"At This Moment" by Billy Vera and the Beaters was a flop when it was originally released in 1981, hitting only as high as #79 on the Billboard Hot 100. Then it was used in a Family Ties episode during the 1985-86 season and it hit #1 in the US and Canada in late 1986/early 1987.


PJ

RadioActive wrote:

An online article reminds that some hit records started out as flops – only to be revived or released by appearing on television.
 
In this case, the song in question was “Get Together,” a classic by the Youngbloods that reached #5 on Billboard in 1967. But that success was far from assured. In fact, when it was first released, it didn’t go anywhere.
 
But then it appeared as the background music in a PSA (Public Service Announcement) for the National Conference of Christians and Jews and it suddenly was everywhere, including on the charts.
 
That made me wonder how many other times this happened. I can think of a few of them over the years.
 
Probably the most famous was “I’d Like To Teach The World To Sing,” which began life as a famous Coke commercial with people gathered on a hilltop.
 
“We’ve Only Just Begun” by the Carpenters was originally a commercial for a bakery, before the brother and sister act recorded it. It ended up at #2 on Billboard.
 
“Jeans On,” a one-off 70s hit by David Dundas, began life as a British spot for Brutus jeans. It was catchy, they made a single out of it and it became a #17 Billboard single.
 
“Music To Watch Girls By” carried the name The Bob Crewe Generation, but the instrumental was originally conceived to sell Diet Pepsi. Another wordless classic that climbed the charts was “No Matter What Shape Your Stomach’s In,” a tune designed to recommend Alka Seltzer in 1965.
 
And Canadian star Paul Anka got in on the act when he was hired to sing “The Times Of Your Life” for Kodak, which in the end wound up being one of his most memorable and nostalgic tunes. It was the only commercial he ever did.

Here's the bank commercial that led to one of the Carpenters' greatest hits.

​https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97X9huy7pHQ
 

Was Steve Winwood's "Talking Back to the Night" in 1987 (the remixed release from "Chronicles), not in a Michelob commercial, prior to release?

Paul Jeffries wrote:

Not sure about that one, but I know that "Don't You Know What the Night Can Do" was used in a Michelob commercial prior to when Winwood's 1988 album Roll With It was released. Michelob was also the sponsor on his tour at the time, making it look like he had written the song specifically for their ad campaign, although Winwood said the album was already produced and just about ready to go before the ad appeared.
PJ

You're right!  That was what I was actually thinking of.  Wow!  The brain confuses things in middle age ...lol

Going back to my initial comment about songs that got a second life after being used in a TV show (as opposed to an ad), "Baby, Come to Me", a 1982 duet by Patti Austin and James Ingram, only hit as high as #73 on the Billboard Hot 100 when it was initially released in the spring of 1982. Several months later, General Hospital, one of the hottest soaps at the time, used it heavily as the 'love theme' for the character Luke Spencer. ABC reportedly got a lot of inquiries about the song, which led to Warner Bros. Records re-releasing the single, which would eventually go to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and Adult Contemporary charts.


PJ

This is sort of the opposite of the original topic - songs that wound up in TV commercials after being big hits. 

4 Classic Songs From the 1960s Every Baby Boomer Knew Before They Were Used in TV Commercials

Please allow me to indulge my penchant for sometimes obscure rock trivia.

Going back to this thread and the Get Together ref.  Aside from the Youngbloods I own two other versions of the song. One by Jefferson Airplane from their first album from 1966 pre Grace Slick when Signey Anderson was their female lead singer. The other a reel to reel copy of the song by HP Lovecraft. I had heard the group on CHUM FM but did not know at the time that they were named after the horror writer.

The song is written by Chet Powers who was actually Dino Valenti who later became a member of the Quicksilver Messenger Service.

I pointed out above that Nilsson's Everybody's Talkin was also released twice and actually made the CHUM top 40 the first time around in 1968 as well as the second time in 1969 post Midnight Cowboy.

Just like the Youngbloods with Grizzly Bear , Nillson also charted in Toronto two years before the twice released hit. His first top 40 hit in Toronto was a version of the Beatles You Can't do that in 1967. That song is credited as the first "mashup" as you can hear below on the YT clip.  Combining several Beatles songs and John Lennon well before the lost LA years with Harry, proclaimed Nillson to be his favorite American group.











 

Last edited by Fitz (September 9, 2026 6:48 pm)