1. "Get Born Again" - Alice In Chains
Greatest Hits albums are a good way for a band to fulfill their contractual obligations to a record company without putting too much effort into the release. Maybe a group signed a bad deal and grew weary after studio album 4 on a 7 album deal. Knock out a few "Best Of" discs and look for greener pastures to play music from. "Get Born Again" was a new single featured on the 1999 release Nothing Safe: The Best Of The Box. The song was originally written by Alice guitarist Jerry Cantrell for his solo career but after Layne Staley heard it they decided to make it an AIC song. Staley would never be featured on a full length Alice In Chains album again due to his increasing struggles with drugs. Perhaps the band was waiting for him to clean himself up and was keeping the record deal at bay by putting out compilation discs. He never would as he was found dead of an overdose in 2002.
2. "Mary Jane's Last Dance" - Tom Petty
This is an example of a new song featured on a "Best Of" album that did live up to it's hype. It was recorded in 1993 and released on Petty's Greatest Hits album that year. It skyrocketed up the charts and became his first top 20 hit peaking at #14. The video won the Best Male Video category at the MTV music awards in 1994 and was a memorable one in which Petty played a mortician who becomes infatuated with and eventually brings home the corpse of Kim Basinger.
3. "Again" - Lenny Kravitz
Kravitz released his Greatest Hits record in 2000 and it featured two new singles. "Black Velveteen" which saw moderate success but the album's first single "Again" garnered the most attention. It earned him a Grammy in 2001 and was also his first top ten hit since 1991's "It Ain't Over 'til It's Over"
4. "Man Overboard" - Blink 182
Alright, bending the rules slightly for this one as The Mark, Tom & Travis Show album wasn't actually a greatest hits release but a live album. A new song was tacked on the end though and was the studio version of "Man Overboard" a song purportedly about ex-drummer Scott Raynor's departure from the group.
5. "Can't Repeat" - The Offspring
There are some bands and artists with a longevity who have yet to release a Greatest Hits record but could totally fill a quadruple album's worth of songs. Metallica is the first one that comes to mind. The Offspring you'd might think would be a band uninterested in a Best Of album but they released one in 2005. Though it was actually just a collection of their singles, the one new song "Can't Repeat" failed to gain any significant attention and is the one song on the disc that deserves an asterisk when the words Greatest Hits are involved. Bonus fact! The hidden track on The Offspring's album is a great cover of The Police's "Next To You".
6. "Tonight She Comes" - The Cars
The Cars were a force to be reckoned with in the 70's and 80's. At the time they released their Greatest Hits in 1985 they had 3 top ten hits. The new single off the album "Tonight She Comes" became #4 to do so. 3 years later The Cars would call it quits due to dwindling interest and the band members' desires to pursue solo careers. Though their bassist and founding member Benjamin Orr passed in 2000 from cancer, the band reunited in 2010.
7. "You're The World To Me" - David Gray
While we over here in North America might not think David Gray is worthy of a greatest hits album in his native UK he is an absolute monster. Three number 1 albums, 4 international smash singles and multiple Brit Award nominations. The new track off of his Greatest Hits album was "You're The World To Me" and he described the song as a "Joyous tune amongst a bag of happy shit"
8. "Bad Day" - R.E.M
REM are another of those bands who's career has spanned multiple decades, had a band member leave the group and who have jumped from record label to record label. As such they've release a few Best Of albums. The Best Of REM released in 1991, REM In The Attic in 1997 and Part Lies, Part Heart, Part Truth, Part Garbage in 2011 to name a few. "Bad Day" came off the 2003 Best Of album In Time.
9. "Thanks, That Was Fun" - Barenaked Ladies
With a title like that it's no wonder many fans thought the Barenaked Ladies were calling it quits and saying good bye in 2001 when they released a Greatest Hits album with "Thanks, That Was Fun" being the last track. To add to the wonder the video featured clips sewn together of all their past music videos. Like flipping endearingly through and old yearbook and remembering when.
10. "The Sweetest Thing" - U2
U2 released two greatest hits albums The Best Of 1980-1990 in 1998 and The Best Of 1990 - 2000 in 2002. "The Sweetest Thing" came off of the former. While the song was originally released as a b-side to an earlier single, it was retooled and rerecorded for the compilation album and acted as a new single in 1998. As the story goes Bono wrote the song as an apology to his wife (who appears in the early moments of the video) as he had missed her birthday while recording The Joshua Tree in 1986. As part of the deal she donated all profits from the single to her favourite charity. Chernobyl Children's Project International.
Thanks again for reading! Hoping to do this more often!
Twit at sh'boy! @jonnyzhivago
Cheers
JZ
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