Best One Hit Wonder
 

There has been quite a bit of one hit wonders....but which one is the best?

Brandy by looking glass

Steal My Sunshine by Len (I think?)

Jay Geils Band - Centerfold

Technincally J. Geils Band had two hits if you count "Freeze Frame."

My favourite one hitter is and always will be "No Rain" by Blind Melon. Simply fucking Brilliant.

There were tons of good ones in the 60's. I've read that the biggest selling one-hit wonder was In The Year 2525, reportedly recorded in a barn in Nebraska in 1969 by Zager and Evans.

Another huge hit from the 60's that comes to mind was In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida by Iron Butterfly.

As for what one-hit wonder was the best, that's a tough one. Too many great choices to pick just one, IMO.

How about those douchebags from the mid to late 90's: Chumbawumba. Can't remember the name of the song, although I actually have a funny story about them. Some of my college buddies were driving back from spring break skiing in Colorado when they got stuck in a terrible blizzard. They were forced to stay at some shitbox hotel in Salina, KS, and Chumbawumba was in the same boat. They ended up staying in the hotel bar until the wee hours of the morning, making their own drinks behind the bar, taking pictures, etc. My friends said the guys were actually pretty cool and could put down some serious sauce. This was when that song was at the height of its poularity too. Somebody tell me the name of that damn song!...

tony - the song was called tubthumping.


my pick for best one hit wonder: Soft Cell - Tainted Love.

No one will ever touch the Macarena.

Weren't there about a million versions of that song? I don't think it counts.

No no, the band is the one hit wonder, not the song. The hit can have a life of its own.

Chumbawamba doesn't count, they had a second song on the radio ("Amnesia"). And if you want to see just how far out they can go, check out their collaboration with Negativland: The ABC's of Anarchism. :thumbsup:

Fine then. What band is the OHW for the Macarena?

My favorite OHW was the Planet P Project - Static (on the Radio). I actually heard it for the first time in a good 15 years on the Delicious Agony Progressive rock station the other day. (Same day they played, Saga - On the Loose.)

Two that I considered and turned down: The Vapors - Turning Japanese, and The Buggles - Video Killed the Radio Star.

Los Del Rio would be that band.

Don't know what my favorite is, but the first couple to come to mind were...

"Couldn't Get It Right" - Climax Blues Band
"Long Cool Woman (in a Black Dress)" - The Hollies

I've personally only ever heard the one version of it. It was originally done by Los Del Rio.

edit: I see I was beaten to the punch. Oh well.

My pick for best one hit wonder would have to be Republica - Ready To Go.
To be honest though, I'm practically the king of '90s one-hit wonder songs. They make up a large portion of my mixed CDs.

The Hollies don't qualify for one-hit wonder status. They had a number of songs that made the top forty. And one other song besides Black Dress that made it pretty high up the charts was Busstop.

Canon in D - Johann Pachelbel

Driver's Seat by Sniff N' The Tears and Stone Cold Sober by Crawler are two great tunes, but it might be a stretch to call them hits (I think they got a lot of FM play though)....oh yeah, and Learnin' To Love You by Walter Egan (Stevi Nicks contributed and was still in way hot stage, circa 1979)

"who let the dogs out"

How about.... Tainted Love by Soft Cell... Manson did an awesome cover and several dj's have done remixes... but the original still gets my body movin....

Bobby Fuller Four - "I Fought the Law"

Its been covered by a wide variety of bands but I still think the original one hit wonder is the best.

tainted love was a cover when soft cell did it, too

the original was sung by gloria jones in 1964 (a soul singer)

Walter Egan also had Magnet & Steel, another Stevie Nicks collaboration.
How about "I Touch Myself" by the Divinyls? As popular as they were wasn't that their only hit?

That was the first thing that popped into my mind too...

How bout King Harvest - "Dancing in the Moonlight"

Spice Girls - "Wannabe"
If you wannabe my lover, you gotta get with my friends... sounds like an invitation for an orgy if I ever heard one.

they had several hits after that song and even one before it if I remember. They were around for quite awhile. I don't think that really qualifies.

