Hits 2 Remember

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Aman in California is haunted by the memory of a pop song from his youth. He can remember the lyrics and the melody. But the song itself has vanished, completely scrubbed from the internet. PJ takes on the Super Tech Support case.

TYLER: I would wake up in the middle of the night with a new lyric in my head and I'd go to my computer and write it down and then go back to bed. Like this, these lyrics were kind of like filtering into my brain.

PJ: I met them on a Sunday morning in a parking lot of this recording studio called United Recording in Hollywood. The band, uh, I would describe them as cool in an unintimidating way? They were just a gang of really smiley dudes.

Brendan was referring to the fact that he's 28, there are a lot of critics at Rolling Stone who are older than 28, so he grabbed 5 of them, he said between them there was over 100 years of pop music writing experience in one room.

PJ: Their honest-to-god best guess was that this was a hoax. That Tyler was just lying to me. But I believed Tyler. So I went for a second opinion. I called Jessica Hopper. She's a legendary music critic, she used to edit Pitchfork, she ran MTV News.

So Steven did not recognize the song. But, he was actually able to help me with the mystery, that question of like, how does a pop song just disappear? He said that, as someone who was actually in the late 90s music scene, this completely made sense to him.

STEVEN: Oh god I know so many bands, so many great bands too who, you know, record, were in debt up to their ears with the record company and the record company would either not put the record out eventually or they'd put it out and dump it and they'd get dropped and then they'd be seen as a band that got dropped and it was hard to get second chances then.

PJ: He said what we had to do is try to go find a radio program director who worked in the late 90s.Record labels were bombarding them with singles. They were the ones who heard everything. So I played tried that, played the song for Preston Elliot from Y100, and-

PRESTON ELLIOT: [laughing] Ahh. Uh that's got a real distinctive melody to it with the, with the flute playing there and it would definitely stand out to me if I knew that, you know? Because that's a really dorky sounding song I think that I would absolutely recognize it. (PJ laughs and sighs)

PJ: And honestly, I'd been walking around for weeks thinking how unusual and interesting it was that Tyler, a non-musician, had a sort of, almost photographic memory for a pop song that he had not heard since he was in high school. Susan's explanation for what was actually going on, it made a lot more sense.

Evan: Songs like that that kinda fall into your lap, you know are totally an organic experience, they kinda just grow and grow and I wanted something that was, you know really pop-oriented and I wanted to create something that had a really catchy beat.

PJ: so i was very surprised to learn that Evan actually made this song completely alone. And once he was done he sent it to this company that would print CDs for you. And when he would play shows locally, he would just give the CDs out for free.

On Friday, September the 13th at around 11 AM, we learned that Eddie Money, many of whose hits in the 70s and 80s remain timeless evergreen staples on radio stations across formats, passed away of complications from a heart valve replacement at age 70. Money had revealed his diagnosis of esophageal cancer just one month earlier.

Radio has historically been brilliant at creating unforgettable in-person moments between artist and listener. These moments help create memorable brand depth for well-positioned stations, but as any program director will tell you, artist access is often not exactly easy.

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The hit single from Wilson Phillips' debut album won single of the year at the Billboard Music Awards in 1990 and was featured at the end of 2011's "Bridesmaids," proving this song never goes out of style.

This love song was featured on Adams' sixth studio album and on the soundtrack for 1991's "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves." It was named Billboard's single of the year and spent seven weeks at No. 1 in 1991.

There is nothing better than belting this 1993 club song as loud as you can. "Saturday Night Live" helped make the song even more popular when it was used in the "Roxbury Guys" sketches and subsequent movie "A Night at the Roxbury."

Whitney Houston's cover of the Dolly Parton song was recorded for the 1992 movie "The Bodyguard," which was also her film debut. The song quickly became a huge hit. It spent 14 consecutive weeks at No. 1 and won two Grammys, including record of the year.

This hit was initially controversial for its explicitly sexual lyrics, but it has withstood the test of time and is one of the most recognizable songs from the '90s. It was No. 1 for five weeks in 1992 and even won a Grammy.

"Jump" was the first single from the 12- and 13-year-old duo Kris Kross and was an instant hit, sitting at No. 1 for eight weeks in 1992. Once the song came on, it really was hard not to get up and jump.

Radiohead released "Creep" as their first single in 1992, but the song was initially poorly received in the United Kingdom. But thanks to the success of the single in other countries, including the United States, the single was a victory, The New York Times reported.

When "I'm Gonna Be" comes on, it's hard not to sing along with the "da-da-da-da's" even if you can't remember all of the words. The song was a sweet success for the Scottish duo in 1998 and is one of the best one-hit wonders of all time.

This love song was Celine Dion's first No. 1 single, and it sat at No. 1 for four weeks in 1994. The song, which is a cover of Jennifer Rush's 1984 song, even garnered Dion a Grammy nomination for best female pop vocal performance.

Tag Team became a one-hit wonder with this addictive dance jam in 1993. Rumors began to swirl in 2010 that President Barack Obama appeared in the music video, but it turned out to be false, as reported by Politifact.

Beck was an independent artist when he released "Loser," and its success led to a record deal with DGC Records. When the song was re-released under the label in 1994, it hit No. 10 on the charts, helping jump-start Beck's career.

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