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Best One Hit Wonders


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Guest WrestlingDeacon
Posted

How Long by Ace

Vehicle by Ides of March

I was Kaiser Bill's Batman by Whistling Jack Smith

Buddy Holly by Weezer

Any Day Now by Chuck Jackson

Holy Diver by Dio

Man on the Silver Mountain by Rainbow

Ballroom Blitz by Sweet

Don't Pull Your Love by Hamilton, Joe Frank and Reynolds

Hooked On a Feeling by Blue Sued

Brandy by Looking Glass

Whiter Shade of Pale by Procol Harem

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Guest Incandenza
Posted
Buddy Holly by Weezer

They've done quite well for themselves outside that one song. Weezer may've never had a single approach the success of that one, but they still sell.

Guest WrestlingDeacon
Posted

I was pretty much going off of just having that one big top 40 hit. Technically The Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and a host of others with great careers have had only one real radio hit.

Guest Incandenza
Posted
Who the fuck would ever consider Weezer a One Hit Wonder? Whatever.

We just went over that.

Guest Spaceman Spiff
Posted

Does "Girlfriend" by Matthew Sweet count?

Guest T®ITEC
Posted

"Mickey" by Toni Basil is such an infectious song; I love it.

Guest Youth N Asia
Posted

Note: any band I name is pretty much a one hit wonder, sure they may have put out other singles, but didn't hit.

 

"Flagpole Sitta" by Harvey Danger...suprisingly good cd.

 

"The Way" by Fastball...although I liked "Fire Escape" better.

 

"Bandidos" (sp) by The Refreshments.

 

"Sex and Candy" by Marcy Playground

 

And do your Weezer homework, man.

Guest bravesfan
Posted

"Tempted" by Squeeze (since I don't remember if Squeeze had anything close to "Tempted"'s success.)

 

"The Way" by Fastball.

Guest WrestlingDeacon
Posted

Actually, Squeeze's only top 40 hit was 853-5937 which peeked at #32 in 1987. I, however, am a huge fan of Tempted. It's a catchy pop song and has always been a favorite of mine. Tempted did very well in the rest of the world, especially England, but not so well here in the states.

 

In doing my Weezer homework, I find that Buddy Holly is still the only song they've had in Billboard's top 40 and therefore still technically their only official "hit." Although Island in the Sun and Hash Pipe did very well on the Modern Rock boards. It's splitting hairs and frankly I forgot to check on songs from their last album. I've got a billboard book from 2000, so I need to get a new one to keep up. Basically, Buddy Holly is a kick ass song and should be brought up on these boards at least once week.

Guest Zero_Cool
Posted

"Take on Me" by A-Ha is just one of those songs you have to sing along to while with friends.

 

"The Connection" by Elastica...ooaaww!!

Guest Smues
Posted

The Humpty Dance by Digital Underground. I don't think they had anyother hits, but they ruled.

Posted
How Long by Ace

Vehicle by Ides of March

I was Kaiser Bill's Batman by Whistling Jack Smith

Buddy Holly by Weezer

Any Day Now by Chuck Jackson

Holy Diver by Dio

Man on the Silver Mountain by Rainbow

Ballroom Blitz by Sweet

Don't Pull Your Love by Hamilton, Joe Frank and Reynolds

Hooked On a Feeling by Blue Sued

Brandy by Looking Glass

Whiter Shade of Pale by Procol Harem

How do you define a one hit wonder? In my book not only does Weezer not belong but Dio as well.

Guest WrestlingDeacon
Posted

I said up above in this thread that I was pretty much going on top 40 hits. I would say that I'm pretty wrong on Weezer now, as I admited unless you want to split hairs, but for Dio "Holy Diver" was about the only thing he ever had that got real popular notice and airplay.

 

One hit wonder is actually pretty subjective and there have been tons of bands who only had one real hit, but was around for years and released countless singles and albums, The Grateful Dead immediately come to mind. However, you ask anyone who has even remotely heard of Ronnie James Dio to name a song of his and if they can it will be Holy Diver 99 times out of a 100. If he had other top 40 hits, I'm not aware.

 

Another thing is that people seem to take one hit wonder as being a negative connotation. Like me calling a band a one hit wonder basically is the equivalent of saying "this band sucks." That's far from the case in most instances. A lot of bands do suck and merely get lucky with one hit, but often there are countless factors that prevented many artists from being able to do a popular follow up. A band breaking up, a record label folding, problems with their label or management, a shift in musical tastes, lack of radio and other media support. These are merely great songs from artists that didn't have the longest shelf life or mainstream notice.

Guest R2DFooster McSockman
Posted

Being British I'm not too familiar with the Billboard Charts, but from what I know I think The Flaming Lips could be described as both a one-hit wonder (with She Don't Use Jelly) and the best band of the 90s.

Guest Youth N Asia
Posted

Weezer's only top 40 hit might have been "Buddy Holly," but the top 40 isn't the only way to judge a hit anymore. They're sold way more disks off of MTV airplay then off songs on the radio.

