the most famous album track that is not a title track, was never a single, and is not known because of its use in a movie soundtrack, TV ad, etc.

xpost SWTH was a single (eventually) in UK.

but i'd say the best examples might be where the song is featured on a really celebrated or massive album, lending it notoriety by association.

maybe nirvana's 'drain you'

pink floyd's 'shine on you crazy diamond'?

(Though the cover version was a single for The Manhattan Transfer, does that count?)

Well, I've never heard either incarnation of 'Birdland', but then Weather Report never really made it in the UK.

Black Hole Sun was definitely a single in the UK - can't speak for the US though.

"Stairway to Heaven" OTM.

As for #2, hmm lemme think...

I think there is a single edit of Won't Get Fooled Again.

I know a few of my friends became more aware of WGFA after seeing Summer Of Sam.

And it's popularity has very little to do with Summer of Sam. That's like saying everybody knows Stairway To Heaven cause it was referenced in Wayne's World.

9 Who Won't Get Fooled Again Jul 1971

OK? End.

I think the only movie Zeppelin tracks are actually used it was Almost Famous.

ok so we ve got a winner or potential winners from the 60's and 70's lets hear it for the 80's and 90's ones! can't think of many.

was CHAMPAGNE SUPERNOVA a single? i know there was a video but...

-- Charlie Howard (charlieflie...), September 27th, 2006. (later)

I tend to disagree, simply because a lot of children are fed Beatles compared to Zep.. I had to get into Led Zeppelin on my own, whereas my parents drowned me in every Beatles song possible from an early age.. I suspect this is the same for a lot of people, although of course a lot of kids also got the Zep childhood treatment.. Beatles are generally seen as more "kid friendly."

I'm getting away with myself.. I just think something like "When I'm 64" would be closer to a cross-cultural recognization.

And yes Champagne Supernova was apparently released in Australia - though I thought that was one of the singles in the WTSMG boxed set; I was incorrect. I tend to agree with Snrub that if they release a video to promote the song it may as well be called a "single," single pressing notwithstanding.

Also, was "Freebird" a single? That would count, too, if it wasn't.

As for Beatles, go with most of the non-single tracks that were included on the red and blue albums.

For 90's stuff, several album tracks from Nevermind, Ten, Siamese Dream and Superunknown qualify.

-- billstevejim (tummlerandsolomo...), September 27th, 2006.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ten???

superunknown????

what. are. these. records?????

The Who song in Summer of Sam was Baba O'Riley, not WGFA.

(sure, it's been used in advertising and movies, but long after it became a classic rock staple)

Just for the record, I will say that this is probably "You Enjoy Myself".

My memory may be faulty here, but I'm pretty sure I used to own a single with this and "Life On Mars" on it. You know, now I'm thinking about it, I "Laughing Gnome" might have been on that record too!

Hmmm...howbout "Bad To The Bone"?

"Freebird", "Won't Get Fooled Again" and "Black Dog" all went top 40 in the US.

"Michelle" was never a single in the UK nor US, but has been a single elsewhere (like in Norway)

Was Dylan's Hard rain's Gonna Fall ever released as a single?

Moving away from rock, "Reasons" by Earth, Wind and Fire is super fucking well known. Neither studio nor live versions made it to 45 rpm.

Btw. was "Happy New Year" by ABBA ever a single?

Nah.

Btw (I just got on this thread to derail it apparently) I saw something really weird a couple months back...they were playing "Here Comes Your Man" between innings at a baseball game!! This was weirder than hearing the Pixies at Buffalo Wild Wings!

uhhh...Does Grateful Dead's "Truckin" or "Casey Jones" count at all?

So yeah Casey Jones by the Dead.

Nope. It was released as a single in the US

I thought both were used actually. My mistake.
-- billstevejim (tummlerandsolomo...), September 27th, 2006.

