgotten singles, I bought Eurythmics’ first (non-hit) single on 12” (“Never Gonna Cry Again”) but went off them by the time the LP came out…

        • Way back in 2015 @jackthebiscuit started an obituary thread about Jim.

          I posted this:

          “This thread has reminded me that I have a self-titled album by “Bandit” and Jim Diamond is the singer.

          I can’t remember when or why I bought it and I haven’t listened to it for years, probably decades. Now I’ve pulled it off the shelf I will do so sometime over the next few days.

          Looking at the LP now, what I love about it is the musical history wrapped around the band members which is only apparent with the benefit of hindsight. You can imagine the disappointment of the band in 1976 when their album was released and immediately made “old fashioned” by the explosion of punk. Little did they know what was to come:

          Vocals: Jim Diamond – what I admire is his sheer tenacity . . . . discovered by Alexis Korner, had several big hits in different guises including the theme tune to a top TV show, and seemingly a really nice man who was able to work with top musicians: PhD included Tony Hymas (who was later in bands led by Jack Bruce and Jeff Beck) and Simon Phillips (who toured with The Who, played with Gary Moore amongst many others and replaced Jeff Porcaro in Toto).

          Guitars: Danny McIntosh – guitarist with Kate Bush and later married her. I’ll say that again: he married Kate Bush.

          Guitars: James Litherland – became a member of Colosseum. After that he had his own band called Brotherhood which included Roger Ball and Molly Duncan (both later to join AWB) and John Wetton (who you may know as a member of Family and King Crimson). I saw Brotherhood play at a little festival in North Wales in 1970 on a bill with many unknown groups that included players who were later to move on to great things. Oh, he is also the father of James Blake / Harmonimix.

          Bass: Cliff Williams – was in a great little band called Home with Laurie Wisefield (who later joined Wishbone Ash and played in Roger Chapman’s band). He toured with Al Stewart and then became bass player for AC/DC.

          Drums: Graham Broad: has played, recorded and toured with an amazing variety of artists including Roger Waters, Bucks Fizz, Van Morrison, Five Star, Jeff Beck, Wham! and Bill Wyman’s Rhythm Kings. I believe he also wrote and played the infamous drum fill for the Eastenders TV theme!

          So that was Bandit. What a lineup! What a band. What a collection of lives well lived.”

            • If any Afterworders have watched the UK TV series “First Dates” in the past few years, they might like to know that the narrator of the series from the start has been Brian Protheroe – the same Brian Protheroe who recorded “Pinball” all those decades ago…

    • Good song spoiled by the guys weedy voice, IMO.
      The bit where he’s stuck in a telephone box reminded me of a weird Spanish short movie I saw a couple of times. “La Cabina”.

  14. Nice one. This comes to mind – I still have it, though it’s quite rare as the publishers of the original Leiber and Stoller song took horrified legal action and copies were withdrawn. Marvellous subversion of old school lurrv and take a moment to listen to that mix. I’d love to know more.

    • You see that model of telephone that Meri Wilson has in her hand? They were very common in Sweden in the 70s and 80s. They were made by Ericsson and were called the Cobra Telephone. I never ever saw one in the UK when I was growing up, though. Have any Afterworders seen one in the UK?
      Checking on Wikipedia, I see that Ms Wilson was American. Perhaps they had the Cobra phone over there in the US of A?

      • Ah, Stereolab were HUGE for me in the 90s. An absolute obsessive, until Dots and Loops and then me and the ‘Lab agreed to go our own ways. Still, I just ordered the expanded vinyl reissues of Transient Random Noise Bursts With Announcements and Mars Audio Quintet and have been bathing in the in sound from way out.

        • Me too, Sal, but we went to see them at the Astoria in the mid-90s and the future Mrs F hated them (she doesn’t like long guitar solos, weirdness or, more generally, wig-outs). So I have to play them out of earshot.

          Our next gig was Morphine upstairs at the Garage in Islington. A venue even more of a dump than the Astoria, and a band comprising drums, a two-string bass and a sax player who often played two instruments at once. Mrs F absolutely loved them.

          There’s no accounting for taste {insert your own punchline here}.

          • I can understand the Marmite aspect – I was very much into the 25-minute monochord grooves and wig outs but really, if you don’t enjoy that then it would be pretty hellish to endure. Funnily, I remember around 1998 – 2002 or so, I was going to Upstairs at the Garage a lot – a dump indeed, but many happy nights.

            • One of the best things I’ve ever seen was MBV doing 25 minutes of one-chord 130dB white noise during You Made Me Realise. Ear, gut, and life-changing.

