← Hit Parade | Music History and Music Trivia
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- [00:00]
Chris Melanfi
You're listening ad free on Amazon Music. Welcome back to Hit Parade, a podcast of pop chart history from Slate Magazine about the hits from coast to coast. I'm Chris Melanfi, chart analyst, pop criticism and writer of Slate's why is this Song Number one Series. On our last episode, I explained the concept of the legacy hit, a song that underperformed on the charts back in the day, missing the top 10, top 40, or even the entire Hot 100. That is now one of the first songs we think of when we hear an artist's name. I'm now going to attempt the near impossible ranking a top 10 list of the greatest legacy hits of all time. Before I try to rank what I consider the definitive legacy hits, we should set some parameters in this episode. I have already cited many songs that fell short of the number one spot when they originally charte, but some still manage to crack the top 10 or even the top five. While it's impressive that Sweet Caroline or Thong song have gone on to outperform their original chart runs, those songs were not exactly struggling to begin with. This explains, for example, why I will not be ranking Journeys Don't Stop Believin' which by most metrics is a bigger legacy hit than anything on this list. Keep in mind, Believin reached number nine in 1981. It was a top ten hit. In case you are curious, you Journey's biggest chart hit of all time, that is. The single that did best in its moment was the prom worthy slow dance ballad Open Arms from the same Journey album escape. It spent six weeks at number two on the Hot 100 in early 1982.
- [02:39]
Guest or Co-host (possibly a singer or musician, providing song lyrics)
Slow down to you.
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Chris Melanfi
For the record, nowadays Open Arms does just fine in airplay and streaming 46,000 radio spins in the last 12 months and nearly 34 million streams. But other Journey hits that charted lower on the Hot 100 now do better than Open Arms, including their number 23 hit Any Way you Wanted and their number 12 power ballad Faithfully. And of course, these days, don't Stop Believin does the best of all 117,000 radio spins just in the last 12 months, more than double open arms, and 175 million streams more than five times open arms. But again, Believin didn't do badly on the Hot 100 in the first place, so unlike Casey Kasem back in the day. And at number nine is another song from a recent number one lp. The song is Don't Stop Believin from the LP Escape. I will not be counting it down here. My Legacy Hits countdown will consist entirely of songs that peaked below the top 25 on the Hot 100. Most of them missed the top 40. Also, to qualify for my list, a legacy hit has to reach a certain modern threshold of either radio airplay or streaming ubiquity, even if the song is totally great. Speaking of which, I'd like to give honorable mention before I start the countdown to The Isley Brothers 1959 call and response classic Shout.
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Guest or Co-host (possibly a singer or musician, providing song lyrics)
Well.
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You know you make me wanna.
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Shout Kick my heels up and out.
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Chris Melanfi
Believe it or not, this party still staple. The Isley's first Hot 100 hit, way back in 1959, only reached number 47 in its day. Two decades later, a cover in the 1978 movie Animal House, billed to Otis Day and the Knights, was what finally made Shout a dance floor standard.
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Guest or Co-host (possibly a singer or musician, providing song lyrics)
You know you make me wanna kick.
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My heels up and shout.
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Chris Melanfi
These days, Shout is more of a favorite for wedding DJs than radio DJs. In the last 12 months, the Isley Brothers original Shout was played only about 700 times. That's great for a song from the 50s, but it's not the Isley's biggest radio classic. Their 1969 number two hit it's your Thing was spun about double that. Still, Shout deserves honorable mention as one of the Hot 100's earliest legacy hits. A low charter destined for greatness.
- [06:26]
Guest or Co-host (possibly a singer or musician, providing song lyrics)
You know you make me wanna lift.
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My hips up and throw my head back and kick my heels up and come on.
