# Lame Artists Who Made One Good Song? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 24, 2005, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lame-artists-who-made-one-good-song/286370 "2005-01-24T04:39:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**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:** [January 24, 2005, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lame-artists-who-made-one-good-song/286370/21 "2005-01-24T14:48:30Z")
And before anyone corrects me… Van Morrison had several hits. “Moondance” and “Brown Eyed Girl” come immediately to mind. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lame-artists-who-made-one-good-song/286370/22 "2005-01-24T15:37:34Z")
> [@Sam Stone](#): > > And before anyone corrects me… Van Morrison had several hits. “Moondance” and “Brown Eyed Girl” come immediately to mind. Well, you beat me to it, but Morrison had 16 charting singles, with “Domino” placing highest at #9. “Moondance,” surprisingly enough, only got as high as #92 on the pop Singles Charts. As for albums, there’s too many on the Billboard Hot 200 to even bother counting. Needless to say, saying Van Morrison lacks “lasting popularity” is a bit wrong (considering that in 2004 his _What’s Wrong With this Picture_ made Billboard’s Top 40, seems he’s still popular enough.) Don McLean, on the other hand, I will somewhat agree. I don’t know how much of a critical success he is, though. Not that I’m an expert in his work, but anything outside _Don McLean_ and _American Pie_ I’ve heard is pretty average. ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lame-artists-who-made-one-good-song/286370/23 "2005-01-24T15:58:10Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > Sean “Stupid girly nickname” Combs. Alas, it seems all his “songs” are badly covered rip-offs of legit artists. His punk-ass doesn’t warrant even a mention in a thread concerning actual musicians. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lame-artists-who-made-one-good-song/286370/24 "2005-01-24T17:09:52Z")
> [@duffer](#): > > Alas, it seems all his “songs” are badly covered rip-offs of legit artists. I’ve heard it said about Combs that he takes hit songs and makes them into hit songs. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mtgman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Mtgman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mtgman)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lame-artists-who-made-one-good-song/286370/25 "2005-01-24T18:58:47Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Don McLean, on the other hand, I will somewhat agree. I don’t know how much of a critical success he is, though. Not that I’m an expert in his work, but anything outside _Don McLean_ and _American Pie_ I’ve heard is pretty average. [_Vincent(Starry Starry Night)_](http://www.don-mclean.com/articles/vincent.asp) is a pretty good tune. A tribute to Vincent Van Gogh and it moved [Roberta Flack](http://www.who2.com/robertaflack.html) to write a tribute to McLean called _Killing Me Softly_. From what I can tell, McLean is a “musician’s musician”. One of those individuals whose prodigious talent is really appreciated the most among those who know just how damn hard it is to do what he makes look effortless. Oftentimes these types of artists are not well respected outside of their peer group and may be considered bland or otherwise unremarkable, but their talent is still impressive. Enjoy, Steven ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lame-artists-who-made-one-good-song/286370/26 "2005-01-24T21:28:06Z")
I watched a Warren Miller snow-sports film recently (don’t ask), and they had Nelly Furtado’s “Turn Out the Light” on the soundtrack. It had been a while since I heard it, so I couldn’t remember immediately who it was; instead, I was thinking, Oh yeah, this song, this was a pretty good song, who was this again? About halfway through, I remembered, and I was thrown for something of a loop, because it all flooded back: I remembered that I liked that one song a lot, so I went and checked out the rest of her catalogue, and found nothing else even comparable. I wouldn’t classify her as a one-hit wonder, because she’s charted with other stuff, but that’s really the one song of hers I find not just tolerable but actually pretty sharp. (IIRC, the Warren Miller film also used a [Brak song](http://www.geocities.com/acobjoe/All_About_Brak.html), which was… interesting.) ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lame-artists-who-made-one-good-song/286370/27 "2005-01-24T21:30:15Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > “Year of the Cat” was just Stewart’s hit. He has written much better songs that went nowhere. Some great songs, in fact: The Broadway Hotel Sand in Your Shoes Delia’s Gone On the Border The World Goes to Rhiyad Merlin’s Time In Brooklyn ---
