Outside (the Top 40) Looking In: 10 Very Well-Known Songs That Stalled at #41
Throughout the 1950s, ’60s, and ’70s, there were many, many, many songs that never achieved the rarified air of the Billboard Top 40. Be that as it may, reaching the popular music Top 40 has always been the standard of success, the bar by which most of the general public measures a first-rate song as opposed to simply a good effort — or a bad one. Of course, a lot of songs that did reach the Top 40 were horrible, embarrassing, and forgettable, so that doesn’t mean that every song that reached the charts was legendary for its excellence. But perhaps that’s what makes not reaching the Top 40 even worse: it’s a significant achievement, but the standards aren’t that exacting.
But how about if you stalled at #41 — just one place out? That has happened a fair amount of times, but what’s really puzzling is when a song we now know very well stalled there. I did an article in REBEAT last January called “10 Classic ’70s Songs That Didn’t Originally Make the Top 40 (Though You Probably Think They Did),” and there were two #41s there: Elton John’s “Tiny Dancer” and David Bowie’s “Changes” (though I didn’t identify the latter as such — it charted twice, first at #66 in 1972, then at #41 in 1974). Today, I want to look at some other popular songs that barely missed the Top 40, but if you’re like me, you’ll not only be surprised that they stalled at #41, but most are so well known, you may be just as surprised that some of them weren’t actually Top 10.
1) “Corrine, Corrina,” Joe Turner (1956)
If you don’t know the work of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee “Big” Joe Turner, I encourage you to get out there and give his stuff a listen. He did the first version of “Shake Rattle and Roll,” which is considered a seminal rock and roll song, and his contributions to early rock music are legendary. He recorded most of his hits at a time when black artists weren’t played on white radio, and so he really never had any pop Top 40 success — although he had an incredible 17 Top 10 hits on the Billboard R&B charts. The first crossover hit he ever had was 1956’s “Corrine, Corrina,” a song you may have heard, if not by Turner, by Ray Peterson (which went Top 10 in 1960), Jerry Lee Lewis, Bill Haley and His Comets, Steppenwolf, Rod Stewart, or Boz Scaggs. But Turner only managed to hit #41 with it, sadly making it the closest he ever came to having a pop hit.
2) “Little Darlin’,” The Gladiolas (1957)
“Little Darlin'” is, without question, a rock ‘n’ roll classic that epitomizes the sound of the 1950s. But like Turner, the Gladiolas recorded at a time when many of the great hits by black artists weren’t even played on white radio unless you heard a cover version by a white group. That’s what happened here: the Canadian group the Diamonds recorded their version which held at #2 on the pop charts for eight weeks and finished #3 in sales for the whole year. Though the Gladiolas didn’t score a pop hit with their version, after changing their name to Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs, by 1961 they’d rule the pop charts with their #1 hit “Stay.”
3) “From Me to You,” The Beatles (1964)
It’s hard enough to believe that any Beatles song didn’t break to Top 10, but not even the Top 40? And a well-known song? But that’s the case here, but there’s an explanation of sorts. “From Me to You” was the B-side of the #3 hit “Please Please Me,” so maybe that explains why the sales weren’t enough to lift it into the Top 40. On the other hand, “I Feel Fine” hit #1 and its B-side, “She’s a Woman,” hit #4; “We Can Work it Out” hit #1 and its flip “Day Tripper” charted at #5; “Penny Lane” went to #1 and “Strawberry Fields Forever” landed at #8; and “Come Together” and “Something,” the A and B sides, both hit #1! Then again, maybe we should be asking why “From Me to You” didn’t make it past #41…
4) “Okie From Muskogee,” Merle Haggard (1969)
Haggard’s ode to middle America, patriotism, and the perplexing state of affairs in this country in the late 1960s, while clearly country music, was fairly ubiquitous on popular-music AM radio stations in 1969. Haggard said the song was a result of his own confusion about just what the hell was going on in America at the time in terms of the Vietnam War, drug use, hippies, protests, and more. It has been a ’60s-based-movie-and-TV-soundtrack staple pretty much ever since, having surfaced in Platoon, Mad Men, and others. Like every song on this list, it stalled right outside the Top 40, but it did reach #1 on the Billboard country charts.