- [06:36]
Chris Melanfi
Alright, so with those stipulations, let's now count down 10 totemic legacy hits. Again, this list is highly subjective and even with all the data at my disposal only partially scientific. One last asterisk is that in a couple of cases I had to make a tough call about which hit is the artist's legacy hit. That's definitely the case with my number 10 artist, whom I've already mentioned as the singer behind Dancing With Myself. And he has two other viable legacy hit candidates. Billy Idol. As I said earlier before he finally broke through with Eyes Without A Face, Billy Idol had a hard time cracking the top 40 from 1981 through 83. He only did it once with the mostly forgotten number 23 hit hot in the City. But the first single and title track from his 1983 album, Rebel Yell looked like it. It might change that. Despite a ubiquitous video on MTV that found Billy memorably sneering and punching on stage, Rebel Yell, the song could only manage a number 46 peak in early 1984. Nowadays, rebel yell punches and sneers well above its weight class. In the last 12 months, it's been spun 59,000 times on the radio and streamed a stunning 51 million times. Those are higher numbers than either Dancing With Myself or Eyes Without a Face and would probably make Rebel Yell, Billy Idol's legacy hit if not for this other song, which is even more iconic. White Wedding kind of has it all, Billy Idol wise. That crooning vocal punctuated by piercing shrieks, melodic hooks bordering on goth and a chorus lyric it's a nice day to start again. That's like a warped Hallmark card. A video with coffins, motorcycles and women cavorting in leather. And yet, because it was one of Idol's early singles, it took two tries to crack the Hot 100, and the second time it only made it as far as number three. 36, barely an American top 40 hit at number 36 for the second week in a row is the latest hit by the Englishman Billy Idol, it's White Wedding. Today, White Wedding pulls down some serious numbers, 77,000 spins just in the last year, 30% higher than rebel Yellow on streaming services. Rebel Yell has the edge over White Wedding, but only by about 13%. White Wedding is also the only Billy Idol song that gets more radio airplay than his only Hot 100 number one hit, 1987's Metallic cover of Tommy James and the Shondells. Mony Moani. So given how much likelier you are to hear White Wedding playing out in the world and how it defines the Billy Idol Persona. By the way, it's also a blast to do at karaoke and I speak from personal experience. I'm ranking White Wedding as our number 10 all time legacy hit. Nice Day for a White Wedding.
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Guest or Co-host (possibly a singer or musician, providing song lyrics)
It's a nice day to start again in.
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Chris Melanfi
The number nine spot is a much mellower, more soulful 80s single by a power pop band that really should have had more hits in America, and this wasn't exactly one of them. I Bought a Toothbrush Some Squeeze are one of the great post punk pop bands of the late 70s and early 80s, led by the songwriting duo of Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook in their native England, Squeeze scored a string of top 40 hits like Take Me, I'm Yours, Cool for Cats and up the Junction. But they really switched things up on 1981's Tempted, a pure slice of blue eyed soul sung by journeyman vocalist Paul Carrick and produced by post punk demigod Elvis Costello. Costello even has a brief cameo on the second verse. Tempted broke Squeeze in America but it couldn't break them into the top 40. It peaked at number 49 in September 1981. Even in England it underperformed, peaking there at number 41. Apparently, moonlighting as a blue eyed soul group Confused Squeeze's British fans and didn't cross them over enough in America. But gradually, over the decades, Tempted has become a staple. It's appeared in advertisements, video games, films. In 1994, Squeeze remixed it for the soundtrack to the Winona Ryder movie Reality Bites, and that album went double platinum. In between, Squeeze did, by the way, finally crack the top 40 in the U.S. 1987's Hourglass reached number 15 on the Hot 100. But this sax laden, tongue twisting hit seems largely forgotten today. Indeed, in the last 12 months, Hourglass was played a scant 300 times on US radio and streamed fewer than 500,000 times. Paltry figures. But tempted, it was spun nearly 5,000 times and streamed more than 7 million. By Billy Idol or Journey standards, those are modest numbers, but for Squeeze, that's a blockbuster on Spotify. Tempted has double or more the streams of any other Squeeze hit. So as anomalous as it is in Squeeze's sterling catalog, Tempted is unquestionably their legacy. Hit at number eight in our ranking is a song that actually topped a Billboard chart. To be specific, the country chart back in 1974. But to listeners across pop and country, it is now arguably this living legends signature hit. Which is saying something. Jolene, Jolene Perhaps you've heard the story that Dolly Parton wrote both Jolene and I Will Always Love you on the Same Day in 1973. Talk about living your best life. Jolene Parton's story, song about a bewitchingly beautiful woman who can steal another woman's man, was Dolly's first song to cross from the country charts to the pop charts. It cracked the Hot 100, peaking at number 60 in February 1974, at a time when Parton wasn't actively courting a pop audience.
