I believe the criteria is not only being known for one song, but also having a significant body of other work to back it up but which is relatively unknown.
John Otway ‘Really Free’ - I don’t know if this even crossed the atlantic, but if you were of a certain age and were familiar with new wave and punk then you likely know it, but not a single thing on his 13 albums
[/QUOTE]
For decades I have read Really Free is his biggest and best known hit but the one I always remember is Headbutts. Even though it was banned (by the BBC) for promoting violence!
Several individual performers have been mentioned, rather than bands.
Okay, then: Tony Bennett, 60 studio albums, 13 live albums, and 30 compilation albums.
Is there another song that most people associate with him besides “I Left My Heart in San Francisco”?
Of the bands, I would go along with WordMan’s suggestion of the Grateful Dead, with “Touch of Grey”, although I think many people couldn’t even name that song.
Mike Oldfield is pretty much a one-hit-wonder in the US for “Tubular Bells” (the original, not the umpteen re-imaginings) despite 30 albums and something like 25 singles that have charted elsewhere in the world. That said, he did write “Family Man” which was successfully covered by Hall and Oates, although I doubt many Americans know that.
I keep wanting to add songs to the ones mentioned for bands above and then realizing that I’m thinking of solo songs by band members:
“The Glory of Love” - Chicago? Nope - Peter Cetera
“I Believe in Father Christmas” - ELP? Nope (or nope-ish) - Greg Lake
“The New Frontier” - Steely Dan? Nope - Donald Fagen
Ah, well…
Pachelbel was hugely influential in his day; the little canon was a tiny insignificant blip in his output during his lifetime but became annoyingly ubiquitous in the 20th century. But he’s still better off than poor Tomaso Albinoni, who is a one-hit-wonder for a hit he didn’t even write.
Depends on the age of the people you asked of course, my parents and others of their generation could name many I’m sure but then they’re in their 80s. Me, that is the only one that comes to mind and I can name dozens of Sinatra songs and at least a few Dean Martin ones. So a good pick I think as long as we ignore people over 75.
It was their biggest hit, but the Grateful Dead are almost synonymous with the 60s and “Touch of Grey” was released in ‘87. Us old farts will probably first associate them with a lot of older songs such as “Friend of the Devil”, "Truckin’", “Fire on the Mountain”, “Casey Jones” and a few others.
Not arguing with your experience. But they were plenty big in Australia. Most of those songs were top 40. Saturday in the park wasn’t even! Strange. I think of that one and Time It Is to be perfect records.
Out of curiosity, I wonder which ones you’re considering. Love it or hate it, “Macarena” is probably known by more people in the US, Europe, and Australia, than any of the songs mentioned here. I mean, my parents who barely listen to music know the Macarena. Now if we include India, China, and other locales, I don’t know. But the Macarena was a tremendous hit, hitting #1 or #2 in 15 countries (13 #1, 2 #2.) And it was the year-end #1 in both US and Australia. It was in the Hot 100 for the longest time (60 weeks) until surpassed by Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep.”
I don’t know for certain if it’s the most popular, but it can’t be easily dismissed by a one word answer without further commentary. It’s certainly up there.
Well it was a short sharp question. I take your point but I bet Gene Autrey, Bing Crosby, The Ink Spots and lots of others have one more well known song, but no other for most people.
If people think of the grateful dead as touch of grey (In re of which: You know I just saw a deadhead sticker on a cadillac) then in a couple of years no one will think of this song at all, or remember it. My guess is it’s already well on the way to obscurity.
Dunno if this has gotten discussed along the way, but are we talking about “bands that, due to the passage of time and absurdly winnowed-down “classic rock” playlists, are only known anymore for one song” or “bands that, even during their heyday, were known to most people for just one song” ?
Because there’s a big difference between bands that were big in the 1960s through 1980s that were well known for multiple songs at the time (Traffic, Chicago, Jethro Tull, Yes, Rush), but only get airplay for a song or two anymore, and bands that even at their peak were only widely known for that one song (Golden Earring, Blues Traveler).
Of course the bands in the first category are likely to have produced a great deal of music; you’d expect that. But it’s quite a surprise to find out that Golden Earring has put out 26 albums.
I’m not entirely sure about this. “But Anyway” gets a reasonable amount of play around here, too. (Just heard it a couple days ago.) “Hook,” as well. “But Anyway” wasn’t a top 40 hit, but after BT hit the mainstream with “Run Around” stations around here started playing it.
Clearly not true.