# Bands that maybe SHOULD have been one-hit wonders **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 8, 2018, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-maybe-should-have-been-one-hit-wonders/819302 "2018-08-08T21:22:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2018, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-maybe-should-have-been-one-hit-wonders/819302/41 "2018-08-26T21:15:40Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > In 1994, Collective Soul went to #1 with their debut single _[Shine.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_m0bI82Rz_k)_ While some derided it as “Bubblegum Grunge,” I quite liked it. It was different, catchy, and had a sense of fun that is rare in the genre. > > They had a few more chart-toppers after _Shine_, including _[December](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utYjsmDzMi0)_ and _[The World I Know.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7TLTjqUyog)_ While not terrible songs, these always struck me as comparatively uninteresting and derivative. This is solely my opinion, of course, and I don’t begrudge them their success. But If I had never heard anything else from Collective Soul after their first hit, I’d be perfectly fine with that. I’m not quite the fan that pkbites is, but I own three of their CDs and you didn’t even mention my favorite Collective Soul song: [Heavy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46g8zDcziL0) ---
**Author:** ![MacDuff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/macduff/32/482_2.png) [@MacDuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacDuff)\ **Post date:** [August 27, 2018, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-maybe-should-have-been-one-hit-wonders/819302/42 "2018-08-27T17:09:29Z")
I think Collective Soul are about as exciting as boiled cabbage, but to each his own I guess. ¯\_(ツ)\_/¯ ---
**Author:** ![bionic\_man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/49beb7/32.png) [@bionic\_man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bionic_man)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2018, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-maybe-should-have-been-one-hit-wonders/819302/43 "2018-09-02T06:17:01Z")
Bon jovie after sliperly when wet. Poison after debut album. ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2018, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-maybe-should-have-been-one-hit-wonders/819302/44 "2018-09-02T06:32:46Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > I dunno why but I really loathe **Kings of Leon**. Their song “Sex on Fire” is terrible and they followed it up with an equally terrible “Use Somebody” It’s been 10 years and I still hear them on the radio all the fucking time. And people are all pumped about their shows, and “ooooh, Kings of Leon are making a new album!” Fuck, stop. You’re terrible. They should have been a one-album wonder. Their first album was truly awesome. Everything after it was terrible. > [@](#): > > The Red Hot Chili Peppers. If California had never existed they’d have exactly three songs, and if Anthony and Hillel hadn’t dabbled in heroin they’d still be a cornball white rap-funk cover band. The total lack of imagination in their lyrical subject matter is completely off-putting. They’re hit and miss. They reuse a lot of musical motifs over and over. With that being said, I think maybe 25% of their overall output demonstrated genuine creativity, and their lineup of guitarists and drummers, which has changed many times over the decades, have always had serious chops, from the very beginning with their first studio album which was a fairly unique piece of musicianship. They are also blessed with one of the best living bassists in rock music, whose silly moniker belies an extremely extensive and scholarly knowledge of music. Anthony has always been their weakest link, frankly. I’ll always have a nostalgic fondness for their music, but I think they could have been a lot better with a different vocalist/songwriter. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2018, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-maybe-should-have-been-one-hit-wonders/819302/45 "2018-09-02T07:10:11Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Yes. I think it’s a damned solid, maybe even great, song, but the assertion it’s about the sex act ruins it. IIRC you were fairly young in 1985. At the time I don’t recall much doubt that 69 was an intentional double entendre. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2018, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-maybe-should-have-been-one-hit-wonders/819302/46 "2018-09-02T17:08:47Z")
If we are including albums, I’d vote for Molly Hatchet. _Flirtin’ With Disaster_ was a great album from front to back, but I never thought anything else they did was listenable. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2018, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-maybe-should-have-been-one-hit-wonders/819302/47 "2018-09-03T03:10:57Z")
> [@LLCoolL](#): > > [re: Summer of '69] Adams was born on Sept 5, 1959… So this happened when he was 9 years old? So go ahead and sing along, and change it to “It was the summer of Seventy-Six…” See if you can get it to fit. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2018, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-maybe-should-have-been-one-hit-wonders/819302/48 "2018-09-03T04:53:25Z")
> [@LLCoolL](#): > > Bryan Adams: “Run to You” was an early chart single in the U.S. (if not his first). That’s Adams’ only radio hit I like. His later soundtrack work was particularly abysmal: “( Everything I Do) I Do it for You”, “All for Love” with Rod Stewart and Sting, and “Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman” all went to Number 1 in the USA. Ugh!! “Run to You” is yet another one of those songs that Isn’t What Everyone Thinks It’s About. I’ve always loved “This Time”. The Wiki page says that Lou Gramm does harmony on the song, and it sounds like they’re right. It went to #24 in 1983. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/XqxLt5KWDik/maxresdefault.jpg "Bryan Adams - This Time") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqxLt5KWDik) ---
**Author:** ![42fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/4/b487fb/32.png) [@42fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/42fish)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2018, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-maybe-should-have-been-one-hit-wonders/819302/49 "2018-09-04T00:03:13Z")
Nickelback. “How You Remind Me” was a decent song and if they’d broken up immediately after it, they might be fondly remembered. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2018, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-maybe-should-have-been-one-hit-wonders/819302/50 "2018-09-04T01:22:16Z")