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Guest or Co-host (possibly a singer or musician, providing song lyrics)
He talks about you in his sleep and there's nothing I can do to keep from crying when he.
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Chris Melanfi
Dolly would later go after that pop audience more deliberately with more overtly poppy records like Here you Come Again and especially her Hot 100 number one hit 9 to 5. But Jolene has arguably remained Dolly Parton's definitive recording. Unlike I Will Always Love youe, which was covered memorably by Whitney Houston, Jolene remains firmly associated with Dolly, even though she says this is her most covered song, with hit versions by Olivia Newton John Pentatonix and the White Stripes.
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Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene.
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Chris Melanfi
Please don't take my Today Jolene and 9 to 5 are basically in a dead heat as Parton's most played recording on the radio. 9 to 5 is more played with 5,400 spins in the last year versus Jolene's 3,200. But remember, that's a number 60 hit competing with a number one hit.
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Jolene, Jolene, Jolene, Jolene I'm begging of you Please don't take my man and.
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Chris Melanfi
On streaming services, Jolene is the winner with a stunning 77.4 million streams in the last 12 months, edging out 9 to 5's 74 million on Spotify. Jolene's lifetime total of 430 million streams makes it handily Parton's top song to a younger generation. In other words, Jolene is the more iconic Dolly hit. For his hit podcast, Dolly Parton's America host Jad Abumrad even remixed it. Given her stellar catalog, it's hard to single out any one Dolly Parton recording, but the momentum is with Jolene as her legacy hit at number seven on my list. Remember I said we'd come back to Peter Gabriel. Salisbury Hill has certainly wildly outperformed its original lowly hot 100 peak, but for Gabriel, the legacy hit, the one that will surely outlive him is the one Lloyd Dobbler was playing from his boombox in 1989.
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I get so lost sometimes.
- [19:31]
Chris Melanfi
By all rights, when it came out in 1986, in youn Eyes should have been a big hit. It was after all, following up Gabriel's biggest chart hit of all time, the Summer 86 Hot 100 number one sledgehammer. Of course, what got everyone's attention on Sledgehammer wasn't just its catchy Motown style sound, it was its eye popping music video, a stop motion animation extravaganza that would become the most acclaimed video in MTV history to that date. After making this painstaking video, Gabriel was understandably tired, so he didn't shoot a video at first for in youn Eyes. That might explain why In October of 86, in youn Eyes peaked at a modest number 26. Without MTV to promote it, AIs climbed the Hot 100 with a handicap. Sure enough, when Gabriel went back to making videos for his next single, Big Time, that song returned him to the top 10. But in youn Eyes never went away. And when director Cameron Crowe needed a love song for his 1989 film Say Anything, the song John Cusack's Lloyd Dobler would play to Ione Sky's Diane Court as a boombox serenade. He gave Gabriel's ballad a visual accompaniment better than any music video, accepting all I Don't.
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Stand.
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Chris Melanfi
In the summer of 89, after the movie came out, in youn Eyes returned to the Hot 100 thanks to say Anything. During this second chart run, it only reached number 41. But that return established the song, punctuated by piercing harmonies from Senegalese vocal legend Yusu Endor. As Gabriel's signature radio hit, Today, in youn Eyes does far better on the radio than it did in 1986 or 89. Its streams are nearly even with sledgehammers, 24 million to 27 million. And on the radio, in your Eyes is the far bigger hit, getting spun nearly 39,000 times in the last year, more than double the airplay of Sledgehammer and five times the airplay of Salisbury Hill. You might say that, like Lloyd Dobler, in youn Eyes has fulfilled its destiny. It's Peter Gabriel's legacy hit.
