7 top 40 hits (and no, “Jeremy” isn’t one of them)
Not a hit between them.
As for Devo, “Whip It”, their only hit, made #14 in 1980
no hits
Nope. Not in the US. The only song of theirs that might have charted here (if only barely) would be “Tuesday Morning,” and that was when Joe Strummer was doing the vocals. I don’t think even that song broke the top 40 here. On this side of the pond the Pogues were strictly an underground phenomenon. You had to be a hipster to know about them.
A couple more…
Psychedelic Furs
(I know “Pretty in Pink” was not a hit when first released, though it might have barely nudged into the charts when the movie of the same name came out. I don’t think so, though. I believe the Furs are hitless wonders in the US.)
Billy Bragg
Known only to a relative few in the US. No hits.
Psych Furs: “Heartbreak Beat” (#26, 1987)
Billy Bragg: no hits
Coldfire :
We are a very large market. Especially in the 1980s. bands that were considered popular mainstream acts in the rest of the world got tagged with the “alternative” label here.
Top Artists of the 1980s (according to a point system devised by Joel Whitburn, comiler of the Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits):
- Michael Jackson
- Madonna
- Hall & Oates
- Prince
- George Michael
- Lionel Richie
- Billy Joel
- Elton John
- Phil Collins
- John Cougar Mellencamp
These were the people to beat. Everyone I knew was listening to the Pogues and other “alternative” bands (I myself had, and still have, a deep fondness for XTC) but they didn’t stand a chance against the monsters.
The American Pop Charts are a strange beast. The most widely watched singles chart is Billboard Magazine’s Hot 100, which is also the least transparent. Using a formula known only to them which encompasses Sales, Airplay, and, at least for many years, Bigoted Elitism.
The biggest change of the SoundScan era was on the lower reaches of the chart, which suddenly filled up with formerly “alternative” acts. The top hardly changes at all, at least at first:
(From “The Billboard Book of #1 Hits”)
November 23, 1991(pre-SoundScan):
- When a Man Loves A Woman - Michael Bolton
- Cream - Prince
- Set Adrift on Memory Bliss - P. M. Dawn
- It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday - Boys II Men
- Can’t Stop This Thing We Started - Bryan Adams
November 30, 1991 (SoundScan):
- Set Adrift on Memory Bliss - P. M. Dawn
- When a Man Loves A Woman - Michael Bolton
- Black or White - Michael Jackson
- It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday - Boys II Men
- Cream - Prince
Of course, all of this has to be taken with a pillar of salt, because that same year Fred Dannen, in his book “Hit Men”, reveealed the secrets of how American radio airplay was almost completely manipulated by mafiosi types known as “song pushers”, to whom the record companies had to pay gigantic sums in order to get songs on the radio. (The book starts with the story of how they tried to break Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” in LA without paying these bribes. Floyd arrived in town to find not one of the four major top 40 stations playing their single, which was #1 in the country at the time.)
The fans here also have interesting habits. What I have seen is that an act will get noticed for a particular work, which sells small but steadily over a long period of time, never enough to make the Top 40. But, by the time their next thing comes out, they have a fan base. Everyone buys it all at once, regardless of its intrinsic merits, and it’s their biggest hit. Witness, for a random example, “City of New Orleans” by Arlo Guthrie, but not “Alice’s Restaurant”, by far his better-remembered song.
There is also some question of how relevant singles are, considering this country (at least, before i-Tunes, which should make some interesting changes) mostly consumes music in album format. I don’t have a current copy of the top 40 albums book, or I would have referred to it. You might see some of the more surprisingly hit-single-less bands there. Albums and singles have very different lives here.