OH, IT TURNS OUT I WAS RIGHT AFTERALL.

ancient thread but we never really settled this IMO. a hard question to answer.

yeah because of the conditions. "Stairway" was never a single in the US, no, but Zep shipped promo 7"s of the song to FM stations on 11/8/1971 which led to FM stations (who could play 8-minute songs) playing the shit out of it and then in reciprocal fashion led to an assload of requests. so yeah, it wasn't a 'single', but it didn't have the organic uptick in popularity some of the other album tracks itt had, it grew in much the same fashion as singles did, through radio play....

When I'm 64 is known in the UK as a TV theme - Points of View, which is where I first heard it probably.

Correct answer is Edelweiss from the Sound of Music.

aor radio format hits like "stairway" et al should basically be considered 'singles'

That's redefining the question imo. There is a difference.

8 years on i was still going to say the chain

i need a holiday

Metallica- Fade to Black

The Chain is probably best known in the UK as a TV Theme (Forumula One).

Stevie Wonder's "Isn't She Lovely" is fairly ubiquitous and wasn't a single.

Was on commercials

It wasn't issued as a single in the US (it was in the UK), but a radio edit was played on US top 40 stations.

Well one Beatles song that wasn't mentioned which I think might be a good candidate would be Octopus's Garden.

It wasn't a single in the UK either.

(Stevie, I mean)

Trying to think of a Doors example that isn't ruled out by films or ads, and the best I can come up with is Waiting For The Sun.

what about 'whole lotta love'? i think it was eventually reissued as a single in the UK in the 90s but it was already famous by that point?

Top of the Pops, innit.

Loads of v famous Beatles tunes weren't singles surely.

No mention yet of all those big 90s radio hits like "Lovefool" and "And I Don't Want the World to See Me"?

you want the thread about tracks that WERE singles, in movie soundtracks etc

Various, given the thread premise:

1) Beatles - well, pick any/many: "Michelle", "Norwegian Wood", "I am the walrus" (I know, b-side, obv), "Here comes the sun" ...

Was "Happy Birthday To You" an actual single?

I mean, I know it features in "The Deer Hunter" but.

Lennon's "Jealous Guy" would have been a pretty good contender but apparently it was released as a single...in 1985 !

Roxy version was a single after Lennon was shot.

but the idea is that the original song has never been a single, TV ad, movie sdtrck, etc, isn't it ?

The Beatles have to own this. Always impressed by how many people request I Saw Her Standing There, which admittedly was a B-side to I Wanna Hold Your Hand, but y'know...

Led Zep's "Kashmir" was never a single, was it ?

Pretty sure the Lennon version of Jealous Guy isn't very familiar to the general public. I'd argue both Gimme Some Truth and How Do You Sleep are more 'famous' songs on Imagine. xpost

what !?

no

c'mon, jealous guy is the second most famous song off 'imagine', possibly in his solo career?

swear i'd never heard it before the Ferry remake. even now it's nowhere near as popular over here IMO.

Second most famous song off Imagine is an argument to be made, but in terms of famous Lennon song it's behind Woman, Just Like Starting Over, Beautiful Boy, Watching The Wheels, Nobody Told Me in terms of public recognition I reckon.

solo Lennon is real unknown nowadays, i'm betting there's not 1% of your Man In The Street types that could sing the chorus of Watching The Wheels or Beautiful Boy. they're crap aswell not that it matters.

Beautiful Boy, Watching The Wheels, Nobody Told Me

^ i have no idea what these songs sound like tbh, but i could fart jealous guy in my sleep. sample size of one not very helpful i know but

fwiw, "Jealous Guy" is n°3 on spotify (behind "Imagine" and "Woman") and n°2 on itunes (behind "Imagine) as Lennon's most popular...

Beautiful Boy, Watching The Wheels, Nobody Told Me

My Dad's a big fan of Watching the Wheels, but the other two are relatively obscure in my experience.
Woman is quite well known. #9 Dream, Instant Karma and Happy Xmas (War Is Over) are all better known than any of these.

