# All Time Worst One Hit Wonders **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 14, 2007, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-worst-one-hit-wonders/387971 "2007-01-14T20:01:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2007, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-worst-one-hit-wonders/387971/61 "2007-01-15T16:18:52Z")
[QUOTE=Khadaji] Did Rick Dees ever have another hit besides Disco Duck? [/QUOTE] [Nope](http://www.popculturemadness.com/Music/Lyrics/Disco-Duck.html) ---
**Author:** ![furlibusea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@furlibusea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furlibusea)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2007, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-worst-one-hit-wonders/387971/62 "2007-01-15T16:24:11Z")
Either my reading has gone pretty far down or you guys missed Mmmm Bop. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2007, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-worst-one-hit-wonders/387971/63 "2007-01-15T16:43:54Z")
[QUOTE=ScareyFaerie] Nope, it’s a different one, definitely called the Birdie Song and I think it’s by The Tweets. I’d google for it, but I think I’d barf. [/QUOTE] There were actually two versions of The Birdie Song in the charts at the same time! One by The Tweets, and a far superior 😉 version by The Electronicas. Don’t ask how I’ve managed to remember this. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2007, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-worst-one-hit-wonders/387971/64 "2007-01-15T17:27:46Z")
[QUOTE=Jackmannii] C.W. actually had at least a marginal hit before this, with a “song” derived from a bread commercial, “The Old Home Filler-Up And Keep On A’Truckin’ Cafe”. [/QUOTE] He also charted with _Wolf Creek Pass_. It’s way up on the Great Divide, and then he went truckin’ on down the other side. C.W. rode the CB craze for all it was worth. And I don’t care what anybody thinks, I like _The Night Chicago Died_. I like the reference to the “east side” of Chicago, a forgotten bit of real estate near the Indiana border that seldom gets its due (not that the Brits who wrote the song had any idea where it was). I like the guys going “huh huh huh” in the background. I like the bouncy bubblegum sound. Granted, the “nah nah nah, nah nah NAH, nah nah nah nah” might be a little over the top. But still, it’s harmless pop, not utter dreck like the other songs in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2007, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-worst-one-hit-wonders/387971/65 "2007-01-15T17:37:48Z")
[QUOTE=OneCentStamp] OK, now we’re fightin’. :mad: [/QUOTE] No kiddding. I LOVE _Turning Japanese_. My vote is for Taco’s _Puttin’ on the Ritz_…yowza what a piece of crap. ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2007, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-worst-one-hit-wonders/387971/66 "2007-01-15T17:38:21Z")
C.W. McCall was a stage name for an actor who did commercials and created a character named “C.W. McCall.” The fact that he had just one hit wasn’t surprising since he wasn’t really in the music business. Rick Dees never had a hit beyond “Disco Duck” since he made tons of money as a DJ. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2007, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-worst-one-hit-wonders/387971/67 "2007-01-15T17:40:59Z")
[QUOTE=Sarahfeena] My vote is for Taco’s _Puttin’ on the Ritz_…yowza what a piece of crap. [/QUOTE] You prefer the Peter Boyle version maybe? ---
**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2007, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-worst-one-hit-wonders/387971/68 "2007-01-15T17:47:48Z")
[QUOTE=Thudlow Boink] You prefer the Peter Boyle version maybe? [/QUOTE] Of course! 😃 Actually, the song itself is not a loser, it’s just that arrangement Taco used…awful, awful, awful. He ruined a perfectly good old classic. I’m actually quite fond of the old version Fred Astaire sang in _Blue Skies_. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2007, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-worst-one-hit-wonders/387971/69 "2007-01-15T17:56:57Z")
There was a whole host of truckin’ songs that came out with the “Convoy”… led to a movie “Smokey And the Bandit”… whilest singularly anyone of them could be a “one hit wonder”, togehter they formed a theme for awhile (TeddyBear) My nominations: Ice, Ice Baby. Giddyap. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2007, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-worst-one-hit-wonders/387971/70 "2007-01-15T17:58:31Z")
There was a whole host of truckin’ songs that came out with the “Convoy”… led to a movie “Smokey And the Bandit”… whilest singularly anyone of them could be a “one hit wonder”, togehter they formed a theme for awhile (TeddyBear) My nominations: Ice, Ice Baby. Just a Swingin’ ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2007, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-worst-one-hit-wonders/387971/71 "2007-01-15T17:59:53Z")
(thought I stopped that first post before it posted… dangit) ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2007, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-worst-one-hit-wonders/387971/72 "2007-01-15T18:14:33Z")
Yeah, I’d forgotten about _Wolf Creek Pass_, though one lyric couplet has stayed with me: _“One side looks like worms The other - like malaria germs”_ In the subcategory of one-hit wonders from Germany, we should not fail to mention _99 Red Balloons_ by someone named Nina. Or Ninny. And Kraftwerk’s\* _Autobahn_, probably the worst road song in history, which featured endless repetitions of: _“Wir fahr’n fahr’n fahr’n auf der Autobahn”_ Roughly translated, “We are driving on the Autobahn”. Like _cosmic_, man. \*I know they sold a bunch of albums to deluded people, but this is their only pop hit that I know of. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2007, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-worst-one-hit-wonders/387971/73 "2007-01-15T18:19:29Z")
