It’s always a shocker when famous rock songs that are still enjoyed today didn’t actually have much luck on the charts decades earlier. That was the case for the following classic rock songs that we all know and love today, but never actually charted back in the day. Let’s look at the facts, shall we? Some of these might surprise you.
“You Can’t Always Get What You Want” by The Rolling Stones (1969)
You’ve heard it in TV shows, films, commercials, and everywhere in between. “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” by The Rolling Stones is one of the classic rock outfit’s most famous songs. And yet, when it was released, it was given measly B-side treatment underneath the A-side “Honky Tonk Woman”. Of course, that song is legendary, too. But it’s crazy that a song as popular as “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” didn’t get enough charting love back in the day because it was tacked onto the back of another single. Eventually, the track was re-released as a proper single in 1973 and charted to No. 42 on the Billboard Hot 100.
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“Comfortably Numb” by Pink Floyd (1980)
This is one of the most famous progressive rock songs of the 1980s. And when it was first released at the start of the decade, it didn’t enter the charts at all. That might be because the song was previously released on Pink Floyd’s The Wall, and that album as a whole had charted very well back in late 1979. However, “Comfortably Numb” wasn’t released as a single until after the fact, months later. Maybe it was just a matter of poor timing. I imagine if “Comfortably Numb” was released as a single before The Wall hit the shelves, it would have done numbers.
“Changes” by David Bowie (1971)
“Changes” is one of David Bowie’s best songs. It’s also one of the finest tracks on his iconic 1971 album, Hunky Dory. So, could someone explain to me why this song didn’t chart at all back in the day? Even after a re-release in 1975, other songs from the album overshadowed “Changes” in a big way. This is really a surprising entry on our list of rock songs that never charted. Maybe we can blame it on the fact that “Changes” was the B-side to the legendary career-defining tune, “Space Oddity”. That latter song hit No. 1 on the charts, while “Changes” didn’t even make it to the Top 40.
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