Favorite one hit wonder

[Guest razazteca]

Its looks like VH1! is going top 100 poll crazy this time its best One Hit Wonders.  The song that I cannot get out of my head, is EMF's Its Unbelievable.  It even spawned a Greatest Hits remix album, recently.

[Guest CoreyLazarus416]

Dead Or Alive's "U Spin Me Round" is definitely up there, as well as A Flock Of Seagulls' "I Ran So Far Away."

[Guest Mark4steamboat]

New Radicals "You Get What You Give" very cool

[Guest JHawk]

"Breakfast at Tiffany's" by Deep Blue Something.  Not because it was a great song, but the memory I have of it.  I can still remember asking for the name of the band, hearing "Deep Blue Something" and going "Deep Blue" what?  It started to look like an Abbott and Costello sketch.

[Guest Mark4steamboat]

ah yes Deep Blue Something. awesome song.I bought "non stop 90s rock" which is basically one hit wonders with some blind melon, counting crows, and other awesome bands thrown in. very good cd.

[Guest redbaron51]

hmmm.....

 

uh...

 

Duran Duran.

[Guest JHawk]

How about Tommy Tutone?  867-5309...

[Guest razazteca]

Duran Duran

 

Duran Duran is not One Hit Material, they have several good songs during the 80s, plus they did a James Bond theme song and have a punk tribute album out.

[Guest redbaron51]

wow some one is snappy

 

Well lets just put it in this way.

 

Most 80's bands.

[Guest razazteca]

most of the 80s New Wave were bad and I have to listen to it on the local radio since thats all they play here

[Guest]

Del Shannon - Runaway.

 

Shannon's songs were actually pretty good, but the closest he ever came to Runaway's success were "Hey Little Girl" (#30 something on the charts) and "Keep Searchin' (#9?).

 

There's a whole bunch of 1950s artists that could be considered, too...

 

Penguins - Earth Angel

Coasters - Yakety Yak

Danny & the Juniors - At the Hop

 

Of course, the #1 one-hit wonders:

 

Kingsmen - Louie, Louie

[Guest goodhelmet]

Actually, the Coasters had several top ten hits including "Charlie Brown" and "Searchin'". And if a guy had more than one hit (i.e. Del Shannon) then he can't really be considered a one-hit wonder.

 

As for my favorite 1 hit wonder, it would have to be Kermit the Frog's "It's Not Easy Being Green"

[Guest Kinetic]

According to SPIN, both Radiohead and Beck are one hit wonders.  So count me in on them.

[Guest razazteca]

Radiohead a One Hit Wonder? that confuses me.

 

So what was the Hit according to Spin magazine? Creep?

[Guest evenflowDDT]

Radiohead has songs other than "Creep"? WTF?

 

Hahahaha... j/k... as for my real favorite one-hit wonder, I'm going to go with A-ha for this one... sure besides "Take on Me" they also did the theme for "The Living Daylights", but I don't think very many other people noticed.

 

I'm sure I'm going to also piss someone off with this, but another one of my favorite one hit wonders is The Mighty Mighty Bosstones? "The Impression That I Get" is a really great song.  TMMB are much more of one-hit wonders in my mind than Duran Duran.

[Guest muzanisa]

The Only Ones, Another girl Another Planet.

[Guest Addy]

The Connels - 74-75

 

What a brilliant song though...

[Guest crandamaniac]

Vanilla Ice, MC Hammer and Kris Kross.

 

 

:head lowers in shame:

[Guest TheMikeSC]

What, no mention of Rockwell's "Somebody's Watching Me"?

 

Yeah, I know that Michael Jackson singing the chorus made it a hit, but still---not that bad a song.

               -=Mike

 

...Who likes cheesy '80's pop

[Guest razazteca]

Speaking of the Jackson family what about "Centipede" by their sister that nobody knows that excist, the 3rd sister?

 

I dont think Hammer can count since he did hit it big with "2 Legit 2 Quit", "Pumps N Bumps" , "U Cant Touch This"

[Guest evenflowDDT]

I forgot last night... what about Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger"? Where would puro/karaoke themes be without that?

[Guest Kinetic]

I dont think Hammer can count since he did hit it big with "2 Legit 2 Quit", "Pumps N Bumps" , "U Cant Touch This"

Not to mention "Pray."  I know we'd all like to imagine that Please Hammer, Don't Hurt 'Em was all "U Can't Touch This" and just a momentary lapse of sanity on the part of the record-buying public, but no.  That album was huge and had a few other hits that escape me currently.

[Guest The Man in Blak]

According to SPIN, both Radiohead and Beck are one hit wonders.  So count me in on them.

Er, I guess I pick Radiohead then.

 

SPIN is fucking worthless...but they leave me an easy out in this thread.

[Guest hardyz1]

I liked Candlebox's "Far Behind".  That's the only thing I've ever heard from them.

 

And Screaming Trees come to mind, although I can't recall what their hit was.

[Guest chirs3]

Radiohead a One Hit Wonder?

 

Some people...

 

Anywho, my vote goes for Harvey Danger.

[Guest Kinetic]

Radiohead a One Hit Wonder?

 

Some people...

 

Anywho, my vote goes for Harvey Danger.

I can sort of see where SPIN was coming from with that, though.  You say Radiohead to most people in America, and they think "Creep."  They might remember the "Paranoid Android" video, but nothing beyond that.

 

I don't know if anyone mentioned Corey Hart.  "Sunglasses at Night" is a-ok.

[Guest Mr. Adam]

I can't let this thread go without mentioning Chesney Hawkes' seminal "One and Only".

My favourite song ever - for all thr wrong reasons - and one which adorns my cellphone as the ringtone.

 

GO NOKIA!

[Guest evenflowDDT]

Hey, a couple of more recent one-hit wonders that I remembered are American Hi-Fi ("Flavor of the Weak") and SR-71 ("Right Now").  Also, don't forget Lou Bega's "Mambo No. 5" (on second thought, forget that one)!

[Guest goodhelmet]

"Anywho, my vote goes for Harvey Danger."

 

Flagpole Sitta rocks!

 

As for one-hit wonder, it depends what your definition is. Jimi Hendrix was a one-hit wonder. The only song that was even top 20 was All Along the Watchtower. But we can all agree he has a huge collection of hits that never made the charts.

 

"And Screaming Trees come to mind, although I can't recall what their hit was."

 

"Nearly lost You" but I don't even recall it having any success besides some radio play and the Singles soundtrack

[Guest evenflowDDT]

As for one-hit wonder, it depends what your definition is. Jimi Hendrix was a one-hit wonder. The only song that was even top 20 was All Along the Watchtower. But we can all agree he has a huge collection of hits that never made the charts.

Although you're right about him having a huge collection of hits that never made the charts, he did have many singles that, although they may not have featured mainstream popularity, were played and popular with audiences.

 

I personally define a one-hit wonder as a group that only has one single, and are never heard from again.  More often than not, the single is more well-known than the band.  For this reason, since people know who Jimi Hendrix is, and he made subsequent records that had singles and sold, he's not a one hit wonder, at least not by my definition.  You do make an interesting point though.

 

Another example of a one-hit wonder is Soft Cell's "Tainted Love".  Most people, like myself, know the song but not the artist (I had to ask Kinetic in an '80s music thread so I could download it).

 

One more one-hit wonder for the road, how about crossing over to hip-hop/rap territory and a group called The Luniz with "I Got 5 on It".  Awesome song, awesome rapper, but nobody cared about him after that.