I'm biased to this band I know but who isn't biased to something. This song has already been mentioned in another thread but it got me thinking.

The track was written in 1969 and although the lead track of a classic album it was not a single. For many years it was a fans and critics favourite but generally got little airplay and remained a relatively obscure track compared to the bands more well known charts hits - of which there were many.

Then some years back the AA and a well known Hollywood Director used the track in an add and a film and suddenly the track began to get noticed.

In the years that have followed it's been used on countless films, remixes, covers and other things. It is the bands most downloaded track apparently. It is also the bands song most likely to be on someones iPod - for most it will be the only track they have from a band they generally have little interest in.

The track is the Rolling Stones - Gimme Shelter.

My question is are there any other records like this.

WE ARE NOT TALKING ONE HIT WONDERS HERE BUT SONGS FROM ESTABLISHED ARTISTS.

The two that I can think of are "Perfect Day" Lou Reed - the story of which is almost identical to Gimme Shelter.

and

Heroes by David Bowie.

Any others ?

Stuck in the Middle with You ?

Tarantino brought it back in Reservoir Dogs and all of a sudden it was everywhere with cover versions in the charts

Hoppipolla by Sigur Ros, used by countless TV programme makers, heard by nearly everybody in the country, yet most of those people wouldn't have the foggiest who its by or what it is called.

The band themselves have even christened it 'the Money Song', purely on the regularity of its use and the amount of cash it has made them in royalties.

By Stealers Wheel I believe.

Can't say i've heard that before and will be glad to never hear it again, i have known of this group long before pretentious hipsters made them semi famous, i didn't like them then and i don't now

I guess somebody who has a liking for Judas Priest is always going to be capable of spouting nonsense when it comes to musical matters...

think what you like, my musical tastes are very diverse

Nothing wrong with diverse - However, you need to accept that other people's tastes are equally diverse and won't always be the same as yours, so to simply slag them off as pretentious surely just makes you equally pretentious??...

Don't Stop Believin' by Journey has to be in there. Didn't even reach the top 40 in the UK singles chart when released in 1981. Featured in a few films in recent years with no real recognition but gained high profile press coverage when it was used in the final scene of The Sopranos. Cue its rise in popularity, its use in Glee and various X-Factor versions which has made it the top-selling catalog track in iTunes history, and you have Journey making an absolute fortune from a song first released over 30 years ago. Ask the majority of people who love this song if they could name another Journey song and you would probably be met by a blank look on their face.

Hallelujah?

Grace is a truly brilliant album, yet most people will only know of Jeff Buckley via that song (that wasn't even his) after it was picked up by the reality shows.

I remember getting into it a few years ago before the whole Sopranos/Glee thing and thinking 'why does nobody else know this, it's fantastic?'. Then it began to be played everywhere and I started to hate it. Some people I know started saying that they'd always loved Journey which was a lie because they weren't very well known at all in the UK, never mind 20+ years after their heyday.

Other songs which people of my generation seem to love even tough they were released far before they would have been into music and they weren't even that big hits include; Laid by James, Killing in the Name by Rage Against the Machine and This Charming Man by the Smiths.

I think it's great that people are into music from before their time but when they claim to have been as massive fan since they were toddlers it gets on my nerves.

Powerslave

I'm going to put forward 'Get a Move On' by Mr Scruff. It was heavily used on TV in 1999 when it was first released and has remained a staple choice ever since for commercials and montages. After hearing it on BBC News tonight on the election roundup 16 years later, it's proved to be as popular a choice as ever for TV background music. It's an electronic breakbeat track that many wouldn't know if you told them but I can guarantee they'd know it if they heard it.

Can't say i've heard that before, what commercials and show was it heavily used on?

It's been a regular 'go to' track for TV montages for years, especially on the BBC, whether they be political, sport or entertainment features. I seem to remember it being used on a Mastercard advert in the early 2000s and a Volvo advert I think. I'm sure if you did a quick Google of Mr Scruff - Get a Move On you'd probably be able to find where it's been used.

Seven Nation Army by the White Stripes; has become ubiquitous at sports stadia of various different flavours, where the fabulously filthy riff is tunelessly squawked in unison by drunk spectators. Must be galling for Jack White - it doesn't even generate any royalties.

Intro by The XX. A TV favourite which hardly troubled the charts yet has been used in a raft of TV dramas, current affairs programmes, montages and adverts.

Sigur Rós - Hoppípolla

Nearly 11 years old and it just won't go away!

The only thing that irk's with Dont stop Believin' is that it's the only Journey track that you ever hear.
They have a back catalogue going back to 1973 ? and you only ever hear 1 track (it was the same when John Peel claimed "Teenage Kicks" as his favourite track of all time).
Back on topic Whole Lotta Love - Led Zep and The Chain - Fleetwood Mac

Sound of Silence. The new Disturbed version is just unbelievable!! The Simon and Garfunkel one wasn't bad either

Average White Band - Pick Up the Pieces. The default choice when catchy, upbeat background music is required. To give it it's due, it does sound pretty timeless despite it being from way back in 1974.

Across the universe, The Beatles - this version. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpGME3Iv7Yg

Across the universe, The Beatles - this version. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpGME3Iv7Yg

"Patches" by Clarence Carter

Now I am not soft but this one does something to me

Oh yea and "The Chain" - Fleetwood Mac

I find "Year 3000" by the "Millennial Beatles" Busted is right up there with the best song of all time. Takes me places that song does.