[QUOTE=Freddy the Pig] And I don’t care what anybody thinks, I like _The Night Chicago Died_. [/QUOTE] From the December 1974 issue of _Creem_: > [@](#): > > **Paper Lace** , following the hit single of “The Night Chicago Died,” wrote mayor **Richard Daley** about the possibility of a special shindig in their honor when they came to town. Replied a Daley aide, to the group’s publicist: “We do have our own ideas as you suggest in your letter. With a bit of cooperation you might persuade Paper Lace and the writer of ‘Chicago Died’ to come to Chicago, jump in the Chicago River placing their heads under water three times and surfacing twice. The lyrics are the greatest assemblage of garbage ever to be published. Our interest is zero minus. Thank you for contacting us. Pray tell us, are you nuts?” ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2007, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-worst-one-hit-wonders/387971/74 "2007-01-15T19:05:30Z")
[QUOTE=Jackmannii] In the subcategory of one-hit wonders from Germany, we should not fail to mention _99 Red Balloons_ by someone named Nina. Or Ninny. [/quote] Nena. [/quote] And Kraftwerk’s\* _Autobahn_, probably the worst road song in history, which featured endless repetitions of: _“Wir fahr’n fahr’n fahr’n auf der Autobahn”_ Roughly translated, “We are driving on the Autobahn”. Like _cosmic_, man. \*I know they sold a bunch of albums to deluded people, but this is their only pop hit that I know of. [/QUOTE] That’s fightin’ talk. But “Autobahn” is a bit too long and monotone to be a good single I think. Wasn’t the rather poppier “The Model” a hit in the US? ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2007, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-worst-one-hit-wonders/387971/75 "2007-01-15T19:19:28Z")
I think **2525 and The Night Chicago Died** are tied for last place. Excellent combinations of insipid melodies and utterly nonsensical lyrics. About **Ballad of the Green Berets** …last month, I followed the Cal Bears to the Holiday Bowl in San Diego, as they faced Texas A&M. The Fightin’ Texas Aggie Band apparently knows only 6 songs – 2 of them are school songs, and one of the others is TBotGB. So I heard it more times in those 3 days than I had heard it in the previous 40 years. (If that says something significant about A&M…so be it. I’ll let others make that claim.) ---
**Author:** ![mamboman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecb155/32.png) [@mamboman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mamboman)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2007, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-worst-one-hit-wonders/387971/76 "2007-01-15T19:22:26Z")
[QUOTE=Jackmannii] As long as someone had to bring up “Ballad of the Green Berets”, let us not forget the other big popular song from the Vietnam War\*, C Company’s _“The Battle Hymn of Lieutenant Calley”_ (of My Lai massacre fame). It reportedly sold 200,000 copies within days of Calley’s conviction, and included these immortal lines (sung to the tune of _Battle Hymn of the Republic_): “While we’re fighting in the jungles They were marching in the street, While we’re dying in the rice fields They were helping our defeat. While we’re facing VC bullets They were sounding a retreat, As we go marching on…” I was fortunate enough to secure a copy years later and it is one of my most valued 45 RPM records. :dubious: [/QUOTE] Victor Lundberg’s “_Open Letter to My Teenage Son_” is another prime Vietnam Era artefact! ---
**Author:** ![mamboman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecb155/32.png) [@mamboman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mamboman)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2007, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-worst-one-hit-wonders/387971/77 "2007-01-15T19:25:37Z")
“_Achy Breaky Heart_”. I’m ashamed of you all. mm ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2007, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-worst-one-hit-wonders/387971/78 "2007-01-15T19:41:42Z")
[QUOTE=mamboman] “_Achy Breaky Heart_”. I’m ashamed of you all. [/QUOTE] I just don’t think you’d understand. ---
**Author:** ![simster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/simster/32/1047_2.png) [@simster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/simster)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2007, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-worst-one-hit-wonders/387971/79 "2007-01-15T19:47:27Z")
[QUOTE=mamboman] “_Achy Breaky Heart_”. I’m ashamed of you all. mm [/QUOTE] That’s actually the one I had in my head, but my brain refused to let me type the words… ---
**Author:** ![SSG\_Schwartz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@SSG\_Schwartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SSG_Schwartz)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2007, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-worst-one-hit-wonders/387971/80 "2007-01-15T19:54:41Z")
[QUOTE=Sarahfeena] No kiddding. I LOVE _Turning Japanese_. My vote is for Taco’s _Puttin’ on the Ritz_…yowza what a piece of crap. [/QUOTE] Good God, who would have thought that there were Vapors fans? I do understand how you feel however once I read this post: Annie-Xmas: > [@](#): > > Convoy by CW McCall. So awful that I betcha few people even remember (or want to remember) it I love CW McCall and the truck driving songs. I think he also charted with the glurge ballad “Roses for Mother.” I currently have CJ-5 on my IPOD along with other trucker tunes. Sgt Schwartz [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-worst-one-hit-wonders/387971.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/all-time-worst-one-hit-wonders/387971.md?page=5)