              I didn’t take Mrs F. Eh? I said, I didn’t take Mrs F. Eh? etc…

  28. Ellery Bop – Torn Apart. Championed by Janice Long, this was one of the first singles I bought, along with Pale Shelter and Right by Your Side.

    Just as good is the B-side – a Mad Professor remix

  30. This should’ve been a hit and I used to think one of those manufactured bands like Six or even Steps could have easily rehashed this and had a hit with it…

    • Off on a tangent here, but back in the 80s I read a novel titled The Doubleman by C. J. Koch (perhaps better know for The Year Of Living Dangerously, which was made into a film starring Sigourney Weaver and Mel Gibson).
      It’s about the Sydney folk scene in the 60s and the author thanked Keith Potger (one of the guitarists there in The Seekers) for his help in portraying the era. He says in the note that the band in the book, The Rhymers, are in no way based upon The Seekers.
      I enjoyed the book enormously at the time. Whether I would today I couldn’t say without re-reading it.
      The quality of that clip is excellent in terms of both visuals and sound. The images look so sharp, it could almost have been filmed yesterday.

  34. Haven’t heard this in a very long time. It was out around the same time that Landscape released “Norman Bates” as the follow-up to that one about Albert.

    • Black Celebration of this parish will be able to confirm that The Hitmen were Alan Wilder’s band prior to joining Depeche Mode… (side note: how can I remember trivia like this, but not my own ‘phone number?)

      • Yes indeed. Wilder lied about his age because Depeche Mode said that they wanted nobody older than 21. He hid his zimmer frame and Senatogen bottle until he was safely ensconced. He was actually 23.

  36. The House of Love were, very briefly, the future in 1988. By the time this lovely song came out – all of 3 years later – nobody cared. I’m sure even fewer do now unfortunately.

  37. Releasing no new music / giving no new interviews for 28 years doesn’t help people to remember you. Though I read recently that The Sundays have become a popular choice for goth girls to soundtrack their TikToks.

    • I could never understand the fascination. They supported Throwing Muses on a tour in 1989 – seeing them at Portsmouth Poly, there was a massive crowd there just to see them, who left when Kristen and Tanya came on stage – probably provoked by recent front page shots from the NME & MM. A slightly indistinct and subdued Liz Frazer voice and inoffensive music did nothing for me. Cranes and Curve were slightly more entertaining at the time

      • I really like them; on their stuff generally, the guitar playing is really unconventional & the way it works with the bass and minimal drumming is sort of ambient. Her voice floats over it all. I like those other named bands as well, it was a good time for music.

        • They may be one of those bands who I dismiss for decades as being bland before giving them time for a proper listen and discovering how great they are – like I did with Prefab Sprout’s Steve McQueen ( but only that album, the rest are still dull).

          Or not.

    • Their main man Dicken was from Oxford and I saw him playing pubs as Mr Big in the 90s. After the original split he and bassist Pete Crowther formed Broken Home. Their first album was produced by Mutt Lange, and is a corker.

  39. From the days when everyone listened to the radio, and choons with melody, harmony and well-crafted arrangements were everywhere, but chart success for any of them may have been fleeting:

  42. I’m sure I can’t be the only Afterworder to have a fondness for “Picture on the Wall” by the Natural Ites. …
    And a particular thumbs-up for the spoken introduction:

    “They have a picture of His Majesty Rasta
    (Yes Iyah, Jah Live!)
    And they have a picture of His Majesty Dread
    (Yes Iyah, Jah is within I!)”

  48. Well, I bought the single in -82 and I still love this – I’ve never heard it on the radio (then or now) but perhaps this is only true in Sweden? Is this getting any airplay in the UK?

    Sometimes the dumbest songs are the best.

  49. And this gem from 1978 has everything I love in a song. I fell head over heels in love with it on first listen and I’m still in love. If any song can be said to represent me in music form, it’s this one.

      • I came to loathe this record because the tune (sans vocals) was licensed by our company – Glaxo – to be the ‘dynamic’ background music for a cringeworthy Reynholm Industries style corporate video. Even now when I hear it I can see the sales reps getting out of their company Vauxhall Cavaliers and doing a fake greeting with a client. I’m sure Mr Jackson got paid a few bob for it.

    • I just found out that the backing vocals on The Lover Speaks’ No More I Love Yous (a cracker, I agree) are by June Miles-Kingston, who also also sings backing and drums on this.

      Not a forgotten single I guess, but an excuse to post The Fun Boy Three’s Our Lips Are Sealed.

  53. This is a very dangerous thread to get involved in, so many great singles which have got lost from playlists or never made it on to them …. this one is just epic with one of the best song titles ever

    loved the sheer cheesy joy of the Pipettes

    bit of Jon Spencer’s other band

    and finally in this section a beautiful bit of Cousteau

    • Four fines choices @exilepj!

