What are some songs that were not that big at any one particular time, but have had a lot of what the music industry calls RECURRENT success? In other words the song gets played a lot on the radio or people request it or it's on a lot of compilations, best of Cds etc but it was never a HIT as such at any particular point? Billy Joel's first record Piano Man was not a big hit in 1974 but it is a song like this. Desperado and Long Long Time by Linda Rondstadt are like this too. There is a Maze and Frankie Beverly record called Before I Let Go that has gotten more recurrent airplay than any of their other songs although it was only modestly popular in 1981.

I Melt With You only peaked at #76 in 1983, but yet is considered one of the most played 80's songs on retro stations.

Head Like A Hole by Nine Inch Nails was played a lot on MTV and on rock radio for most of the mid-late 1990's, yet when it came out in 1989, it didn't make the chart or get hardly any MTV airplay.