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Aaron Neville - Everybody Plays The Fool

Printed From: Top 40 Music on CD
Category: Top 40 Music On Compact Disc
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URL: https://top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9631
Printed Date: 16 May 2025 at 6:29am
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Topic: Aaron Neville - Everybody Plays The Fool
Posted By: cristianmdp
Subject: Aaron Neville - Everybody Plays The Fool
Date Posted: 13 July 2021 at 4:00am
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 " https://www.discogs.com/Aaron-Neville-Warm-Your-Heart/master/256786 - 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: https://www.discogs.com/Aaron-Neville-Everybody-Plays-The-Fool/release/13212243 - 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 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKAJs8waYd4 - 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:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaRGWgkh6cs - 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?




Replies:
Posted By: Kevin711
Date Posted: 13 July 2021 at 4:56am
Honestly, I can't answer your question but I do want to
thank you for the information on the promo CD. I just
bought a copy of it from a seller on Discogs.


Posted By: cristianmdp
Date Posted: 13 July 2021 at 5:29am
Kevin711, you're most welcome :)


Posted By: Hykker
Date Posted: 13 July 2021 at 6:03am
Originally posted by cristianmdp cristianmdp wrote:

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?


Not sure if I'd call myself an expert, but I have been
music director at a couple of stations.
Usually the PD and I would go thru the new releases we
were considering adding and see which version seemed
to fit our format the best. Sometimes we'd have a
"day" version and a "night" version for something that
might have some rap in it or maybe heavy guitar (we
had a LOT of office listening and didn't want to lose
it).
Occasionally, we'd miss on the consensus cut and
switch mid-chart run.
Other times we'd deliberately choose a version that
the others in the area weren't so we'd have an
"exclusive" version. It all depended on the song.


Posted By: cristianmdp
Date Posted: 13 July 2021 at 6:23am
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?


Posted By: Bellenger1981
Date Posted: 14 July 2021 at 1:51pm
I would assume that most would play track 1, as that's
usually aimed as the focus track, but it really depends
on the song/promo.

-------------
Jason Bellenger

Byron Center, Michigan, USA


Posted By: cristianmdp
Date Posted: 15 July 2021 at 3:28am
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.


Posted By: Hykker
Date Posted: 15 July 2021 at 5:56am
Originally posted by Bellenger1981 Bellenger1981 wrote:

I would assume that most would
play track 1, as that's
usually aimed as the focus track, but it really depends
on the song/promo.


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.


Posted By: cristianmdp
Date Posted: 15 July 2021 at 6:26am
Quote 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.


Posted By: AndrewChouffi
Date Posted: 15 July 2021 at 8:15am
Originally posted by cristianmdp cristianmdp wrote:


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.


Generally (in their heyday) TM Hit discs would contain
the edit version for their CHR/AC discs, the album
version for their AOR discs, an urban-sounding mix (if
available) for the Urban section, etc. But depending
upon space on the disc they would occasionally have
select alternate mixes.

If they got wind of an alternate mix getting the
lion's share of play they sometimes put it on a later
disc if it wasn't already included.

Andy


Posted By: AdvprosD
Date Posted: 15 July 2021 at 9:01am
Originally posted by AndrewChouffi AndrewChouffi wrote:

Generally (in their heyday) TM Hit discs would contain
the edit version for their CHR/AC discs, the album
version for their AOR discs, an urban-sounding mix (if
available) for the Urban section, etc. But depending
upon space on the disc they would occasionally have
select alternate mixes.

If they got wind of an alternate mix getting the
lion's share of play they sometimes put it on a later
disc if it wasn't already included.

Andy


Also, they would include two or sometimes more different versions on a GoldDisc.

-------------
<Dave> Someone please tell I-Heart Radio that St. Louis is not known as The Loo!


Posted By: rnell
Date Posted: 16 July 2021 at 12:01pm
I worked during most of the 80s and the 90s in a radio
station with the Top 40/ A/C format (in Argentina where
this question originally came from) and I can tell you
that 90% of all music played would be at first from
commercially available 45s (mainly from the USA and UK)
and starting in 1987 when TM Hit Discs began with its
weekly service, we shifted to whatever version HD would
provide. For oldies we gradually started using CDs
(without even noticing we were using LP versions instead
of 45 versions for classic hits). During the late 80s
and 90s we would never get the full album on CD for an
artist such as Aaron Neville.


Posted By: cristianmdp
Date Posted: 16 July 2021 at 2:37pm
Thanks to all of you for your inputs about this topic!
rnell, cool to see someone else from Argentina here!
I don't remember which radio station would play the AT40 down here in Mar del Plata, but it was the original one (hosted by Shadoe Stevens during this particular era). So what I'd listen to was the actual AT40, dubbed in spanish (aired in Argentina a week or two later than in the US).
Sadly I didn't keep any recording of it, but kept 2 little fragments, when Mariah Carey reached # 1 with "I'll Be There". You can hear the dub in spanish (no idea who or where the dub was done).

Here, if you care to check it out: https://we.tl/t-BL0LgxO2ta - AT40 (dubbed in spanish) (Argentina) (2 fragments)

Anyway, nice to know how the music was received at radio stations down here !




Posted By: AdvprosD
Date Posted: 16 July 2021 at 7:36pm
My better half, always the comedian recently told me that though she studied music in college and played the recorder and sometimes guitar,
she's pretty sure she never played the fool.

-------------
<Dave> Someone please tell I-Heart Radio that St. Louis is not known as The Loo!



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