Is anyone seriously claiming that these Lennon songs are more famous than "Stairway"? I can understand picking something like "Happy Birthday".

yeah, anyway, "Jealous Guy" is out since it was released as a single later on.

no we're just arguing about what the second most famous lennon song is now. #derail

"Jealous Guy" was famous before it was made a single, long after the event. Same with "Stairway to Heaven"

Whereas Lennon's "Love" wasn't that well known until it was a single.

Point being, the first two are in for consideration whereas the last isn't.

Right. Moving on...

Someone mentioned "Sympathy for the Devil" : pretty good suggestion !

Sympathy For The Devil was released as a single in several countries though.

does it really matter if a song was released in some countries or a long time after if it wasn't released as a single initially and mainly ?
cos I'm pretty sure you can find a release of "Stairway to heaven" somewhere or much later too !

something by fleetwood mac. maybe 'the chain'?

― electric sound of jim [and why not] (electricsound), Thursday, 28 September 2006 03:17 (8 years ago) Permalink

yep, but it would be "Landslide" which was never a single in any country. (a live version was a hit single 20 years later, but the original studio version had long been a radio staple by that time and remains the more familiar rendition. Also used in a Budweiser Super Bowl advert a few years back).

Eagles "Desperado" also a contender.

I couldn't hum Jealous Guy.

"Sympathy for the Devil" was a double A side at the time with "Honky Tonk Women", according to the promo on http://www.45cat.com/record/f13635

There's not been a ruling on b-sides, though, has there?

Well it's a fair point about it being released as a single after the original release, and 1976 is pretty long after the original release, but yeah it was also released as a single in Japan in 1969 and in mainland Europe in the early 70s.

oops missed that it was a re-release. Got it confused with "You can't always get what you want" which was the b-side at the time.

OK, let's forget about "Sympathy" then.
As for b-sides, I suppose they're not included, are they ?

Shouldn't be, really.

no?

http://www.paulbarsch.de/files/gimgs/16_yes_view1.jpg

(Guess what's on the a-side)

Nirvana's Man Who Sold The World is pretty well known. the 7th most popular Nirvana song on Spotify.

OK, how about "About a Boy" ?

cos I'm pretty sure you can find a release of "Stairway to heaven" somewhere or much later too !

Well, was it?

upthread folk suggest that was a single from Unplugged?

speaking of Bowie only 2 Ziggy tracks were singles and Five Years, Moonage Daydream and Hang Onto Yourself are all mega-known but again no competition for your big Fabs/ Zep hitters i.. guess.

but the idea is that the original song has never been a single, TV ad, movie sdtrck, etc, isn't it ?

― AlXTC from Paris, Wednesday, March 18, 2015 7:57 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I thought it was that the song had become famous because of a TV ad or movie, not that it had never been used in one. If someone made a commercial using "The Chain" in the '00s they were using it because it was a well known song, not plucking some obscure gem from the past like Wes Anderson or those car ad guys who used "Pink Moon"

apparently, wiki says "Stairway" was a single in 72 in... the Philippines ! with the song split in two 4min parts on the sides : that must be a collector !
Then in Brazil in 78.

I thought it was that the song had become famous because of a TV ad or movie, not that it had never been used in one. If someone made a commercial using "The Chain" in the '00s they were using it because it was a well known song, not plucking some obscure gem from the past like Wes Anderson or those car ad guys who used "Pink Moon"

― Is It Any Wonder I'm Not the (President Keyes), mercredi 18 mars 2015 15:38 (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Oh I think we agree on this. I also think songs that were released as a single a long time after the initial release of the album and that were famous by then should count.

The Chain is definitely best known as 'the Formula One theme' in the UK

Dylan's "Mr Tambourine Man" ?

It was mentioned in passing upthread, but "Baba O'Riley" was always a radio staple, and was never released as a single in the US or UK. It was well-known years before Spike Lee used it in "Summer of Sam," before whatever CSI show it's used in now, and before it was used in car ad(s).