December 7, 1991 (from Billboard Book of #1 Hits)
- Black or White - Michael Jackson
- When a Man Loves A Woman - Michael Bolton
- Set Adrift on Memory Bliss - P. M. Dawn
- It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday - Boys II Men
- All 4 Love - Color Me Badd
December 7, 1991 (From Billboard Book of #1 Albums)
- Achtung Baby - U2
- Ropin’ the Wind - Garth Brooks
- Too Legit to Quit - Hammer
- Nevermind - Nirvana
- Time, Love and Tenderness - Michael Bolton
And, before I go, a word on the term “One Hit Wonder”, which means different things to different people, although I usually hear it used in reference to singles. Some apply it ONLY to those who had one song reach #1, then never appeared on the charts again in any way, shape or form. Others refer to these as “Ultimate One Hit Wonders”, of whom according to the 1997 edition of The Billboard Book of #1 Hits, there have been four in the Rock Era*, starting with The Elegants, whose “Little Star” hit the top in 1958.
Some apply the term “one hit wonder” to any act that only placed one record anywhere on the Hot 100. Others restrict it to the Top 40, even if the act scored other songs in the Bottom 60. Still others restrict it to the Top 10 or the Top 5.
- Another term in dispute: Some date the beginning of the Rock Era to April, 1955, when Bill Hailey’s Rock Around the Clock hit #1, others begin it simply in that year in general, others from 1951 when Jackie Brenston, Ike Turner’s saxophonist, recorded “Rocket '88”, considered to be the first Rock ‘n’ Roll record by many (though not all, but that’s an entirely different fight).
Yes, I know. I was not suggesting Pearl Jam as a no-hit wonder, I was mentioning them as an example of an act whose biggest hit single is unreflective of the rest of their body of work. They’re also an act with far fewer hit singles that you’d expect based on their album sales and radio airplay, but as I said, this is largely a result of their decision not to release many of their singles commercially in the US.
The ultimate rock band in the one-hit wonder category has to be the Grateful Dead. In particular if by “wonder” this means BOTH well known and generally well regarded. “Touch of Grey” was their only real hit. However, I do have to concede that “Truckin’” sure got a lot of airplay over the years even if it never achieved hit status. At least where I lived, outside of FM stations playing whole albums after midnight, these are the only 2 Dead songs I ever heard on the radio. What makes the Dead unique is that they were famous as a live band, as opposed to one listened to on the radio.
As for the no hit wonders, most of them who have a substantial reputation were in genres that just didn’t get much airplay. Basically big fish in really little ponds. Artists that aren’t in “mainstream” music just don’t see Top 40 action. Reggae acts are a good example.
I know, I was just trying to be thorough. 
Pearl Jam’s track record may also stem from the phenomenon I described in my longer post above yours, where the better work sells over alonger period of time than the follow-up.
Also, their charting hits seem a little late in their career to my recollection, due to their reluctance to release singles. Their second, Better Man, is from Vitalogy, which was what, four or five albums in?
Another thing that goes on is that the next generation of fans comes along and wants to buy the same music their older siblings thought was cool.
For example, Van Halen’s first 4 studio albums with Sammy Hagar all went to #1, far outstripping the success of their earlier, more enduring work with David Lee Roth (I hear “Panama” and “Pretty Woman” on the “classics” stations a hell of a lot more often than I hear “When It’s Love”.)
Thanks for your elaborate and informative post. What’s really depressing though, is that these songs you quote were all hits almost 13 years ago. I can’t believe how fast time flies! :eek:
All right, there’s 2 songs in there I’ll be glad to forget forever, but still.
[sub]The Singing Hair and those R&B numbnutses, for those interested.[/sub]
Be careful here. I started listening to music as a teenager in the mid-1970s. I can recall hearing “City of New Oleans” a lot both on top 40, and even AOR stations. However, “Alice’s Restaurant” got almost no airplay. Even on AOR, which because of its length was all it would have been played on. My guess is “City of New Orleans” sold very well amongst those unfamiliar with “Alice’s Restaurant”.
This is most definitely a very relevant factor. Before sometime in the 1970s, what was selling big was singles. By the late 1970s, most stores that had records didn’t even sell singles anymore. Thus, once albums dominated sales were determined a lot more by an album having a number of worthwhile songs, rather than just one well known good one. People didn’t want to play an entire album just for the one good song, or plonk down the price of an album for a single hit. This would explain a lot why say Led Zeppelin even to this day sells well, while lesser heavy metal bands have faded to obscurity.
