Black Betty - Ram Jam (but then I am a sucker for that intro which, imo, almost makes the song a classic by itself).
A quick glance around the Internet seems to suggest Ram Jam were one hit wonders - they certainly were in the UK - don’t know about the US though.
This depends on what you define as a one-hit wonder. “Werewolves of London” was Warren Zevon’s only commercially successful single. If he qualifies, he’s surely the greatest one-hit wonder of post-Beatles rock.
There were a lot of good one-hit wonders in the 80s, but I especially love Big Country’s “In a Big Country” and The Church’s "Under the Milky Way."
In the 90s, it’s all about Dee-lite’s "Groove Is In the Heart."
Is this thread asking about songs or artists that are wonderful?
That is, are you looking for great songs that are the only commercially successful thing their performer ever did?
Or are you looking for performers who only had one hit, but the rest of whose catalog is well worth investigating, albeit obscure?
The strict definition of a one-hit wonder is an artist who hits it big with exactly one song on the CHR (Contemporary Hit Radio, formerly Top 40) charts and is promptly never heard from again.
Under this definition, the song and the artist are linked, and there’s no point to separating them. Any other work this artist did is pretty well forgotten, even if he/she/they released an album and/or a follow-up single or two.
However, any artist who only charts once on the Billboard Top 40 is technically also a one-hit wonder – regardless of his/her/their success on other charts, album sales, etc.
Under this definition, Jimi Hendrix is a one-hit wonder, as “All Along the Watchtower” was his only single to reach the Top 40 charts.
Thus, Hendrix is among the artists listed in the “bible” of this topic, The Billboard Book of One-Hit Wonders by Wayne Jancik. But there is a distinction to be made, obviously, between an artist such as Hendrix and someone like The Jamies (“Summertime, Summertime”).
It helps also to realize that up through the 80s or so, there was a very firm line drawn between CHR/Top 40 hits and songs that rose to prominence on AOR (album-oriented rock) stations. Perhaps THE song of the last quarter of the 20th century, “Stairway to Heaven,” never charted in the Billboard Hot 100 – which is not surprising, as it was never even released as a single.
This one deserves a special mention, because M/A/R/R/S only recorded only that one song, “Pump Up The Volume,” and a throwaway B-side. What happened was that two British DJ/techno groups, A. R. Kane and Colourbox, decided to collaborate on an album, but ended up not getting along well enough to put together anything in the studio. So each band recorded one song and sent it to the other for post-production. Colourbox recorded “Pump Up The Volume”, and A. R. Kane added a bunch of samples, and it turned into a massive hit.
My favorites, also from the '80s, are * 867-5309* by Tommy Tutone and Wild, Wild West from the Escape Club.
In the UK, the (Guinness Book of British Hit Singles) definition is: “One number one hit, and nothing else [in the charts] - ever.”
Here’s some UK ones…
Crazy World of Arthur Brown - Fire
Zager & Evans - In The Year 2525
Jane Birkin & Serge Gainsbourg - Je T’Aime… Moi Non Plus
Matthews’ Southern Comfort - Woodstock
Norman Greenbaum - Spirit In The Sky
One of my all-time favorite sing-alongs is Lee Michaels’ “Do You Know What I Mean.”
Great song.
This seems needlessly restrictive. It implies that a song isn’t “a hit” unless it reaches #1, which is ridiculous.
So I’m just about to post railing about someone calling Graham Parker a one-hit wonder, and someone else says they never heard of him?! I mean, he was at his height when I was most into music, I was all into the New Wave/Punk/Stiff scene, and I’ve been a big fan from the get go, but surely Heat Treatment - the song and the album - deserve some mention? Stick To Me? Tear Your Playhouse Down? Passion is No Ordinary Word? Goodness.
Echo Beach is one of my all time fave tunes.
And Judy in Disguise is the tune I would have offered.
How about Wet Willie, Keep on Smiling?
These folks for sure: Iron Butterfly, “In-a-Gadda-da-Vida”
And these:Chumbawamba, “Tubthumping” WARNING: short ad before the music
And while we’re at it:Argent, “Hold Your Head Up”
Yeah they have a “greatest hits” album but no one’s ever heard of any of the other tracks.
It came from a fine LP as well (“Crabby Appleton”).
My daughter is into 60s-70s music and picked it out for special favor from our coat closet of albums (along with The Tom Robinson Band LP).
I believe the band broke up after the first album, and the lead guy put out a solo. I picked up from the remainder bin, but should have left it there.
Given that the distinction is so obvious, what is the point of this “technical” definition? Nobody thinks of Hendrix a one-hit wonder.