Question:

If a song/recording isn't a single, not a commercial, not used in a film and not 'played to death on Rock radio" or whatever..

What would make it famous?

I don't think the "played to death on radio" is a problem though.

I can't think of any other song in this situation that would be more famous than "Stairway".

I think we already gave the gold medal to Stairway, or perhaps something by the Beatles

we're just looking for runners-up now

and as was mentioned there was a push to get Stairway played on the radio at the time of its release as a means to drive album sales, making it a de facto single in the sense that MTV videos in the 90s with no physical single release were.

I'm interested in how other non-singles ended up getting a Classic Rock radio presence. Obv. stuff off of Rumours got played because that album was so huge.

how is this not Fuck Tha Police

interesting.

Isn't She Lovely, Stevie Wonder is runner up.

yeah "isn't she lovely" is a good one.
also "mr tambourine man", I think.

you mean Dylan's version?

yup

how is this not Fuck Tha Police

sorry, this was made famous the upcoming NWA biopic

I guess we were discounting Fuck Tha Police cos Dave Q mentioned it upthread and then said it was a single, but yeah, that's not right is it?

it was not a single!

lol at the idea of releasing that song with that title at that time as a single

"Fuck the Police" is even more impressive than "Stairway" since it became famous with almost zero radio airplay.

There are probably fewer 60 years who know it by heart though

I dunno, is "Stairway" really that famous in 2015? I don't know how to measure it but I'd feel ok saying that "Fuck the Police" is more famous now.

like, I was thinking about the Doors, and was gonna suggest "The End", and then I said, c'mon, who knows that song in 2015, and then thought about Stairway and began to doubt whether it remains a touchstone, or even known really, by anyone who isn't a music nerd under the age of 30.

also The End; movie soundtrack!

xpost hmm i dunno

There are two Stairway videos on Youtube with over 60 million views each, along with a bunch of other one with views in the tens of millions

the most popular "Fuck the Police" video has around 4 million views

hey guys fyi Led Zeppelin is still v popular

Lol at the delusion that Stairway to heaven is not an incredibly popular song anymore.

my 4-month old son has never heard Stairway, so it seems like it's falling out of collective memory

I assume he knows Fuck tha Police by heart

Fuck tha Police may be well-known among rap fans, but I don't think it's universally famous or anything... People in their 30s or older might remember the controversy, but I'm sure the majority of them still wouldn't recognize the song, except for the title phrase.

...

Put it this way, if Britney comes out on America got talent and sings "Fuck the police", what percentage of the audience will be going "Hmm, unusual choice"?

given your initial answer in this thread Tuomas...

oh I guess "The End" was in a movie, yeah, I don't really know movies so I should just stay out of this thread

i only know "jealous guy" as "child of nature". aside from that only solo lennon i know is "imagine", "beautiful boy" (i think it was in a wes anderson movie or something) and "instant karma".

Rosalita is a contendah, at least in NJ.

no idea how that goes.

I'm interested in how other non-singles ended up getting a Classic Rock radio presence. Obv. stuff off of Rumours got played because that album was so huge.

― Is It Any Wonder I'm Not the (President Keyes), Wednesday, 18 March 2015 15:56 (Yesterday) Permalink

Classic Rock radio is based on the most popular songs that were played on album-oriented rock (AOR) radio in the '70s and '80s, and the whole premise of AOR stations was to play songs from bands like Zep and Floyd whose popularity came from album sales and concert attendance rather than top-40 hits. The AOR DJs would sometimes even call out the "deep cuts" they were about to air, pointing out they were playing more songs from new albums from major rock acts than you'd hear on top-40 radio. Of course many classic-rock staples were also hit singles, but again these generally stem from the other premise of AOR radio back in the day, which was to play rock hits but not pop, R&B, country, or dance/disco hits.

