Bob and the Wailers’ best album results were Rastaman Vibration, which peaked at #8 on the Pop chart, and Exodus (#20). Also noteworthy: Legend (the posthumous best-of) hit #55 on the Billboard chart, and Songs of Freedom got to #86. Keep in mind that that’s a four-disc set.
Their highest-charting single was Exodus - #19 on the black charts. I think if figures from England and other countries were included the results would look more impressive. They still top the reggae charts, apparently.
Moby Grape? Camper Van Beethoven (Take the Skinheads Bowling was probably fairly high on college charts)? Yo La Tengo? Jets to Brazil? Le Savy Fa? Neutral Milk Hotel? Jefferson Airplane? Hot Tuna? CS&N/CSN&Y (How high did “Ohio” get?)? Flogging Molly? Massive Attack? Barry McGuire? Blood, Sweat, and Tears? Butthole Surfers? The Cure? Poco? Harry Neilson? Rod McKuen? Joan Baez? Ralph McTell? Roberta Flack? Rod Mckuen? Godspeed You Black Emperor!?
What about Kinks, Guess Who, Arlo Gutherie, Woody Gutherie, Pete Seeger, CCR, Burt Bacharach, Cheap Trick, Collective Soul, Doobie Brothers, Donovan, Doors, Jethro Tull, Manfred Mann, Loudon Wainwright III, Peter Townsend, Yes, Ten Years After, The Band, Jefferson Airplane, and Joni Mitchell? What type of success have they had since I know that they were all semi-popular?
Most of this thread is like listening to people who don’t have dictionaries debate about what words might be left out of one.
I think they would be classified as Alternative Rock.
Their most popular album is their final one, Fantastic Planet.
Bands that are inter-related (meaning that Failure band mates either participated in them or were produced by Ken Andrews or have that sound or have band mates that really really love failure)
A perfect circle (they do a rendition of a Failure song “The Nurse who loved me” on their last album)
Self
Hum
Castor
Shiner
On
Tool
Deftones
Air
Blinker the star
Creeper Lagoon
Queens of the Stone age
there are a lot more, really. My mind is just kind of mush at the end of the day.
here’s an article:
http://entertainment.msn.com/artist/?artist=123075
That’s a long list, and I can only tackle a few. For the Kinks I know that “You Really Got Me”, “All Day and All of the Night”, “Lola”, and “Come Dancing” made the Top Ten in the US. Don’t know if they ever had an American #1, but they had at least one in the UK with “You Really Got Me”.
The Guess Who had lots of hits in Canada, and their “American Woman” hit #1 in the US. (Apparently because few people realized how insulting it was towards American women and America in general!) The American Woman album also made the US Top Ten. They’d had a previous US Top Ten single with “These Eyes”, and I believe several of their other singles charted in the US.
Pete Townshend as a solo artist never achieved the success he’d had with The Who, but he did have two bona-fide US hit singles: “Let My Love Open the Door” made the Top 10, as did the Empty Glass album it came from, and “Face the Face” hit the Top 40.
When I saw the VH1 special on one-hit wonders it bothered me a bit that the whole thing was based on US chart positions. Okay, I guess the US is the biggest music market in the world, but I remember there were some acts on the list that apparently had hit after hit in their native UK or Canada but only one in the US. Doesn’t seem like such artists should really be considered in the same category as those who only ever had one hit anywhere.
Another interesting category to consider is that of artists with long, fairly successful careers but whose only or biggest hits are unrepresentative of their body of work. The Great Zamboni has already suggested that The Who’s only US Top Ten single was their most annoying song, although I think they produced some far worse than “I Can See For Miles”. I love The Who, but they recorded a few losers in their time.
A clearer case is the also already-mentioned Iggy Pop. Imagine the wrong impression one might form if one only knew him from his sole Top 40 single, “Candy”!
Pearl Jam’s never had a studio album fail to make the Top Five, but their biggest hit single by far was their cover of “Last Kiss”. It hit #2 and stayed in the charts for what seemed like forever at the time. I think they did about as good a job of it as is possible, but “Last Kiss” is neither typical Pearl Jam nor a particularly good song. (Although that hasn’t stopped it from being a hit several times with versions by several artists!) However, Pearl Jam is an unusual case on the singles front because when they were at the height of their popularity they chose not to release singles commercially in the US. The singles charts are calculated using a formula that combines radio airplay with sales, so most of Pearl Jam’s biggest hits come out lower on the charts than you’d expect. Apparently “Jeremy”, which must be their most famous song, never made the Billboard Hot 100 at all.
You saw a license plate with 8 characters?
