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
Aimee Mann
”That’s Just What You Are” 1995, #93 (6 weeks) (download)
Her 1995 album, I’m with Stupid, came out while I was DJ’ing in college and this was completely the sound of the station at the time. I’m pretty sure I initially spun it simply because she was the singer from Til Tuesday. Frankly though, I don’t think this is that great of song, nor have I heard anything from her solo records that peak my interest at all.
Mantronix (featuring Wondress)
”Got To Have Your Love” 1990, #82 (4 weeks) (download)
I’m a little shocked to see that Mantronix ever had a charting song even if it was a bottom feeder for only four weeks. Standing by itself, I don’t have a real strong opinion on this song either way. But compared to their catalog, one of my favorite tunes is ”We Control the Dice” — an old-school hip-hop/electro song from 1986 and ”Got To Have Your Love” is so far away from that it’s not even funny.
Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch
”I Need Money” 1992, #61 (7 weeks) (download)
”You Gotta Believe” 1992, #49 (10 weeks) (download)
Still to this day it’s hard to imagine A-List actor Mark Walhberg as Marky Mark and I suppose it was hard for a lot of people to believe since his musical stock dropped drastically after his second single. While ”I Need Money” was one of the better tunes on his debut, the Funky Bunch train had already run out of steam. Their second record, (You Gotta Believe) had a bit of a harder edge but all the curses were censored out on all versions, which made him even lamer than most people already figured he was. I don’t know if back in 1991 I understood what it meant to be a white rapper yet and Mark was certainly more authentic than Vanilla Ice any day of the week, so I listened to him.
Ziggy Marley & the Melody Makers
”Good Time” 1991, #85 (5 weeks) (download)
A few people have said to me over the years that they are surprised that both Ziggy and Damian aren’t bigger artists since Bob was such a big success. But really, while Bob Marley’s music is loved worldwide for good reason, he only had one charting song, ”Roots, Rock, Reggae” from back in 1976. None of the other songs you know well, hit the charts. And that means, that from a chart perspective Ziggy (with 2) beats dad and Damian ties him with one of his own. But of course, these guys are extremely successful within the reggae market and will sell records until their dying day whether they are fantastic or completely suck simply because of the legendary status of Bob. Fortunately, they are both very good artists so success is well deserved too.
Amanda Marshall
”Birmingham” 1996, #43 (20 weeks) (download)
All I remember about this song is how much it resembled ”All I Wanna Do” by Sheryl Crow, at least in the verses.
Martika
”Martika’s Kitchen” 1992, #93 (2 weeks) (download)
This is one of the sillier songs that Martika released, just something that really wasn’t her sound at all. More than half the songs on her second record were written or co-written by Prince and this is one of them. You should know by now how much I love Prince and I think Martika has a fantastic voice but this paring wasn’t legendary.
Andrea Martin
”Let Me Return the Favor” 1998, #82 (5 weeks) (download)
This is Martin’s only solo hit but she had bigger success as a songwriter, writing hits for En Vogue, Monica and SWV among others.
Billie Ray Martin
”Your Loving Arms” 1995, #87 (10 weeks) and 1996, #46 (13 weeks) (download)
Eurodance!!!!!!!!
Keith Martin
”Never Find Someone Like You” 1995, #53 (16 weeks) (download)
Keith’s 15 minutes of musical fame was this track from the soundtrack to the movie Bad Boys.
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