Would a song like 'black magic woman' by fleetwood mac count? Was not a single nor title track, is not known because of ost but because Santan covered it.

i misread that as satan first :X

Ahah. rocknroll is evil !

Unfortunately..

http://www.discogs.com/Fleetwood-Mac-Black-Magic-Woman/master/277662

Oooh dammit. well but would a famous cover count in this thread? I'm sure there are some original songs to be found that were not released as singles and made famous by their cover versions.

There's for example this demo of a certain song made famous by cindy lauper and which was not even properly released in any album:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aLNwOxPsjg

Oooh dammit. well but would a famous cover count in this thread? I'm sure there are some original songs to be found that were not released as singles and made famous by their cover versions.

― ✖✖✖ (Moka), vendredi 20 mars 2015 00:40 (10 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I think it's OK if the original covered song is also famous by itself, for instance Dylan's Mr Tambourine Man which is at least as famous as the Byrds cover (and I think more famous nowadays).

Isn't Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" an example of this? It wasn't a single, was not famous at all until it was covered by others, but thanks to the cover versions the original has become popular too.

Yeah, it's a good one too. although I'm not sure it's the most famous version of the song (J. Buckley's ?)

I hate my job:

http://www.discogs.com/Leonard-Cohen-Hallelujah/master/472111

well, even the cover versions of "Hallelujah" were made popular because of inclusions in Shrek and 9/11 Memorial dreck

anyway, so "Hallelujah" is out too !
as for the song being popular because of Shrek and 9/11 : what !?

Buckley version entered the charts after media started using it in sappy 9/11 montages

Or started getting radio AirPlay rather

oh OK. in the US maybe then. but it was already very famous.
it's actually the new "stairway to heaven" (Wayne's world reference) : there was an article in Slate (french version, don't know if it's in english too) about the fact that it's among the most researched and popular guitar tabs on the net !

that said, is it out because of the singles in the Netherlands and Spain ?
Cos in that case "Stairway" is out too because of the single in the Philippines !

Hm, didn't know about this Filipino 7" release where the song was split up into two halves. That would seem to disqualify "Stairway".

frankly, I find it a bit silly to disqualify songs because they were released years later as a single or because they were only singles in some "minor" countries (no offence Spain, Philippines and Netherlands !)

there's whole book about how "Hallelujah" became popular

I always felt the purpose of this thread was to identify songs that became huge organically, without outside help.

True, to the letter of the law, Stairway wasn't a single, but the label encouraging it's play by dispensing 7" promos to every FL station means it might as well have been one given its popularity's reliance on radio play.

"Fuck the Police" seems a better example as it was this underground thing that blew up and would have a significant influence on pop music a few years later

"Wagon Wheel" - in the years before last year's cover/single.

Idk, the OP suggested Pink Floyd's "Money".
xpost

There's a difference between a two-halved disc from the Phillipines, and actual a-sides in Spain and Netherlands.

Firstly, a tenner will get you the Hallelujah single.

The Stairway single is around $300

Also, are there really that many places where NWA and "Fuck tha Police" are household names among e.g. middle-aged office workers and soccer Moms?

FM's "Landslide" seems like a good answer.

Many rap fans from the 80s are in their 50 now, there's an NWA movie coming out...even non-rap fans quote it. Maybe not as far reaching as a Stairway but it was a fledgling scene that sprouted on its own.

The Stairway single is around $300

I wonder how they cut the song in two. it's quite a silly idea !

I'm sure there are some original songs to be found that were not released as singles and made famous by their cover versions.

NIN's Hurt has some tens of millions of Youtube views spread across a couple videos.

Or was that a single...?

Ah, I guess it kinda was.

OMG, I just skipped to the 4:01 mark in "Stairway", thinking it might be the start of the guitar fanfare section. It's right in the middle of the guitar strumming during a "makes me wonder" chorus".

Hurt was fairly huge when NiN released it though, Cash just gave it a second wind.