Guest WrestlingDeacon
Posted

Actually YnA brings up a really good point. The connotation of what constitutes a hit has really changed in the past few years. When MTV started they used their videos and influence to create radio hits for artists, but that isn't so much the case anymore. With the wide range of music out there now segmented into a specific genre and radio play starting to take a back seat to the success of videos and other television appearances a person can have a huge hit song with little to no radio support.

Guest razazteca
Posted

Digital Underground did have other hits such as

 

1 Same Song, from Nothing but Trouble soundtrack

2 Nose Job, well it did have a video

 

and there is a 2Pac song but I can't think of the name now.

Guest starvenger
Posted

I've got lots of faves. Are they the "best"? Probably not, but that's not stopping me from listing them.

 

99 Luftballoons - Nena

True - Spandau Ballet I don't think any of their other songs charted very high this side of the Altlantic. I think the lead singer's in a new UK reality series though.

I Beg Your Pardon (I Never Promised You A Rose Garden) - Kon Kan

Do They Know It's Christmas? - Band-Aid I don't care what you think, this was a much better song than We Are the World.

We Are The World - USA For Africa

Tears Are Not Enough - Northern Lights (the Canadian version of the above two). I urge you to track down the video. Neil Young looks downright frightening in it.

The Locomotion - Kylie Minogue. What, she had another hit?

Music Sounds Better With You - Stardust

The Promise - When In Rome Mind you, I'm not sure this even hit top 40...

(I'm Gonna Be) 500 Miles - The Proclaimers. One of those songs that always seem to be played when you're drinking heavily...

Back For Good - Take That This only applies to North America, as I hear that they were pretty big in the UK. For all the good it did Gary Barlow's solo career.

I Touch Myself - The Devinyls I probably spelled that wrong...

Guest Youth N Asia
Posted
Do They Know It's Christmas? - Band-Aid I don't care what you think, this was a much better song than We Are the World.

We Are The World - USA For Africa

Can you really count these kinds of songs? It's not like all these people got to gether and formed a band with the idea of making more then one song.

Guest JangoFett4Hire
Posted

DUDE- Rainbow had songs that charted better than Man on the Silver Mountain! I'm sure of it!

 

Stone Cold (Where Austin got his name btw) and Street of Dreams were hits for the band...

 

ANYWAYS- Naked Eyes- Always Something There to Remind Me

 

Dan Hartman- I Can Dream About You

 

Jesus Jones - Right Here, Right Now

 

and How Long by Ace and Brandy are great tunes

Posted
but for Dio "Holy Diver" was about the only thing he ever had that got real popular notice and airplay.

Actually "Rainbow in the Dark" charted higher than "Holy Diver". 14 vs 43 in the same year. "Rock and Roll Children", "Mystery", "Hungry for Heaven" and "I Could of been a Dreamer" where other top 40 singles for Dio. He still tours and releases albums.

Posted

I don't think Rush ever had more than one Top Forty Hit (Limelight), but they're anything but one-hit wonders. Also, some bands have no real hits, but aren't unsuccessful because they're still around and such, perhaps due to a devout following. Slayer comes to mind.

 

Inc., I stated that anyway because Weezer has had way too much success to be a one-hit wonder. But again, never mind.

 

I can't think of many One-hit wonders, as they usually suck the big one, but I'm sure there alot of good 80s tracks and the like.

Guest redbaron51
Posted

Hendrix had more than one hit on the top 40.

Guest WrestlingDeacon
Posted

Nope. All Along the Watch Tower got to number 20 in 1968 and that was it. Nothing else broke the top 40. I've got two different sources.

Guest Midnight Express83
Posted

Well: Jimi Hendrix IS a One Hit Wonder, great artist but still a one hit wonder. Its the same sense as Greatful Dead. They were great but only one hit.

 

As for Kylie Minogue: she had atleast another two hits with Can't Get You out of my head and Come into my world, also Love at first sight since atleast two of these songs made her a grammy nominated.

 

As for One Hit Wonders: Well....

 

Sugar Hill Gang - Rappers Delight

Kurtis Blow - If I rule the world

Fab Freddy - The Message

A-Ha - Take On Me

Mimi Ripaton - Loving You

Praz - Ghetto Superstar

Craig Mack - Flava In Ya Ear

Mary Jane Girls - In My House

Vanity Six - Nasty Girl

The MOTHERFUCKING TIME - Jungle Love

Guest Bosstones Fan
Posted

I've always thought that The Verve's Bittersweet Symphony is one pretty bitchin' tune.

Guest Spaceman Spiff
Posted
As for Kylie Minogue: she had atleast another two hits with Can't Get You out of my head and Come into my world, also Love at first sight since atleast two of these songs made her a grammy nominated.

Don't forget "Locomotion" back in the 80's.

 

EDIT: oh, shit, that's the song Starvenger listed. D'oh!

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