Robbed Hit of the week 10/7/19 - PJ Harvey's "Down To The Water"...

"Down By The Water" - PJ Harvey
from the album To Bring You My Love (1995)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: ineligible to chart
Billboard Hot 100 Airplay peak: #48

This week's "robbed hit" comes from British alternative rock singer/songwriter PJ Harvey, who comes from the southern county of Dorset, where she grew up and went to school in a music-appreciative family. After gigging in a local band, she struck out on her own forming her own band along with drummer Rob Ellis and bassist Steve Vaughan. After a first single that stiffed, "Dress", but still got critic attention, the trio released their breakthrough single "Sheela-Na-Gig". The song, named after a graphic statue artifact found all over the British isles, gave the band their first British hit at #69, before crossing over to America and climbing to #9 on Billboard magazine's Alternative/Modern Rock radio chart. Their debut album Dry came out about then, which just missed the albums sales top ten at #11. Moving from their indie label Too Pure to major Island Records, they returned with their second effort Rid Of Me. The lead single "50 Ft Queenie" scored them their first British top-40 at #27, but with that success came discord, as Ellis and Vaughan left as the band was getting momentum.

Bringing in Flood to produce her first "solo" album with new background players, Harvey returned in February of 1995 with To Bring You My Love. The first single from the set, "Down By The Water", was a big success at radio at home, and eventually put Harvey in a spot where she's got a massive fanbase.

Although "Down By The Water" spent three weeks at #2 on the Mainstream Rock chart, the single stalled at #48 on the Hot 100 Airplay tally in April of 1995. Internationally, the song peaked at #28 in Ireland and #38 in the UK within the top-40, while being a minor hit in Canada (#78) and Australia (#7).

Harvey's follow-up to this hit was with "C'mon Billy". The country/western-style song rose to #29 on the UK top-40, followed by the album To Bring You My Love. A third single from the set, "Send His Love To Me", managed to reach the British Top-40 as well at #34.

In 1998, Harvey had her two highest-charting singles, both reaching #25 in the UK. First it was her collaboration with trip-hop star Tricky on "Broken Homes", and then the lead single from Harvey's fourth album Is This Desire?, "A Perfect Day Elise". That latter song also hit #33 on the Alternative/Modern Rock chart in the U.S.

PJ started out the next decade with her most critically heralded album, Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea. The record was nominated for Best Rock Album (which went to U2's All You Can't Leave Behind), while the single "This Is Love" was up for Best Female Rock Performance, losing to Lucinda Williams' "Get Right With God". But none of the songs from it charted America, while all three releases stopped short of the British top-40.

Her next set, Uh Huh Her landed Harvey back on to the British Top 40 with "The Letter" (UK #28) in 2004. Since then, she has released three more solo albums, most recently The Hope Six Demolition Project in 2016, which topped the British albums sales chart for her for the first time.

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Here's PJ Harvey appearing live on the Jools Holland show in 1995...