Entertainment For Lively Minds
When is the biggest hit the best song?
Posted by DrJ on 11 June 2011 - 10:32pm.
I've been listening to a lot of The Move recently. A lot. Plenty of great songs. However it struck me that their biggest hit, Blackberry Way, is also their best song. It's a perfect bridge between their early pop-psychedelia and their later rock stylings with a timeless production by Jimmy Miller.
Compare that with Steely Dan. Apparently their biggest UK hit is... Haitian Divorce, a number 17 smash. I wouldn't put it anywhere near being the best SD track.
So when is an act's biggest hit their best song? Oliver's Army? Mull of Kintyre? This Charming Man?
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Blimey
the Dan didn't trouble the singles chart did they..if this accurate:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steely_Dan_discography
I'd always assumed that things like Do it Again, Reelin' in the Years and Rikki Don't Lose That Number had charted, because when I first started listening to the Dan (would have been the late 90s) those songs were naggingly familiar to me. I have an inkling that certain Radio 1 DJs regularly dropped a bit of Dan on daytime rotation, regardless of their lack of chart action. Steve Wright springs to mind.
Bohemian Rhapsody
the biggest Queen hit is clearly also their best song by a long way.
The Fabs' two biggest hits in terms of weeks in chart and sales were I Want To Hold Your Hand closely followed by Hey Jude. Which kind of throws a spanner in the works.
Nearly right -
their best song was Another One Bites The Dust which was their biggest hit in America.
IMO obviously.
It all depends
on whether the act took the singles world seriously, or saw themselves more as an albums band. If the former, then The Jam and Going Underground may match up (Down In The Tube Station At Midnight running it a close second)
How tastes differ...
Haitian Divorce is my favourite Steely Dan tune.
How tastes differ… (2)
The best song by The Move is clearly California Man closely followed by Do Ya?
I'd suggest that both Tonight and Curly and also substantially better than Blackberry Way.
There's an enjoyable pub conversation hiding here...
That last run of Move singles is great and Do Ya is fantastic, but I still choose Blackberry Way. I love its unease just beneath the surface. Do you really think Curly is better? Really? "Oh, Curly, where's your girly? Where's she gone?"
To the pub..!
The Four Tops
Reach Out, I'll Be There.
The catalogue is stuffed with great Tops performances, but this is epic.
Chips off the same block
Boston - More Than A Feeling
Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit
Boston etc
Yes, More Than A Feeling, in the same way, yes, BOC Don't Fear The Reaper, and so on. However, in the UK, these were their only significant hits. I think the interesting challenge here is the hit machines whose biggest hits were their best.
So many weren't - HJH (Strawberry Fields is the "correct" answer, but Ticket To Ride is my favourite). And for some (Chuck Berry) the biggest hit is the worst.
Meanwhile, I'll throw in Ultravox Vienna, Associates Party Fears 2, Walker Brothers Sun Ain't Gonna Shine.
EDIT by my own rules, not sure that the Associates qualified as a "hit machine". Oops.
Interesting...
... I'm an I Can Hear the Grass Grow and Flowers in the Rain man myself. They're nostalgia triggers in a way that Blackberry Way isn't for some reason.