Songs you hear more often today than a much bigger hit by the same artist

Jethro Tull's only U.S. top 40 singles were "Living in the Past" and "Bungle in the Jungle," but "Aqualung" and "Locomotive Breath" seem more common on the radio.

 

"Candle in the Wind," yes. But I can't say I hear "Harmony" all that often - and certainly not more than the two big hits (particularly "Bennie").

 

Wow, what radio station are you listening to? I'd like to tune in!

Living in the Past is the only Jethro song that ever gets played in my part of the world (London)

 

Various American classic rock stations.

 

"Amanda" was Boston's biggest hit (#1 U.S. pop), but I hear "Long Time" (#22) and "Peace of Mind" (#38) much more often. In fact, I probably hear "Peace of Mind" the most of the three.

 

So, here's one thing no one involved in these types of research never tell us: who is comprised of the focus groups? Are they chosen at random? Are they scientifically screened? What? I ask because it seems to me that these research companies get the results they want. Radio gets the results they want.

Years ago, when I dealt with a local independent oldies station, they told me why they don't play certain songs, despite the fact that they were well-known, top 10 hits in their day: they didn't want to offend their advertisers. This, again, reinforces the fact that radio is all about business, and not about music. If it was one day determined that quiet storm jazz music would pull in more money, we'd see a lot more of those stations on the air. Period.

 

I hear "More Than A Feeling" more than the rest. I'll bet Tom Scholz wishes he'd never recorded that song because it gets played so much. But, it brings in those royalty checks!

 

Oh, and don't let them play "Philadelphia Freedom", perhaps his longest-running hit single that climbed on the chart twice, hit #1, and cracked the Black Singles chart as well.

 

Jimi Hendrix - All Along The watchtower has been used ad-nauseum on radio and now in a Bleu de Chanal cologne for guys commercial. A similar situation with Purple Haze.

 

But, those were his biggest hits. He didn't have many singles.

 

Absolutely. But since it was a #5 pop hit, I thought it too close to "Amanda" to mention here. I'm looking for two songs that were further apart on the charts -- or the one that's more popular today not charting at all.

 

I see.

 

Over the years--and up until fairly recently---AOR played the hell out of Aqualung. " Cross-Eyed Mary" used to get a lot of airplay too.
Also, "Thick as a Brick" and even "Teacher" used to get played a lot too

 

I would imagine that the focus groups are filled with the type of people advertisers want to reach. That is, fairly affluent people of a certain age group who would be willing to buy, and be able to pay for , their products.

And I would really love to know what type of songs would "offend" the advertisers.