Singles with huge potential that failed to chart high due to unfortunate circumstances

I think it was promoted pretty well. There was a TV special and videos and stuff. She was 40 in 1988 and taking increasingly long gaps between albums. She was also working on her Koala Blue fashion empire at this time.

I do think the arrival of acts like Madonna, Janet Jackson and Whitney Houston had taken a lot of her fanbase too..

 

She was always more of a singles artist to me but Control jam packed with amazing pop songs.
Everything after that were pretty much hit or miss.

I'll give her a listen. lucky for me she has a large body of work. Would you consider her a singles artist or album artist? Both?

 

Well, that's for you to decide! I do like a lot of her albums. Her voice isn't everyone's idea of a great one, but she's done some great dance pop. The first couple of albums are SAW pop that were huge here but mostly missed in the States. After this, things pick up. You may enjoy her videos too!!

 

This isn't one of her biggest hits, but I always liked this 2010 song. The video won't make you vomit either!

 

Drowning Pool "Bodies". It was in the Top Ten on the rock charts, when 9/11 occurred. Radio dropped it like a hot potato, it plummeted the week after.

 

Split Enz's Six Months in a Leaky Boat was released in 1982 and shot up the charts in Australia (#2), New Zealand (#7) and Canada (#7) but more or less failed in the UK (#83) after the BBC discouraged playing of the track as it was during the Falklands War and it was felt that the song would be poor for the morale given naval action being taken at the time.

 

Following Devo's huge success in Australia in 1981 and tour of early 1982, WEA released Oh, No! It's Devo in Oct/Nov 1982 right as the radio industry and a few of the major labels were arguing about whether the station should pay higher copyright fees for playing tracks on the radio. As a result, new tracks by the labels' performers were not played during the stand off so Peek-A-Boo! got very little exposure. One Sydney newspaper ran a headline "Why You Won't Be Hearing Devo's New Record".

 

Beat me to it.

 

She had singing talent. But, really, no taste. And assuredly no writing talent to speak of. So she was (and is) at the mercy of the advisers around her.

 

I recall that Spinal Tap had a can't-miss single "Sex Farm" from the album titled "Smell The Glove" that bombed because it's release was delayed.

Apparently the label was "experimenting with new packaging materials."

 

But isn't it possible that's just after the fact rationalizing? Especially in her early days when she wasn't as established as a hit-maker anywhere. I can understand Kylie circa 1998 or whenever saying "screw it - I've got enough money/fans that I don't need the US", but I don't think it makes as much sense circa 1988-90.

Kinda reminds me of this:

Marty: The last time Tap toured America, they where, uh, booked into 10,000 seat arenas, and 15,000 seat venues, and it seems that now, on their current tour they're being booked into 1,200 seat arenas, 1,500 seat arenas, and uh I was just wondering, does this mean uh...the popularity of the group is waning?
Ian: Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no...no, no, not at all. I, I, I just think that the.. uh.. their appeal is becoming more selective.

 

Well, said article was from about a decade ago and she was speaking in the present tense, so this is what I expect was the case. She was doing well enough that she didn't think breaking in the USA was worth the level of effort anymore.

 

Which seems ironic since I think she's put more effort into "US success" over the past decade than she had in years 'n' years. She never toured the US until 2009 - that was a brief club tour, but it still counts! And then she did a "real tour" in 2011...

 

Didn't you say the same thing about Olivia? Lol

 

I was talking about Olivia in the thread you quoted!!!!

 

Lol I remember you mentioning that before too.

 

Pretty much all I ever talk about is Olivia!

 

I'm the same way but with whatever artist I'm currently into.
My partner is probably sick of how much I'm talking about Mariah Carey at the moment. Lol

 

It did become a huge hit in Japan though.

 

Sad that this nation still views a 'breast' as controversial...and exploits it. I still love Janet.

 

Yeah, but I've been into ONJ for nearly 40 years! Just think how sick everyone is of me!!!

Did you try that Kylie song, BTW?

 

"In my honest opinion now … I could've handled it better. I'm part of a community that consider themselves artists. And if there was something I could have done in her defense that was more than I realized then, I would have. But the other half of me was like, "Wow. We still haven't found the weapons of mass destruction and everybody cares about this!" … I probably got 10 percent of the blame, and that says something about society. I think that America's harsher on women. And I think that America is, you know, unfairly harsh on ethnic people." - Justin Timberlake

 

I didn't really enjoy the song at all but I do like these..



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5oM4YOdWAM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhDrJz4rBH0
In fact I enjoy damn near most of the songs on her greatest hits. Thanks for recommending her.
I'll make sure to check out her albums. Any stopping point?

 

Not really. This year's Kiss Me Once wasn't overwhelming, but it wasn't hideous either. 201o's Aphrodite ( this contains All The Lovers, which you didn't like!) is excellent. Other goodies are Light Years and Fever. The latter has CGYOOMH too.

I know you'll start at the beginning, though!

Hope you like her. Anything to get you off Mariah!

 

The first one I could think of. It did get quite a bit of airplay, but since it wasn't in the shops nobody bought it.