Just listened to Cuddly Toy by Roachford (as heard on Alpha Papa Alan Partridge), brilliant song which i assumed was a hit as even i knew it well and i rarely listen to music. Just found out it only ever reached 51 in the charts, quite surprised at that. Any other poorly received classics?

In January 1989, the song was re-released and became the band’s biggest hit, peaking at number 4 and spending a further 9 weeks inside the top 75.[1]

Wiki

Thanks, that explains its popularity a bit more then. I guess i only saw when it was originally released, which is still odd as its the same song. So i guess a good song could be ruined pending when it is released.

Not sure a good song can ever be ruined due to popularity.

You may get sick of hearing it, but a good song is a good song…

(For the record, j font think Cuddly Toy is a good song!)

‘Radio hit’ is a commonly used term to describe songs that got played almost to death but did little to bother the charts.
One I particularly remember was a song called ‘It’s A Game’, by String Driven Thing, used to hear it all the time on Radio Luxembourg and Radio One in its early days, but it didn’t sell worth a damn.
Until the Bay City Sodding Rollers recorded a cover of it.

I thought this one was going to be a big hit but nil, nothing, nada.

That is until David Bowie went on to steal the riff and release it as his own

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHjEvIFQ7zk[/video]

^pretty bog-standard blues riff ; cf Muddy Waters Mannish Boy

i thought Pearl Fishers could’ve been a great hit but the North Bank went with Nessun Dorma, missed a chance there.

thought this one was going to be a big hit but nil, nothing, nada.

That is until David Bowie went on to steal the riff and release it as his ownTo be fair, The Shadows of Knight, the Sweet, and Bowie all ripped off that particular version of the riff from the Yardbirds cover of I’m a Man.

^pretty bog-standard blues riff ; cf Muddy Waters Mannish Boy

+1 The Yardbirds cover was of a Bo Didley song with the standard blues slow version of the riff.

Original by SDT
[video]https://youtu.be/L2KAX3uWNZo[/video]
Cover by Bay City Rollers
[video]https://youtu.be/WSEONs09F-A[/video]
Original that should have been a hit. (1971 French TV film, looks amazingly contemporary)
[video]https://youtu.be/ld1vQVoaQIM[/video]
Unspeakably crap Happy Monday’s cover:
[video]https://youtu.be/6M0xdLO_bmo[/video]