I’d say one-hit wonders are basically mediocre or undistinguished artists who were, somehow, once, struck by a bolt of pure inspiration. Some of them might even have charted other songs, but in retrospect there is only one that matters.
I mean, if they’re solid artists–but only one commercially successful song because of a shallow and fickle pop culture industry–there’s nothing wondrous about that. That’s almost common.
I agree with Nena Luftballons, but only in the original German.
For some reason when music channels do a top 40 one hit wonders playlist, over the last couple of years they always seem to have the english version of the song on. No, no, no. It was a hit (in Australia at least) in German, and that’s how it should stay IMO.
What’s the point of any take on accomplishment? People who are very much into baseball will throw around statistics their favorite player has amassed endlessly, down to the most arcane, minute detail. People not into baseball will find this a foolish, boring exercise.
People who are into particular genres of music will want to take it to a deeper level than those who are not (and Top 40 hit radio constitutes a specific subgenre of all rock music). If you don’t realize that Hendrix is a one-hit wonder by the completely serviceable definition of what constitutes one, then you’re ill-informed about that particular aspect of rock music.
There’s no harm in that if it doesn’t interest you, but there’s no need to mock those who do find it to be of interest. Having lived through this particular era and seen it from both perspectives (Top 40 and “underground” radio), it’s of interest to me…and more than a few others.
This description may apply to some one-hit wonder artists, but you’re painting with way too broad of a brush if you think it applies to all of them.
Yes, some didn’t have the stuff to manage more than one hit. For others, however, the stars simply failed to align for them the way they did the first time around, despite having songs that were actually better than the one they’re best-known for (I could name many examples of this with ease). The road to a hit record is often a winding and complex one, and often depends on factors beyond what’s in the grooves.
In fact, ANY artist whatsoever who has scored a Top 40 hit, even if it’s their only one, has accomplished something “wondrous” in my book.
Do you have any concept of how many artists were trying to do exactly the same thing at exactly the same time, and yet failed?
Let’s stipulate that not every single song that has become a hit has done so on musical merit. Extra-musical factors may play into the success of a hit single; e.g., aggressive promotion, a simultaneous tie-in with other media, association of a song with a contemporaneous popular culture phenomenon, etc.
So yes, sometimes songs that could fairly be judged as mediocre manage to become hits. But more frequently, a hit song manages to incorporate a certain indefinable “magic” that appeals to a lot of listeners…what is known in the business as a “hook.”
I find this to be a noteworthy achievement…even if the artist in question never manages it again. And apparently, so do the many participants in this thread, who remember these songs fondly.
I also detect a hint of condescension in your choice of the terms “shallow” and “fickle.” Forgive me if I’m projecting others’ sins upon you, but it has always really bugged me when fans of more “serious” or “substantial” rock music denigrate the simple pop songs that have made the Top 40 charts down through the years.
The feeling seems to be that, because these songs are musically simple rather than complex (as if the latter is somehow a virtue unto itself) or have lyrics that don’t deal with the weighty issues of the day – then therefore, they’re worthy of scorn.
What I always want to say to such folks is, “OK, if composing a simple pop hit that resonates in some fashion with millions is no big deal, then let’s see YOU do it!”
DChord568, you read more there than I intended. Apparently it came across as derisive, and I apologize for that.
I’m not mocking people who are interested in the arcana of music (or baseball for that matter). I am one of them. I’m just taking issue with this specific “technical” definition of this term.
There’s a difference between “pop” music and the pop music industry. I like pop music, or at least certain kinds of it. Some of the pop music I like never actually got popular at all, but it’s still pop forms. Other stuff did blow up the charts and sell millions. We seem to agree that the difference between the two isn’t one of musical merit.
My main point is that a definition of “one-hit wonder” which glosses over this difference–between artists who had one hit because they had one inspiration, and artists who had one hit because the industry failed to recognize the greatness of everything else they did–is less useful and interesting than a definition which acknowledges it. Thus I propose a definition of “one-hit wonder” in which the “one hit” actually is the artist’s one glorious and lasting musical achievement. People who made dozens of great records, but only had one hit for non-musical reasons, are something else.
Yes. And I’m with you. When I talked about the bolt of inspiration, I meant that as a fond and respectful description. Feeling that blaze just once, and making something of it, is a wonderful thing.
What isn’t wonderful is when people who have tapped into whole storms of ongoing inspiration don’t get the acclaim and sales their talents deserve–or even that one hit.
That sounds like a stripper name…
Gentleman, coming to the stage is … Nena Luftballons.
Blues Image - Ride, Captain Ride
I’ve got the LP… pretty good, but for me, nothing else on it approaches “Go Back”. The band did put out one more LP, Rotten to the Core, which I don’t have.