- [23:15]
Guest or Co-host (possibly a singer or musician, providing song lyrics)
All My Instincts they return. The grand facade so soon will burn.
- [23:25]
Chris Melanfi
For our number six legacy hit, I want to return to the Elton John song we led off this episode with. And like Peter Gabriel's hit, this one was completely turned around by a film, crazily enough, another movie directed by Cameron.
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Guest or Co-host (possibly a singer or musician, providing song lyrics)
Crowe, all because of Time to Dance.
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Chris Melanfi
I have to go home, Count the.
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Headlights on the highway.
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Chris Melanfi
You are home. Few more movie scenes have had an impact on a song's legacy as massive as 2000's Almost Famous, Crow's thinly veiled Roman a clef about his early years as a Rolling Stone journalist did. On Tiny Dancer, Crow gives Elton John's song a major showcase, as the fictional band Stillwater and its entourage sing along to Dancer aboard their tour bus at a pivotal emotional moment. Prior to 2000, Tiny Dancer was considered a beloved deep cut by Elton John fans, a song that John would play sporadically in concert but certainly not a regular radio rotator. After Almost Famous, the song went into permanent concert and classic hits rotation. As I noted at the top of the show in 1972, Tiny Dancer just missed the top 40 at number 41, but it now competes effectively with Elton John songs that charted much higher, Higher. Benny and the jets, for example, a number one hit from 1974, it remains one of Elton's biggest radio perennials. In the last 12 months, Benny was played more than 30,000 times and streamed more than 50 films 5 million times. But Tiny Dancer, It beats Benny in both metrics. Nearly 35,000 radio spins in the last year and an astonishing 91 million streams. That's in a single year, folks.
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Guest or Co-host (possibly a singer or musician, providing song lyrics)
Hold me close up Time to Dance.
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Chris Melanfi
When it comes to Elton John, one has to distinguish between a legacy hit and a hit hit. Songs like Rocketman and you'd song top 10 hits in their day still get tons of spins and streams over their lifetime, even more than Tiny Dancer. But those were hit hits among Elton John's songs that fell short the first time. Without question, Tiny Dancer is the legacy hit.
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Blue jean david.
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Chris Melanfi
Moving into the top five, we have another tough choice for which song should be a band's legacy hit. There are at least two contenders from the Texas electric blues trio ZZ Top. From their start at the turn of the 70s, ZZ Top were steeped in the lore of the blues. Their name was a pun on legendary blues man B.B. king, and their first major hit about a Texas brothel called La Grange borrowed its moves from two John Lee Hooker songs. Its nonsense lyrics a How, How, how, how was borrowed from Hooker's Boom Boom, and its scorching boogie blues guitar style was taken from Hooker's classic boogie chilling.
- [28:14]
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When I break in the town, people, I was walking down Hazen Street.
- [28:23]
Chris Melanfi
In 1974, La Grange, from ZZ Top's breakthrough Tres Hombres album, nearly broke the trio into the top 40. It peaked on the hot 100 at a frustrating tiny dancer like number 41. To this day, La Grange is a resilient perennial in ZZ Top's catalog. It's the trio's most streamed song with a lifetime Spotify total at least 30% higher than any other Top song. Just in the last 12 months, Lagrange was streamed nearly 50 million times. One pictures younger generations of aspiring guitar heroes playing and replaying La Grange to imitate its signature groove. But in pop culture lore, ZZ Top will be better remembered not for their boogie blues of the 70s but for how they rebooted their sound for the.
- [29:43]
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80S.
