WHAT TO DO WHEN AN ARTIST CAN’T OUTDO THEIR DEBUT SINGLE?

I do a lot of “musical analysis” whilst in supermarkets and shopping centres; for me, it’s pure escapism from the demands of society and work life. Last weekend, whilst absent-mindedly shopping in our local supermarket, my ears pricked up to the sounds of Bachelor Girl’s 1998 hit, “Buses And Trains”. “Great pop song”, I muttered to myself whilst paying for our groceries at the self-serve checkout.

Three days later, whilst rushing from one work meeting to another, “Buses And Trains” caught my attention again as it was played over the noise of a busy food court in a suburban Sydney shopping centre.

By default or by design, I was party to the unlikely trifecta of hearing “Buses And Trains” AGAIN as I walked past a women’s clothing store later the same day.

Freaky…

The Australian pop duo of Bachelor Girl enjoyed a handful of hit singles in Australasia during the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, however they will always be remembered for their debut single, “Buses And Trains”. It follows the perfect pop song format [i.e. catchy chorus, simple lyrics et al], and it is a “cookie cutter” template song for supermarkets and shopping centres, as it will never offend any member of the public, and everybody over the age of 25 is familiar with the tune.
Whilst “Buses And Trains” remains a lucrative copyright for Bachelor Girl’s singer Tania Doko and multi-instrumentalist James Roche, one wonders how they feel about the song’s impact on their subsequent music careers. The facts must be faced; their debut single remains their most revered composition.

In keeping with my hobby of analysing music whilst in supermarkets and shopping centres, I surprised myself at how swiftly I was able to compile a list of artists of whom their debut single remains their most revered work:

• “Wuthering Heights” – Kate Bush
• “Just What I Needed” – The Cars
• “Alive” – Pearl Jam
• “Fool If You Think It’s Over” – Chris Rea
• “Kids In America” – Kim Wilde
• “Tomorrow” – Silverchair
• “Baby One More Time” – Britney Spears
• “Morning Train” – Sheena Easton
• “It’s Not Unusual” – Tom Jones
• “More Than A Feeling” – Boston
• “Never Gonna Give You Up” – Rick Astley
• “Take On Me” – a-Ha
• “The Final Countdown” – Europe

From Bachelor Girl through to Europe, these are all great songs, debut release or not. The most important aspect of each song is that it created a career for each artist, and that in itself is something to be proud of. We all know that there are thousands of artists worldwide who would kill to be in a similar position.

This being said, I wonder if these artists ever think to themselves, “when will I outdo the debut single?” It’s a nice question to be able to contemplate…