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

[dickmalone.livejournal.com]

Talking Heads count on a technicality I think--lots of their "best-loved" songs weren't really well-known until Stop Making Sense came out.

Movies are probably a good way to go here. There must be stuff that never really hit it big until they were featured in a movie. I seem to recall the love for "Bohemian Rhapsody" lapsing until Wayne's World revived it but I was like 11 at the time so what would I know.

Alternately, stuff that was sampled or remixed and then the original became a fixture?

[dickmalone.livejournal.com]

Or featured in a TV show, or someone did a cover of it. These tend to actually change the meaning of songs by putting them in a different, and presumably easier-to-love, context.