10 under-performing follow-up singles

13 June 2025, 17:02

You're only as good as your last hit! Here are some of the less-successful attempts to follow up a classic single, featuring everyone from McCartney and Bowie to Arctic Monkeys and Nirvana.

By Radio X

@RadioX

1. David Bowie - The Prettiest Star: release date 6th March 1970

   

   David Bowie - The Prettiest Star (1970 stereo version)

   Bowie had been working hard to become a pop star for much of the 1960s, but it wasn't until the final months of the decade that he finally broke through. In the wake of Apollo 11 touching down on the Moon in July 1969, the musician's record label gave his single Space Oddity an extra push and duly sent the song to Number 5 in October the same year.

   However, Bowie dragged his heels a bit when it came to the follow-up: by the time The Prettiest Star came out at the beginning of chart, Space Oddity had been out of the charts for three months. The single - a pleasant enough ditty written for Bowie's new wife Angie - failed to make the chart. Neither did the next one, Memory Of A Free Festival (June 1970), or the one after that, Holy Holy (January 1971). Even the magnificent Changes was ignored by singles buyers on its initial release in January 1972.

   For a time, it seemed like David Bowie would join the ranks of "one hit wonders", until the generation-defining Starman arrived in June of '72 and made it all the way to Number 10.

2. Red Hot Chili Peppers - Breaking The Girl: release date: 3rd August 1992

   

   Red Hot Chili Peppers - Breaking The Girl [Official Music Video]

   The Chilis had a huge success with Under The Bridge, which peaked at Number 13 in the UK and Number 2 in the US. The follow-up, the bewitching Breaking The Girl, stopped just outside the Top 40 in Britain (Number 41 to be exact) and didn't make the Billboard Top 100 at all.(it did, however, peak at Number 15 on the "Mainstream Rock" chart.)

3. Arctic Monkeys - The Hellcat Spangled Shalalala: release date 15th August 2011

   

   Arctic Monkeys - The Hellcat Spangled Shalalala (Official Video)

   The second single from the Monkeys' Suck It And See album followed Don't Sit Down 'Cause I Moved Your Chair, which had peaked at Number 28. However, the release of The Hellcat Spangled Shalalala coincided with the 2011 London riots, which unfortunately struck the PIAS Entertainment Group's warehouse, which included most of the single's 7" stock. While making Number 18 on the official indie chart, the lack of physical sales meant the track didn't even make the Top 100, with one account claiming it had the lowly position of Number 167!

4. Blur - Bang: release date 29th July 1991

   

   Blur - Bang (Official Music Video)

   Damon Albarn and co's second single There's No Other Way made Number 8 in April 1991, but their next release, Bang, stalled at a disappointing Number 24. The one after that, Popscene, only just scraped inside the Top 40 a year later, It wasn't until March 1994 that Blur crashed into the Top 10 again, with the classic Girls And Boys.

5. The Who - A Legal Matter: 7th March 1966

   

   A Legal Matter (Stereo Version)

   The mod powerhouse had four Top 10 hits on the trot: I Can't Explain (Number 8, April 1965), Anyway Anyhow Anywhere (Number 10, July 1965), My Generation (Number 2, December 1965) and Substitute (Number 5, April 1966).

   However. A Legal Matter spoiled the run - it was released hot on the heels of Substitute by producer Shel Talmy, who was embroiled in a legal dispute with the band. Talmy wanted to try and sabotage the success of Substitute but he came off worst as A Legal Matter only creeped to Number 32.

6. The Verve - Sonnet: release date 2nd March 1998

   

   The Verve - Sonnet

   Richard Ashcroft and co had a memorable run of singles in 1997: Bitter Sweet Symphony (Number 2), The Drugs Don't Work (Number 1) and Lucky Man (Number 7). Sonnet was the final track from Urban Hymns to be issued as a single at the insistence of the band's label Hut, but The Verve insisted it should come out as a very limited edition of 5,000 copies. This meant that the 12" and CD was not eligible for the charts, but enough import copies were sold to see Sonnet peak at Number 74 - something of a weird technicality.

7. Queen - Tie Your Mother Down: release date 4th March 1977

   

   Queen - Tie Your Mother Down (Official Video)

   After Bohemian Rhapsody's epic nine weeks at Number 1, Queen enjoyed Top 10 hits with You're My Best Friend (Number 7 in July 1976) and Somebody To Love (Number 2 in December 1976). Their next single release, Tie Your Mother Down, only made it to Number 31, coming three months after it first appeared as the opening track on the album A Day At The Races.

8. Prince - I Would Die 4 U: release date 28th November 1984

   

   Prince - I Would Die 4 U (Live 1984) [Official Video]

   When Doves Cry and Purple Rain had both gone Top 10 in the UK for His Princeness, but when a third UK single was taken from the Purple Rain album at the end of November 1984, it got lost in the festive period among big hitters like Band Aid and Last Christmas, only making it to Number 58. It went top 10 in America!

9. Paul McCartney - The Back Seat Of My Car: release date 13th August 1971

   

   The Back Seat Of My Car (Remastered 2012)

   McCartney had a good start in the post-Beatle era when his first solo single, Another Day, made it to Number 2 in February 1971. The follow-up was something of a clunker, only making it to an embarrassing Number 39 in the same week that his former colleague George Harrison was at Number 12 with Bangla Desh. Macca wouldn't score a solo Number 1 until Mull Of Kintyre at Christmas 1977.

10. Nirvana - All Apologies: release date 6th December 1993

    

    Nirvana - All Apologies (MTV Unplugged)

    Heart-Shaped Box, the lead track from the legendary grunge band's third album In Utero went straight into the British charts at Number 5: its follow-up only made it to Number 32 and fell out of the top 75 after five weeks. Ironically, it was to be the final Nirvana single released in Kurt Cobain's lifetime and didn't even get a physical release in the USA.