POX: One Hit Wonders

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Well? I think this is much easier than individual artists. Also I think there should be discussion of lists! Discuss what people post!

― Ally (mlescaut), Monday, 31 March 2003 02:31 (twenty-three years ago)

I'll post my list tomorrow when I can think of songs besides Rico Suave, which is def. on my list but it's so consuming my brane right now that I can't think of all my other songs.

― Ally (mlescaut), Monday, 31 March 2003 02:33 (twenty-three years ago)

Jermaine Stewart - We Don't Have to Take Our Clothes Off
The Archies - Sugar Sugar
Nena - 99 Luftballoons
The Vogues - Five O'Clock World
T'Pau - Heart and Soul (a ohw in the US, at least)
Devo - Whip It (sadly, they're a ohw by definition)
When in Rome - The Promise

...I've gone completely blank...

― paul cox (paul cox), Monday, 31 March 2003 02:55 (twenty-three years ago)

RICO SUAVE?

(gawd, ally, that has to be one of the worst things ever recorded! that, or taco's "puttin' on the ritz"!)

― Tad (llamasfur), Monday, 31 March 2003 03:03 (twenty-three years ago)

Oh god Tad, thank you for reminding me of that, that's going to be song #2 on my list.

Rico Suave is an objectively terrible song, but it's an awful lot of fun. I mean it's probably the only thing I like ironically, I'll admit.

Taco, on the other hand, I like honestly and whole heartedly, how can you hate that song? I mean the last minute is terrible but besides that.

― Ally (mlescaut), Monday, 31 March 2003 03:05 (twenty-three years ago)

1. Deee-Lite - "Groove Is in the Heart"
2. Boys Don't Cry - "I Wanna Be a Cowboy"
3. New Radicals - "You Get What You Give"
4. Buckner and Garcia - "Pac-Man Fever"
5. ? and the Mysterians - "96 Tears"
6. a-ha - "Take On Me"
7. Dexy's Midnight Runners - "Come On Eileen"
8. Bizarre inc. - "I'm Gonna Get You Baby"
9. The Buggles - "Video Killed the Radio Star"
10. The Count Five - "Psychotic Reaction"

― Evan (Evan), Monday, 31 March 2003 03:12 (twenty-three years ago)

i used to annoy this one co-worker, who was from Honduras, with "rico suave." he'd play all this salsa, so i downloaded "rico suave" and played it and asked him if it was a big hit in Honduras. he was like, "tad, don't ever play me that shit again!"

i don't think "puttin' on the ritz" would've rated, though.

― Tad (llamasfur), Monday, 31 March 2003 03:13 (twenty-three years ago)

the new radicals were fucking great.
you guys forgot 'spandau ballet - true'

― JP Albin (John Paul Albin), Monday, 31 March 2003 05:32 (twenty-three years ago)

surely some mistake. "Gold" was a hit too

― electric sound of jim (electricsound), Monday, 31 March 2003 05:34 (twenty-three years ago)

yes i know. that was also the name of their greatest hits album. but more people know 'true'

― JP Albin (John Paul Albin), Monday, 31 March 2003 05:47 (twenty-three years ago)

"The Streak" was my "birthday song", there should be more corny exhibitionist ditties

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Monday, 31 March 2003 06:09 (twenty-three years ago)

Why has no-one mentioned Stardust yet?

― Nick H, Monday, 31 March 2003 08:15 (twenty-three years ago)

While a-ha isn't exactly a one-hit wonder here (I think they have had 8 #1 singles in the Norwegian chart or something, and certainly no less than 5 or 6 #1 albums), there is at least one act that I'd like to mention, and that is Bolland. Their "You're In The Army Now" must clearly be one of the best one hit wonders of all time.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Monday, 31 March 2003 08:33 (twenty-three years ago)

OK then...

Stardust "Music Sounds Better With You"
Rotterdam Termination Source "Poing"

― Siegbran (eofor), Monday, 31 March 2003 08:48 (twenty-three years ago)

Stardust is a true one-hit wonder, for the fact that it will probably remains their only release ever. Except it may also be counted as a Daft Punk side project that is...

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Monday, 31 March 2003 08:50 (twenty-three years ago)

Did The Gants' "I Wonder" ever become a hit? If it did, then it certainly makes than a great one-hit wonder.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Monday, 31 March 2003 09:02 (twenty-three years ago)

as usual i see tracks on these lists that are SO NOT one hit wonders (A-Ha, Deee-Lite etc.) but it depends on your definition. mine is pretty strict, they must not have released any other single or album that charted - tho this can often be hard to verify.

the people behind Stardust have released stuff under other names (Bangalter as Daft Punk and himself, Alan Braxe & Fred Falke as themselves), still here's my dance top ten one hit wonders

Stardust 'Music Sounds Better With You'
Gat Decor 'Passion'
Sub Sub 'Ain't No Love Ain't No Use'
Staxx 'Joy'
J.T. & The Big Family 'Moments In Soul'
Congress '40 Miles'
Convert 'Nightbird'
Alcatrazz 'Gimme Luv'
M/A/R/R/S 'Pump Up The Volume'
DSK 'What Would We Do'

but i bet a couple of them DID put out other singles that charted.

