"Cruel To Be Kind" by Spacehog

In the US, Spacehog is considered a one-hit wonder of the 90s. In 1996, their single "In The Meantime," from their 1995 album "Resident Alien," became widely popular, peaking at #32. But the eclectic band from Yorkshire could not sustain this success and quickly fell off the radar.

"Resident Alien" has a lot of filler, but strong cuts like "Cruel To Be Kind" (not a cover of the Nick Lowe hit) should have charted.

Fun fact: Lead singer Royston Langdon was married to Steven Tyler's (Aerosmith) daughter Liv from 2003-2008.

"Footsteps On The Roof" by The Shangri-Las

New York girl group The Shangri-Las got off to a hot start in 1964 with a pair of out-of-the-box hits. The brooding "Remember (Walkin' In The Sand)" reached #5 (Aerosmith took it to #67 in 1980) and the classic "Leader Of The Pack" gave them their one and only #1. The latter is a R&R Hall of Fame single.

The group scored some other minor hits but returned to the Top 10 in 1965 with "I Can Never Go Home Anymore" (#6). By 1966 they would see their final chart appearance when "Past, Present, and Future" stalled at #59.

"Footsteps On The Roof" is another gem from this talented group that didn't see any chart action, but remains one of their finest moments to my ears.

“Fever” by Aerosmith

The mighty Aerosmith needs no introduction, but there is a deep track on their massively successful album, “Get A Grip” that deserves highlighting.

“Get A Grip” became Aerosmith’s first #1 album in 1993. Despite the grunge takeover, this traditional rock record spawned four top 40 singles and went platinum 7 times.

Aerosmith was one of the few classic rock bands that sustained a string of hits during the 90s after grunge put most glam/hair band/hard rock bands to bed. The four singles released from “Get A Grip” that hit the Billboard Top 100 were all power ballads and doctored by hit-makers who knew how to make something radio-friendly.

The strategy worked well, but as a consequence there are some great rockers on “Get A Grip” that went overlooked. One of the best is “Fever”, a rousing rocker in the finest Aerosmith tradition that needed no tweaking by so-called “song doctors”.

In a rather unexpected move, country superstar Garth Brooks later covered this Aerosmith tune as “The Fever”, with altered lyrics. In an even more unexpected move, Steven Tyler will be releasing a country album this year.

Despite the album’s success, and the many others in Aerosmith’s impressive catalogue, the band never hit #1 on the singles chart until 1998 with “I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing”, written by Diane Warren for the Bruce Willis movie “Armageddon”.  Incidentally, Steven Tyler’s daughter Liv co-starred in this movie.