With Bottom Feeders we take a look at the songs on the Billboard Hot 100 that only got a little love. It’s an A-Z look at songs that charted no higher than #41 in the decade. Take a listen, enjoy and comment. And don’t forget, information on the top 40, airplay and bubbling under charts are on pages 2-4.
Section 1: The Ass End
Tara Kemp
”Too Much” 1991, #95 (2 weeks) (download)
Although she fit in very well at the time, I’m not sure Tara Kemp really had that great of a voice to be worthwhile over the long run. Her two hits, ”Hold You Tight” and ”Piece of My Heart” as well as ”Too Much” came from her self-titled debut. She released a few more singles after this including having a track on the amazing Beverly Hills 90210 soundtrack but Giant records folded before she could get out another album and her career stalled there.
Kenny G
”Going Home” 1990, #56 (7 weeks) (download)
“Sentimental” 1993, #72 (10 weeks) (download)
”The Moment” 1996, #63 (14 weeks) (download)
”Havana” 1997, #66 (19 weeks) (download)
Holy shit. Kenny G had as many top 40 hits in the 90s as he did in the 80s and charted more singles overall in this decade. Maybe this shouldn’t shock me but since I really only collect 80s music, I had to have his stuff in that decade, so naturally I stopped caring at all once I didn’t have to fill a hole in the collection.
I still have to wonder what stations played Kenny G enough to get him on the charts eight times in the decade. I find it hard to believe these tunes got top 40 station airplay anywhere. Did they count weather and traffic beds back in those days?
David Kersh
”If I Never Stop Loving You” 1998, #67 (16 weeks) (download)
My heavens the start of this week is mind-numbingly boring, isn’t it?
Sammy Kershaw
”Love Of My Life” 1997, #85 (5 weeks) (download)
If the rest of this post makes no sense it’s because these tunes are putting me to sleep. I mean, ”Love Of My Life” really isn’t a bad tune but damn is it sappy and with what we have this week will not help you wake up from the Kenny G coma.
K5
”Passion” 1997, #98 (3 weeks) (download)
Well, if you were asleep, the moans of ”Passion” surely must have startled you. Orgasmic moans over a dance beat really was almost a sure way of getting a club hit. The version here is the album version. The radio version cut more than two minutes of sexiness out.
Chaka Khan
”Love You All My Lifetime” 1992, #68 (9 weeks) (download)
Finally, a fantastic song this week and by none other than a classic, Ms. Chaka Khan. ”Love You All My Lifetime” was one of six singles from 1992’s The Woman I Am, which won her a Grammy. The album really wasn’t all that great and when Warner Bros. shelved the next one she didn’t release another disc until Prince snatched her up for a record on NPG in 1998.
Joey Kid
”Counting the Days” 1990, #70 (12 weeks) (download)
I’m putting Joey Kid here in the letter K because that’s where he’s located in the Billboard Hot 100 bible but his last name wasn’t Kid, so the nerd in me wonders if he really shouldn’t be in the letter J instead. Jose Antonio Baez-Perez aka Joey Kid was a member of Trilogy better known (well…maybe) as the main voices behind Anything Goes!, the miserable second record from C + C Music Factory.
Kid N Play
”Ain’t Gonna Hurt Nobody” 1991, #51 (19 weeks) (download)
Another oddity of the charts, ”Ain’t Gonna Hurt Nobody” is the only charting Hot 100 song for Kid N Play. Not ”2 Hype” or ”Rollin’ with Kid N Play.” Not ”I Don’t Know” or ”Fun House.” Instead, the only worthwhile song on their final record — Face the Nation — is the hit song. And I suppose this being a hit makes sense as they had already had the one year of their cartoon under their belt as well as House Party, with House Party 2 coming out right after the album. The real tragedy is that the duo’s first two albums were pretty great but nothing crossed over to this chart.
Kid Rock
”Cowboy” 1999, #82 (5 weeks) (download)
Remember this guy? This guy, doesn’t exist any longer. At one point Kid Rock was a white trash rapper from Detroit. Now he wears fur and has become the Bob Seger of my generation. That is if Bob Seger isn’t the Bob Seger of it. The really weird part of this whole thing, is that I actually liked him way more as a rapper.
Diana King
”Ain’t Nobody” 1996, #94 (4 weeks) (download)
”L-L-Lies” 1997, #71 (15 weeks) (download)
Reggae-fusion artist Diana King got her break singing with the Notorious B.I.G. and had her first hit on the Bad Boys soundtrack. But her sound varied between generic and boring for the most part so her music career didn’t really take off. I’m also still waiting for a version of ”Ain’t Nobody” that’s better than Rufus and Chaka’s. Maybe that just isn’t possible.
King Just
”Warrior’s Drum (Hay-Ya Hay-Ya Hay-Ya Ho!)” 1994, #96 (5 weeks) (download)
If this song sounds like it came from the Wu-Tang it’s because King Just was an affiliate member of the clan. While it was nice to be affiliated with the Wu-Tang clan in any way, being an affiliate really meant nothing except sounding like a clone and getting the fourth tier beats that no one else above them wanted. There were somewhere between 75 and 100 groups, singers, rappers and producers that were an ”affiliate” of the Wu and only a handful like Killah Priest and Redman really made a name for themselves.
Kingofthehill
”If I Say” 1991, #63 (6 weeks) (download)
This was the one and only hit for Kingofthehill, a rock group out of St. Louis, MO.
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