What song could be a billboard no 1?

[Infinite Cactus]

I always felt that too a point, certain DT single type songs were about 3-5 years too late. Solitary Shell was perfect.....for 1999. Kind of a Goo Goo Dolls thing. I Walk Be Side You was a great single for 2002. When Coldplay was really starting to pick up. These Walls would have been massive in 2001. During Linkin Park and all that jazz. But this was 2005, Fall Out Boy and Hawthorne Heights were the big thing. Misunderstood totally would have fit in in 1998-2000. It's always just a little off. Even songs that get made fun of for being "commercial" like You Not Me. Nothing like that was on the radio at all. It sounds like a late 80s song. Anna Lee has been called a mainstream ballad before. Maybe mainstream for 1976.

[Nekov]

I'll agree with Rich, The Silent Man could have been a number one and I would add Hollow Years, it's a catchy soft tune that while some people here dislike, I think fits the mainstream.

[BlobVanDam]

I always felt that too a point, certain DT single type songs were about 3-5 years too late. Solitary Shell was perfect.....for 1999. Kind of a Goo Goo Dolls thing. I Walk Be Side You was a great single for 2002. When Coldplay was really starting to pick up. These Walls would have been massive in 2001. During Linkin Park and all that jazz. But this was 2005, Fall Out Boy and Hawthorne Heights were the big thing. Misunderstood totally would have fit in in 1998-2000. It's always just a little off. Even songs that get made fun of for being "commercial" like You Not Me. Nothing like that was on the radio at all. It sounds like a late 80s song. Anna Lee has been called a mainstream ballad before. Maybe mainstream for 1976.

YNM sounds nothing like an '80s song, except *maybe* the rewritten chorus. It definitely has the bad mid '90s attitude going on there for the most part though. I don't generally follow music post '93, so I have no comment on those ones.
Anna Lee was definitely going for that classic sound more like The Beatles or something, especially in the demo where they had a few more effects on there. That wasn't trying to sound current, unlike a lot of their other "single" structured songs.

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

Personally, I don't see any resemblance between These Walls and Linkin Park.

[Lucien]

I always thought IWBY and TW had the most potential to be hits.

This.

Personally, I don't see any resemblance between These Walls and Linkin Park.

I don't either. In fact, I don't even like Linkin Park that much. These Walls, though 

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

I like Linkin Park more than These Walls.

Though, I really like LP, so that's not putting TW down at all.

[?]

Personally, I don't see any resemblance between These Walls and Linkin Park.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkDrAAODXbQ

[ariich]

I'll agree with Rich, The Silent Man could have been a number one and I would add Hollow Years, it's a catchy soft tune that while some people here dislike, I think fits the mainstream.

Well, I was just mentioning Awake songs as that's what people were discussing, but yeah I would also say Hollow Years. Very accessible song, nice melodies!

[Invisible]

I always felt that too a point, certain DT single type songs were about 3-5 years too late.

This. DT is always late to the party most of the time, and sometimes ahead. I think Awake would have been a lot bigger in the late 90's or early '00s, when the whole grunge thing was off.

As for singles, Awake has the most potential on 6:00, Caught In A Web and in an ideal world, Lifting Shadows. I think Lie is a good single though, but not for the first choice.

On FII, the best were the leftovers, Speak To Me is an easy nice little ballad, one of the best by the band IMHO, simple yet beautiful melodies, and it doesn't sound dated like Anna Lee, I think it had potential. Cover My Eyes has potential but I think it wouldn't have worked, but maybe it could've gotten enough airplay for people to notice them. My favourites though, with some SERIOUS editing, would've been Raise The Knife and The Way It Used To Be, there's something incredibly catchy and uplifting about their choruses. But then again, those are two songs that could've been huge in the '80s, not in the '90s.

To Live Forever stood a chance in the '80s, so Don't Look Past Me.

It's funny that I've seen most of the "hit potential" on their B Sides , but maybe it's because I love those songs and they are the only ones that I liked on very first listen.

I still think that DT could've been more mainsteam than they were if they were given the chance, I mean if Muse could do it, I don't see the reason why the Awake-FII era DT couldn't. But then again, it's an unfair world I guess...