And you link to a cover song!? 
(Great cover, as is “Pressure Drop.”) I assume for the hit in the US “Should I Stay or Should I Go?” Or maybe “Train in Vain”? Or wait, duh, “Rock the Casbah,” isn’t it? That has to be the one. It’s weird, because even though maybe they only had one hit, a few of their songs cumulatively acquired pop culture status over the years, so it’s hard for me to think of them as “one hit wonders.”
Falco. With the obligatory disclaimers that he may have had some followups that hit charts, was big outside of the US, etc.
Superman song by them was great.
I was already a big fan of the Divynls when “I Touch Myself” came out.
Concrete Blonde had exactly one Top 100 hit, Joey, in 1990, though most will recognize them from their cover of Leonard Cohen’s Everybody Knows on the soundtrack of Pump Up The Volume.
But they had a whole raft of great original songs and covers:
God Is A Bullet “This is for the Los Angeles Police Department”
Tomorrow Wendy “hey, hey goodbye, tomorrow Wendy’s going to die”
Still in Hollywood “on the bus today, I met the queen of LA”
100 Games of Solitaire “I’ve got a bottle of tequila baby, who needs friends”
“Twilight Zone” probably gets as much airplay nowadays as “Radar Love” (and by now is not that much newer).
I meant to say, most of his songs were amazing, but people have seemed to set the bar for “hit” at “top 10”, and those two “only” made it to #23 and #24.
Most Rush fans would nominate anything other than their sole U.S. Top 40 hit, the eminently forgettable “New World Man”.
I have never heard of Joshua Kadison. Sounds like he warrants additional investigation.Did the Cure ever have any bit American hits besides “Friday, I’m In Love?”
I meant “big American hits”.
Doesn’t look like it.
https://www.billboard.com/music/the-cure/chart-history/radio-songs
Your Boomtown Rats link is NOT to “I Don’t Like Mondays”
The one-hit wonder thing comes up for debate a lot. I recall posting about this specific one on the past several months. Some people seem to define it as top-40 (I guess “What I Like About You” by The Romantics wasn’t a hit, for example) or top-10 or just whatever arbitrary chart position the bands biggest song hits. For Fountains of Wayne, I consider “Radiation Vibe” a hit because it was a hit on alternative radio and I still hear it on the radio today. Now compared to “Stacey’s Mom”? There’s no comparison, when it comes to pop radio/video play.
Bands like Grateful Dead might only have 1 top 40 chart hit, but they have well known songs that are perhaps more well known than the hit (3 of the Dead’s other well known songs did chart in the Hot 100) but just weren’t released as singles or suffered from some quirk in chart methodology. Or they were slow burners.
I was a big Thomas Dolby fan back in the day - he arguably counts as a two-hit wonder for “Hyperactive!” (although #62 in the US charts is pushing the definition of “hit”) but I always found “One of Our Submarines” weirdly compelling.
Mike Oldfield is pretty much the “Tubular Bells” guy in the US, despite a much more successful career in the UK. He did write “Family Man” which was a hit for Hall & Oates though.
<deletes response to blondebear>
Damn your eyes.
I don’t think that is the best chart to investigate. Look at Hot 100 and see "Love Song’ for example at number 2. Figured that was well known as a hit. Just Like Heaven also hit the top 40. “Pictures of You” only hit #71 but that might be the one I’ve heard the most.
Re: Rush - they had a ton of rock radio hits, like top 10s, #1s, etc. but I am surprised not many on the big chart. I wonder if some weren’t commercially released as singles but were eligible for airplay. I hear several of their songs that only peaked outside of the top 40 on the radio today. I would have a hard time saying “Tom Sawyer” isn’t a hit because it only hit #44. Same for “Fly By Night, Closer to The Heart, Limelight, Spirit of Radio, Subdivisions.” I only own 1 piece of Rush music (a 2112 CD which i think I got from Columbia House and maybe played twice) but I’ve heard every song listed on their singles discography several times, especially their 70s-80s output.
Nazarath had only one U.S. Top 40 hit, Love Hurts. However, nowadays the song I am much more likely to hear played on the radio is that single’s non-charting (and very different) B-side, Hair of the Dog.
Just because it’s what popped into my mind: Crabby Appleton had one medium hit in 1970 with Go Back, a fast rocker with whooshy guitar. The album was very solid - every song (save one) had a good hook, and the ballads were as good as the up-tempos.
It was an a nice moment when my teenage daughter (going through her parents ancient vinyl) mentioned it as a good record. I hadn’t thought of it in decades, but her remark made me think, “Why yes it was a good record.” Slightly unusual in having a not-well-musically-integrated Latin percussionist.
———-
And of course, Fountains of Wayne were much more than Stacy’s Mom. They were the outstanding catchy rock melodists of their time. Hey Julie was featured on a episode of Scrubs, and they did the hired-gun composing in Tom Hank’s That Thing You Do!
Yeah, we make the same mistake every time we list One Hit Wonders.
The “charts” were only charting record sales. Now, I never bought a Madness album, but I sang along with “Our House”, watched the video of “One Step Beyond”, and listened to “House of Fun”. And thanks to them, discovered White Brit Ska.
Same for Rush, the Dead and a lot of other bands. Huge bands, culturally significant, the soundtrack to my high school and college days, but without multiple singles “charting”. I mean, come on, as soon as you see The Grateful Dead listed as a One Hit Wonder, don’t you think "Whoa, we need a different standard than The Top Ten?"
It’s harder to measure, but I’d propose “A One Hit Wonder is a band where your country/culture only knows of one song.” That takes care of the US/Euro/UK differences, the “didn’t sell well, but got airplay” songs, AND the “Classic Rock” effect, where certain oldies get played to death and people who’d never heard of Lynyrd Skynyrd at the time can now sing along with “Sweet Home Alabama”.
You can only say that because I own two songs by Crash Test Dummies: Afternoons and Coffespoons, and Superman’s Song. (found by watching Due South, of course)
This thread isn’t complete without a mention of Bloodrock. Their spooky disturbing DOA is by a substantial margin THE song by Bloodrock you’ve heard if you’ve only heard one Bloodrock song.
But they have a wide raft of listenables in their oeuvre.
Hangman’s Dance
Jessica
Breach of Lease
Gotta Find a Way
It’s a Sad World
I dunno. I grew up in the 80s, and until I went to live in the UK for awhile in 1996, the only Madness song I was aware of was “Our House.” I’m guessing most people in the US won’t know beyond that song (if they even remember “Our House” to begin with.)
Re: Bloodrock–my favorite song of theirs is “Dier Not A Lover” off of Bloodrock 2.
One of Our Submarines is an excellent track. I actually prefer it to She Blinded Me with Science. (Though I do love that, too).