One hit wonders who made other good songs

[ShadowFacts]

@ZonexandScout

I’ll submit The Tubes for “She’s A Beauty.” I believe it’s the only one of their songs that made it to a reasonable chart position (Billboard #10). They produced several albums of (comparable) music, including*** Remote Control*** (of which I’m pretty fond). I’m pretty sure that the only reason that “She’s A Beauty” even made it to #10 was because of the MTV-friendly video associated with it.

Of course, their stage performances were truly something else.

The Tubes are such an interesting band, in that their big hit is not really representative of their sound. They were super quirky and subversive. I’m a huge fan of White Punks on Dope and I’m Proud to be an American, not to mention the humorous but still sexy Don’t Touch Me There.

[Typo_Negative]

@Ethilrist

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.

Top 10 cannot be the bar. It would eliminate most bands we consider One Hit Wonders. In most ‘one hit wonder’ shows on the old whatever that channel was, The Vapors ‘Turning Japanese’ was featured. It never made top 10. It barely cracked top 40. Blind Melon’s ‘No Rain’ reached #20.

[Annie-Xmas]

Tom Paxton has never had a hit song, though many of his covers by other people have done so.

He deserved better.

[whitetho]

Surprised to see that Weezer only had one top 40 song in the U.S., namely Beverly Hills. Buddy Holly never charted, although I suspect that many people with Windows 95 machines, where the song’s video was included as an extra, are more familiar with that. Also, the group still has a chance for a second Top 40 hit, as their remake of Toto’s Africa is currently #68 and rose 18 positions last week.

[Gyrate]

@Annie-Xmas

Tom Paxton has never had a hit song, though many of his covers by other people have done so.

He deserved better.

I always remember him for the song about Republic Airlines breaking his guitar. Insanely catchy.

I saw him live when I was in college. He had that quintessential folk singer quality of singing catchy little ditties with an unmistakable undertone of being seriously pissed off.

[Superdude]

@ZipperJJ

Big fan of Blind Melon! The album with “No Rain” (Blind Melon, not Soup) is one of my favorites of all time.

A little while back I found myself digging in to Harvey Danger’s catalog. They did that “Flagpole Sitta” song (“…I’m not sick but I’m not well/and I’m so hot cuz I’m in hell”). I’m really really in to their other stuff. I just missed them, too - when I started looking into them they had just broken up again for real this time.

Are The Dead Milkmen considered a one-hit wonder? (“Punk Rock Girl”) or are they more like The Greatful Dead who are a popular-with-the-right-people band that only happened to have one hit? Because, to me, everything they do is gold.

You might find this tidbit interesting:

Nico Blue Hoon (Shannon Hoon’s daughter, and who their album “Nico” was named after) and I have a mutual Facebook friend. A female friend I’ve known for over 30 years and Nico are good friends.

[LLCoolL]

@blondebear

Outside of Stacy’s Mom, Fountains of Wayne put out several albums worth of fine power pop with some beautiful ballads sprinkled in for good measure.

“Radiation Vibe”, the opening track on their debut CD, is a crackin’ good single. Should’ve been a radio hit.

Fountains Of Wayne - Radiation Vibe (Official Music Video)

[LLCoolL]

@Max_Torque

I’m probably the only one who can say this: I own one song by Crash Test Dummies, and it’s not “Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm”.

They were the musical guest on Saturday Night Live years ago and played two songs, the famous one, and another one called, “Afternoons and Coffee Spoons.” I liked that one a lot, so much that I bought it from Amazon Music. Give a listen, very different from the one that got all the airplay.

CTD’s track “Superman’s Song” also got some radio airplay. It went to #56 on the U.S. chart. ‘Afternoons and Coffee Spoons’ reached #66 in the U.S. Both were top-10 hits in Canada.

[LLCoolL]

@pulykamell

…Madness. As far as I can tell, “Our House” is the only one of their songs to be a hit in the US, but they have so many great two-tone ska songs: “House of Fun,” “Baggy Trousers,” “It Must Be Love,” etc…

They were much bigger in the U.K. I just re-ordered “Complete Madness” after my last copy crapped out. It’s chock full of great singles end-to-end, including the ones you mentioned. Highly recommended.

[LLCoolL]

@nearwildheaven

…Did the Cure ever have any bit American hits besides “Friday, I’m In Love?”