“This next number went straight to the top of the charts in Turlock, California…numbero uno…and stayed there for a week or two. They love us in Turlock, and we love them fo rthat…”
I’ve been listening to a lot of Cohen lately but know almost nothing about the man or his career, and your post inspired me to look up some bios on the Web. Interesting guy!
Anyway, as best as I can tell you’re right – he’s never had a Top 40 single or album in the US. He apparently didn’t have a hit album in Canada either until the 2001 release of Ten New Songs (#4). Since his songs has been covered by just about everyone it’s possible that one has made the charts that way, but there are too many to look them all up and none of the ones I can remember ever hearing on the radio made the Top 40.
Yeah, it’s not very common but they do exist.
If we’re talking about the American Top Forty, the I think we can also add:
The Smiths (and Morrissey as a solo artist)
The Pogues
Oh yes, and
The Sex Pistols
Also, did Devo ever have a hit? I’m not sure that even “Whip It” Cracked the Top 40.
Going by the "Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits (2000 edition):
Ramones: No hits.
Iggy Pop: “Candy” (#28, 1991)
no hits
Zep: 6 top 40 hits, including “Fool in the Rain”
Dead: “Touch of Grey” (#9, 1987)
Howard Jones: 9 top 40 hits.
no hits, although this book WAS released in 2000
King Crimson: no hits
Hawkwind: no hits
Motohead: no hits
PFM: no hits
Harmonium: no hits
Mark-Almond: no hits
Status Quo: “Pictures of Matchstick Men” (#12, 1968)
no hits
no hits
5 top 40 hits
no hits
EC: no hits
Neu: no hits
no hits
no hits
ELO: 20 top 40 hits
Pixies: no hits
Breeders: no hits
no hits by 2000
16 top 40 hits
Husker Du: no hits
Replacements: no hits
Rush: “New World Man” (#21, 1982)
Gotta go, finish later…
I don’t know the rest, but the Cure have done just fine. Just last week, their self-titled album opened at #7 on the Billboard charts, and “Wish” opened up at #2. They’ve also had hits with “Just Like Heaven”, “Lovesong”, and “Friday I’m in Love”, I believe. There might even be more.
Echo and the Bunnymen
X
Widespread Panic
I really need to get that book. This is off the top of my head:
Yes had at least two top 10 hits, including “Owner of a Lonely Heart” which reached #1. I forget if the second one is “Roundabout” or “Your Move”…
The Cure reached #2 with “Lovesong”, dunno if any of their other singles charted.
CSN(& sometimes Y) has had several hits; so have The Doors
Jethro Tull had a big hit with “Living in the Past”, but that might have been just in the UK.
(Morbid Angel?!?)
Dream Theater has had no top 40 hits, although “Pull Me Under” did receive its fair share of airplay & MTv rotation.
“Leave It” - #24
“Love Will Find a Way” - #30
“Owner of a Lonely Heart” - #1
“Rhythm of Love” - #40
“Roundabout” - #13
“Your Move” - #40
“Bungle in the Jungle” - #12
“Living in the Past” - #11
The VH1 special had very mercurial standards which basicly said to me “if we thought it was cheesy, it was getting on there one way or another”. Some bands that barely cracked the top 40 were shoved on their due to the drama that went with their tale. Others had later hits that were mentioned but ignored. Flock of Seagulls came to mind, they did have a hit after their first one. But they seemed flash in the pan since their hairdoos plant them squarely in 80’s territory.
What a fantastic thread! Too bad Rush doesn’t qualify on account of their one Top 40 hit (and a crappy one at that): they would have been the perfect example. One of the best selling bands in the world, with one lousy single (semi) hit.
Whilst we wait for scotandrsn’s follow-up, I’d like to tackle a few of the suggestions.
KGS: Dream Theater came to mind for me, too, but I guess they’re not mainstream enough to qualify as a no-hit-wonder. But hey, last week whilst driving through Phoenix, Alice Cooper played Pull me Under! What a fantastic band they were and still are.
scotandrsn, I have some doubts about some of your results there. I know for a fact that The Pixies’ This monkey’s gone to heaven was definitely a Top 40 hit over here (Holland), as was The Breeders’ Cannonball. The latter was even a top 10 hit here, and that would be highly unlikely if it did nothing at all in the US. Are you sure about those two bands?
spoke-, surely Fairytale of New York must have been Top 40 material for The Pogues? If not that, then Fiesta.
ZebraShaSha, you asked for it. 
I’ll just pick those that haven’t been mentioned yet.
Massive Attack: Unfinished Sympathy was top 5 material on this side of the pond - surely it made the Top 40 in the US?
