Bad choices for lead-off singles

Talking about ‘horrible’ songs like The Girl Is Mine in a world where Macarena was perhaps the biggest hit of the last 30 years...

 

Okay, I will, thanks, Vitalogy was my favourite (out of Ten, Vs, and Vitalogy).

 

I think a few people on the internet say they don't like "The Girl Is Mine" and all of a sudden, almost everyone repeats it, never mind how it was a #two single for three weeks. That's very respectable!

 

"Don't Stop Me Now" never even made the top 40 in the US. Americans belatedly discovered it after it was featured in TV shows and movies, most notably Shaun of the Dead.

 

After feeling kinda ‘okay’ about the band (I was more a metal/Nirvana teenager back then) I remember Vs’ lead single Go really grabbing my attention.
It was like a blast of thunder hearing it on FM radio at the time and reviews about the album already signalled that this was a band that wasn’t going to be pigeonholed. I started to love the band and still think Ten isn’t anywhere near their best work. They hooked me in with playing by their rules.

 

I'm a big PJ fan and I was around the peak of my interest in the band circa 1996...

...and I've never really gotten into "No Code".

In 1996, it sounded like a band trying too hard to be "different", and it still sounds that way to me. It's less a coherent album and more just "hey 'Ten' fans - suck on this!"

 

Bless his heart.

 

That was the second single off morning glory.

 

Yeah, like ‘soft = bad’.
In all honesty, as far as poppy soul-lite goes both MJ lead singles that are mentioned are far from ‘bad’, imo. Although it’s not really my thing, as pleasant pop music I enjoy them.

 

"Thank U" from Alanis Morissette's JLP follow-up album, "Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie" always struck me as kind of a missed opportunity. Even in re-listening to the album, I've always felt that "Front Row", "Baba", and "One" were some of the stronger songs that had that JLP vibe to them to help crossover/bring fans into the new album easier.

I think if she had dropped one of those first and followed it up with "Thank U" as the 2nd single, the album could've had stronger overall sales.

 

Wandering Spirit is a really strong album in my opinion. Jagger's 80s output is lamentable though...

 

To be fair, that one does have some credibility. I've still never met anyone who likes it though, or has probably even heard it.

 

It's soft, it's slushy, it's very mainstream, rather bland, but I think it's OK. Both singers excelled at slushy soft songs.

 

A common theme in the Michael Jackson story - if something is repeated often enough the great unwashed will believe it!

I think with The Girl Is Mine, Michael described the need to get it out of the way - ie as a duet with a high profile artist it needed to be released first so that the focus could then turn to the rest of the album.

 

That's the thing. I never was much into "Ten", thought "Vs" was better, and I see "Vitalogy"/"No Code"/"Yield" as a trilogy. I love how diverse these albums are! I've listened to those three albums countless times.

 

Yeah. If you're going to lead with a mid tempo track unlike your previous hits, it better be good. Pretty weak song IMHO.

 

FWIW, I thought PJ got better across their 1st 3 albums, so I view "Vitalogy" > "Vs" > "Ten".

I just still view "Code" as their conscious attempt to get rid of the non-"dedicated" part of their crowd.

"Vitalogy" dabbled in that with its weirder tracks, but it still had plenty of "rawk out" songs, whereas "Code" largely lacked those...

 

I think artists who come off massive albums - or those who know their albums will get plenty of interest anyway - often toss out a less than ideal debut single and save the better songs for later when they're needed to renew interest.

Which makes sense to me. Alanis's followup to "JLP" was gonna get a ton of attention no matter what the first single was, so why waste a strong single when she doesn't need it to generate interest in the record?

 

I remember when Thank U came out and I loved it. I also think she was riding the high from Uninvited, though my chronology might be off.

 

Fair enough. But did it work in this case?

 

I like the song, but I thought "My Iron Lung" was a bad pick for lead-off single from The Bends, and I've always thought it played a role in the album's slow takeoff.

 

"Break On Through" has that more fiery fire.

 

Yeah I would have expected it to break on through, maybe if they hadn't cut vocals out of it.

 

I remember hearing it and thinking, "this doesn't sound like the same band that made Rumours, and it's really weird" but I also was immediately captivated and loved it.