Robbed hit of the week 3/14/16 - Crowded House's "Better Be Home Soon"...

"Better Be Home Soon" - Crowded House
from the album Temple Of Low Men (1988)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #42

This week's 'robbed hit' comes from the Australian modern rock band Crowded House, a trio made of two former members of the New Zealander band Split Enz. With Nick Seymour joining lead singer/guitarist Neil Finn and drummer Paul Hester, they scored back to back top-ten pop hits in America with "Don't Dream It's Over" and "Something So Strong" in 1986-87. For their second album, Temple Of Low Men, instead of a bright and shiny pop nugget, the trio dug deep into complex emotions with the first single "Better Be Home Soon". Written by Finn and produced by Mitchell Froom, the result was one of the most beautifully emotional and heart-wreaking songs of the decade...

"Better Be Home Soon" stopped just short of the American top-40 in August of 1988. The single also climbed to #18 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart, as well as #29 on their recently-launched Modern Rock radio list. The single crossed over to #26 on the Adult Contemporary (or "easy listening") chart as well. Internationally, the song was their biggest hit in their home base of Australia, rising to #2, while it also came in at #2 in New Zealand, and #8 in Canada. The track also was a top-40 hit in the Netherlands at #31.

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Here's the band rolling out the then-new song for an MTV concert in 1988...

In 1990, country family act the McCarters recorded a cover of the song, which went to #73 on the American country chart...

...and back again to Crowded House in 1996 for a concert in Sydney...

Tragically, Hester took his life in 2005, and Finn used "Better Be Home Soon" to commemorate his bandmate at the ARIA awards...

Finn and Seymour trudged on, performing at Live Earth in Sydney in 2007...

Canadian pop/country singer George Canyon also put out a version of the song in 2011, even naming his album from it, and reaching #87 on the pop singles chart there...

..and finally, more of Finn solo in 2010...