Singles that charted without a radio edit

[acidbearboy]

I heard Blue Monday on the radio this morning in all its original 12” glory. It got me thinking: what other songs charted without a 7” version or radio edit? And does it still happen these days?

[Art Vandelay]

I think it happens more now in the streaming era than it used to as you can chart without any radio play I would imagine. Of the glory days of the top 40 the famous ones are George Michael's amazing Father Figure – which is probably too short at nearly six minutes – and Don McClean's American Pie which he stubbornly refused to shorten, condemning the world to listen to all seven dreadful minutes of it forever more. I thought maybe Meatloaf's I Would Do Anything... might be a shout as that goes on a bit, but the album version is even longer somehow so doesn't count.

[Gotters]

I've got that Orb one knocking around somewhere that the CD single went on for 40m or something daft. 

 

I've also got a recollection of buying a really old rap song called the Crown by Gary Byrd which i think was 12" only

[Art Vandelay]

Those were the days where if your rap single didn't have 24 verses and span three discs people demanded their money back. Stevie Wonder wrote and featured on that and didn't even show his face until about seven minutes in, so you know it's long.

[ZOK]

1 hour ago, Gotters said:

I've also got a recollection of buying a really old rap song called the Crown by Gary Byrd which i think was 12" only

One of the greatest 12”s of all time! From memory it’s about ten and a half minutes.

[jonathanhoey]

1 hour ago, Art Vandelay said:

I thought maybe Meatloaf's I Would Do Anything... might be a shout as that goes on a bit, but the album version is even longer somehow so doesn't count.

 

That song is absolutely butchered by the radio edit. The full song is twelve minutes long and the radio edit is only about five.

[FishyFish]

A trio of older releases that I think had full length releases.

 

MacArthur Park - Richard Harris

Hey Jude - The Beatles

American Pie - Don Mclean

[Mr Do 71]

3 hours ago, Gotters said:

I've got that Orb one knocking around somewhere that the CD single went on for 40m or something daft. 

 

I've also got a recollection of buying a really old rap song called the Crown by Gary Byrd which i think was 12" only

Blue Room.

[Quest]

On 07/03/2023 at 19:31, Art Vandelay said:

 and Don McClean's American Pie which he stubbornly refused to shorten, condemning the world to listen to all seven dreadful minutes of it forever more.

 

Fucking hell, is it only seven minutes? It feels it goes on for about a year.