Greatest has it, but loses points with a horrible edit in Save A Prayer, which can’t be a single edit because that’s not how I heard it in 1985 when it became a hit in Holland. I’m missing Meet El Presidente on Greatest, but the disc is already crammed.
Madonna’s business-savvy. She probably already recognised a career-low in the Who’s That Girl movie. Probably didn’t want any reminder hanging around on a compilation. Celebration didn’t have it either, did it..??
The above post was flippant but the real reason it's probably not there is that they didn't want to include 7 of 12 songs from BITUSA (even though all were top 10s).
...The song, not the album, but .Elvis Presley's " Don't " was a #1, but seemed to not be in El elpees. Mebbe a little too much of a 50s " PULeazze, can I at least get SOME? " song?!? The Temptations " (You're) All I Need " - was it their last single before switching to Norman Whitfield and psychedelic soul? Kind of at the end of an " earlier era ". I recall the old 3-disc LP Tempts Anthology, tho including it, sorta " ho-hum " dismissing it in its liners. Diana Ross/Supremes " The Happening " - because it was from a flop movie? Because Motown didn't have enough of the publishing?
My guess is those songs were country rock staples then, and not hard core enough to make the cut for the 1982 market.
It wasn't the first comp so there was less pressure. They made a trendy choice, emphasizing the lyrics, but also they avoided the repetition of the two 1966 breakout hits for two tracks running on another LP. I mean, those two tunes are not that distinct. I think it was a good move.
If it's called Hot Rocks, it should contain their biggest hits in my opinion. In addition, by including Play With Fire side one begins with 3 slow songs in a row. This is part of the reason I prefer Rolled Gold to Hot Rocks as a compilation of the Abkco material.
It makes no sense to include I Want To Be Your Driver which was not released as a single and is not covered as often as these tracks. The Grateful Dead covered Promised Land for years for example. In addition. Havana Moon was a b-side and did not chart. Here is a list of the 39 most covered Chuck Berry tracks in order according to Fred Rothwell's - Long Distance Information: Chuck Berry's Recorded Legacy. 1. Johnny B. Goode 2. Memphis Tennessee 3. Roll Over Beethoven 4. Sweet Little Sixteen 5. Maybelline 6. Rock And Roll Music 7. Promised Land 8. Little Queenie 9. Around And Around 10. You Never Can Tell 11. Too Much Monkey Business 12. Brown Eyed Handsome Man 13. School Day 14. Let It Rock 15. No Particular Place To Go 16. Bye Bye Johnny 17. Carol 18. Thirty Days 19. Nadine 20. Reelin' And Rockin' 21. I'm Talking About You 22. Back In The U.S.A. 23. Sweet Little Rock And Roller 24. Run Rudolph Run 25. No Money Down 26. Almost Grown 27. You Can't Catch Me 28. Beautiful Delilah 29. Wee Wee Hours 30. My Ding-A-Ling 31. Come On 32. Tulane 33. Downbound Train 34. Guitar Boogie 35. Havana Moon 36. Dear Dad 37. Jaguar And Thunderbird 38. Back To Memphis (Mercury) 39. Oh Baby Doll Track 40 is 6 way tie. The highlighted tracks do not appear on the Great Twenty-Eight.
I would have never have heard Havana moon if not on that great 28 . Awesome song .should have been a hit .
The original Queen Greatest hits was a great compilation when it was released. Pretty much all of their hits (albeit no deep cuts) along with the then new Under Pressure. I always hated what they did to that collection in the 90's. Then again I stopped really listening to the albums released after that so YMMV.
Growing up in the 70's and 80's I heard "Play With Fire" on FM radio way more than "The Last Time". So much that I was surprised to find out it wasn't a hit. But then again neither was "Gimme Shelter" or "Midnight Rambler" or "Under My Thumb" and "Sympathy for the Devil". I think the concept for "Hot Rocks" was to gather their biggest radio hits, not charting hits. Also "You Can't Always Get What You Want" hadn't been released as a single yet so that never charted. *Hit* status was irrelevant to the "Hot Rocks" collection, it was simply their most popular songs whether they charted or not. I don't disagree that "The Last Time" should have been included (it probably should have) but it isn't particularly missed by casual fans...the targeted audience.
"Stone In Love" is my favorite Journey song. It gets tons of radio play to this day and it charted at #13 on the Mainstream Rock chart in 1981. That makes it a hit to me.
I never really heard Play With Fire or The Last Time on the radio where I live in the seventies. Part of reason for Hot Rocks was to include Abkco material from the period after Through The Past Darkly was released. No songs from Let It Bleed or Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out for that matter were included on Through The Past Darkly as it was released before Let It Bleed. Hot Rocks allowed for the inclusion of Gimme Shelter, You Can't Always Get What You Want and Midnight Rambler which had not appeared on a U.S. compilation album yet. In addition, Brown Sugar and Wild Horses had not appeared on compilation yet and were also included due to the Abkco agreement.
I suppose they didn't play it there in "Undisclosed". "Hot Rocks" was my first Stones collection in '86 and I was already familiar with "Play With Fire" from the radio. I could vaguely recall "The Last Time" when I grabbed "More Hot Rocks" and for that reason never considered it *that* essential.
