4 Indie Rock Songs That Weren’t Released as Singles But Became Well-Known Standards

Singles usually out-perform album tracks, but sometimes the little album track that could will gain immense popularity years later. Sometimes it’s a fluke, sometimes it’s because of TikTok, and sometimes it’s just the most well-known song on an album. Here are four indie rock standards that weren’t initially released as singles.

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Surprising Indie Rock Standards That Were Never Singles

“Harness Your Hopes” — Pavement

In 2017, “Harness Your Hopes” became Pavement’s most-streamed song on Spotify, but it was never released as a single. It was actually a B-side, originally recorded for the band’s fourth album Brighten the Corners from 1997. Allegedly, Stephen Malkmus left the song off the album “for no good reason,” according to a 2020 report from Stereogum. However, apparently after the band shortened a waltz section after the chorus, he felt it sounded “wrong,” and did not want to include it on the album.

Still, “Harness Your Hopes” made it onto the Spit On a Stranger EP in 1999, then on an expanded edition of Brighten the Corners in 2008. It didn’t blow up, however, until TikTok got ahold of it in 2017. Additionally, there’s the possibility that it was featured on random Spotify-generated playlists, which had it showing up in coffee shops, bars, and other hipster-type places. In 2020, it had more than 28 million plays, surpassing Pavement’s legitimate indie rock hit, “Cut Your Hair.”

“I Wanna Be Yours” — Arctic Monkeys

“I Wanna Be Yours” wasn’t released as a single from Arctic Monkey’s indie rock behemoth AM, and was initially met with a bit of disdain from fans. Allegedly, many thought it was a weak album closer, while others believed it didn’t hold up to Alex Turner’s usual lyrical prowess (these fans would later find out “I Wanna Be Yours” is actually a slightly modified version of a John Cooper Clark poem).

Something happened in recent years, however—”I Wanna Be Yours” has surpassed “505” as Arctic Monkeys’ most-played song on Spotify, and it’s been streamed more than 2 billion times. Pretty good for a song fans initially weren’t keen on.

“There Is a Light That Never Goes Out” — The Smiths

Future indie rock anthem “There Is a Light That Never Goes Out” was released on The Smiths’ third album The Queen is Dead from 1986. Initially, it was an album track and not released as a single in the U.K., but was later released as a single in 1992, five years after the band split. It gained popularity over the years and has been streamed more than 780 million times, making it The Smiths’ most-played song on Spotify.

However, that song was most likely always destined for immense popularity. Critics loved it, and even Johnny Marr considered it one of their best. Speaking with Select Magazine in 1993, Marr said, “I didn’t realize that ‘There Is a Light That Never Goes Out’ was going to be an anthem, but, when we first played it, I thought it was the best song I’d ever heard.”

“Weird Fishes/Arpeggi” — Radiohead

While “Weird Fishes/Arpeggi” isn’t one of Radiohead’s biggest songs, it’s one of the more well-known tracks off of their 2007 album In Rainbows. It remains firmly in Radiohead’s top 10 streamed songs on Spotify, and has been streamed more than 256 million times. It hasn’t gained the popularity that “I Wanna Be Yours” or “Harness Your Hopes” has, but it’s one of those songs that you hear and go, “oh yeah, I know that one.”

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