10 famous songs that almost went to a completely different artist
The music industry has a mythology about itself: that the right song finds the right artist, that these pairings are somehow inevitable. Almost none of it is true. The actual process involves demos going to whoever is available, labels passing for reasons unrelated to quality, and managers making calls that turn out to be worth millions. The songs that defined careers did so largely by accident, and the accidents are more interesting than the mythology.
The documentation comes from Ultimate Classic Rock, Mental Floss and Songfacts.
“…Baby One More Time” — Britney Spears (1998)
TLC heard this first and said no. T-Boz explained that “hit me baby one more time” read as a reference to domestic violence, which is a reasonable interpretation that Max Martin apparently hadn’t considered. Mental Floss documents the full sequence: the song went to Robyn, who passed, then to the Backstreet Boys, who passed, before landing with a newer artist for whom nobody had particularly high expectations. TLC never publicly revisited whether they regretted it.
“I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” — Aerosmith (1998)
Diane Warren wrote this imagining Celine Dion. Mental Floss says that Aerosmith was struggling to find material for the Armageddon soundtrack and instead took it. The song became their first and only number one after nearly thirty years of recording. A song written for Celine Dion accidentally produced the commercial peak of one of the longest careers in rock history.
“Physical” — Olivia Newton-John (1981)
Offered to Tina Turner, who passed. Ultimate Classic Rock states the sequence. Newton-John later admitted she hadn’t fully registered how explicit it was until she was already recording it. “A bit raunchier than I realized” is her phrase. It spent ten weeks at number one.
“Holiday” — Madonna (1983)
Producer Jellybean Benitez shopped this to Mary Wilson of the Supremes, Phyllis Hyman and the Ritchie Family. Ultimate Classic Rock documents that Wilson liked it without being in love with it. That phrase haunts music industry near-miss stories. The song became Madonna’s first international top ten hit and the commercial framework on which her entire career was built.
“Call Me” — Blondie (1980)
Moroder wrote this for Stevie Nicks, who was contractually unable to record it. Songfacts documents that Debbie Harry wrote the lyrics in a few hours. Six weeks at number one. Moroder’s original instinct wasn’t wrong. The version we got may just be better than the one he imagined.
“What’s Love Got to Do With It” — Tina Turner (1984)
Cliff Richard, Phyllis Hyman, Donna Summer and Bucks Fizz all passed. Ultimate Classic Rock documents that Summer declined for religious reasons. Turner had been through a devastating personal and professional period. What everyone else rejected became the beginning of one of music’s great second acts.
“Since U Been Gone” — Kelly Clarkson (2004)
Written for Pink, who declined. Mental Floss writes that Hilary Duff also passed and Christina Aguilera worked on a version and decided against it. Aguilera later said publicly that Clarkson had made the right call. That is a generous thing to say about a song you had in your hands and chose to put down.
“Danger Zone” — Kenny Loggins (1986)
Toto was the intended Top Gun artist. Legal complications prevented it. Ultimate Classic Rock documents that Jefferson Starship and Corey Hart were also approached. Loggins had built his career on soft rock and ballads. Danger Zone is neither. It became one of the most recognizable songs of the decade.
“Kiss” — Prince (1986)
Prince wrote this for Mazarati, worked on it with them, then took it back. Mental Floss retrieves his line to the producer: “It’s too good for you guys.” His own label then said it wasn’t good enough to release as a single. Both the artist who almost got it and the label that had it were wrong in opposite directions simultaneously. Prince released it anyway. Number one.
“Hungry Heart” — Bruce Springsteen (1980)
Written after meeting the Ramones, initially intended for them. Mental Floss documents Johnny Ramone hearing the demo and telling Springsteen to keep it, recognizing immediately it was too Springsteen to be anything else. It became the lead single on The River. A Ramones version would have been interesting. Whether “interesting” and “better” are the same thing is worth sitting with.
The bottom line
Every song on this list found the right artist through a chain of rejections nobody recognized as lucky at the time. The music industry’s ability to identify hits before they happen is considerably less reliable than its retrospective confidence suggests.
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