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Chris Melanfi
Retrofitting their guitar crunch with sequencers, synthesizers and electronic effects. 1983's Eliminator album has to stand as one of the most improbable reinventions in pop history. The three Toppers, bearded guitar men Billy Gibbons and Dusty Hill and Frank Beard, their ironically beardless drummer, became MTV icons, appearing in a series of slick music videos revolving around a magical Eliminator car that turned meek people into confident sex symbols. The new ZZ Top sound took time to catch on, however, beyond mtv. The first single from the album Gimme all youl Lovin' barely cracked the top 40, hitting number 37. But the LP just kept selling, and a year later, in the summer of 84, it finally spawned a top 10 hit, Legs. Legs climbed all the way to number eight, ZZ Top's biggest hit ever. In that video, the Eliminator car and its trio of supermodels turn a mousy young woman into into a strutting sex pot. In between Gimme all youl Lovin and Legs, however, came the hit that, at least on mtv, defined ZZ Top in the popular imagination. Weirdly, this hit missed the top 40 entirely, peaking on the hot 100 at number 56. But it came packed with an instantly memorable chorus hook. Every Girl's Crazy Bout a Sharp Dressed Man. Perhaps fond memories of this music video, in which a young man working as a parking valet is remade by the Eliminator Mobile supermodels into a yuppified ladies man is what makes this ZZ Top's biggest radio staple. Maybe generations of young people want to re envision themselves as Sharp dressed men. Whatever the reason, Sharp Dressed man is now ZZ Top's hit for the ages. Its 48.5 million streams in the last year nearly equal those of La Grange. And on the radio, Sharp Dressed man crushes all other ZZ Top tunes with 49,000 spins, nearly double the radio play of Lagrange and 40% more than legs, their biggest chart hit. Even if you don't remember the 80s, there's a pretty good chance you can sing the hook of Sharp Dressed man, Which makes it finally ZZ Top's ultimate legacy hit. At number four in my ranking, it's the song that has the highest lifetime Spotify total of any of our legacy hits. And talk about a definitive hit. It's literally autobiographical.
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Now I'm in the limelight Cause I rhyme tight Time to get paid Blow up like the World trade Born sinner the opposite of a winner Christopher Waltz.
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Chris Melanfi
Aka Biggie Smalls, aka the Notorious B.I.G. formally kicked off his career in 1994 with a track that mythologized his rags to riches story. Growing up on the streets of Brooklyn, he and producer Sean Puff Daddy Combs named the song Juicy. Inspired by the song, it prominently sampled M2 May's 1983 number one R B hit Juicy Fruit. In Juicy, which was only Biggie's second single ever and the first issued from his debut album, Ready to Die, BIG chronicles his poverty stricken childhood with more nostalgia than regret. How he dreamed of becoming a rapper, dealt drugs to get by, and how he eventually got over in the music business. It is a Proustian reverie set to a thumping beat, and its opening line about Biggie's dream and Word up magazine is now etched in hip hop lore.
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Yeah, this album is dedicated to all the teachers that told me I never amount to nothing to all the people that lived above the buildings that I.
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Chris Melanfi
Was hustling in addition to reaching number one on Billboard's Hot Rap Singles chart, Juicy did remarkably well on the pop charts for a debut rap single, peaking at number 27 on the Hot 100 in November 1994. Besides Peter Gabriel's in youn Eyes, it's the only single in my ranking to crack the pop top 30. Biggie's classic also was mashed up with another of my legacy hits, Elton John's Tiny Dancer on Girl Talk's acclaimed 2006 mashup smash youh Head, an oddly moving combination.
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Thought that hip hop would take it this far Now I'm in the limelight cuz I rhyme tight Time to Get.
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Chris Melanfi
Paid Though Biggie's life and career were tragically short, his rise on the charts in that brief time was meteoric. He began scoring top 10 pop hits by 1995, and just after his murder in March 1997, Biggie began scoring number ones, including the Banger, Hypnotize. And It's Party Ready Follow up Mo Money Mo Problems B I G P.
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O PPA no Info for the DEA Federal Agents Mad Cause the Flag Went tap.
