Sometimes it’s a mystery as to why a song doesn’t become a radio hit; other times, it’s not too difficult to figure out.

First, let’s introduce one Tony Bruno. The young man from New York knew a thing or two about music and wanted to break into the biz. In 1960 he received an opportunity for a unique method of entry when a mobster gave him the cash to start up Nomar Records. Sounds great in theory, but the whole setup was actually intended as a front for certain … non-musical activities. In fact, the label wasn’t really meant to succeed at all, just sell enough to stay in business, but Bruno managed to find Maxine Brown and score a couple of hits with her. After only a couple of years, the mobster sold Nomar to Scepter Records, and Bruno joined the new label as a producer and songwriter, authoring small hits by Chuck Jackson, Gene Pitney, and Ike & Tina Turner.

As it happens, Bruno could sing, too, and released half a dozen singles and three full-length albums during the latter half of the 60’s for big labels such as United Artists, Buddah, and Capitol. Most of his catalog is comprised of dramatic, torchy, soul ballads — Bruno’s stock in trade — but it’s a little surprising he couldn’t at least make the bottom of the charts himself when he was able to generate that kind of success for other artists.

With his second single, however, “Small Town, Bring Down,” released in 1967, it’s a little more understandable why radio might have been hesitant. Sounding like a cross between Tony Bennett and Tom Jones, Bruno begins the song calmly and quietly, then gradually ramps up the intensity. And it’s a good song! So what’s the big deal?

Anyone familiar with the vocals of early Nine Inch Nails, or with Arthur Janov’s primal therapy will understand. No way was this getting played on your AM station in 1967 in between The Monkees and The Association. But kudos for not holding anything back.

As a side note, “Small Town, Bring Down” was written by Vini Poncia and Peter Anders, who we met back here as The Tradewinds. All of them shared a record label and a producer so it was only natural to work together.

As a weird postscript, Bruno released a single in the early 70’s called “Stickball” which may actually be his most well known song (comparatively — it’s still pretty obscure). He recorded it under a pseudonym because, although it starts out quite normally — as a look back on the joys of youth — it quickly becomes very X-rated and once again gets very shouty. I’d post the song here but it’s definitely NSFW, or home, or young people. I’ll leave it up to you, dear reader, to seek it out or not.

I’d never heard of “Stickball” before delving into Bruno’s small catalog a bit more, but reading the YouTube comments, apparently it was a very popular underground record and people reminisced about getting high back in the day and laughing their heads off while playing it, most likely due to the shock value. Not surprisingly, this song didn’t get Bruno onto the radio, either.