      That Cousteaux song ought to have been a massive hit.

      The Pipettes video is thoroughly brilliant. Not only are the band on top form but the director has also created the feeling that it is a clip from a (60s) movie with lots of different stories going on.

      Interestingly, The Pipettes’ music features in a film called Angus, Things and Perfect Snogging which was filmed in their home town of Brighton. But I don’t think they appear in the film.

  54. Last night First Aid Kit did a very fine cover of Little Talks, a recentish megahit by Icelandic band, Of Monsters and Men.

    None of the contestants knew the artist.

    It makes me wonder how many people still remember this gem from 20 lus years ago.

    Or indeed Daði Freyr and his band Daði & Gagnamagnið and their wonderful Eurovision toe-tapper. Think About Things .

  55. How about Since Yesterday by Strawberry Switchblade? Just under three minutes of joy.

    I first heard it on an NME cover cassette entitled Raging Spool. I imagine that’s gone the way of all things now (although it may be languishing in a box somewhere).

    Also on Raging Spool were The Daintees with I’m A Hypocrite (A Crocodile Cryer) – when did they become Martin Stephenson and The Daintees, I wonder? – Aztec Camera’s cover of Jump and Fear, Hate, Envy, Jealousy by The Neville Brothers. … and … and … and EBTG, The Kane Gang, The Three Johns, The Go-Betweens and The Long Ryders. I remember playing the cassette a lot, but can’t place some of the other tracks … Black Stalin? Alterations? (I have, of course, had to look all this stuff up.)

  60. One could do a whole thread on semi-forgotten songs that got a new lease of life thanks to their use in a movie.

    Voyage Voyage in the excellent Finnish movie Cabin No 6.

    You probably know it from the soundtrack of Jackie Brown, but Bobby Womack’s Across 110th Street was written for a 1972 Blaxploitation film of the same name starring Anthony Quinn and Yaphet Kotto.

    The Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy have given a whole new lease of life to many forgotten hits.

    Brandy (You’re a fine girl) by Looking Glass.

    And , of course, Go all the Way by the Raspberries

  61. Trippy and enigmatic, “Big” by The New Fast Automatic Daffodils was lumped in with the Madchester scene, but was their moment of glory (frustratingly, most reissues use the inferior album version)

  62. Stephen Duffy, “London Girls”: a razor-sharp caricature of Britpop that still sounds great. Duffy later had a minor hit with “Hanging Around” , but this is better.

  63. It’s Sunday morning! How about a day trip to France? Bring your dancing shoes!
    Here are some insanely catchy tunes.

    Les Negresses Vertes

    Indila

    Michel Fugain

    Poom

    Vanessa Paradis

    And let’s not forget the Je t’aime…moi non plus Hitmaker. feat the divine Brigitte Bardot

  64. Don’t expect much traction with either of these, and they didn’t mean a thing at the time, but they’ve always been faves.
    Jill and the Boulevards, amazingly advanced for 1962.

    And Kevin Johnson…

    • Dubstar (did I miss that in the vids?) – several of theirs would qualify including one of my all fave things “Stars” (but the Way Out West remix, I should add).

      Not in this category but their last album from a couple of years ago is fantastic from start to finish.

  67. this afternoons selection features a single released several times but never a big hit

    a beautiful song by Pippa from the band Posh

    showing they are more than just ‘You’re Gorgeous’ … the great BabyBird

    bit of a cinematic epic by Jack

    • What a remarkable story @Mousey!

      “Club owner and toupe fanatic Peter Stringfellow booked the group to a club in Sheffield in 1968 where Motown was still all the rage—eventually mutating into the northern soul craze. However, the wily promoter somewhat disrespectfully billed the band as The Fabulous Temptations, hoping to cash in on the notion that their most successful counterparts might be performing.

      Nevertheless, in a manner akin to Zappa’s keen background in advertising, it proved to be a masterstroke, and the show was a roaring success. So, the group stayed in England under the name The Fantastics and doo-wopped their complex little way to ninth in the charts on subsequent singles, and their group leader, Johny Pitts, even ended up settling down as a lecturer at the University of Huddersfield.”

      Here they are performing in Germany.

  75. Another mid-90s CD single classic. A middle eight to absolutely die for (one of the marks of a great single surely). Also not on Spotify – another sign it’s been forgotten.

  78. Rockers Revenge’s cover of Eddy Grant’s Walking On Sunshine was one of many early 80s electro funk singles.

    Bernard Fowler has been earning a living singing with the Stones for decades now, but in 1982 he sang this classic with the Peech Boys.

  81. Would it be possible for our tech-y Mod overlords to limit the number of replies on a thread before it automatically is closed, with a polite suggestion that a new thread be started?

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