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 and 3.
Section 1: The Ass End
Eddie Money
”Heaven in the Back Seat” 1991, #58 (8 weeks) (download)
”Fall In Love Again” 1992, #54 (11 weeks) (download)
I’m sorry but I just can’t get over the commercials now where Eddie sings ”Two Tickets to Paradise” and sounds completely horrible doing so. I was never a huge fan of him anyway but that seals the deal for me. However, in terms of these two songs, ”Fall In Love Again” really isn’t a terrible tune at all. ”Heaven in the Back Seat” though, is a laughable attempt at staying relevant.
Monifah
”I Miss You (Come Back Home)” 1995, #56 (20 weeks) (download)
”You Don’t Have To Love Me” 1997, #82 (9 weeks) (download)
Monifah was silky smooth. Great voice, great look, she had all the pieces going for her except for the fact that ”Touch It” was her only real big hit. Her last album was in 2000 but most recently she was one of the ladies on R&B Divas.
Mono
”Life In Mono” 1998, #70 (15 weeks) (download)
Mono was a short lived UK duo that released only one record (Formica Blues) and had just this one hit in the US thanks to it being the theme to Great Expectations. Baby Spice would cover it in 2006 to the dismay of many people.
John Michael Montgomery
”I Love the Way You Love Me” 1993, #60 (13 weeks) (download)
”I Swear” 1994, #42 (20 weeks) (download)
”Be My Baby Tonight” 1994, #73 (10 weeks) (download)
”Friends” 1996, #69 (12 weeks) (download)
”Cover You In Kisses” 1998, #91 (9 weeks) (download)
”Hello L.O.V.E.” 1999, #71 (6 weeks) (download)
”Home To You” 1999, #45 (20 weeks) (download)
I actually learned of John Michael Montgomery through All-4-One who covered both ”I Swear” and later ”I Can Love You Like That,” both written for him. Although he started crossing over to the hot 100 earlier than most country artists, he had the same fate by getting played just enough on stations in the heartland to crack the bottom of the charts. Although he had a lot more ballads, he reminds me a lot of Garth Brooks who could sing the hell out of a sad song and also kill a good honky tonk one as well.
Montgomery Gentry
”Hillbilly Shoes” 1999, #62 (11 weeks) (download)
”Lonely and Gone” 1999, #46 (19 weeks) (download)
Montgomery Gentry is really more my type of country music. More upbeat, a little rockin’ and actually kind of cool. Eddie Montgomery and Troy Gentry go down as the trivia answer as the only duo to win the Country Music Awards’ Vocal Duo of the Year during the long and prolific run of Brooks & Dunn. They took the award in 2000 and lost out in every other year through 2009.
Abra Moore
”Four Leaf Clover” 1997, #63 (13 weeks) (download)
I vaguely remember Abra Moore from back in my college radio days but ”Four Leaf Clover” is certainly a forgettable tune.
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Chante Moore
”Love’s Taken Over” 1992, #86 (11 weeks) (download)
Chante Moore had a great voice and some good songs but made more of an impact on the R&B charts than on the Hot 100. She’s been married to both Kadeem Hardison and Kenny Lattimore and I believe is now a jazz artist.
Gary Moore
”Still Got the Blues (For You)” 1991, #97 (3 weeks) (download)
”Still Got the Blues” came a little bit out of nowhere considering that Moore had been making albums with a Celtic influence for a while before this. The solo in the song was deemed to be plagiarized from an instrumental from 1974 that Moore claims he had never heard before. Either way, he was forced to cough up some money because of it.
Mandy Moore
”Candy” 1999, #41 (20 weeks) (download)
What a difference a few years makes when you start your music career as a teenager. Mandy Moore was 16 at this point and you could just see her turning into X-Mandy at some point in the near future. But then 2003’s Coverage happened and turned Mandy Moore into a respected adult singer. She’s no longer cute either. She’s now smokin’ hot.
Michael Morales
”I Don’t Wanna See You” 1991, #73 (4 weeks) (download)
”I Don’t Wanna See You” is way better than his over processed cover of the Romantics ”What I Like About You” in 1989 which is one of my least favorite songs of the decade. This was off his album Thump, which is the sound the CD makes when it hits the bottom of dollar bins everywhere.
Debelah Morgan
”Yesterday” 1998, #56 (11 weeks) (download)
This was Morgan’s first solid hit, off her second album, It’s Not Over. She would go on to release two more records and have one big hit in 2000 called ”Dance With Me.”
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