I used to hear it twice an hour when flipping between rock stations. Even recorded a terrible parody of it in high school

Xxxposts

regarding "Fuck tha Police" I think it might be a contender but only in the US then.
I doubt many people particularly know it elsewhere except if you're a late 30/early 40 who was really into hiphop as a teenager...
It's definitely nowhere near as ubiquitous as the big 70s tracks mentioned.

OMG, I just skipped to the 4:01 mark in "Stairway", thinking it might be the start of the guitar fanfare section. It's right in the middle of the guitar strumming during a "makes me wonder" chorus".

ahah. but didn't they cut at 4:04 ?

Ha, my comment still stands at 4:04.

hum. ok, 4:04 wouldn't change much. the beginning of the following verse being around 4:20...
makes me wonder !

I doubt the timings are acccurate.

It has, what, four sections?

maybe they changed the speed of the song to make it fit the sides !

if you're a late 30/early 40 who was really into hiphop as a teenager...

ime this is the vast majority of people this age and you didn't have to be "really into" hip hop at the time, the song and the group were notorious, at the center of a massive public media firestorm etc. and a few years later Dre would be one of the hugest/most famous/most important rap producers ever so um yeah people know this

and tbf NOTHING is as ubiquitous as the big 70s rock tracks mentioned because lol boomers/structure of the industry

ime this is the vast majority of people this age and you didn't have to be "really into" hip hop at the time, the song and the group were notorious, at the center of a massive public media firestorm etc. and a few years later Dre would be one of the hugest/most famous/most important rap producers ever so um yeah people know this

again, this is certainly true but only/mostly in the US.

and tbf NOTHING is as ubiquitous as the big 70s rock tracks mentioned because lol boomers/structure of the industry

that's why "Hallelujah" is a good contender as an 80s song.

I feel like "Fuck the Police", even back in the late 80s, was more heard about than heard. Since it didn't get radio of MTV play and there was no YouTube, you had to either buy it or be exposed to it by a friend, a party, a club, a boom box on the bus, or a passing car. but everyone knew that there was a song called "Fuck the Police"

again, this is certainly true but only/mostly in the US.

idk why you keep bringing this up, if we're emphasizing global popularity here the correct answer is probably some huge non-English pop song none of us know

of course not. on a global approach, it's certainly and english speaking song (as you said : boomers, industry, etc). but I really doubt "fuck tha police" is the best contender.

Surely the "when yr sliding into first" song wasn't a single?

O wait fuk it was in Parenthood nm

Yeah, if we're talking about tracks that are "most popular", I don't see why the definition of that has to be "most popular in the US", since a lot of us aren't from there. There are loads of tunes mentioned in this thread that were/are globally popular, like "Stairway", but Alex is correct that "Fuck the Police" isn't really one of them.

(xpost)

Australia station Triple J played it for six months in 1989, a fact I have definitely known for years and did not at all look up on Wikipedia

Tbh, I'm sceptical that the vast majority of Americans in their late 30s/early 40s were really into hip-hop as teenagers. I'd submit that Bon Jovi's "Never Say Goodbye" might be as or more famous than "Fuck tha Police" as 80s songs go but apparently, it was a single in the UK.

does fame require that the populace needs to be able to recite the song from memory, or just that it has entered into their consciousness at some point?

cos I don't know that we should hold the fact that the general public not being able to quote "me and Lorenzo rollin in a Benzo" specifically means it isn't 'famous'.

I see people sharing Fuck Tha Police memes that are clearly NWA inspired that probably aren't fans.

idk. maybe someone needs to do a surveymonkey

I'm sceptical that the vast majority of Americans in their late 30s/early 40s were really into hip-hop as teenagers.

why the skepticism

I think saying "really into" is overstating anyway (as noted) - hip hop was pop music and parents hated it. Even people who weren't "really into" hip hop knew about NWA

wiki sez: "Straight Outta Compton" reached double platinum sales status, becoming the first album to reach platinum status with no airplay support and without any major tours

and beyond that there was the national notoriety from the FBI letter, MTV shenanigans etc.

and again we're not talking about "most popular" here, we're talking about "most popular with a whole bunch of caveats". and Fuck Tha Police meets all those caveats ("Stairway" was featured in a concert film fwiw, dunno why no one's mentioned that - does that not count as a soundtrack?)

