Canon-forming and pop

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

On today's poll thread Cis raises the spectre (which may be a benign spectre, and may not be spectral at all) of a 'pop canon'.

I have a couple of questions which may or may not relate to it:

Are there any very well-known (and ideally well-loved) pop songs that weren't especially popular when first released?

Are there any very well-known and well-loved pop songs that have never actually been hit singles?

Comments

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Would love to answer in-depth but ironing-ically am up to elbows in canonning!

For 2nd qn you must obv look to major albums that sold squillions so everyone knows the non-single tracks OR stuff that was airplayed but never got round to being released ('Ring The Alarm' for example). Worryingly the one example that keeps springing to mind is 'Idioteque' by the Radioheads. Wasn't a single but everyone knows it. Whether they love it or not is a different matter.

[freakytigger.livejournal.com]

I think our versions of "everyone" may differ here! The everyone who knows Billie Jean and the everyone who knows Idiotheque are likely to be a scale apart I feel!

[katstevens.livejournal.com]

Good point. Idioteque got fairly heavy radio play on R1/Xfm circa release of Kid A but it wasn't played at anyone's wedding disco (apart from Thom Yorke's hahahahah).

Man the canon results are interesting. Song 2 is second in the Blurillaz canon! What are the chances etc!

[carsmilesteve.livejournal.com]

but the point is solid i think, see um every track off of "what's the story..." (Champ Sup in partic) for the second bit anyways.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

With indie albums I can think of a fair few non-singles which "got people talking" and so on - and in some cases they're well-known precisely because of their unsuitability as a single. Er I can think of no actual examples right now though.

I think 'Ring The Alarm' counts as a single! The internet has broken global boundaries when it comes to this sort of thing.

[awesomewells.livejournal.com]

I don't think Ring The Alarm counts in the Pop Canon though - not next to Crazy In Love or Irreplaceable anyway. I'm assuming it's singles or individual songs that make the canon, not artists.

[alexmacpherson.livejournal.com]

I think it should, there's an increasing trend for popstars to release different singles in different territories but all of them get...known, in the end. eg Britney's 'Anticipating', or Nelly F's 'No Hay Igual'.

[jauntyalan.livejournal.com]

i don't know idioteque. for because it is by RH