Favorite One-Hit Wonders

[Bossy Monkey]

Poll question: Favorite One-Hit Wonders

In the strictest sense, the term refers to the act rather than to the song, but heck, it wouldn't have made sense without including the names of the hits, so you're kind of left judging the songs, too.

For voters' convenience, I just kicked off with the Other option, knowing that with 50-odd years of tunes to choose from, it would be the runaway winner.

If you don't like the choices but can't think of your own, go here:
http://www.onehitwondercentral.com/
It's incredible!
There's also VH1's top 100 one-hit wonders, the top 20 of which are here: http://www.vh1.com/shows/dyn/the_greatest/62177/episode_wildcard.jhtml?wildcard=/shows/dynamic/includes/wildcards/the_greatest/ohw_list_full.jhtml&event_id=862805&start=81
I really hated their choices, but you might find it interesting.

Forgive please the highly 70s skewedness of my choices. I'm old; sue me.

PS: Apparently Katrina & the Waves actually had a followup hit 4 years later. Does anybody remember it?

[jpgray]

1. "Radar Love"--Golden Earring (nt)

[Bossy Monkey]

2. "Now I'm steppin' into the twilight zone"

Actually a bigger hit than Radar Love
http://www.top40db.org/Artists/ID_1704.shtml

[jpgray]

6. Drat. I knew I should have checked first.

But I call the Zombies a one-hit wonder as well, so I'm consistent in my own mind. :)

[Iverson]

3. other

David Essex - Rock On
Steam - Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye
Bobbie Gentry - Ode to Billie Joe
Sha Na Na - At the Hop
Youssou N'Dour - Seven Seconds Away
Johann Pachelbel - Canon in D

[jpgray]

8. I'd add Vivaldi and Bizet among others to the Classical list. :-) (nt)

[Iverson]

12. Bizet sure.

Also Offenbach. Bet you can't name something of his besides "Can Can" without checking.

Vivaldi is too well-played. Nothing of his is as popular as the Four Seasons, but his lute and mandolin concertos get plenty of play, just without catchy titles.

[jpgray]

15. Yeah, but, as Stravinsky said, Vivaldi to me can sound like

"the same concerto 400 times".

:)

Seriously though, there is enjoyment to be had in Vivaldi beyond the 4 seasons.

You could stick in Albioni, though to be fair his "hit" was actually mostly written by someone else around WWII, i think.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

44. "Scheherazade" and "The Planets"

[VelmaD]

4. "Safety Dance"

Men Without Hats. Hee.

[salin]

10. at the time it seemed fun... now it is just... odd.

[Pithlet]

33. I would have voted for that one too

if it had been up there. I voted for Mexican Radio. I just heard that song today on sattelite radio.

[davidinalameda]

5. Katrina and the Waves!

whoo hoo!

love that song

it's my happy dance song

[AnnabelLee]

7. Ah, Leah

by Donny Iris. Also, he briefly toured with Wild Cherry of Play That Funky Music, White Boy fame, another favorite one-hit-wonder of mine.:D

[jobycom]

45. Yes, that was a good one.

[Character Assassin]

56. Heresy! Iris had two hits. The other was "Love is like a rock".

[LiberalVoice]

9. Why is Queen in the "One Hit Wonders" category?

p.s. Queen is the shit!

[11 Bravo]

11. The group is Mountain.

The song is "Mississippi Queen". Do ya know what I mean?

[Kat45]

27. Mountain was a lot more than "Mississippi Queen" n/t

[ornotna]

36. Agreed.

My personal favorite is "Nantucket Sleigh Ride"

[Kat45]

40. Yeah! We used to play that all the time in college.

Good song.

[ornotna]

13. Other

Coven - "One tin soldier"

[salin]

16. too bad someone doesn't do a cover of this today... still fits.

off the top of my head:
go ahead and hate your neighbor... go ahead and hate (cheat?) a friend...
do it in the name of heaven... you'll be justified in the end..
there won't be any (can't remember...).... come the judgement day...
on the (lonely?) morning after.... one tin soldier rides away.

(dang - going to have to look up the lyrics to see how close or far off base I am)

[salin]

17. not bad from memory of something not heard in more than 20 years

the real chorus:

Go ahead and hate your neighbor, go ahead and cheat a friend
Do it in the name of heaven, justify it in the end
There won't be any trumpets blowing, come the judgment day
On the bloody morning after - one tin soldier rides away.


lyrics available: http://www.ocap.ca/songs/onetinso.html

[ET Awful]

22. That source is wrong though. . .

It actually goes:

Do it in the name of heaven, you can justify it in the end.


How do I know? I just listened to it 5 minutes ago :).

[Liberal Veteran]

32. Let's see if I can do this from memory....

Go ahead and hate your neighbor,
Go ahead and cheat a friend.
Do it in the name of Heaven,
You can justify it in the end.
There won't be any trumpets blowing
Come the judgement day,
On the bloody morning after....
One tin soldier rides away.

