Obscure Singles Heard at CVS

Some real late-era Henley Buckingham.

lol that video - it’s hot! We get it!

Human League: "Mirror Man" at Whataburger

Positve K: "I Got a Man" at Whole Foods

WHAT'S YA MAN GOT TO DO WITH ME

FUCKING POCO. I knew the name but realized I never actually knew what exactly they did but weirdly timothy b schmit used to be the bass player pre-eagles so I wasn't that far off I guess:

That's the original line-up of Poco too but it's a long long way from "Pickin' Up the Pieces". Richie Furay looks like he's standing at the back trying not to be seen.

Xp lol

love that Poco song, had never heard it before

Richard Marx produced and co-wrote one of those Poco tracks.

Peter Murphy: "Cuts You Up" at Kroger

Mr. Mister - Broken Wings

Had no idea who did this song but have heard it many times.

@Vons

If we're doing hiding-in-plain-sight classics heard at Vons – for me it was ELO's "Livin' Thing" (the other night)... I had never really focused on the song (beyond knowing it from "Boogie Nights," and hearing it here and there), but went home and really listened to it... goddamn!

In my dreams I’m walking in slow motion down an endless CVS aisle with a Michael McDonald supermix on at half speed

ELO's "Livin' Thing" is great, in fact I love a lot of their singles. The only album I bought from them was Xanadu but that was really only for Olivia Newton-John. I really need to explore their albums one day as most of their stuff is before my time.

Xpost

"The Killing Moon" by Echo and the Bunnymen at Fred Meyer.

Sorta relevant

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7r27hWIefk

"Broken Wings" is, alas, not obscure nor forgotten. It's never gone away.

Tupac giving it new legs helped

"In a Big Country" at Trader Joe's, is that an obscure song in the US?

Not really, tho I guess I haven’t heard it in a while…

"Honey" by Robyn at Target

“Big country” is absolutely obscure in the US

Really?

It hit No. 3 on the Top Rock Tracks chart and No. 17 on the Hot 100… I definitely knew it as a kid, at the time.

(I think the video also got a lot of play, but we didn’t have MTV yet)

Loads of MTV play, plus they performed it live on SNL. It wouldn’t surprise me to hear it now, though it hasn’t had quite the traction of a “Don’t You Want Me” or something of that ilk.

It’s not obscure in the US

not obscure but never played on current 80s radio, in my experience. feel like there has been a great culling of the canon. i don't remember 80s radio of even ten years ago being as limited as it is now.

like, i don't expect to hear shock the monkey or switching to glide but they don't play any duran duran other than hungry like the wolf or rio or any culture club other than karma chameleon or any inxs other than need you tonight. under these conditions everything she wants would be considered obscure because i've never heard my local 80s radio station play it so i assume it's dropped out of what anyone under 45 or so would be familiar with.

I hear "In a Big Country" fairly often in the wild. ymmv

And I hear "Everything She Wants" on A/C radio, not "eighties radio" fwiw

oh yeah, i heard glenn frey's true love (obscure and forgotten imo) out and about at a speedway gas station not too long ago, and they played everything she wants during a previous visit. that's why i invoked that particular song: it occurred to me i hadn't heard it on the one media outlet that specifically should be playing that sort of thing on the regular. when your gas station's music playlist is better curated than the radio format that has that thing in its name then what kind of world are we living in.

now see "True Love" is obscure -- and dreadful

"In a Big Country" at Trader Joe's, is that an obscure song in the US?

I'll say this: It's the only song by Big Country that isn't obscure in the U.S.

I faintly recall a follow-up, but I can't remember what it was called without googling.

x-post lol, exactly

I can imagine a dumb late in the show SNL sketch about "The Very Best of Big Country": "In A Big Country", "In A Small Country", "The Commonwealth I Am In" etc.

Spice Girls: "Spice Up Your Life" & Lakeside: "Fantastic Voyage" at Torchy's Tacos

vc corporate era torchys here has just fucked their playlist to shit here. nuthin gold can stay

That's what happened with Freebirds, which is now all uptempo Top 40 through the ages and/or contemporary EDM.

The only time I’ve heard “big country” since the 80s in the US in the wild was when a bartender from the UK put in on during his shift

"More More More" by Andrea True Connection in an Anthropologie.

Took me forever to figure out that "More More More" is the loop behind "Steal My Sunshine"

Talking Heads “Wild Wild Life” while grocery shopping late night at Ralphs in Pasadena.

I love Wild Wild Life.

The only time I’ve heard “big country” since the 80s in the US in the wild was when a bartender from the UK put in on during his shift

― calstars, Saturday, November 25, 2023 11:28 AM (two days ago) bookmarkflaglink

That is very weird! I do not think that's most people's experience. It was a mainstay on the radio station I listened to growing up well through the 90s.

"Wild Wild Life" and "And She Was" are easily the two biggest Heads songs I hear most often in the wild.

"(Nothing But) Flowers" too, which is funny to hear whilst out shopping, given what it's about.

i've heard "in a big country" on fairly unadventurous american 80s stations several times. not a playlist staple like an "edge of seventeen" or whatever but it does get played

KLF - "Last Train to Transcentral" at No Frills supermarket in Canada.