The most unusual, bizarre, unexpected hit records in music history

[jillfoster]

This sounds like a fun discussion,. Records from any genre that just came out of left field..... songs that either were totally out of place with what was happening at the time, or song that just made you go "WTF?" Or songs that you'd never think would become a hit record.This is my first submission. The second top 40 hit sung by a NUN, but something you'd never expect to like. But it has a funky groove that cannot be denied. She sounds strikingly like Judith Durham as well.

[jillfoster]

And to go in the opposite direction, you would never think in 1968 this song would fly. Granted, drug reference were making their way into music... but I think this song is just SO over the top from a dark place, I don't see any radio station playing it, but they obviously did. Maybe they saw it as a novelty song? This guy creeps me out.

[theboyfromxtown]

This came out of the blue for me. Around the same time as Dominque which was in French. According to the English translation of the lyrics, it's a sad song.

[roger]

Believe it or not .. this was the last U.K. Number 1 of the "Swinging" sixties!!


Roger

[jsmith]

With Rolf Harris getting a mention, thought I'd post up this 1963 US R&B 45 Chart hit !!!!
... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4gru7Ial3k

Rolf Harris' "Tie Me Kangaroo Down Sport" first came out in the US on 20th Century Fox [[# 207 in August 1960). He did a promo visit to America & wobble boards were provided to guests on TV shows such as Clay Cole's Music Show in New York & the record was played on the show & members of the studio audience provided with boards.
When re-issued on Epic the track was a big US national R&B chart hit [[Top 20 Billboard R&B hit in summer 1963).

[soulster]

Well, this is the flipside that has reportedly emptied a pizza parlor:

[soulster]

[antceleb12]

Going back to the Nun theme, there was "Dominique" by the Singing Nun from 1963.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHhyyRByuJ0

Also, anything by Tiny Tim.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_PLWqnfFgU

[roger]

Well, this is the flipside that has reportedly emptied a pizza parlor:

?yfilauq yllaer ti seod retsluoS edis "B" eht saw taht as tuB



regoR

[heikki]

Hi!

http://youtu.be/urSewFIIe0Q

An answer song to Napoleon.

Best regards
Heikki

[Kamasu_Jr]

Since this is Soulful Detroit, I'll pick an R&B song. It's filthy but all entendre.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBOwgkMmlUc

[roger]

Since this is Soulful Detroit, I'll pick an R&B song. It's filthy but all entendre.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBOwgkMmlUc

Here is one from an R&B act that got to #1 in both the U.S. and the U.K. in 1972 and is also full of innuendo ..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaEC-lWSlmI

Rather unsurprisingly it only got to #42 on Billboard's R&B chart ..

Roger

[theboyfromxtown]

Since this is Soulful Detroit, I'll pick an R&B song. It's filthy but all entendre.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBOwgkMmlUc

And that led to me seeing this one

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0TDNR3NEY0

[Hotspurman]

This achieved notoriety for preventing Ultravox' Vienna from topping the British charts in 1981....http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFacWGBJ_cs

[R. Mark Desjardins]

How about Norma Tanega's "Walkin' My Cat named Dog" as a contender for a strange left field hit!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPZVrmJ2HH8

[Kamasu_Jr]

This was one just when you thought he was over.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9BLDibPEg0

[soulster]

?yfilauq yllaer ti seod retsluoS edis "B" eht saw taht as tuB



regoR

!ti ta kool uoy woh no sdneped lla it esoppus I

[jdwheat]

You all may know that the song "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye" by Steam was never intended to be a hit at all, much less a number one. Songwriter Gary DeCarlo, as Garrett Scott, had been signed to Mercury Records, and brought several quality upbeat pop songs and ballads to the label to be recorded.

According to music writer Fred Bronson, the Garrett Scott songs were to be released as singles, but Mercury needed one more track to fill a B-side. So DeCarlo and his producer, Paul Leka, pulled up a song he had written in the early '60s, "Kiss Him Goodbye," and re-recorded it with a skeleton crew of musicians. They needed some extra percussion, so Leka spliced in and beefed up a drum track from another Garrett Scott recording, added handclaps, then extended it with the "na nas" and "hey heys," no one bothering to revised with additional lyrics. They fattened it up and left it at that.

After hearing the song, Mercury's A&R guy Bob Reno said he thought the song was too good to be just a B-side, and he needed to release another record on the subsidiary Fontana label that year [[1969), so he got DeCarlo's permission to do that, although DeCarlo didn't want the Garrett Scott name to be associated with the record. So the song was released under the mythical group name of Steam.

The rest is history, as they say. NNHHKHB took off on radio and in clubs while Garrett Scott's [[DeCarlo's) records flopped [[which is a shame, some of them were pretty good - check out the Garrett Scott Mercury 45 version of "Workin' on a Groovy Thing" on YouTube). The story of what happened next is murky -- Bronson says that DeCarlo was so miffed at this turn of events that he refused to be involved with any Steam recordings/performances, leaving Leka and Reno to scrounge up a group of musicians to go do that. DeCarlo, however, says that he was willing go out with the Steam group [[presumably on a Garrett Scott & Steam tour), but Leka and Reno nixed that idea and left DeCarlo out in the cold. So who's to say what happened.

Why was it such a hit? I think DeCarlo and the others overlooked the fact that:

[[1) The song has a doggone funky beat, right up there with some Sly & the Family Stone or Dyke & the Blazers records from that period. They anticipated the up-and-coming funk style of the time -- it's very danceable.

[[2) The track was extended to discourage airplay by AM disc jockeys [[since it was an obvious B-side), but by extending the song, they accidentally anticipated the 12-inch dance versions of club tracks, which made it all the more popular in go-gos and early discos. [[Not to mention that break beat at the 1:45 mark)

[[3) Never underestimate the public's love for nonsense lyrics. "Nananana, nananana, hey hey hey, goodbye..." Who wouldn't love chanting that? It was one of the first mass chants for sports crowds, perfect for when the final seconds are ticking away and your team is winning. Even Snoop Dogg used it at the end of his concerts... "nananana, nananana, hey snoop dogg..."

One of the most fascinating unanticipated hits in pop music history.

[[Much of this info came from the "Billboard Book of Number One Hits" by Fred Bronson.)

[skooldem1]

Tiptoe Through the Tulips- Tiny Tim
Disco Duck-Rick Dees
Kung Fu Fighting-Carl Douglas
Don't Worry be happy- Bobby McFerrin

[jsmith]

RE: ...... So [[Gary) DeCarlo and his producer, Paul Leka, pulled up a song he had written in the early '60s, "Kiss Him Goodbye," and re-recorded it with a skeleton crew of musicians. They needed some extra percussion, so Leka spliced in and beefed up a drum track from another Garrett Scott recording, added handclaps, then extended it with the "na nas" and "hey heys," no one bothering to revised with additional lyrics. They fattened it up and left it at that.

Paul Leka bought his own studio out of the money he made when the track was a massive hit. It was up in Bridgeport, Connecticut [[Connecticut Recording Studio). He cut a few soul acts up there; Jimmy Jackson [[Buddah), the Hitchhikers [[with Kenny Hamber -- ABC) and others. BUT pop stuff was his main focus.