**Author:** ![Cornelius\_Tuggerson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Cornelius\_Tuggerson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cornelius_Tuggerson)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lame-artists-who-made-one-good-song/286370/28 "2005-01-24T21:38:20Z")
> [@Sam Stone](#): > > Can you think of any of these? Did bands like Air Supply, or **Abba** , or MOR artists like Kenny G ever do anything you’d consider really good? :rolleyes: You are aware that they were offered $1000000000.00 to reunite for a [concert](http://www.abbasite.com/forum/thread.php?t=11421) right? They must have made something that someone considered good somewhere along the way. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lame-artists-who-made-one-good-song/286370/29 "2005-01-24T22:30:40Z")
> [@faldureon](#): > > :rolleyes: > You are aware that they were offered $1000000000.00 to reunite for a [concert](http://www.abbasite.com/forum/thread.php?t=11421) right? They must have made something that someone considered good somewhere along the way. In the documentary _The Winner Takes It All_ Bjorn Ulvaeus noted that he and Benny Andersson have made more money with their Broadway and other stage shows (_Mamma Mia, Chess_, etc) than they ever did with ABBA. From what I’ve read, ABBA has sold more than 250 million records worldwide. At one time they were second only to the Beatles in that respect. Yes, I know that popular doesn’t always mean good (Britney Spears is a prime example of that). ---
**Author:** ![Kantalooppi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a5b964/32.png) [@Kantalooppi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kantalooppi)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lame-artists-who-made-one-good-song/286370/30 "2005-01-24T22:39:45Z")
I believe that most all of us can agree that **Limp Bizkit** approaches a curse upon the world of music, particularily apparent in Fred Durst. However, I find that ‘My Way’ is not a half-bad tune, actually. Maybe it’s just early nostalgia. (Yes, I’m young.) ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lame-artists-who-made-one-good-song/286370/31 "2005-01-24T23:36:57Z")
> [@astro](#): > > Billy Swan - I Can help > > Bobby Russel - Saturday Morning Confusion > > Gilbert O’Sullivan - Alone Again (Naturally) > > Mouth & Macneal - How Do You Do > > Sailcat - Motorcyle Mama > > Melanie - Brand New Key > > Jo Jo Gunne - Run Run Run > > Gallery - Nice To Be With You Remove Melanie - She was popular with the hippy crowd, along with Joni and Buffy and Joanie… ---
**Author:** ![Cornelius\_Tuggerson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Cornelius\_Tuggerson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cornelius_Tuggerson)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lame-artists-who-made-one-good-song/286370/32 "2005-01-24T23:48:33Z")
> [@ouryL](#): > > Remove **Melanie** - She was popular with the hippy crowd, along with Joni and Buffy and Joanie… Amen my brother. Melianie rocked. ---
**Author:** ![Iceland\_Blue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/4bbf92/32.png) [@Iceland\_Blue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iceland_Blue)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lame-artists-who-made-one-good-song/286370/33 "2005-01-25T12:30:54Z")
Gilbert O’Sullivan…Come on! Get Down?Clair?O ye of little taste ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lame-artists-who-made-one-good-song/286370/34 "2005-01-25T14:12:12Z")
> [@ouryL](#): > > Remove Melanie - She was popular with the hippy crowd, along with Joni and Buffy and Joanie… And there’s a fan web site that lists about 20 or more albums. She’s definitely had a full career. ---
**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 25, 2005, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lame-artists-who-made-one-good-song/286370/35 "2005-01-25T14:18:17Z")
ABBA? ABBA? Ring, Ring Waterloo Fernando S.O.S. Dancing Queen The Name of the Game Take a Chance on Me Thank You For the Music Voulez-Vous Does Your Mother Know? Super Trooper ---
**Author:** ![rfgdxm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c0e974/32.png) [@rfgdxm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rfgdxm)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lame-artists-who-made-one-good-song/286370/36 "2005-01-25T14:29:19Z")
> [@ouryL](#): > > Remove Melanie - She was popular with the hippy crowd, along with Joni and Buffy and Joanie… Melanie also had a hit with the classic Woodstock anthem “Lay Down” (Candles in the Rain)", released before “Brand New Key”, so she is at worst a 2 hit wonder. ---
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2005, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lame-artists-who-made-one-good-song/286370/37 "2005-01-25T14:43:53Z")
The Smiths: “How Soon Is Now?” R.E.M.: “Radio Free Europe” Somehow both of these bands managed to convince snobby critics that they don’t suck. But they did get it together for one track each. 😛 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/lame-artists-who-made-one-good-song/286370.md?page=1)