[salin]

14. Dexy's Midnight Runners Come on Eileen

loved that one!

[ornotna]

19. Don't know why I thought of that one

But after posting,I had to find it and download it.
Listening to it now. :)



Ok, what time warp did I just pass through.
I could of swore I was responding to the "one Tin Soldier" post. :wtf:

[Kolesar]

18. Wall of Voodoo produced several great albums

Which is more than I can say for any band of late.

[Tripper11]

20. Wow, so many to choose from......

I got stuck at the onehitwonder.com site for about half an hour reminiscing.

I now have no idea which one is my favorite because there are sooo many!

[pfitz59]

21. Boogie 'til You Puke

Root Boy Slim and the Sex Change Band

[gardenista]

24. Root Boy!

Oh my God, I used to live near him in Takoma Park.

He was a regional legend.

[beawr]

50. Me Too

I lived on Gist Avenue. I use to see him at the 7-11 selling albums. I used to see him at the Keg in DC...so so long ago

[Kathy in Cambridge]

23. "Turning Japanese" the Vapors

"A Million Miles Away" The Plimsouls

[oustemnow]

41. fun fact about the Vapours

they were mentored by Bruce Foxton, bass player from the Jam.

And, "Million Miles Away" is a great song, start to finish perfection.

[MercutioATC]

46. Fun fact about "Turning Japanese"

...it was about masturbation (more specifically, about the face made when reaching climax)

[gardenista]

25. "Dancing in the Moonlight"

King Harvest- 70s

I just loved that song!

[Kat45]

26. I loved that song back then,

when I was in high school.

[Deesh]

28. "You've Got To Be Loved" --

-- by the Montanas

(written by Tony Hatch and Jackie Trent, who wrote many hits for Petula Clark -- "Don't Sleep in the Subway," "Downtown," etc.)

[solinvictus]

29. "Cars" by Gary Numan

I know he had other hits abroad, but this one was the most influential on the new wave/synth music that followed.

[ChoralScholar]

30. Right Said Fred - I'm too Sexy

I have to be in a certain mood to enjoy it, but still an okay song.

[RushIsRot]

31. Bobbie Gentry's ODE TO BILLY JOE

I rather loved her whole album, but it seems that few others did.

Old Goat with little taste.

[Bertha Venation]

34. I voted "My Maria," but I also like one from the 80s:

"Pilot of the Airwaves" by Charlie Dore. Does anyone else remember it? The chorus:

Pilot of the airwaves, here is my request
you don't have to play it, but I hope you'll do your best
I've been listening to your show on the radio
and you seem like a friend to me

The song was much adored by a sad and lonely teenager.

[elperromagico]

35. Where's Clark?

I was sent here by the Clark 'blog to vote for Clark, but damn it, where's Clark?!?

[Ellen Forradalom]

37. Pop Muzik - M

New York, London, Paris, Munich
Everyone's talking about pop music!

[Ellen Forradalom]

38. Popcorn by Hot Butter

Magic by Pilot

and if you strictly define one-hit wonder as 'charting in the U.S.':

Autobahn by Kraftwerk!

[oustemnow]

42. ex-Girl do a really great version of "Pop Music"

the CD it's on, in fact, is pretty superb all around.

[tkmorris]

39. Commander Cody and the Airmen

Hot Rod Lincoln.

[FloridaJudy]

43. The Trogs' "Wild Thing"

Also The Kingsmen's *Louie, Louie". Those two are classics, but does anyone know of anything else they wrote?

[Iverson]

47. Troggs

They got onto the charts with Love Is All Around.

[Bossy Monkey]

48. Kingsmen charted twice more

with "Jolly Green Giant" and a cover of "Money". I wouldn't argue with you if you wanted to call them one-hit wonders though. http://www.top40db.org/Artists/ID_348.shtml

[beawr]

49. Hocus Focus by Focus

A fine Dutch Treat

[Skittles]

51. Something in the Air

Thunderclap Newman

[Kolesar]

52. "Tainted Love" by Soft Cell (Mark Almond(?)) eom

[jimbo fett]

53. M.A.R.R.S. "Pump Up the Volume"

[INTELBYTES]

54. Wall of Voodoo!! Yahoo!!

Wish I were in Tijuana
eating bar-b-qued iguana...

crap, I can't remember the rest!

[Kolesar]

55. I take requests on the telephone, I'm on a wavelength far from home

I was camping alone in the desert in San Diego County and spent the evening listening to pop station from Tijuana. I remember them giving the call sign in Espanol. Good memories.

[Bossy Monkey]

58. Here ya go

http://www.top40db.org/Songs/ID_83275.shtml

[Tracer]

57. Judy In Disguise (with glasses)

John Fred & the Playboys.

[terrya]

59. "Love Plus One" by Haircut 100

A great song. And Nick Heyward, the lead singer of Haircut 100, was so cute. :-)

Terry