5 Flop Songs From The '70s That Have Earned Respect From Younger Generations

If you mine music from the '70s, you'll excavate countless pop and rock gems: Shiny songs that became immediate hits, defined legacies, and were showered with critical acclaim and commercial success. That decade also produced plenty of coal: Flop songs that didn't catch on with fans, flagged on the charts, and hit a low note with critics at the time. But if you examine these closely, you'll find tracks that were dismissed in their time, only to be rediscovered years later by new generations of ears. With enough time and pressure underground, a lump of coal can turn into a diamond.

Many songs that fizzled in the '70s found new life decades later. Some, like Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' "American Girl" and Elton John's "Tiny Dancer," wavered at first but became forever attached to their superstars. Others, like Sparks' "This Town Ain't Big Enough for the Both of Us," were cult favorites that have crossed over to new generations of fans and musicians thanks to streaming, soundtracks, sampling, and social media virality.

For a list like this, it's important to clarify the terms. Here, we define a "flop" as a song that either floundered in terms of sales or was savaged by critics upon release. When considering the impact on younger generations, we looked at chart status, Spotify streaming statistics, and TikTok numbers, as well as whether the track was sampled or used in more contemporary media. After years in the dark — and with new ears and new enthusiasm — these '70s songs ditched the "flop" label and became gems.

It's hard to pin the term "flop" on any music made by Tom Petty — it seemed like he wrote hits in his sleep. Yet one of his set staples, "American Girl" off Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers' self-titled debut album, didn't make much of an impression at first. The single, released in February 1977, didn't get airplay on major radio stations and failed to chart in the U.S., though it reached No. 40 in the U.K. Despite Petty's evocative lyrics, the catchy arrangements, and Mike Campbell's gritty guitar lines, the song didn't gain traction at first.

It took a while for the U.S. to catch up to Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and the group's debut album had a slow start. That said, it eventually peaked at No. 55 on the Billboard album chart in 1978. This got the band more radio play, and in 1979, "Don't Do Me Like That" became the first of Petty's 11 singles to hit the Top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100. Though it floundered early on, "American Girl" lived up to its promises and left a mark after all. 

In 2001, the song — well, major parts of it — caught the ears of a new generation of fans. Kicking off the early 2000s garage rock revival, The Strokes' single "Last Nite" uses the iconic opening riff and bass line of "American Girl." Lead singer Julian Casablancas admitted as much, explaining in an interview (via Stereogum), "People would say, 'You know that song "American Girl" by Tom Petty? Don't you think it sounds a little like that?' And I'd be like, 'Yeah, we ripped it off. Where you been?'" After Petty's death in 2017, "American Girl" returned to the charts, peaking at No. 11 on Billboard's Hot Rock Songs chart over 40 years after flopping. 

Russell and Ron Mael, the Californian brothers that make up Sparks, built a career by making eccentric, artsy pop music. With contrasting on-stage personas — lead singer Russell flamboyant and Ron stock still and staring coldly from behind his synth — the duo was and remains relentlessly prolific and inventive. From Sparks' 1971 debut, "Halfnelson," to "Mad!," released in 2025, the group has put out 28 studio albums, each a step forward: an evolution.

Sparks found most of its success overseas, so whether "This Town Ain't Big Enough for the Both of Us" flopped was a matter of which side of the pond you were on. This glam rock anthem off their 1974 album, "Kimono My House," climbed all the way to No. 2 on the U.K. singles charts. But it wasn't big enough for both countries and didn't make the Billboard Hot 100. While the duo was bigger overseas than back home, Sparks never stopped, hitting a stride commercially with quirky disco songs in the late '70s and synth-pop in the '80s. 

For a long time in the U.S., Sparks was more of a cult phenomenon — a band brought up in conversation by musicians or synth-pop enthusiasts. This changed in 2021, when "This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us" and the band gained a new generation of fans thanks to the documentary "The Sparks Brothers." That same year, "Annette," a musical film starring Adam Driver that the duo wrote with French filmmaker Leos Carax, brought even more into the fold. American audiences in the '70s didn't quite know what to do with Sparks, but their grandchildren figured it out.

