Songoftheday 10/12/20 - So long ago I don't remember when, that's when they say I lost my only friend...

 

 

"One Headlight" - The Wallflowers

from the album Bringing Down The Horse (1996)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: ineligible to charr

Billboard Hot 100 Airplay peak: #2 (five weeks)

Weeks in the Airplay Top-40: 59

 

Today's song of the day comes from the rock group the Wallflowers, who had landed a top-40 radio hit with their song "6th Avenue Heartache" from their second album Bringing Down The Horse in the fall of 1996.  The second cut from the record that was promoted to radio was "One Headlight". Written by band leader Jakob Dylan (yes, son of Bob) and produced by T-Bone Burnett, the song wraps bleak lyrics about death and desperation up in a sweet veneer of jangle-pop goodness that gave the bros a false security in singing along with such a dark-themed topic. In such, the track became the band's biggest success...

Since "One Headlight" wasn't released as a commercial "single" in America, it wasn't eligible to place on Billboard magazine's official Hot 100 pop chart. However the track got so much radio love that it spent five weeks in the runner-up spot on the airplay component of the chart in May of 1997, spending over a year in its top-40 (and partly responsible for the industry rag's changing of the rules, albeit over a year later). The song was a massive success on rock radio, topping both the Mainstream and Alternative Rock format charts for five weeks each, as well as on the Adult Top-40 radio list. The track even made the older-skewing Adult Contemporary (or "easy listening") chart at #30. Internationally, the single was released, and spent five weeks at #1 in Canada, reached the top-40 in Australia (#14) and Iceland (#29), and was a their sole minor hit in the UK at #54. At the Grammy Awards in 1998, "One Headlight" won two awards, for Best Rock Song and Best Duo/Group Rock Vocal Performance. 

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Here's the Wallflowers appearing on Howard Stern's birthday show in 1997...

And with Bruce Springsteen at the MTV Video Music Awards also that year...

Next up, live in concert in California in 1998...

and lastly, in 2012 for Letterman...

Up tomorrow: New jack swing heroes are begging you to stay.