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
St. Etienne
”Only Love Can Break Your Heart” 1992, #97 (2 weeks) (download)
I wasn’t familiar with these guys until my college radio station picked up on them in ’98 with their synthpop album, Good Humor. Before then, they had a dancier sound apparently with ”Only Love Can Break Your Heart” their only charting single. By the time Foxbase Alpha came out in 1991, Sarah Cracknell had become their singer but this tune is the only one sung by Moira Lambert.
St. Paul
”Stranger To Love” 1990, #52 (11 weeks) (download)
By now you have to know how much I love Prince and by association, I have an affinity for anyone that was in his camp. Despite having very brief stays with both the Time and the Family in the 80s, St. Paul Peterson has had a big impact on Minneapolis music. Prince put together the Family in ’85 after the Time split but after just one gig, Peterson left to go solo. Prince was pissed and wrote ”Dream Factory” about him. In the end, we should be more pissed that a funky dude like St. Paul turned into Donny Osmond for ”Stranger To Love.”
Sam Salter
”After 12, Before 6″ 1997, #51 (16 weeks) (download)
”There You Are” 1998, #57 (12 weeks) (download)
Last Tuesday night I was up until 1 am doing a football draft and still haven’t recovered. “After 12, Before 6” there’s nothing I want more than for no one at all to be ”up in my mix”. Guess this is what being old is like.
Salt-N-Pepa
”You Showed Me” 1992, #47 (20 weeks) (download)
”Gitty Up” 1998, #50 (14 weeks) (download)
Both of these tunes are irrelevant in the Salt-N-Pepa catalog. ”You Showed Me” didn’t play to their strengths at all and ”Gitty Up” seems a little too generic for these ladies. The bling-y video didn’t help at all since that really wasn’t their persona at the time. Despite these tunes, I’d argue that Salt-N-Pepa were the greatest female rappers of all time.
Richie Sambora
”Ballad of Youth” 1991, #63 (7 weeks) (download)
Every time I think about Richie Sambora now, my mind goes back to an interview he did a few years ago on the Preston and Steve show here in Philly where he must have said 20 times how great of a songwriter he is. And while I admit that I like a lot of Bon Jovi tunes that he wrote, there’s really nothing that makes such an over-the-top proclamation justified. ”Ballad of Youth” is a good song but is it anything more than simply what fit in nicely in 1991?
David Sanborn
”Bang Bang” 1992, #53 (11 weeks) (download)
I haven’t listened to this in years but wow, ”Bang Bang” sounds so dated.
Sandee
”Love Desire” 1991, #49 (11 weeks) (download)
”Love Desire” is a confusing track for me and probably was the same for many radio stations as well. She was an early member of Expose and was dance/R&B artist but this one sounded more like an Enigma tune (is that a sample of ”Sadeness”?). I’m supposing the song was meant to be sexy but it just comes across as awkward.
Kim Sanders
”Jealousy” 1998, #89 (10 weeks) (download)
Born in Chicago but based in Germany by this point, she didn’t release an album until 2003. From ’93 to that point, she released a handful of dance tunes as singles and in 1998 became the singer of Culture Beat for their final album.
Adam Sandler
”The Chanukah Song” 1999, #80 (2 weeks) (download)
C’mon, who doesn’t know this one by now?
Lina Santiago
”Just Because I Love You” 1996, #78 (8 weeks) (download)
Just 16 at the time of her debut, Lina had two hits and then from what I can tell, pretty much faded away.
Saraya
”Timeless Love” 1990, #85 (5 weeks) (download)
After two bottom feeders in ’89, ”Timeless Love” was their final charting single, released on the soundtrack to the movie, Shocker.” Three-fifths of the band left after this, probably deciding that no rock band should go this cheesy.
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