For What It's Worth Should Have Been a Top 10 Hit

[MikeInNV]

http://stargayzing.com/13-songs-that-should-have-been-top-ten-hits-or-has-the-beat-killed-melody-on-american-radio/

Despite excellent reviews and performing the song on The Jay Leno Show, America’s Got Talent, and Good Morning America, Stevie Nicks’ best single in 25 years failed to make the pop charts and peaked at a disappointing #25 on the Adult Contemporary chart. The mid-tempo ballad is as emotionally immediate and as touching as Sara, Gypsy or any of Nicks’ finest songs. Yes, pop radio has changed a lot, but in no way more than its cold-hearted ageism. To wit: if For What It’s Worth was a Taylor Swift song it would have been a number one pop and Country song. Listen for yourself.

[BlueLight]

So true. It's a perfect song. When it was first released, my husband and I went on and on about how it would've been a huge hit, had it been recorded by a younger artist.

[Macfanforever]

I agree 1000 percent. As an old school country music fan. As I said before.Radio and country radio ditched IYD into the rubbish after they received it.The same with 24K .It should of gotten played on country radio and easy listening radio .People rather hear crap from Luke Bryan,Jason Aldean,Rascal Flatt Tires and other so called country artists and bands.Stevie is more country then these idiots.

In my other post
in the http://ledge.fleetwoodmac.net/showthread.php?t=56016 thread .

As I said in the 20 Women Who Should Be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame from SisterNightroad..

Yes .I'm all old school with music.Now its a big mixed up bag of everything.
The problem with Madonna is she got overexposed with the media like other artists and bands.I lost interest of Madonna probably by her second or third album. Also her crotch feeling in her vids turned me off too. Stevie and the Mac and some others kept their heads low from the overexposed dept.The problem with Stevie and the Mac is they never tried any thing different music then what they do play or the radio jocks and station program directors and music directors simply overlooked some of their country flavored tunes like Stevie's "After The Glitter Fades" and FM 's "Thats Alright" just name a couple .I was lucky here to have these tunes including L@L played on the local country station as I requested them during the request hour .Also it helped that I known the DJ there also he was a fan of Stevie's and the Mac..

I apologize on cross posting here but it was easier to do that then type all that here again.Lazy me.

[WatchChain]

I've said this in previous posts, but Stevie's COUNTRY songs are always my favorite of her work. Much like "That's Alright, "Rose Garden", "After The Glitter Fades", "Silver Springs" and "Sleeping Angel", "For What It's Worth" is a COUNTRY SONG at its core.

I also feel that "For What It's Worth" was harshly OVERLOOKED, even by Stevie fans. "For What It's Worth" has become one of my TOP 20 FAVORITE Stevie songs of all time. It's just BEAUTIFUL, such a melancholy tune! If I haven't listened to it for awhile, it can still bring tears to my eyes. There's such a quiet longing for something that never was in its message.

[mitzo]

I think it would be an unlikely hit and I am still puzzled it was even released as a single. Far too draggy and droning, and sung in such a low register she sounds just dead and boring. Sorry, I know many love this song. I do not.

[Jondalar]

I think it would be an unlikely hit and I am still puzzled it was even released as a single. Far too draggy and droning, and sung in such a low register she sounds just dead and boring. Sorry, I know many love this song. I do not.

I agree. Poor single choice. Bland and uninteresting. Only some die hard Stevie fans would like it.

[pryderi]

To me it's a cross between Landslide and Hey There Delilah. One of my favorite tracks.

[StreetAngel86]

WURD!

it is fabulous :xoxo:

[Travis]

Baffles me that some don't like it but, to each their own. Personally I love it, one of my two favorites from IYD.

[louielouie2000]

I think it would be an unlikely hit and I am still puzzled it was even released as a single. Far too draggy and droning, and sung in such a low register she sounds just dead and boring. Sorry, I know many love this song. I do not.

I agree. Poor single choice. Bland and uninteresting. Only some die hard Stevie fans would like it.

This. All of it. To me, the song sounded like something resurrected from the Street Angel sessions which was deemed so lackluster that it couldn't even make that infamous album. :shocked:

To me it's a cross between Landslide and Hey There Delilah. One of my favorite tracks.

I get more of a Jane/Cheaper Than Free vibe from the song. :eek:

What Can money not buy?
I look at you and I start to cry
What's cheaper than free?
The forgotten chimpanzee.
With Good intentions, came through your door
the children of the world.

:p

[bombaysaffires]

This. All of it. To me, the song sounded like something resurrected from the Street Angel sessions which was deemed so lackluster that it couldn't even make that infamous album. :shocked:



I get more of a Jane/Cheaper Than Free vibe from the song. :eek:

What Can money not buy?
I look at you and I start to cry
What's cheaper than free?
The forgotten chimpanzee.
With Good intentions, came through your door
the children of the world.

