Originally Posted by Neapolitan

But not in England ... or at least not until 1997.

OK I absolutely know Hitchin' a Ride is mainstream cause when I played in plug.dj Paul Smeenus said he did not like it cause it was mainstream. But there are other reasons too. I picked Hitchin' a Ride because it shares some things in common that other songs had. It sounds Beatle-esque in my opinion. It has Ringo-esque drum beat. The piano take the place of the way Harrison plays his guitar chords. It has a recorder. Flutes and other woodwind instruments have been slowing gaining acceptance in Popular music, as well as in underground music at the time. It has a Peter Gun-esque break. It also has cow bell or the bell of the cymbal. It has decent harmonies. A tone-wheel organ makes a brief appearance. It's a fun song up-beat song. OK all those things are use sparingly in the song, they are used for hooks. Everything is nice and neat. It basically comes down to being a pop song.

OK both songs came out about the same time. Hitchin a Ride reached #16 while the Immigrant Song was nowhere to be found on the UK charts - or at least from the sources I've checked. Someone please go through the UK charts and fact-check that for me.

While Hitchin' a Ride is very similar to other songs at the time the Immigrant Song is sui generis. I am not saying its uniqueness automatically makes it underground. I saying it not really mainstream because it's not similar to other mainstream song at the time.

Hitchin' a Ride


Led Zeppelin - Immigrant Song