I think Stairway was pretty huge before the Song Remains the Same came out in '76

Happy birthday sing has to really be the right answer here

*song

Also interesting to separate these into songs anyone can learn on a guitar (""Hallelujah", "Wagon Wheel", "When Yr Sliding Into First") vs. songs that can only be listened to.

Happy birthday song

what album was this on

Also interesting to separate these into songs anyone can learn on a guitar

"I could play "Stairway To Heaven" when I was 12. Jimmy Page didn't actually write it until he was 22. I think that says quite a lot."

what album was this on

― Οὖτις, Friday, March 20, 2015 5:12 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

http://www.amazon.com/Singable-Collection-Anniversary-Special-Edition/dp/B0000003IO

heh

and again we're not talking about "most popular" here, we're talking about "most popular with a whole bunch of caveats". and Fuck Tha Police meets all those caveats

I don't remember "popular in the US only" being one of the caveats mentioned here?

People outside of the US have never heard of NWA or "Fuck the Police"? It seems like a pretty universal concept

it re-entered the UK album charts in 2003 at number 35 though. granted I'm sure most of those were latecomers to it and not people who were around in 1988 but idk, "popular in the US only" seems misleading.

xpost

The question here was not whether people have heard of a band or song, it was about the popularity of a specific tune.

http://www.pushstuff.co.uk/mmalbums/nwa080789.html

well some of us are arguing that "popular" = "well-known" and some of you seem to be arguing that "popular" = "can sing from memory" so there's probably some disconnect there

xxpost I mean everybody in the world knows Stairway but if I went up to the average person that said "oh of course, I know what that is", do I think they could even name a lyric or hum a riff? fuck no. yeah, a hell of a lot more people will be able to do so than they would with "Straight OUtta Compton", because it had a much further reach, but I'd wager the proportion of people who know the song well to the overall population that claims to know the song but barely remember how it goes is going to be weaker than you think.

I guess it all depends at what the initial poster wanted. If the thread is mere supposed to pedanticly adhere to the caveats set forth in the post and nothing more, then yes, Stairway wins because it wasn't a single officially(and sund4r did point out the OP mentioned "Money" which muddies the waters as to the original intent).

But the scope of "SOC"'s ascension is more impressive to me given that it didn't have radio stations, movies, television, or anything other than organic word of mouth driving its popularity and yet managed to imprint itself upon popular culture and led to a facelift of pop-rap, which up until that time was largely clean and innocent.

Whereas "Stairway" came from a band with an already established worldwide fanbase, and was essentially a single in the way it was released to radio, the main difference being you as a consumer couldn't buy it as such in a store as it was a 'promo'. It wasn't FM deejays experimenting with their long-form format and picking up on an album track and making it a hit, the label made a really concerted effort to make it popular and drive album sales up as a result, by sending those 7"s to every major FM station they could find. So it's a somewhat bland answer.

"Stairway" was featured in a concert film fwiw, dunno why no one's mentioned that - does that not count as a soundtrack?

The caveat there is "not known because of its use in a soundtrack". I'm pretty sure that's the case here. The Filipino single release may well disqualify it though.

yeah Stairway was fairly big long before Song Remains. Technically it had garnered some interests from fans before its release because they played it in a series of concerts pre-Zoso, too.

Re: the Filipino singles release, I know it was stated upthread that it seems silly to disqualify based on something being released in a single in small countries but if we're taking a "Framer's" reading of the Constitution OP, they did state "was never a single", implying at any point in time, not just prior to its ascendance/popularity.

Im of the Living OP school

fair enough sund4r

xp