Boston did one very long song and divided it up into dozens of individual segments. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2018, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-maybe-should-have-been-one-hit-wonders/819302/51 "2018-09-05T21:22:27Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > I’m not quite the fan that pkbites is, but I own three of their CDs and you didn’t even mention my favorite Collective Soul song: [Heavy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46g8zDcziL0) Though this was apparently a #1 single for fifteen weeks, I’d never heard it before. Or, more likely, I’d heard it and then immediately forgotten I’d heard it. Not awful, but pretty much exactly the same thing any four guys in flannel shirts were putting out around that time. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2018, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-maybe-should-have-been-one-hit-wonders/819302/52 "2018-09-05T21:29:37Z")
Too late to edit: “Heavy” spent 15 weeks atop Billboard’s “Mainstream Rock Tracks” chart, for whatever that’s worth. It peaked at #73 on the Hot 100, which helps explain why I wasn’t familiar with it. ---
**Author:** ![LLCoolL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/llcooll/32/3596_2.png) [@LLCoolL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LLCoolL)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2018, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-maybe-should-have-been-one-hit-wonders/819302/53 "2018-09-09T07:51:11Z")
> [@digs](#): > > So go ahead and sing along, and change it to “It was the summer of Seventy-Six…” See if you can get it to fit. I presume you’re being facetious. But if not, then the suggested substitution is one syllable too many. ---
**Author:** ![LLCoolL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/llcooll/32/3596_2.png) [@LLCoolL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LLCoolL)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2018, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-maybe-should-have-been-one-hit-wonders/819302/54 "2018-09-09T07:53:26Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > “Run to You” is yet another one of those songs that Isn’t What Everyone Thinks It’s About. … Well, it’s either about a guy having an affair. Or it’s about a musician who cares more about his music than his girl. (The latter possibility implied by the video.) ---
**Author:** ![ramon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/34f0e0/32.png) [@ramon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ramon)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2018, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-maybe-should-have-been-one-hit-wonders/819302/55 "2018-09-15T18:32:31Z")
People probably wont like this, but Nirvana… even cobain said his lyrics are just garbage he threw together. They were just shoved down our throughts by the media. ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2018, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-maybe-should-have-been-one-hit-wonders/819302/56 "2018-09-15T19:27:00Z")
> [@ramon](#): > > People probably wont like this, but Nirvana… even cobain said his lyrics are just garbage he threw together. They were just shoved down our throughts by the media. I like it. I bought “Nevermind” and sold it to a kid at school the next day door a $5 loss. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2018, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-maybe-should-have-been-one-hit-wonders/819302/57 "2018-09-15T22:49:02Z")
My brother was a college radio DJ in the late 1980s, and after “Nevermind” came out, I asked him if he ever played anything from their first album, “Bleach.” He replied that he did, and if a time traveler had come to him and said that in the fall of 1991, this band would release an album that would hit #1 in pretty much every country on earth that has a chart and turn popular music on its ear, he’d have said they were nuts. And nobody really thought at the time that their DRUMMER was really the heart and soul of the band. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2018, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-maybe-should-have-been-one-hit-wonders/819302/58 "2018-09-16T02:12:41Z")
Heck, I can go back even farther and find examples from my childhood. Popular music changed dramatically with the “British Invasion”, spearheaded by the Beatles and the Stones. Even American bands got on board (to the extent that some of the Chicago bands promoted by WCFL and WLS were assumed to be British… I saw The Buckinghams this summer and they told of appearing on Hullabaloo, where the stage had been festooned with Union Jacks). Anyhow, a few bands had a great first single or album, then got lazy. In the case of _The Vogues_, [“Five O’Clock World”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfFvATjb0Dc) had a fresh sound and a gritty message (and it made for a [fun opening for the Drew Carey show](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3wMesI8aiw)). But for some godforsaken reason, that was their only song with that kind of chops, and they decided to completely change their style and start shoveling out nothing but sappy ‘easy listening’ songs like [“Turn Around, Look At Me”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ErpfQknYzM). I remember buying _The Best of The Vogues_ and thinking “What? Who are the wusses who are doing all these treacley tunes? I mean, ONE good song? Why did I buy this?” ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2018, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-maybe-should-have-been-one-hit-wonders/819302/59 "2018-09-16T02:40:11Z")
> [@Sicks\_Ate](#): > > I like it. I bought “Nevermind” and sold it to a kid at school the next day door a $5 loss. What was the album that the “Wayne’s World” guys said was issued to all teenagers in the late 1970s? It was either Boston’s self-titled debut, or “Frampton Comes Alive”. ---
**Author:** ![california\_jobcase](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9d8465/32.png) [@california\_jobcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/california_jobcase)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2018, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-maybe-should-have-been-one-hit-wonders/819302/60 "2018-09-16T03:19:12Z")
> [@kunilou](#): > > Boston did one very long song and divided it up into dozens of individual segments. Agreed, but that verse about taking her home tonight just didn’t fit in at all. Totally ruined it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bands-that-maybe-should-have-been-one-hit-wonders/819302.md?page=2)