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Chris Melanfi
Today. Big's two chart toppers are airplay and streaming staples, but Juicy rivals both of them on the radio. Juicy's 20,000 spins in the last 12 months are just a bit shy of Mo Money's 26,000 and Hypnotize's 28,000 on streaming services. However, Juicy's amazing 12 month total of 111 million streams is more than double that of Mo Money and only about 22% shy of Hypnotize on Spotify. Juicy's lifetime streaming total is 587 million, higher even than Elton John's Tiny Dancer.
- [38:04]
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And if you don't know, now you know, you know.
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Chris Melanfi
So a number 27 hit that established the Notorious B.I.G. as a new York rap king is now, in a way, even more legendary. If you don't know, now you know. Coming in at number three, we have one more act with more than one possible legacy hit. That's because for these artsy CBGB denizens, many of their most iconic singles were not pop hits at first. But that changed over time as their songs became Que se more FA FA fa. Familiar. Talking Heads, the foursome of David Byrne, Chris France, Jerry Harrison and Tina Weymouth may have met in art school and gotten their start in downtown hipster New York nightclubs, but their songs were catchy pretty much from the jump. Their 1977 single Psycho Killer, with its incongruous French and nonsense lyrics and its driving baseline, got Talking Heads onto the Hot 100 for the first time in February 1978. It only reached number 92, but it was remarkable for any band from New York club CBGB to make the charts in early 78. Talking heads were ahead of Blondie and Patti Smith and just behind the Ramones. Psycho Killer remained definitive for Talking Heads. A stark version of the song played solo by David Byrne led off their immortal 1984 concert film Stop Making Sense, And the song's percolating Tina Weymouth bass line was sampled very memorably on Selena Gomez's acclaimed 2017 top 20 hit Bad Liar.
- [40:41]
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Oh, I'm trying, I'm trying I'm trying I'm trying, I'm trying oh trying I'm.
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Chris Melanfi
Trying I'm trying, I'm trying Perhaps this helps explain explain why Psycho Killer remains so popular with millennials and younger on Spotify. The song is Talking Head's all time most streamed track with 301 million lifetime streams, over 100 million more than any other contender. On the other hand, at Radio, one other low charting Talking Head single is even more played and this track is arguably their most iconic. An Afrobeat meets new wave meets gospel masterpiece. Once in a Lifetime is an existential crisis set to music, its lyrics a string of proto memes. This is not my beautiful house, this is not my beautiful wife. Same as it ever was. My God, what have I done? It is Talking Head's most acclaimed song, but in 1980, there was no way Once in a Lifetime was getting on the radio. Once in a Lifetime bubbled under the Hot 100, spending just one week at number 103 in February 1981. Note that this was about six months before the launch of MTV, which might have helped it up the charts. Indeed, after MTV launched, Talking Heads were a much easier sell to record buyers and radio programmers. Their 1983 electro funk single Burning down the House, with an especially memorable music video, actually cracked the Billboard top 10, peaking at number nine. Burning down the House. Today, Burning down the house remains Talking Head's most played radio song with 23,000 spins in the last 12 months. That's nearly double the radio plays of Once in a Lifetime with 13 million. But 13 million is impressive for a song as oddball as Lifetime. And at streaming services, Burning brings up the rear behind both of Talking Head's lower charting masterworks. Psycho Killer racked up 27 million streams in the last year.
- [43:44]
Guest or Co-host (possibly a singer or musician, providing song lyrics)
Psycho Killer.
- [43:51]
Chris Melanfi
And Once in a Lifetime was not far behind with 23 million streams. The data provides a mixed picture for Talking Heads. Honestly, any one of these three singles could qualify as their legacy hit alongside such other low charting classics as Life During Wartime or this Must Be the Place. But given its acclaim, its immortal lyrics and the fact that it's the only one of these singles to miss the Hot 100 entirely back in the Day I'm giving the edge to Once in a Lifetime. Its continued gradual adoption by new generations is like water flowing underground, Silent water.
