10 massive classic rock songs that never charted upon release
Musicians and music fans know well that the charts aren’t always an honest depiction of artistic greatness. Especially in modern times, as the same handful of tracks dominate the top spot for weeks on end, ranking in sales isn’t always in correlation to the works we’ll look back on and consider to be the best of the best in decades to come. That’s true in the case of these ten huge anthems, all of which failed to hit the top 40.
Sometimes, status is only gained in retrospect. At the time when their careers were just starting up or were chugging along in a stream of releases and tours, some of the biggest artists in history probably wouldn’t have regarded themselves as such or guessed that society eventually would. It’s often only with hindsight that we can look back on albums or artists and see their incredible impact or the insane quality of the stuff they were putting out.
It works the opposite way, too. There will be names who bagged number one slots years ago and will be forgotten now. While those top spots can be a snapshot of culture for that place and time, chart success really means nothing a few years down the line.
In the case of these ten songs, they failed to make all that much of a splash at the time. Either being shadowed by other biggest releases or being wrongfully relegated to B-sides, they’d eventually go on to become some of the biggest and most defining songs of an artist’s career. While never making it to the top 40, many of them now make the lists of the top tracks ever pinned as some of the most well-known and beloved musical moments on tape.
10 rock songs that failed upon release:
10. ‘Comfortably Numb’ – Pink Floyd
David Gilmour’s solo at the end of this 1979 track is regularly ranked as one of the greatest guitar moments in history. Becoming one of Pink Floyd’s most defining and well-regarded tracks, it sits in prime position as one of the best moments. Always included in the Greatest Hits compilations or introductory playlists to the group, ‘Comfortably Numb’ is one of those songs that immediately springs to mind when hearing the band’s name.
But at the time of its release, it barely made a dent. It didn’t enter the charts at all. Perhaps that’s because it had already been released as part of The Wall, with the album selling and charting incredibly well. So by the time they released the track as a single after the fact in 1980, fans didn’t race out to get it. But whatever the reason, the absence of one of the biggest rock songs ever released is proof enough that the chart system is broken.
9. ‘Should I Stay or Should I Go?’ – The Clash
The Clash’s 1982 track is one of those songs that never gets old. With every decade that passes, it remains one of the most beloved classic rock songs around the world, coming to be the most defining track of the band’s career.
But at the time, The Clash were still definitely a UK-centric phenomenon. As one of the bands leading the way in the country’s punk scene, they were the product of a very distinctive style and scene. Even though their mix of punk and rockabilly feels more American in hindsight, at the time, Britain’s take on punk still hadn’t quite crossed the Atlantic. While ‘Should I Stay Or Should I Go?’ got number 17 in the UK, it landed at a make 45th place in the US.
8. ‘Highway to Hell’ – AC/DC
Maybe the most shocking chart failure of all is AC/DC. The band have only ever managed three top-40 hits in America. ‘Money Talks’, ‘Back In Black’ and ‘You Shook Me All Night Long’ all only just made the charts, just about scraping into the top 40. Despite being a huge hit elsewhere, not even ‘Thunderstruck’ made the cut in America.
Even wilder than that, ‘Highway To Hell’ didn’t make it. Considered one of the ultimate rock songs ever written, the 1979 track peaked at 47. Even the UK slept on the hit, falling flat at 56th place in the charts, proving that even the best songs sometimes need a moment to achieve their greatness.
7. ‘You Can’t Always Get What You Want’ – The Rolling Stones
There’s an interesting phenomenon in music history where some of the best songs ended up being relegated to B-side status. Often overlooked for some other track or simply just not trusted to be the hit they’d become in time, it’s proof that you never can predict what tracks will work and which won’t.
The Rolling Stones’ beloved track, ‘You Can’t Always Get What You Want’, was doomed to be usurped by its A-Side. Released alongside ‘Honky Tonk Woman’, the slow, swelling ballad was left in the wake of that country-rock riot. But with hindsight, the second side seems to have come out on top.
6. ‘Landslide’ – Fleetwood Mac
“I took my love, took it down,” Stevie Nicks begins, opening up what is easily one of the most moving songs ever penned. It came to the singer as a sort of lifeline, written at a moment of lost confusion as life seemed to slip away around her. “At that moment, my life truly felt like a landslide in many ways,” Nicks said of the song, created just after they’d just lost their Buckingham Nicks contract but had yet to join Fleetwood Mac.
As the track was then released in 1975 as part of the first band album the couple featured on, it’s a beautiful full-circle moment. But at the time, it seemed to be just another nice enough soft rock track as it peaked at number 51. However, the album it lived on was a storming success, earning the number one spot in the US.
5. ‘Changes’ – David Bowie
Another case of one classic being overlooked for a different one, ‘Changes’, was also banished to B-side territory. While the track is one of the most well-known from David Bowie’s 1971 album Hunk Dory, it didn’t make it to the chart then. Even when it was re-released in 1975, it was shadowed by the even bigger and better-known song on the other half.
As it was offered up as a B-side to ‘Space Oddity’, ‘Changes’ was never going to hold a candle to that huge, career-defining number. It only just missed the charts as it landed at number 41, but ‘Space Oddity’ went straight in at number one.
4. ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’ – Queen
Queen have so many hits that it’s hard to predict which song any given person might know them for. It could be ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, ‘Under Pressure’, or ‘We Are The Champions’. ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’ would be high on the list as one of their most well-known tracks, but upon its initial release, it didn’t make much of a splash.
In the UK, it reached number nine on the charts. But in the US, it flopped at number 86 in 1989. It had steep competition. At the time, Chic’s ‘Le Freak’ took the top spot, with other big hits at the time being Village People’s party classic ‘Y.M.C.A.’, Rod Stewart’s ‘Do Ya Think I’m Sexy?’ and Earth, Wind and Fire’s ‘September’.
3. ‘Tiny Dancer’ – Elton John
Elton John famously had a run of seven straight number-one albums between 1972 and 1975. Every record he released seemed to have a golden, chart-topping touch. However, this classic track just missed that successful streak.
John’s 1971 release Madman Across the Water is by no means held up as one of his best. It felt like the singer was still warming up to the greatness that was soon to come. However, it does house one timeless anthem as ‘Tiny Dancer’ opens up the record. But while the song is loved in retrospect, it didn’t have much impact at the time, peaking at number 41.
2. ‘All My Loving’ – The Beatles
Everyone talks about the major success of The Beatles, but what about their failures? Throughout their career, the band managed a mammoth 20 number one hits, including some timeless tracks like ‘Get Back’, ‘Help!’ and ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’. But some of the songs that didn’t make the top spot were criminally undervalued, such as ‘Blackbird’ and ‘Something’.
When it comes to ‘All My Loving’, the track wasn’t just undervalued but was totally underlooked. When it was released as a single in 1964, it fell flat on American ears, peaking at number 45 on the Billboard chart.
1. ‘Badlands’ – Bruce Springsteen
While he might be The Boss in music, he’s certainly not The Boss of the charts. He’s had plenty of number-one records, with 11 albums hitting the top spot. But when it comes to singles, Bruce Springsteen has famously been scorned time and time again in the ranking, having never managed a number-one single despite his looming reputation as one of the biggest acts around.
Even some of his biggest songs fell flat on the charts. His 1978 classic ‘Badlands’ peaked at a measly 42nd place. Now regularly ranked as one of his best works, that opinion wasn’t shared at the time.