The Cure: tons of chart hits in Europe. I’m sure at least one made the US Top 40.
Poco: Call it love was a big hit here - and Poco never was huge on this side of the pond. I can only imagine the song got big here riding on its US success.
Cheap Trick: their live version of I want you to want me charted not once, but twice over here.
Doobie Brothers: Listen to the music and Music is the doctor were chart hits here. Surely the first was one in the US, too?
Doors: whether it was posthumously or not, they charted bigtime when the movie came out in the early 90’s. Riders on the Storm comes to mind, specifically.
Pete Townsend: Face to Face was Top 5 material over here.
The Band: although officially under Robbie Robertson & The Band, Somewhere down the Crazy River was a top 10 hit.
pant pant pant 
Oh, I think Leonard Cohen had a minor hit here with First we take Manhattan, but it could have just been a tip parade thing.
More from the Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits (2000 edition) (which I should mention only covers the period 1955 and after)
Richard Thompson: no hits
Fairport Convention: no hits
Bonzos: no hits
Livingston: 2 top 40 hits
Otis Taylor: no hits
Paul Butterfield: no hits
Al Kooper: no hits
Roomful of Blues: no hits
John Lee Hooker: no hits
Buddy Guy: no hits
Junoir Wells: no hits
Howlin’ Wolf: no hits
Charlie Musselwhite: no hits
Muddy Waters: no hits
B. B. King: 6 top 40 hits between 1964 and 1974
no hits
no hits as of 2000
no hits
no hits
Leonard Cohen: no hits
John Prine: no hits
Yanni: no hits
Werewolves of London (#21, 1978)
no hits as of 2000
Bob Marley: no hits
Peter Tosh: no hits
Reggae (looking some up off the top of my head):
Jimmy Cliff: 2 top 40 hits
UB40 (the horror…the horror): 6 top 40 hits
Ziggy Marley: Tomorrow People (#39, 1988)
Holy crap!
Moby Grape: no hits (releasing 8 songs off your debut will do that to ya)
Camper van Beethoven: no hits
Yo La Tengo (this always brings to mind the Onion headline: “19 Record Store Clerks Injured During Riot at Yo La Tengo Concert”): no hits
Jets to Brazil: no hits
Le Savy Fa: no hits
Neutral Milk Hotel: no hits
Jefferson Airplane/Jefferson Starship/Starship: 17 top 40 hits
Hot Tuna: no hits
Crosby, Stills, Nash, Freud, Marx, Engels and Young: 9 top 40 hits, including “Ohio” (#14, 1970) and their highest-charting hit “Just a Song Before I Go” (#7, 1977)
Flogging Molly: no hits
Massive Attack: no hits
Barry McGuire: Eve of Destruction (#1, 1965)
Blood, Sweat and Tears (post Al Kooper): 6 top 40 hits
Butthole Surfers: Pepper (#26, 1996) (DAMN! I wish I’d been listening to the radio to hear Casey Kasem announce THAT one!)
Cure: 3 top 40 hits
Poco: 4 top 40 hits
Harry Nilsson( I assume that’s who you mean): 8 top 40 hits on his own, and wrote buttloads of hits for others.
Rod McKuen: no hits
Joan Baez: 2 top 40 hits
Ralph McTell: no hits
Roberta Flack: 11 top 40 hits
Rod McKuen: I SAID NO HITS!
Godspeed You Black Emperor: not hits
Round two
Kinks: 12 top 40 hits
Guess Who: 14 top 40 hits
Arlo Guthrie: City of New Orleans (#18, 1972) (Yes, you heard me!)
Woody Guthrie: no hits
Pete Seeger: no hits
CCR: 17 top 40 hits, including, notoriously, 5 #2’s, and no #1’s
Burt Bacharach: no hits under his own name, obviously many for others
Cheap Trick: 8 top 40 hits
Collective Soul: 3 top 40 hits
Doobie Brothers: 16 top 40 hits
Donovan: 12 top 40 hits
Doors: 8 top 40 hits
Jethro Tull: 2 top 40 hits
Manfred Mann: 7 top 40 hits
Loudon Wainwright III: Dead Skunk (#16, 1973)
Pete Townshend: 2 top 40 hits
Yes: 6 top 40 hits
Ten Years After: I’d Love to Change the World (#40, 1971)
The Band: 2 top 40 hits (not counting anything they did with Dylan)
Jefferson Airplane: I SAID 17 top 40 hits!
Joni Mitchell: 5 top 40 hits
That’s it! I’m posting!
Thanks for the awesome research, scotandrsn! Impressive work.