The album made it to #63, but the song (narrative?) itself never made the Billboard top 100. At over 18 minutes it was too long to fit on a single, even on both sides of one record. Of course, the album sales were driven by the title track, so it was a hit even though it doesn’t fit the narrow technical definition of a single that made it into the top 40 in record sales.
Right, Arlo was AOR generation music. Flying into los angeles, massachusetts, walkin down the line, Motorcycle song, the pause of mr claus, are all well known around here anyway.
Plus: Alices respaurant is a seasonal song that never goes away. Can anyone name another go to song for thanksgiving on the radio (that allows the dj to go to the can)?
Just to clear things up: I had originally posted that the Alice’s Restaurant album made it to #17, based on its Wikipedia page. Further research showed that it actually only went as high as 63. I have since corrected the Wikipedia entry.
Warren Zevon. Werewolves of London isn’t even the best song on Excitable Boy. Other than maybe his first, he never made a bad album.
This makes me so happy to see Dada mentioned!! I have four of their albums (I think I had five and then lost one), but since I was in Kindergarten when their only hit came out, I don’t think most of my contemporaries even know who they are. The album Dizz Knee Land came on, Puzzle, is great!
I nominate Joan Osborne. I discovered her in a previous SD thread about one hit wonders who don’t deserve to be. Someone suggested her song “Spiderweb.” I love some of her renditions of the classics, like “Son of a Preacher Man,” “Ain’t No Sunshine,” and “What Becomes of the Broken Hearted.” But her original material is good, too!
Quite a few successful bands are, technically, one hit wonders.
ELP only cracked the Billboard top 40 once, with “From the Beginning.”
Roxy Music only cracked the Billboard top 40 once, with “Love Is the Drug.”
Rush only had one top 40 hit, “New World Man.”
If you can forget Alice’s Restaurant I don’t want to know you. But it was not released as a single and not a hit.
Well, it was in a way, since it was the only song on a record, but yes, it was too long to be on a 45.
I agree with Jeff Lichtman in that it qualifies as a hit.