― stevem (blueski), Monday, 31 March 2003 09:15 (twenty-three years ago)

the family stand - ghetto heaven

― piscesboy, Monday, 31 March 2003 10:18 (twenty-three years ago)

LISTEN TO ME, yr coworker is a fool if he doesn't like Rico Suave. If JUST for the way he says the words "Riiiiiiiico......suuuuuave". I mean honestly.

RE: what is a one-hit wonder, this is a debate that comes up every time we discuss one-hit wonders on this board. For example, a-ha is 100% a one-hit wonder in the U.S., but not in some other countries. I mean, I'd define Natalie Imbruglia as a one-hit wonder even though her second single got airplay, because 99% of the people in the universe wouldn't remember anything about her second single. It's just easier to think of it that way because otherwise you get into fights about it - "Oh, what about 'The Sun Always Shines On TV' eh?"

― Ally (mlescaut), Monday, 31 March 2003 13:12 (twenty-three years ago)

The Top 100 One Hit Wonders on VH1 worked along the same principles as how Ally suggests - but I prefer a stricter definition personally. in reality there are very few people who have not released more than one record but there are still enough who only had one top 40/top 75/Billboard 100 hit to deserve mention here

― stevem (blueski), Monday, 31 March 2003 13:25 (twenty-three years ago)

The thing is, particularly with the current methodology for doing the charts, it's very easy for someone to NOT be a one-hit wonder by that definition - it seems unlikely that the follow up to a massive hit wouldn't get a lot of airplay, which is like 75% of chart basis right now. Yet it might not be released for sale or if it is, no one might buy it. But it'll still hit the lower level of the top 100. So it makes it very complicated to think about.

Then you have weird examples of people like, for example, Blur, who are by and large the "Woo Hoo" band within America, but are massive stars in Europe. Hell, even Kylie's only really had two or three really big American hits.

― Ally (mlescaut), Tuesday, 1 April 2003 01:32 (twenty-three years ago)

Lou Reed and Neil Young are definitely one hit wonders, popwise. And they're getting old...

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 1 April 2003 01:40 (twenty-three years ago)

"Come On Eileen" is in the US a one hit wonder, sadly. And one of my favorite singles ever. As is "Video Killed the Radio Star", which just feels like SUCH A HUGE SONG. New Radicals also = classic

― Adam A. (Keiko), Tuesday, 1 April 2003 02:06 (twenty-three years ago)

Well doesn't that work both ways? Aren't there a lot of American bands that are one-hit wonders outside the U.S. but have long established careers with just the U.S. record-buying public?

Offhand I can't think of who they are, but I'm sure there must be some.

― Evan (Evan), Tuesday, 1 April 2003 03:39 (twenty-three years ago)

bush!

(nb: i dont know if they ever actually charted in england or not)

― jess (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 1 April 2003 03:41 (twenty-three years ago)

But Bush are British!

― Evan (Evan), Tuesday, 1 April 2003 03:45 (twenty-three years ago)

yes, that's why it's funny.

― jess (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 1 April 2003 03:51 (twenty-three years ago)

frank zappa was a one-hit wonder in norway, right geir? ("bobby brown goes down")

i so want to hear Geir's opinion about frank zappa!

― Tad (llamasfur), Tuesday, 1 April 2003 05:14 (twenty-three years ago)

Hehe. I would hardly consider Frank Zappa a one-hit-wonder, although that one was his only hit. He has had several Top 10 albums here. :-)

As for Zappa, well, he is funny as a humorist. I have a bit more mixed feelings about his "serious" records, but "Peaches En Regalia" and that opening track from "One Size Fits All" (don't remember its name) are both great pieces of progressive rock.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Tuesday, 1 April 2003 09:14 (twenty-three years ago)

I think this whole "one-hit wonder" concept should be retired forever.

― Jody Beth Rosen (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 1 April 2003 09:15 (twenty-three years ago)

Geir, saying Stardust falls under Daft Punk is like saying "Dilemma" is a Destiny's Child track, which it evidently is not.

― Nick H, Tuesday, 1 April 2003 20:03 (twenty-three years ago)

four years pass...

ABC News did a story on '90s one-hit wonders (some of whom are not actual one-hit wonders of course), and they misquoted me several times in it, and also quoted me correctly a couple times. And also, oh yeah, they called me "Chucky." Here it is:

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/FallConcert/story?id=3989089&page=1&GMA=true

― xhuxk, Friday, 14 December 2007 02:24 (eighteen years ago)

malcolm middleton

― electricsound, Friday, 14 December 2007 02:24 (eighteen years ago)

Paul Revere and the Raiders are a one hit wonder!

Groovin. In the UK. As "The Raiders". That's it!

There was one of those 'bought-in' 100 greatest things, where the inserts were domestically recorded. Soft Cell, Dexys, EMF, T-Rex, all those one-hit-wonders (in the US), followed by a "OK, they had loads of hits in *europe*, but for the purposes of this programme..."

― Mark G, Friday, 14 December 2007 10:03 (eighteen years ago)

Other UK one hit wonders:
Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels - "Jenny Take A Ride" got to #33 in 1966 (adopts Dale voice) and that was that.
The Association rather surprisingly also only ever had the one hit here - "Time For Livin'" (#23 in 1968).

― Dingbod Kesterson, Friday, 14 December 2007 10:11 (eighteen years ago)

thirteen years pass...

Donna Lewis - I love you always forever

― ✖✖✖ (Moka), Tuesday, 27 April 2021 04:23 (five years ago)

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