- [44:52]
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Under the rocks and stones. There is water.
- [44:57]
Chris Melanfi
In the runner up position on my list is another wedding staple, alongside the likes of I Wanna Dance With Somebody and Shout. But this is the song they play for the couples dance. Indeed, it has been the centerpiece of more weddings than even Luminate could count. In Joel Whitburn's reference book of chart hits Top Pop singles under the name Etta James, he lists the following five hits as her top Billboard pop charters My Dearest Darling, All I Could Do Was Cry, Trust in Me, Pushover and at the top of the list, her biggest pop hit, Tell Mama. These songs are all great and all solid hits in their day. All made the pop top 40. But hearing that list, you may be thinking, well, yes, but where's, you know, the song? The Etta James song. At last, written in 1941 and first recorded by Glenn Miller and his orchestra, was utterly reinvented two decades later by the woman born Jamesetta Hawkins. On her 1961 album of the same name, Etta James, elongated and eroticized, at last finding its deep passion and turning it into a satisfied sigh.
- [47:01]
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The Skies above the Blue.
- [47:10]
Chris Melanfi
In the 60s at last soon became Etta James's signature hit, but back then mostly with black audiences. It reached number two on Billboard's R B chart, but only number 47 on the Hot 100. At last May have been just too early earthy back then for mainstream white audiences who preferred James singing perkier pop tunes like pushover, a number 25 Hot 100 hit, Or the aforementioned R and B stomper Tell Mama, A Muscle Shoals classic and a number 23 pop hit. Today, Tell Mama receives very modest airplay and streams. It was spun on the radio only about 300 times in the last 12 months and streamed a little over 1 million times, but at Last has become synonymous with Etta James and has only grown in popularity since her death a decade ago. In the last year away Loan at last received 1200 spins on the radio and a remarkable 42 million streams on Spotify. Its lifetime streams of 340 million are more than double that of any other Etta James hit. It is the very definition of a signature song, one that, long after the artist has left this earthly realm, continues to define her legacy. Etta must still be singing it in heaven.
- [49:25]
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And here we are in heaven.
- [49:33]
Chris Melanfi
Finally, we have reached the top of my countdown of legacy hits. And here's the thing. Speaking musically, this is not the greatest song on this list. Not by a long shot. It's not an all out classic like At Last or Tiny Dancer or a career definer like Juicy or Jolene. It's from 1980, the same year as Once in a Lifetime, but it's not a fraction as cutting edge as that song. No, I place this song atop this list because to me, this is the quintessential legacy hit. The proof of concept. If you could set up a lab experiment to determine what I call a legacy hit. A group with just a couple of hits with one song that misses the top 40 and another that comes close to the top of the charts but is less well remembered, this act and this song fit the bill to a tee. Also, despite all of my caveats, this legacy hit is a gem. It's got a good beat and you can dance to it. With bouffant hairdos and red leather out of outfits, Detroit quartet the Romantics took power pop very seriously. Descended from such acts as the Raspberries and Cheap Trick, and with echoes of the early Beatles, the Romantics proffered a stripped down new wave sound akin to the knack. What I Like about you was co written by band members Wally Palmer, Mike Skill and Jimmy Marinos and sung by Marinos, which was unusual because he was the drummer and not the usual frontman. It was a total rave up with elements of Chuck Berry and the Yardbirds and it won fans in the Romantics live set even before they released their self titled debut lp. Debuting on the Hot 100 in February 1980, what I like about you took five weeks to climb to number 49 before dropping back. It was off the chart just three weeks later. The Romantics would persevere for the next three years, experiencing lineup changes as they tangled with their management, toured the world and tried to hone their sound by 1983, the Romantics had the look and feel of a one hit wonder. And that wasn't even a top 40 hit. But then.
- [52:50]
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When you close your eyes.