Oldies didn’t get much airplay in the mid-seventies, period, and by then, Alice’s Restaurant was DEFINITELY an oldie. I remember hearing radio about 1973-1975, and you hardly even heard the BEATLES by then, fer cryin out loud, never mind lesser lights from five years earlier.
I’m not saying that “New Orleans” isn’t a good song (I even find myself humming it from time to time) or wasn’t actually popular at the time, but when you mention “Arlo Guthrie”, is it this song that comes to mind immediately? I would say no, it’s “Alice’s Restaurant”, which got a hell of a lot more airplay in the 1980’s during the first blush of the late 60’s/early 1970s revival period, when oldies suddenly appeared in droves, than “New Orleans” did.
It’s not like I think it’s a universal phenomenon, but there are any number of acts whose highest charting single is not the one you mught expect, which has been remarked upon several times in this very thread.
Another phenomenon you pick out from time to time is when a band gets a hit by making their record sound like everyone else (which the critics call “selling out” 
).
The Car’s highest charter is “Drive”.
Cheap Trick has 1988’s “The Flame”
Heart has “These Dreams” and “Alone”.
These records all sound pretty. That is, pretty much like everything else on the radio at the time. What’s notable is these are NOT the sounds that put these bands on the map, and they are NOT usually the songs that now receive nostalgic airplay.
“Those R&B numbnutses” have 3 of the 10 top #1 singles since 1955.
- One Sweet Day - Mariah Carey & Boyz II Men (16 weeks, 195)
- Macarena (Bayside Boys remix) - Los Del Rio (14 weeks, 1996)
- I’ll Make Love to You - Boyz II Men (14 weeks, 1994)
- Candle In the Wind (Diana version) - Elton John (14 weeks, 1997)
- I Will Always Love You - Whitney Houston (14 weeks, 1992)
- End of the Road - Boyz II Men (13 weeks, 1992)
- The Boy is Mine - Brandy & Monica (13 weeks, 1998)
- Smooth - Santana (12 weeks, 1999)
- Loose Yourself - Eminem (12 weeks, 2002)
- Yeah! - Usher (featuring Lil’ Jon and Ludacris) (12 weeks, 2004)
I’m guessing on the order of the last three. This info courtesy of Joel Whitburn of
Record Research
Then we lived in much different places. Where I lived in 1973-75, the Beatles got a LOT of airplay. Along with the Stones, the Doors, etc. (BTW, I grew up in the Detroit area.)
I suspect what limited the airplay of “Alice’s Restaurant” so much was its length. AM stations were VERY popular then, and they definitely weren’t inclined to play something that long. FM would back then, but at that time FM was still rather new.
Yes.
In that case, I may be showing my age. Having grown up as a teenager in the mid to latter 1970s, basically “New Orleans” was all I ever heard. The very few times I ever heard “Alice’s Restaurant” was on FM stations after midnight. Had I grown up in the 1980s, things might have been different.
This also has to do with an act tends to get its biggest hit only after they have built up a fan base. The fans buy their latest record based on past efforts even before they have heard it. Thus, while it skyrockets on the charts at the time, a year later most fans have forgot that hit, and remembers the earlier, better songs. Thus, the top 40 is a record just of temporal popularity, and not lasting popularity.
>“Those R&B numbnutses” have 3 of the 10 top #1 singles since 1955.
I SERIOUSLY question the reliability and credibility of your source. Most notably, WHY are all ten of the 10 top #1 singles since 1955 songs released in 1992 or later? Doesn’t it seem odd that in the first 36 years of this period no song released then is in the top 10? The most reasonable interpretation is that how the top 10 was calculated changed over that interval. IOW, you are comparing apples to oranges.
It has to do with the switch to the Sound Scan system in the 1990s, as scotandrsn explained in a previous post. It makes it very difficult to figure what the top songs were of all time, when there are two different charting systems, which skews the data.
The problem being that in the same thread scotandrsn first points out the change in Billboard’s methodology, but THEN goes on to make an argument using “Those R&B numbnutses” have 3 of the 10 top #1 singles since 1955."