5) “One Chain Don’t Make No Prison,” The Four Tops (1974)
The name Motown brings to mind many of the most successful acts in the history of music, and that Detroit sound certainly had a grip on the 1960s. But over the years the label changed dramatically, and in 1967, Holland, Dozier, and Holland, the unparalleled songwriters, had also broken with Motown, and many acts felt their loss quite pointedly. Levi Stubbs of the Four Tops once said that after the trio left, they didn’t feel like they really had anybody writing “for them” like they once did, and slowly but surely, the hits dried up. When Motown relocated to the West Coast in 1972, the Tops stayed behind, and signed with ABC Dunhill. This brought about a bit of a rejuvenation for their careers: they hadn’t had a Top 10 hit since 1966, but almost immediately scored with “Keeper of the Castle “(#10), “Ain’t No Woman (Like the One I’ve Got)” (#4), and “Are You Man Enough?” (#15). A few songs later, they released “One Chain Don’t Make No Prison,” a quality song that surprisingly stalled at #41.
Oddly enough, and to the surprise of many I’m sure, the song’s poor performance was indicative of the group’s soon-to-be downward trajectory; they would never have another Top 40 hit for ABC.
6) “La Grange,” ZZ Top (1974)
Like almost all of the songs on this list, this song is so well known and even now so often played that it’s surprising it didn’t make the Billboard Top 40. The most famous cut from their iconic album Tres Hombres, the song is now considered one of the greatest guitar songs of all time. Back in the ’70s though, ZZ Top was not a successful singles band, and only “Tush” made the Top 40 — and only reached #20 at that. That would all change when Eliminator was released in 1983, however.
7) “Rock And Roll Never Forgets,” Bob Seger (1976)
Bob Seger was just starting to entrench himself firmly in the pop/rock music scene in 1976. He’d had a little chart success up to that point, though prior to 1976 he’d only had one song break into the Top 40 (“Ramblin’, Gamblin’ Man” hit #17 in 1969). But when he released his Night Moves album in 1976, things started to change. The titular song went to #4, and in ’77, “Mainstreet” also made the Top 40. The next release from the album, “Rock and Roll Never Forgets,” a song that has now long been a staple of FM and XM radio play, didn’t quite make it to the Top 40, hence its appearance here. But looking at Seger’s releases, it’s obvious that a lot of his very well-known songs didn’t quite chart either: “Katmandu” stalled at #43, “Horizontal Bop” stalled at #42, and “The Fire Down Below” didn’t chart at all. Based on those songs alone, Seger may well be the king of well-known songs that didn’t quite crack the charts.
8) “I Need to Know,” Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (1978)
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers released three singles in 1977, and not a one made the Hot 100 before they re-released “Breakdown,” and it squeaked in at #40. It would seem they had broken the threshold, but their next release stalled at #41 — “I Need To Know.” Given that it’s a staple of rock radio now, one would think it was as much of a hit as “Refugee,” “Don’t Do Me Like That,” “Don’t Come Around Here No More,” and others. But despite the fact that the group had 26 singles make the Top 100 between 1977 and 2006 — a span of success that in itself is incredible — they’ve never made a big dent on the pop charts, with only two songs in the Top 10. The rock charts, established in 1981, are a different story, where they’ve had 10 #1’s. But during REBEAT’s focus years, that chart didn’t exist, and thus this well-known song was on the outside looking in at #41.
9) “Ease On Down The Road,” Michael Jackson with Diana Ross (1978)
I’ll be honest here and tell you that unlike the opinion shared by what was apparently the majority of the free world, I was never a Michael Jackson fan, though I did like Diana Ross’ music, both with the Supremes and as a solo artist (pre-disco). This song, from the movie soundtrack for The Wiz, features Ross as Dorothy and Jackson as the Scarecrow singing what became the theme song for the movie, a film that was a modern version of The Wizard of Oz. Ross and Jackson were nominated for a Grammy for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group (although Earth, Wind, and Fire won that year), but despite the accolades, the song stalled just outside the Top 40.
10) “Good Times Roll” and “It’s All I Can Do,” The Cars (1979)
The Cars’ first two charting singles came in 1978: “Just What I Needed” (#27) and “My Best Friend’s Girl”(#35). Next up was “Good Times Roll,” which stalled at #41. Then came “Let’s Go,” which peaked at #14. Having three of your first four singles crack the Top 40 is pretty good by anyone’s standards.
Then, unlike anyone else on this list — and maybe anyone else, ever — they had another record stall at #41 that same year, “It’s All I Can Do.” Both “Good Times Roll” and “It’s All I Can Do” are really fine songs, and it’s surprising that even one, and especially both, didn’t quite make the Top 40.
While up above I said Bob Seger may be the king of well-known songs that didn’t quite make the Top 40, I can state unequivocally that the Cars could be called the “kings of records that stalled at #41.” Not only did these recordings do that, three years later they would have a third song do so. Unbelievably, in 1982 “Since You’re Gone” also stalled at #41, a dubious distinction indeed.
