I Won't Sing It...Singers Who Turned Down Hit Songs

As noted though, Headquarters did hit #1 for the one week before Pepper's release. And it stayed at #2 for the rest of that summer, arguably the greatest three months in pop history. Among the albums it charted higher than were the Doors' debut, the STones' "Flowers," and the Airplanes' "Surrealistic Pillow". So, not too shabby.

And here's my own counter argument: Also in the albums Top 10 that summer were Andy Williams and Engelbert Humperdinck.

 

It's not rare at all:

 

Thank God for that.

 

Also not very good.

 

I've often said the same thing myself, so I'm glad someone else said it too...

 

If they would have released "For Pete's Sake" as a single, I would have paired it with "You Just May Be The One" as the "B" side...

 

'Halo' was offered to Leona Lewis before Beyonce went on to record it.

'Halo' was recorded by Beyoncé but written for Leona Lewis. - 21 Songs You... - Capital XTRA

 

Nothing would have outsold Pepper - so Headquarters being number two for that period is a huge success. If they could have released it a month or two earlier it likely would have stayed at number one for much longer

 

Never really liked Everything I do by Bryan Adams anyway.

Thank goodness it doesn't get airplay anymore. I heard it enough in the early to mid 1990s to last the rest of my life.

 

This wasn't a hit. It wasn't even a single as far as I know.

 

Oh, I don't know-I think the lyrics fit beautifully with Agnetha's lovelorn persona.

 

I believe Whitney Houston turned down Waiting for a Star to Fall, which Boy Meets Girl (who wrote it) then recorded and released. And I believe it was a top 10 hit.

 

They wrote it for him. They offered Steve Porcaro's demo of the song to Quincy Jones hoping that he would let Michael record it.

 

From memory, Mr Loaf turned down a number of Jim Steinman songs that subsequently became big hits.

I guess that All Out Of Love and Total Eclipse of The Heart were two of them

 

The Beatles turned down "All Things Must Pass".

(Yet they went with "Dig a Pony"... No wonder George got disgruntled! )

 

You're thinking of "Making Love Out Of Nothing At All". "All Out of Love" was written by Graham Russell and Clive Davis.

 

MJ's "Behind the Mask" eventually came out (with additional production) on the posthumous "Michael" CD.

 

I think Darlene Love and the Crystals also recorded a version of this charity single.

 

Dan also wrote it

 

Don't have time to dig through 11 pages to see if this has already been mentioned, but Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers tried to record "The Boys Of Summer" but never managed to get it done to a point where they were happy with it, so Petty let Campbell shop it to Don Henley.

And as they say, "The rest is history."

 

I did not know Mike Campbell co-wrote that song. Brilliant !

 

Apparently both Bryan Adams and REO Speedwagon turned down "Dangerzone" from the Top Gun OST.

 

I guess after reading this thread, Im surprised how little singers cant write there own songs. I didnt realize that so many people took outside songs.

 

Indeed. They thought highly of his song, but I think that the album was already mostly complete.

Also it speaks volumes that they were considering a great song (given they have wrote quite a few themselves.)

 

Wiki claims Clive Davis turned it down as Whitney's proxy. Wiki also claims Belinda Carlisle turned it down.

Woof - there's a song I didn't remember at all until I played it online!

And now that I've heard it again, I want to forget it - what a terrible song!