Grew up in Boston. Heard Alice’s Restaurant a decent amount in the 1970s, but more in the 1980s. Mostly the stations played current stuff.
Well, that was sort of the point I was trying to demonstrate. You put it more succinctly.
Actually, for most of those 36 years, the number one single was the double-sided “Don’t Be Cruel/Hound Dog” by Elvis Presley which was #1 for 11 weeks in 1956. The only songs that came in close, at ten weeks each, were “Singing the Blues” by Guy Mitchell (1956), “You Light Up My Life” by Debbie Boone (1979), and “Physical” by Olivia Newton John (1981). (If you push the Rock Era back to the beginning of 1955, you have to include the mambo tune “Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White” by Perez “Prez” Prado and “Sincerely” by the McGuire Sisters from that year as well.)
My source, by the way, is Joel Whitburn, founder of Record Research and such an authority on the Billboard Charts that the magazine lends its name to his more mainstream books. The first 7 items on the list provided come from his “Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits” (2000 edition), where he ranks #1 songs according to how many weeks they spent at number 1, breaking ties by considering how long they spent in the Top Ten and the Top 40 as well.
In the book, the Top Ten is rounded out by “Smooth” (Santana, 12 weeks), “Unbreak My Heart” (Toni Braxton, 11 weeks), and “Don’t Be Cruel/Hound Dog”.
However, before I posted, I thought I’d check out whether Whitburn had a website, and if it might make publicly available some more recent data. He does, and it does. I noticed that his chart data shows that Eminem and Usher have pushed Braxton and Presley off the Top Ten, and made a WAG as to how their chart longevity (as I hazarded to guess it according to my perceptions, since I don’t listen to pop radio much anymore) might have affected their rankings according to Whitburn’s system.
Certainly it’s not impossible that SoundScan affected the outcome, but I’ve already made the case that SoundScan didn’t affect the upper reaches of the chart at all, unless you find the top five during the two weeks of the changeover to be markedly different than what they might have been had the change not occurred. I don’t find the juggling of those particular Top 5’s to be that remarkable.
Presley’s pre-eminence in singles longevity was well known in the music industry for years, so if any shenanigans were going on, my thought is that it was sentimental pre-SoundScan record-store owners and radio managers finagling their reports to Billboard to keep “The King” on top. However, I don’t even think this is all that likely. I think we just need to accept the mid-nineties soft R&B phenomenon for what it was, which was my point in my response to Coldfire.
The Polyphonic Spree? They got a song on that iPod-V/W commercial, but I doubt they’ve hit #1, and possibly haven’t made the top 40 either.
Hmmm, surprised nobody has mentioned Jimi Hendrix, who’s highest charting single was “All Along the Watchtower” at #6 in the US singles charts (IIRC). His albums broke the top ten and he charted much higher in England (but never had a #1 anywhere).
I think if you are looking at album sales, you need to tighten your criteria. Even small college and indie bands regularly break into the top 50 album sales, seeing how their music is not usually released in singles and such. It’s a little like the criteria for a record going “gold.” “Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain” by Pavement went gold and probably cracked the top 50 and scored their biggest hit with “Cut Your Hair.” But I wouldn’t call that song a monster hit or anything. I also believe “Emperor Tomato Ketchup” by Stereolab went gold but didn’t spawn any hits. Both are pretty influential bands.
To add to that old-fart depression, use my favorite trick:
- Think of how old you were on 11/23/1991
- Think of what your opinion (in terms of intrinsic quality and/or sheer ancientness) would have been on that date of the music from about Spring, 1979 (equal amounts of time passed). For instance:
(From The Billboard Book of #1 Hits)
The Top Five for the week of 3/24/1979
- Tragedy - Bee Gees
- I Will Survive - Gloria Gaynor
- What a Fool Believes - Doobie Brothers
- Heaven Knows - Donna Summer & The Brooklyn Dreams
- Shake Your Groove Thing - Peaches & Herb
- Realize that that’s probably what today’s people who are currently your 1991 age think of the 1991 songs now.