:p


o.m.g. :lol::laugh:

[redbird]

I love this song, definitely one of her best later album tracks. Simple and emotional, like a good country song should be. Her vocal could be better and I could do without the intro bell, but I think it came out so much more better than "Secret Love".

[Macfanforever]

Sorry but I do love Cheaper then Free.I thought it was cute.

[michelej1]

What Can money not buy?
I look at you and I start to cry
What's cheaper than free?
The forgotten chimpanzee.
With Good intentions, came through your door
the children of the world.

:p

Oh, this is priceless. But even though you made me laugh uproariously, I will not lump FWIW in with those garbage songs.

Michele

[sorcerer999]

I downright loathed this song when IYD came out. In fact, for the first three years after its release, I would always skip it and go straight to the next song.

But something changed in 2014. I gave it another chance and really started to dig it. I guess this one was yet another Stevie Nicks "slow burn" for me. I prefer the scaled down "radio edit".

So while I can understand people not enjoying certain aspects of it - her low register, the phrasing, etc. there's still a sweet sentimentality to it in the music and lyrics that make me appreciate the things that I initially disliked about it before. Maybe it's an age thing, who knows. :shrug:

Just my two cents.

[pryderi]

Loved the video as well.

[bombaysaffires]

Oh, this is priceless. But even though you made me laugh uproariously, I will not lump FWIW in with those garbage songs.


This is a fair statement. While FWIW is not a great, "hooky" single, it's a decent album cut and has a coherent story. It is far, far from her worst song.

[GypsySorcerer]

I think it would be an unlikely hit and I am still puzzled it was even released as a single. Far too draggy and droning, and sung in such a low register she sounds just dead and boring. Sorry, I know many love this song. I do not.

Agreed. I concede there is a sweet sentiment in the song, as someone else posted, but it's a weak single. Blah and boring.

[lilyfee]

This is a fair statement. While FWIW is not a great, "hooky" single, it's a decent album cut and has a coherent story. It is far, far from her worst song.

I agree. The chorus definitely hooks you but I think it's just one of the more cohesive on IYD, not her best ever.

I wish Stevie would go a little country, like pander to country radio so they'd play her stuff. She could definitely have a place there, particularly with her recent albums, and the only reason I can think of for why they shun her is because she doesn't define herself as country. I think her collaborations with Lady Antebellum are a good step in the right direction.

[twinmatrix]

I agree. Poor single choice. Bland and uninteresting. Only some die hard Stevie fans would like it.

Lol literally everyone I know loves this song.

[louielouie2000]

Agreed. I concede there is a sweet sentiment in the song, as someone else posted, but it's a weak single. Blah and boring.

I completely agree with this. In fact, watching the IYD documentary, the FWIW section was one of my favorites simply because of the sentiments behind the song, and the emotional reaction it elicited from Stevie. It was very moving to watch Stevie talk about emerging from addiction, and facing life utterly sober for the first time in decades. However, her trying to steal her married addiction counselor away from his wife while he travels with her on the road is also an underlying theme of this song... not cool. :distress:

My biggest problem with the song are the clunky lyrics and extremely draggy chorus, though. Stevie Nicks songs shouldn't contain words like "stuff" and "car." She's a better writer than that. And those baritone, uninspired double harmonies in the chorus are just painful to me.

This song definitely captures one of the more interesting chapters of Stevie's life, but top 10 single material it definitely was not. Now the title track? During a different era it absolutely could have been a top 40 hit. :nod:

[Jondalar]

Lol literally everyone I know loves this song.

Well then literally everyone you know must be on Klonoplin. This is one of the most uninteresting, bland, slice of life songs I've ever heard. It's not even interesting. The boil on my buttocks could of written it. Why in the hell was it ever released as a single. It sounds like an album reject. There is absolutely nothing special about this song.

[mitzo]

Well then literally everyone you know must be on Klonoplin. This is one of the most uninteresting, bland, slice of life songs I've ever heard. It's not even interesting. The boil on my buttocks could of written it. Why in the hell was it ever released as a single. It sounds like an album reject. There is absolutely nothing special about this song.

This. Sorry, but she sounds like a walrus stuck in a bagpipe drone on FWIW.

[BombaySapphire3]

What's Klonoplin?:shrug:

[silvasprings]

Like other's have stated, I agree that the album vocal is rather bland and dull. I much preferred the way she sang it live and feel that if the album version had been recorded the same way she pulled off the live vocal it would have made the song much stronger and potentially boosted it's radio life.