Robbed hit of the week 12/14/20 - Sneaker Pimps' "6 Underground"...

 

 

"6 Underground" - Sneaker Pimps

from the album Becoming X (1996)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #45 (one week)

 

This week's "robbed hit" comes from the British alternative dance act Sneaker Pimps, who came together in the mid-1990s when friends and producers Chris Corner and Liam Howe brought on singer Kelli Dayton. The group, also including bass player Joe Wilson and drummer David Westlake, released their debut album Becoming X in 1996. After two indie singles, they released their breakthrough track "6 Underground"  that fall in the UK. A new take on trip-hop, the song became a decent hit, peaking at #15 there. A follow-up single, "Spin Spin Sugar", went to #21 in Britain the following March, just as "6 Underground" was starting to get rock radio airplay in America. At the same time, "Spin Spin Sugar" sported a frenetic drum-and-bass style remix from Armand Van Helden, which topped the British dance chart, began to climb the American Dance Club Play list in Billboard magazine, peaking at #2 for two weeks. But all during this time, "6 Underground" just wouldn't die, making its way to pop radio in the States through it's remix from Soul II Soul's Nellee Hooper, and in its 22-week run on the official Hot 100 chart in Billboard, almost making the top level...

"6 Underground" came a handful of notches away from reaching the pop Top-40 in the U.S. in September of 1997. The song also climbed to #7 on Billboard's Alternative Rock radio chart that spring as I mentioned, and even crossed over to their older-skewing Adult Top-40 format list at #31. Internationally, the single was also re-released in the UK, eventually climbing to #9. The Becoming X album made the British top-40 sales chart at #27, while peaking at #111 in the U.S.

A final single from Becoming X, "Post-Modern Sleaze", granted them a third top-40 hit in their homeland at #22. Despite this success, the band went south and fast, with Howe ditching the band initially while they were touring, only to return and the group booting Kelli, which proved to be a fatal mistake. Dropped by their label, the group, with Corner assuming lead singer roles, ended up releasing their sophomore effort on their own. Splinter, put out in 1999, did place on the UK albums chart down at #80, but lead single "Low Five" barely scraped the top-40 at #39. Wilson and Westlake left as well in 2002, the year the newly-found duo reemerged with their third and most recent disc, Bloodsport. The featured single on the set, "Sick", managed to make the bottom rung on the British singles chart, #100, for one week, while in America, the remixes did a little better, becoming their second club hit at #16. Since then, Corner has release a bunch of albums by himself under the moniker IAMX, Meanwhile Howe concentrated more on writing and producing, writing songs for the likes of Adele and Lana Del Rey. 

(Click below to see the rest of the post)

Here's the Pimps performing their hit on a TV appearance..

and lastly, a second live stint in 1997...