According to Wikipedia, “Love Song” went to #2 on the U.S. charts. That was definitely played on “alternative rock” stations. But I don’t remember it being a hit on pop radio, so I wonder if that’s a typo.

[LLCoolL]

@ShadowFacts

One of Our Submarines is an excellent track. I actually prefer it to She Blinded Me with Science. …

Agreed. I have the extended version on an old Thomas Dolby vinyl EP (now very scratchy) called “Blinded by Science”. Unfortunately the version of ‘Submarines’ on his hits package is a truncated radio edit. Luckily, someone has posted the full version on YouTube. To me it is mesmerizing.

Thomas Dolby One of Our Submarines

[LLCoolL]

@whitetho

… Also, (Weezer) still has a chance for a second Top 40 hit, as their remake of Toto’s Africa is currently #68 and rose 18 positions last week.

Thanks for bringing this to my attention, I wasn’t aware this was out there.

The original by Toto blows. So I was hoping for something different and weirder by Weezer. Alas, it’s pretty much note-for-note. I wonder what got into them to want to do a faithful cover. Maybe playing it straight is their form of irony. Or maybe they just like the original. Stranger things have happened…

[pulykamell]

@LLCoolL

They were much bigger in the U.K. I just re-ordered “Complete Madness” after my last copy crapped out. It’s chock full of great singles end-to-end, including the ones you mentioned. Highly recommended.

That’s really where I got into them. I spent about half of 1996 in the UK and I kept hearing these ska songs I really liked, and it turned out to be Madness (or the Specials). I was like, oh, the Our House guys? I actually knew little of them beyond that song. I, too, picked up “Complete Madness” to get a sense of their catalog. Great collection.

[TreacherousCretin]

@Baal_Houtham

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.

I saw them open for The Doors in 1970. They were terrific.

@caligulathegod

I am actually a big fan of Tiny Tim. He was a genuine music scholar and had an encyclopedic knowledge of Tin Pan Alley era music. He was most famous for his falsetto Tiptoe Thru the Tulips, but he also possessed a deep, resonant baritone. Once you get past the gimmick, he’s actually quite entertaining on more than a kitsch level.

True. His being a genuine, sincere crackpot blinded many (most?) people to the fact that he was a very good singer.

[EllisDee]

Re: Crash Test Dummies…

@Lightray

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)

I own two albums: The Ghosts that Haunt Me and God Shuffled His Feet.

I consider God Shuffled His Feet to be a one-hit-wonder album, in that Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm is the only track that made it into my playlist. But The Ghosts that Haunt Me is a legitimately good album, start to finish. My active playlist has four CTD songs, three from TGtHM:

Androgynous <== personal favorite
Comin’ Back Soon (The Bereft Man’s Song)
Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm
Winter Song
Re: Blind Melon…

@HowSoonIsThen

I’ve been listening to a lot of Blind Melon lately. They’re mainly known as the band who made “No Rain”, but their second album “Soup” is actually pretty good. It’s not a 10/10, but it’s good enough that they didn’t deserve to be crowned “one hit wonders”.

To me, Blind Melon is a good album start to finish. (The one with No Rain on it.) I like No Rain a lot, and it’s in my playlist, but my favorite song on the album is Change, and by a fair margin.

Googling just now, it appears that the video is a different “single version” of the song. I greatly prefer the album version, which is what I linked to above. It’s one of my favorite songs of all time, by any group.

[vivalostwages]

I nominate Danielle Dax, whose song “Big Hollow Man” was the only one that ever got any radio play AFAIK, at least in the U.S.

She's also cool to look at.

Here are some more of her songs that I never heard before I bought her album Dark Adapted Eye:

“Cathouse”: Danielle Dax - Cathouse - YouTube

(good for dancing)

And “Bad Miss M”–it has a country twang going on:

danielle dax - bad miss M

[Skywatcher]

The Royal Guardsmen is basically a cover band that struck gold with their Snoopy songs. The first one peaked at #2, the second at #15, and the third, “Snoopy’s Christmas”, was only ranked by Billboard on special charts for Christmas music. “Christmas” did hit #1 on the New Zealand & Australian charts, though.

Far as I know, none of their covers were ever released as singles. Their only non-Snoopy song to break the top 40 was “Baby Let’s Wait” and that was a reissue. It didn’t chart anywhere the first time out.