Like Kate Bush's 1985 hit "Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)," Queen's "Don't Stop Me Now," released as a single in 1979, has become beloved by millennials and Gen Z. Likely buoyed by the 2018 biopic "Bohemian Rhapsody," with Rami Malek playing legendary frontman Freddie Mercury, TikTok edits, dance videos of the song, and YouTube reaction videos have racked up millions of views. Belting out or lip-syncing lines like "I'm a rocket ship on my way to Mars on a collision course / I am a satellite, I'm out of control" isn't just some weird thing gray hairs do in their cars or showers.

But unlike Bush's song, which peaked at a respectable No. 30 on the Billboard Hot 100 in its day, "Don't Stop Me Now" was never a hit upon its initial release in 1979. While it has since become a fan favorite — in 2014, Rolling Stone readers ranked it the third greatest Queen song — the single didn't land with American audiences. While it did quite well in their native England, hitting No. 9 on the U.K. singles charts, it only reached No. 86 on the Billboard Hot 100. That's a flop for a band whose career includes two No. 1's ("Crazy Little Thing Called Love" and "Another One Bites the Dust") among 19 that made the top 50. But on Spotify as of the time of this writing, "Don't Stop Me Now" is the group's second most streamed song, just behind "Bohemian Rhapsody."

Sampling in hip-hop makes the genre the perfect vehicle for new generations of fans to learn about forgotten musical gems. Listen through legendary West Coast producer and rapper Ice Cube's output, and you'll encounter a treasure trove of '70s classics and cool cult cuts by artists ranging from George Clinton and Kool & the Gang to Anita Baker. With its iconic and infinitely mellow guitar, bass, and beat, The Isley Brothers' "Footsteps in the Dark, Pts. 1 and 2" became the ear-catching bedrock for Ice Cube's 1993 hit (co-written with producer DJ Pooh), "It Was a Good Day," off the album "The Predator." A generation of hip-hop fans bobbed their heads to a tune many of their parents slept on.

The Isley Brothers' original, from the album "Go for Your Guns," came out in 1978 as a B-side to "Groove With You." While the A-side would reach No. 16 on the Billboard Hot R&B charts, it and "Footsteps in the Dark" never made the Hot 100. Chart success is a tall proposition for an over 5-minute-long slow jam. Credited as co-writers, The Isley Brothers were glad to see their song step into the light in "It Was A Good Day." Of all the hip-hop songs that sampled their songs, lead singer Ron Isley told "The All Out Show with Rude Jude" (via Rap Radar) that one was hands down his favorite. Ice Cube's most-streamed song on Spotify owes so, so much to The Isley Brothers' sublime groove.

Given Elton John's iconic status and legacy, you might be surprised to learn "Tiny Dancer," off "Madman Across the Water," is another song that didn't see much chart success at first. In 1971, it didn't crack the Top 40 in the U.S., peaking at No. 41 on the Hot 100, and never saw light as a single in the piano pop master's native England. American radio format conventions may have played a role in it bombing. The radio edit cut out key portions of the original, and with a song like "Tiny Dancer," you need the whole 6-plus minutes.

Multiple generations of fans "discovered" the song. In 2000, young rockers got to know it as it appeared in Cameron Crowe's love letter to '70s rock, "Almost Famous." Almost 20 years later, the biopic "Rocketman" earned "Tiny Dancer" a whole new generation of fans. The song's best chart performance came long after the original release, when it hit No. 6 on the Billboard Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart about a month after the film hit theaters.

Because he paved a yellow brick road for so many— and because so many of his songs sound even cooler today — Elton John remains relevant and beloved. Not every rock star from the '70s could pull off a duet of the 2023 mega-hit "Pink Pony Club" with Chappell Roan. But thanks to a peerless body of work and songs like "Tiny Dancer," that's exactly what he did at the Oscars After Party in 2025, all while wearing a bedazzled cowboy hat with tassels. Truly iconic.