- [52:52]
Chris Melanfi
The band reinvented themselves as an even slicker version of MTV New Wave. Talking in your Sleep, a compact pop tune with synth elements and a sexy video, finally broke the Romantics into the top 40, where it rose all the way to number three in January 1984. The song was a savvy and very commercial evolution from their original sound. The band that in 1980 asked a girlfriend to, quote, keep on whispering in my ear was now claiming to, quote, hear the secrets that you keep.
- [53:39]
Guest or Co-host (possibly a singer or musician, providing song lyrics)
Wake up talking in your sleep.
- [53:43]
Chris Melanfi
In total, the Romantics scored only three significant hits. The follow up to Talking in youn Sleep, One in a Million, which was closer to their earlier retro rock sound, managed to reach number 37 in the spring of 1984. They never came close to the top 40 again. Factoring out One in a million, which receives scant spins today, how do the Romantics fare on the modern hit parade? Talking in youn Sleep has entered the pantheon of nostalgic 80s new wave.
- [54:34]
Guest or Co-host (possibly a singer or musician, providing song lyrics)
Talking in your sleep I hear the secrets that you keep.
- [54:39]
Chris Melanfi
In the last 12 months, it's been played on the radio an impressive 21,500 times and streamed about 16 million times. Those numbers are not nearly as strong as say I Melt with you or Jesse's Girl, but they're more than solid. If the Romantics only had Talking in your Sleep in their set list, that alone could keep their career going on the 80s nostalgia circuit. But there's a reason why the Romantics named their greatest hits album after the song what I Like about yout. It's their all time perennial. In the last 12 months, what I Like about yout has been played on the radio nearly 42,000 times, roughly twice the spins of Talking in your Sleep on the streamers. The 1980 hit was streamed more than 30 million times, again, nearly double the plays of the later hit.
- [55:55]
Guest or Co-host (possibly a singer or musician, providing song lyrics)
Yeah, keep on whispering in My Ear.
- [56:00]
Chris Melanfi
It's one of the clearest examples of a lower charting hit eclipsing its higher charting successor in Hot 100 history. And what makes the Romantics interesting is how drastically they changed up their sound between 1980 and 83. The public is presented with a clear choice with with this band, America clearly seems to prefer the Romantic's original crunching power pop sound. That's the point of a legacy hit. The public has its say, charts be damned. Speaking of the nostalgia circuit, the Romantics have indeed been out on the road in recent years, playing multi act gigs with names like 80s Week Weekend or Lost 80s Live 2021 as part of their set. They do play Talking in your sleep and if they have time, one in a million. But virtually without fail, the Romantics close their set with yes, their legacy hit. The Bash it out classic that they first honed on concert stages way back in the late 70s. It helps that it's got just a couple of chords and sounds great in a giant field or a tiny club. And it's what the crowd came for. The Roman Romantics are telling them all the things they want to hear. I hope you enjoyed this episode of Hit Parade. Our show was written, edited and narrated by Chris Melanthe. That's me. Special thanks this month to Jimmy Harney and the entire team at Luminate for the wealth of data they provided, and to Slate's Technical Director Merritt Jacob for production support this month. My producer is Kevin Bendis. Kevin also produced the latest installment of our monthly Hit Parade the Bridge shows, which are available exclusively to Slate plus members. In our latest Bridge Bridge episode, I talk to radio industry analyst Sean Ross, who's an expert in so called lost hits that were chart smashes in their day but are largely forgotten on the modern radio dial. To sign up for Slate plus and hear not only the Bridge but all our shows the day they drop, visit slate.com hitparade plus. Alicia Montgomery is the Executive producer and Derek John the supervising narrative Producer of Slate Podcasts. Check out their roster of shows@slate.com podcasts. You can subscribe to Hit Parade wherever you get your podcasts, in addition to finding it in the Slate Culture feed. If you're subscribing on Apple Podcasts, please rate and review us while you're there. It helps other listeners find the show. Thanks for listening and I look forward to leading the Hit Parade back your way. Until then, keep on marching on the one. I'm Chris Melanvi.