3 Songs by The Bee Gees That Feel Like They Should Have Hit No. 1, but Didn’t

It feels difficult to overstate the monumental kind of success that Bee Gees had. Especially with projects like Saturday Night Fever and their influence on the world of disco. Even now, it’s difficult to find a 70s playlist that doesn’t include “Night Fever”, “Stayin’ Alive”, or “More Than A Woman”. There are a few songs by the trio, however, that feel like they should’ve gotten No. 1 levels of recognition. A lot of them were released even before The Bee Gees became disco icons. Here are some of those hits.

“I Started A Joke”

This song topped charts in Canada, New Zealand, and Australia but failed to go No. 1 in the US. This probably could be attributed to the fact that it wasn’t released as a single. Another artist, Heath Hampstead, had already put out a version. There’s something about this song that feels incredibly familiar. It’s like you could open up a music box and “I Started A Joke” is the song that starts playing. Perhaps this is why it feels like it should be a bigger hit than it was.

“Boogie Child”

It’s true that The Bee Gees did have an incredible run of disco hits in the late 70s. However, not every disco song was a No. 1 smash. “Boogie Child” was funky, fresh, and a single that saw success from Bee Gees’ Children of the World album. However, that success translated to a No. 12 position on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US, not a No. 1 hit.

“To Love Somebody”

This song appears on The Bee Gees’ album Bee Gees 1st, which was their first of their albums to be distributed in countries besides Australia and New Zealand. This project leans into a lot of psychedelic pop and rock, and honestly, has some of the group’s best songs on it, lyrically. “To Love Somebody” did okay in America, peaking at No. 17 on the chart, while in the UK, it failed to make the Top 40. Even Robin Gibb acknowledged in Bee Gees: Tales Of The Brothers Gibb that “Everyone told us what a great record they thought [‘To Love Somebody’] was. Other groups all raved about it but for some reason people in Britain just did not seem to like it.”

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