One-album wonders

Anvil?

Comeback kids. Saw them in Sydney on Sunday night. Thoroughly professional bunch who have been together for 17 years with the same lineup. Played a few songs off this year’s How Big Can You Get.

He’s apparently big in Europe.

http://www.elliottmurphy.com/index.html

Cyndi Lauper - She’s So Unusual - Sold 5 million copies, contained 4 Top 10 hits and a 5th Top 30 hit. All over MTV. Followed the album up with a hit song for the Goonies soundtrack. The lead single from the follow-up album, “True Colors”, was a big hit, but then… poof gone.

Vanilla Ice - To The Extreme - Sold 7 million copies and had 2 (yes, there was a second hit) Top 5 singles. Followed up by flop after flop.

Asia - Their self-titled debut was supposed the most bootlegged (home-taped) album of 1982. Every damn song on that album got tons of airplay on hard rock stations of the AOR format. But “Don’t Cry” is their only song I can name that wasn’t on that first album.

Arrested Development had a big hit with Mr Wendel and another and then kept recording without another huge hit.

I’ve thought of one that meets my own criteria - namely, three or more songs from the same album that generated quite a bit of airplay but I’ve never personally heard other stuff by them on the radio.

Jimmy Eat World. Bleed American/Jimmy Eat World had the title track, The Middle, The Sweetness, and A Praise Chorus that I’ve heard on the radio more than a dozen times each. Haven’t heard anything on the radio from them since.

Missing Persons, the album was Spring Session M

Should’ve thought of them myself. They’re still around, though they went through a number of different line-ups. They’re finally back to the original 4 guys, and released a new album a year or so ago…but, you’re exactly right, their second album wasn’t nearly as big as their first, and everything else just sort of vanished without a trace.

Haircut 100.,. “Pelican West” i believe the lead Singer Nick Heyward went a little batty…

Love plus one… Fanstastic Day… a great great album…

EMF - Schubert Dip

Supertramp - Coming to America

You obviously never saw their “Indelibly Stamped” album. :wink:

You obviously don’t mean this Supertramp!

You obviously don’t mean this Supertramp!

Not going to argue on the mediocre ('cause you’re kinda right), but I remember at least one song from their second album that featured on a TV show or two. But. . .yeah, I guess they are mostly known for that first album. It’s gotta be the chanting.

I’ll nominate Third Eye Blind. They had albums and songs after, but that first album had a ton of hits, and is arguably what they’re best remembered for (“Semi-Charmed Life” “Jumper” “Graduate” “How’s it Gonna Be”. Goddamn that was good).

Don McLean’s American Pie. Besides the truly huge title track, it had at least one other semi-hit (Vincent) and several other very good tracks. I’ve found most of McLean’s other albums unlistenable – he sounds too much like a lounge singer on his other albums.

I sure screwed the pooch on this one!

Humbly retracted…

Be honest, how many people even know that The Power Station had a second album?

I didn’t. Personally I’d rather have a second Arcadia album (the only reason early Duran Duran songs sound better than So Red the Rose is the youthful energy.)

I don’t think I would count EMF, and not only because nothing came close to “Unbelievable” (or as I like to think of it, “Crumbelievable.”)

IIRC, they didn’t even have Schubert Dip finished when “Unbelievable” exploded. Sadly, their career had already peaked BEFORE their first album was even released.