Alright I was wrong about the Macarena...but I still find it hard to belive that song is anyone's idea of the "Best One Hit Won(d)er.

That being said, considering the SpiceGirls had 10 #1 hits and are the biggest selling female artists of all time one simply cannot catagorize them as one hit wonders (even if they did suck).

/me edits the title of the thread so it doesn't make her think of a One Hit Boner :|


and wasn't there already a thread like this...?

maybe so, but it's fun. I like:

Da Da Da by Trio (the volkswagen song)

also Red Rubber Ball by the Diodes (home town proud!)

and there was a song by a New Zealand band.... damn the name escapes me at the moment...

J Geils had more than 2 hits... :D Love Stinks was probably their best song...

Gotta few for ya...
Sadly, I came up with this list perusing my ITunes Library...

Brownsville Station - "Smokin' In The Boys Room"
Buffalo Springfield - for what it's worth (I can't think of another hit by this group)
Norman Greenbaum - Spirit in the Sky
Wild Cherry - Play that funky music White boy or was it right boy... :D I never knew
Played at every basketball or hockey game I've ever been to:
Steam - "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye"
Toni Basil - -Oh Mickey
Eddie Grant-- Rock down to - -Electric Avenue
Nena - 99 red balloons
Til Tuesday -- Voices Carry

Peter Schilling Major Tom
Men without Hats Safety Dance

The Verve Pipe - The Freshmen

I *think* it was their only big hit. Though they had many good songs (and albums) besides it.

how about "That Thing You Do" by The Wonders

^ I think Colorful might have had some fairly good success due to the movie Rockstar.

Lets not forget probably their biggest hit, a little tune called "Air That I Breathe" that just happens to be one of the best songs evar! Also I love when they sang "He Ain't Heavy, He's my Brother"

Hmm one hit wonder eh? Other than those already mentioned

Grunge Scene...Candlebox - Far Behind, Seven Mary Three - Cumbersome...Also both bands had WAY more than ONE good song. They were great fuckin bands, especially Seven Mary Three.

Concrete Blond - Joey

The Proclaimers - I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) :D

Janis Ian - Seventeen

Eh I'll think of more in a bit.

Asta!!

Did Sirmixalot do anything else of note besides "Baby Got Back"?

Don't forget Louie Louie by the Kingsmen.

That tune, written by Richard Berry, has been recorded over 1000 times.

I remember when I was watching the special about one hit wonders on VH1 a while back with Shatner hosting and they said that Jimmi fuckin Hendrix was actually a one hit wonder as he only scored 1 top 40 hit with "All Along The Watchtower" or something like that. I call bullshit on that! What about Wild Thing, Foxy Lady, Dolly Dagger, Are You Experianced?, Hey Joe, etc. etc. etc. ???? Weren't ALL of those hits?

Asta!!

The German version was (is) much better. Tells pretty much the same story, but without the cheese. And it seems to flow better.

How about Devo -- Whip it?

The Five Stairsteps - Ooooh Oooooh Child
The Hillside Singers - I'd like to teach the world to sing (yup, it was a coke commercial, but it was a song too)
How could we ever forget...
Morris Albert -- Feelings -- wooo wooo wooo Feeeeeeelings... Trying to forget those... lyrics to this stupid song. :D
Frankie Goes to Hollywood --Relax
oooh oooh oooh (the ladies of a certain age will remember this one quite fondly)
General Hospital's own..
Jack Wagner -- All I Need...

There's some really bad stuff on this list...

Debby Boone - You Light Up My Life - reached No.1 in 1977 (I really don't like this song)
Jamies - Summertime, Summertime - reached No.26 in 1958
Limahl - Never Ending Story - reached No.17 in 1985
Liz Damon and the Orient Express - 1900 Yesterday - reached No.33 in 1971
Maureen McGovern - The Morning After - reached No.1 in 1973

I can't believe nobody has mentioned "There's Never Been Any Reason" by Head East

Right said FUCKING FRED. Hands down.

I'm too sexy for my LAND, New York and JAPAN!

