Missed It by That Much

Agent 86 Maxwell Smart who was played by Don Adams on the 1960s TV series Get Smart would often say, “Missed it by that much” as an inadequate apology when something went wrong and it often did.  Some songs will stand the test of time and become ingrained in culture and others will become obsolete.  Songs are measured by the momentum that they have gained and many never make the charts.  The US had American Bandstand and, in the UK, they had Top of the Pops which showed how songs were doing on the charts.  I like older music better, so I have no idea what songs are listed on the American Top 40 at iHeartRadio.  Each week, Billboard puts together a chart of the top 100 most popular songs (as well as several other charts) based on a national sample of top 40 radio airplay, top 40 radio playlists, and music sales.  Today popularity is largely based on streams, YouTube views and even social media influence.  Songs will only get played on the radio, if a radio station manager, music director, disc jockey, or approved station personality likes that song.  Airplay is tracked through Broadcast Data Systems (BDS), run by Nielsen.  Billboard goes to Nielsen SoundScan to find out what is selling.  Data collected shows that only 20% of people actually buy singles, while over 90% listen to the radio.  Most of the music that is being played on the radio is thought to be because independent promoters have paid the stations to add it to their playlists.  I am taking a short vacation and Fandango will substitute as the Song Lyric Sunday host for me for the next two weeks.

Last week we had I’m Awesome and I bragged about how awesome I am, no just kidding, this was where the theme was songs that mention Amaze, Astonish, Curious, Shock, Surprise, Wonder suggested by Melanie aka Sparky.  This week the theme is songs that are Hidden Gems, which are great songs that missed the top of the charts suggested by Amy aka E.M.  This could be any song that you feel should have performed better on the charts.  Take some time to read the posts of other bloggers who respond to this music challenge, and even better, read as many of them as you are able to as you will probably find many enjoyable songs and it is quite possibly that you will learn a thing or two.  Share your music with others and post a video, try do some research and let everyone know something about the song that you post.  Tell everyone why you like the song, whether it was a hit, or what you think the song is about.  Show the lyrics, let’s all listen to our favorite songs and explore some new music.  Try to find a song that fits the theme, then write your post and create a pingback, or you can just place your link in the comments section.

Think of these as being suggestions instead of being rules:
• Try to use the prompt words or at least conform to a general theme, as you see it.  If the song you select does not meet the criteria, then please explain why you chose this song.
• It would be good if you could post the lyrics to the song of your choice, as this is helpful for the people that want to follow along with the music.
• Please try to include the songwriter(s) – it’s a good idea to give credit where credit is due. It would also be a good idea to give credit to the singer and the band associated with your song.
• Your post can be as long or as short as you want it to be, but please try not to include too many videos as that just makes it take longer to look at all of the other posts.
• Link to the YouTube video, or you can pull it into your post, so others can listen to the song.
• Ping back to this post or place your link in the comments section below.
• Read at least one other person’s blog, so we can all share new and fantastic music and create amazing new blogging friends in the process.
• Feel free to suggest future prompts.
• Have fun and enjoy the music.

This week I will be writing about The Rolling Stones song ‘You Can’t Always Get What You Want’, and next week, I will be writing about the song ‘96 Tears’ by ? and the Mysterians .  The upcoming prompts will be:
July 3, 2022 – One Hit Wonders where an artist or a group had a song that reached the top without any follow-up success suggested by Amy aka E.M.
July 10, 2022 – Songs that were turned down by recording artists that went on to become big hits
July 17, 2022 – Songs that hit the top of the charts
July 24, 2022 – Feature a song by a group or an artist that surprisingly never reached #1 on the charts – This idea was taken from UK #1s blog, The UK Number Ones Blog