Little
Feat almost certainly has to be the best rock-era act that not only never hit
the top 40, but never even had a song in the Hot 100. To be fair, back in the
day you actually had to release a song on a 45 RPM record (or, later, as a
12-inch, cassette, or CD single) to get onto the Billboard chart, and as far as
I can tell Little Feat never did anything of the sort, certainly not during
their 1970s heyday. Nevertheless, they got quite a bit of airplay on FM rock
and alternative stations with such classics as “Fat Man In The Bathtub” and “Dixie
Chicken”.
“Red
Streamliner” is not as well-known or catchy as those two, with much more
complexity in both the melody and chord progressions, but it has a haunting
beauty, and is one of the two best songs of all time about trains. (The other
one will appear at #7 on this list.) Michael McDonald’s backing vocals also
help tremendously.
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