Skeelo - "I Wish"

Hahaha i hope everybody listens to that song right after reading this

Not an Addict - K's Choice
Natural One - Folk Implosion

I could name a few more I'm embarassed to admit today that I liked:

Got You Where I Want You - The Flys
Breakfast at Tiffany's - Deep Blue Something
Friends of P - The Rentals

Lebell, to answer your Sir-Mix-A-Lot questions, he was pretty big(in hip hop circles) for at least 5 years before that album came out. His biggest hit before BGB was probably "Posse On Broadway", which is a classic hip-hop song to this day. And, if I remember correctly, Baby Got Back wasn't even the 1st single from that album, it was "One Time's Got No Case". From a pop standpoint, you could definitely argue he's a 1 hit wonder though...

And for my offering:

Paperboy----Ditty
Domino---Getto Jam(although Sweet Potato Pie got airplay as a 2nd single)

redlotuss, I forgot to respond to you in my last post. Natural One by Folk Implosion is a great call, although I'm not sure if it ever cracked the top 10 as a single here in the States. Still a kick ass song though, I remember buying the "Kids" soundtrack just for that one song(before the days of downloading obviously). Gonna have to blow the dust off that disc and pop it in after work...

You make a valid arguement, Tony. I don't really follow the top 40 charts so part of my criterion on whether a song is a one hit wonder is if they, for instance, had a video that got played heavily on MTV for a while then we never heard from them again.

I think the first time I heard Natural One was on Alternative Nation (I had the biggest crush on Kennedy), or maybe it was a "Buzz" video (ok, I'm really showing my age now).

Was it "How Bizarre" by OMC? That's the only New Zealand band I can think of at the moment.

My favorite...

"Keep Your Hands To Yourself", by The Georgia Satellites.

that's it! Thanks:

Every time I looked around,
It's in my face...

How Bizarre


I could only find it on napster in the old days...

MWH, my fav pop band from my youth... but they had other good hits too:

Pop goes the World & Where do the Boys Go.

check out their site:

http://www.menwithouthats.com

I didn't realize that their members spun out to create so many other bands like the Box, Rational Youth and Checkpoint Charlie!

Dude!

Still in Hollywood
Bloodletting
Caroline


These all received considerable radio play...

I don't know if you count "Mr. Soul" as a hit, but it received a fair amount of airplay.

Does Billy Ray Cyrus' "Achy Breaky Heart" contend?

Kris Kross' "Jump"

That girl, Paul Simon's one time gf, who sang "I'm not aware of too many things, I know what I know if you know what I mean"

Mr. Big "To Be With You"

Traffic "Dear Mr. Fantasy"

Take That "Back For Good"

So many to choose from

Gerry Rafferty - Baker Street!

Though they recieved considerable radio play for some reason they are still considered to be a One Hit Wonder. They even made VH1's show dedicated to one hit wonders...the credibles ones I think it was...

Asta!!

What did VH1 ever know? :lol:

was it Bonnie Tyler that did Total Eclipse of the Heart?

that's a Woohoo! lady song if i ever heard one

I need a hero!!! I'm holdin out for a hero till the end of tonight!!!!

j/k

Asta!!

OK, I came into this thread thinking:

"NOBODY will think of Len - Steal My Sunshine... It can totally be my ace in the hole response!"

then.... the third fucking reply.... THERE IT IS

curse you

curse you to hell!

...

Just kidding.


:icare:

I thought of it too I just hate that fuckin song haha. The one they do with Biz Markee is boss though :thumbsup:

Asta!!

Spacehog----In The Meantime.

Still a kick ass song...

Daoust, The girl was "Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians"

I can't belive no one has mentioned "867-5309 Jenny."
not the best but when I was working in clubs, back in the 90's the bass player was still playing it, in Ybor city Fl.

I always wanted to go up to him, and say "Dude, know when to give it up and get a real job."
No disrespect to other musicians, he was just a dick.

Wait, that's not it...damn you, Tommy Two-Tone!!!

My fave would be The Proclaimers: I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles).

i ran by flock of seagulls ..... an oldie but a goody

yes it was.....

i've got to go with "whisper to a scream" by icicle works.

flock of seagulls had a couple of other songs like "wishing" and "space age love song"

Turning Japanese----by The Vapors