# Biggest one-hit wonder ever? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 7, 2003, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-one-hit-wonder-ever/217643 "2003-12-07T23:21:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2003, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-one-hit-wonder-ever/217643/61 "2003-12-09T18:29:25Z")
UK dopers will remember (and recoil with horror at) Babylon Zoo, whose “Spaceman” was used by Levis for a Euro ad campaign before its release. It debuted at #1 (in 20 countries), but they never really sold anything else. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2003, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-one-hit-wonder-ever/217643/62 "2003-12-09T18:48:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by hlanelee \* > \*\*Did Don Mclean sing anything but **American Pie**? \*\* _Vincent, Castles in the Sky, Since I don’t have You, Your Cheating Heart, Jerusalem, Starry Starry Night…_ all entered the Top 40 (although some were admittedly only in the Country Top 40)… ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2003, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-one-hit-wonder-ever/217643/63 "2003-12-09T19:12:55Z")
The BBC’s take on One Hit Wonders: [http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A766000](http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A766000). ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2003, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-one-hit-wonder-ever/217643/64 "2003-12-09T19:17:40Z")
\ I don’t know why, but eveyrtime the song _Starry Starry Night_ comes to mind, in my head it somehow segues into _Danny Boy_. “Starry, starry night, the pipes the pipes are calling…” \ Maybe it’s just me… ---
**Author:** ![aenimiac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/df788c/32.png) [@aenimiac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aenimiac)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2003, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-one-hit-wonder-ever/217643/65 "2003-12-09T19:19:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jeff Olsen \* > \*\*The BBC’s take on One Hit Wonders: [http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A766000](http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A766000). \*\* I’d be careful calling that the view of the BBC. It’s on the h2g2 site, which is written by everyday people, much like [http://www.everything2.com](http://www.everything2.com) . A sort of online encylopaedia written by normal people like you and me. And for the record, Purple Haze got to number 1 over here in the UK after Jimi died. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2003, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-one-hit-wonder-ever/217643/66 "2003-12-09T19:54:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by aenimiac \* > **I’d be careful calling that the view of the BBC. It’s on the h2g2 site, which is written by everyday people, much like [http://www.everything2.com](http://www.everything2.com) . A sort of online encylopaedia written by normal people like you and me.** Thanks, I wasn’t aware of that. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2003, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-one-hit-wonder-ever/217643/67 "2003-12-09T20:11:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by dutchboy208 \* > _ **Vincent, Castles in the Sky, Since I don’t have You, Your Cheating Heart, Jerusalem, Starry Starry Night…** _ Actually there is no \*Starry Starry Night. \* It’s the lyrics to _Vincent_, they’re one and the same. ---
**Author:** ![capacitor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e47774/32.png) [@capacitor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capacitor)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-one-hit-wonder-ever/217643/68 "2003-12-10T00:38:35Z")
That Billboard list went up to 1990, well before “Macarena”. ---
**Author:** ![Splutter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5fc32e/32.png) [@Splutter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Splutter)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-one-hit-wonder-ever/217643/69 "2003-12-10T01:51:07Z")
How about Clarence Carter’s “Strokin”? Can’t remember him releasing anything else… ---
**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-one-hit-wonder-ever/217643/70 "2003-12-10T02:40:13Z")
I remember another one by Clarence Carter: Slip Away. ---
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-one-hit-wonder-ever/217643/71 "2003-12-10T02:43:50Z")
Um, I’ll go with Little Eva and “Locomotion” as my runner-up – it’s a one-hit wonder _that got covered._ For the grand prize one-hit wonder, though, I gotta go with _Convoy_ by C.W. McCall. Though his commercials about a bread truck driver were popular, this one song inspired an entire movie. Go figure. FISH ---
**Author:** ![amarone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@amarone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarone)\ **Post date:** [December 10, 2003, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-one-hit-wonder-ever/217643/72 "2003-12-10T06:13:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by lieu \* > \*\*Actually there is no \*Starry Starry Night. \* It’s the lyrics to _Vincent_, they’re one and the same. \*\* And truly horrible they are too. Maybe the original proposer of Don MacLean as a one-hit wonder was just indulging in wishful thinking. ---
**Author:** ![t-keela](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a3d4f5/32.png) [@t-keela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/t-keela)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-one-hit-wonder-ever/217643/73 "2003-12-11T02:56:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Dragon Phoenix \* > \*\*Or Franz Gruber of Silent Night fame? \*\* Wasn’t he also in the original “Die Hard” movie? 😉 **Biggirl** thanks…I know they had some other tunes that were popular BUT Everytime I turn on the radio OR even the TV now, I hear…low rider. Almost as bad as the Village people w/ that damned YMCA crap. Get a new song already. rock the boat…rock the boat baby Damn, where’d that come from? Sorry folks, I’m gettin some bad flashbacks here. I dunno, maybe it’s just that some songs were so BAD, we tend to forget other stuff a group has done. Makes ya wonder, “How in the HELL was this ever a hit?” Ethel…don’t look Ethel, too late I mean, did ANYONE really like “Muskrat Love”? yeah I know Cap’n & T did lotsa stuff…but this one just totally f#%ked me up. :smack: Sorry about the hijack **Card** , it just seemed to fit. ---
**Author:** ![Extraneous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/0ea827/32.png) [@Extraneous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Extraneous)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-one-hit-wonder-ever/217643/74 "2003-12-11T03:15:20Z")
For the “Who?” record: **The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown** After the “artist” name, the song title is anticlimatic: Fire “I am the God of Hellfire…” [sub]this bit of mind poison cheerfully brought to you by…[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Dragon\_Phoenix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bcef8e/32.png) [@Dragon\_Phoenix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragon_Phoenix)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-one-hit-wonder-ever/217643/75 "2003-12-11T10:45:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by amarone \* > \*\*And truly horrible they are too. Maybe the original proposer of Don MacLean as a one-hit wonder was just indulging in wishful thinking. \*\* :eek: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biggest-one-hit-wonder-ever/217643.md?page=3)