Aaron Neville - Everybody Plays The Fool

Hi everyone :)
I'm curious about this one.
Here in Argentina I remember loving so much this song when played on the radio (mostly AT40, dubbed in spanish language for spanish-speaking territories).
I remember I grew to love it so much, so I went and bought Aaron Neville's "Warm Your Heart" album (singles were not commonly distributed in Argentina).
To my surprise, the song on the album was a complete different mix. Boring. I hated it, lol.
After some years of listening to an old AT40 recording of the version I loved, I bought the US promo CD Single on eBay and I finally got the version the AT40 would play on the radio.

This single: Aaron Neville - Everybody Plays The Fool (US Promo CDS)

The version I was used to hear on the radio was:

Everybody Plays The Fool (7" Listen Baby Mix) (4:03)

The Official Music Video uses that same version.

Strangely enough, after 30 years, the only official version posted on YouTube (and on all streaming platforms) is the album version:

YouTube (Album Version)

I'm pretty sure the success of the song had to do with remix itself. I don't think the album version would have charted that well.

Now... a question for experts.

Who used to decide which version from any given promo single had to be played by radio stations? Was it up to the radio programmer? Or was there a tendency to just play track # 1 from the promo singles radios would get?



Edited by cristianmdp

Kevin711, you're most welcome :)

Thanks for your input, Hykker!
So, I guess it really was up to the programmer.
Should I assume, though, the majority would play, mostly, track # 1? Or multiple versions would be played, depending on the programmer's decision?

Edited by cristianmdp

Sounds to me, then, that the chance of success for songs that would have different mixes offered to radio stations, would depend on which mix the radio programmer would pick.
Interesting.
Also is interesting to me to know that radio programmers, in general, I guess, would take the time to actually listen to each and every different mix, when available, in order to pick which one to play.
Guess I never really thought about these things, and this particular Aaron Neville track led me to question myself how this used to work.

Edited by cristianmdp

Keep in mind that many smaller stations that didn't qualify for reporting status in the major trades didn't always get all that great service from the labels by the late 80s or so and had to rely on a music service like TM HitDiscs, Top Hits USA, etc. If you were one of those stations, you played what was on your weekly CD.

That makes perfect sense and would explain why a certain mix would be played by the majority of the radio stations in the US.

So... now I'm interested to know who whould pick the version that would end on a TM HitDisc... (and based on what), cause they would play a key factor on the level of success on singles.