# One hit wonders **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 30, 2002, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-hit-wonders/139686 "2002-11-30T22:42:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![nitroglycerine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c5a1d2/32.png) [@nitroglycerine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nitroglycerine)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2002, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-hit-wonders/139686/21 "2002-12-02T01:46:01Z")
XTC?!?!?!?!?!?!?! XTC has had many many hits. “Life Begins at the Hop” Respectable Street", The HUGE MTV hit “Dear God”…XTC is no OHW. Someone mentioned Norman Greenbaum’s “Spirit In The Sky”…That song also propelled Doctor and the Medics to ONW status in the 80s . Jon ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2002, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-hit-wonders/139686/22 "2002-12-02T03:17:49Z")
A true OHW had one hit single, and no career otherwise. Technically, the Grateful Dead had only one hit single (“Touch of Gray”), but calling them a OHW devalues the term. The following came out of nowhere to have one hit and were never heard from again. John Fred and His Playboy Band, “Judy in Disguise (with Glasses)” Shocking Blue, “Venus” Steam, “Na Na, Hey Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye)” Jaggerz, “The Rapper” Mungo Jerry, “In the Summertime” (one of the most memorable moments in Jeopardy was their audio daily double.) The Box Tops, “The Letter.” ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2002, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-hit-wonders/139686/23 "2002-12-02T03:21:24Z")
Star trekking across the Universe On the starship enterprise Under Captain Kirk!! “Ahh, we come in peace, Shoot to kill, shoot to kill, shoot to kill, We come in peace, Shoot to kill, shoot to kill, men!” etc etc Or how about: I Ran, by Flock of Seagulls? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2002, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-hit-wonders/139686/24 "2002-12-02T07:24:56Z")
How bout Steam’s “Kiss Him Goodbye (Na Na Hey Hey)”? Originally released as a B-side by embarassed band members, the A-side would flop, but the B-side would eventually hit #1 and become a ballpark standard. Did Don McLean have any hits besides “American Pie”? How 'bout “Lake Shore Drive” by … umm … something that sounds like Ayatollah, Haynes & Jeremiah? Also, I could swear Dexy’s Midnight Runners did have another hit, as I’ve seen another song of theirs on a Hits of the 80s compilation, but it might have been a hit only in the UK. ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2002, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-hit-wonders/139686/25 "2002-12-02T07:32:44Z")
Chumbawamba have been around since the mid-80s. They never intended to be a chart band, and the success of “Tubthumping” was basically accidental. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2002, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-hit-wonders/139686/26 "2002-12-02T08:21:02Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Skogcat \* > \*\*Or how about: > > I Ran, by Flock of Seagulls? \*\* _Space Age Love Song_ was also a hit in January '83. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2002, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-hit-wonders/139686/27 "2002-12-02T08:23:32Z")
“Melt With You” – Modern English (The first song I thought of.) Oh, and Tubthumper has more than one good song. “Smalltown” is a _very_ well done Outsider’s Paranoia track set to a tune that brings to mind a thousand empty, vacuous malls. (Nothing is quite so dead as an empty mall. It’s like the tomb of a plastic robot, or a broken calliope.) “The Big Issue” is simply stunning, musically, even if the lyrics fall a bit flat. And don’t insult “Drip Drip Drip,” either. “Tubthumping” (name of song, not album) is one of two hits (“Amnesia” also having been briefly popular), but it doesn’t monopolize the talent. ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2002, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-hit-wonders/139686/28 "2002-12-02T10:12:17Z")
“All the Young Dudes,” by Mott the Hoople. Oh, and “Hold Your Head Up” by Argent. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2002, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-hit-wonders/139686/29 "2002-12-02T13:56:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by pulykamell \* > \*\*Did Don McLean have any hits besides “American Pie”? “Vincent (Starry Starry Night)” and “Dreidel” for two. He also had a top-ten hit with a cover of “Crying.” Argent also had a minor hit with “God Gave Rock and Roll to You” Mott had British hits with “All the Way from Memphis” and “Roll Away the Stone,” plus minor U.S. hits in “The Golden Age of Rock 'N Roll,” and “Foxy Foxy.” Also, their albums got serious airplay, with “Rock 'N Roll Queen” and “All the Way from Memphis” very popular. Norman Greenbaum did write and perform another minor hit, “The Eggplant that Ate Chicago,” but it was credited to his group, Dr. West’s Medicine Show and Junk Band. Better choices: “Don’t Pull Your Love Out On Me, Baby,” Hamilton, Joe Frank, and Reynolds “Brandy,” Looking Glass “Ballad of the Green Berets,” SSgt. Barry Sadler “Dominique,” The Singing Nun (the songwriter of this died about a week ago). “Journey to the Center of the Mind,” The Amboy Dukes, though Ted Nugent of the group was very successful. ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2002, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-hit-wonders/139686/30 "2002-12-02T14:36:04Z")
In my mind, the best one-hit wonder of all - **96 Tears** by ? and the Mysterians Also **Psychotic Reaction** by the Count Five and **Little Girl** by the Syndicate of Sound. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2002, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-hit-wonders/139686/31 "2002-12-02T14:53:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jackelope \* > \*\*“All the Young Dudes,” by Mott the Hoople. > > . \*\* [Mott the Hoople’s Super Hits](http://www.cdnow.com/cgi-bin/mserver/SID=26556044/pagename=/RP/CDN/FIND/album.html/artistid=MOTT+THE+HOOPLE/itemid=419984). _All the way to Memphis_ is a song just about everyone’s heard. A lot of folks just don’t know the title. ---
**Author:** ![Futile\_Gesture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f05b48/32.png) [@Futile\_Gesture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Futile_Gesture)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2002, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-hit-wonders/139686/32 "2002-12-02T15:23:07Z")
**Dexy’s Midnight Runners** : Nine Top 40 entries in the UK, including 2 number ones. Hardly OHW. They also went through a number of radical image changes. The gypsy look the US remember from “Come On Eileen” was just one of them. **Flock Of Seagulls** : Also had a top ten hit with “Wishing (If I Had A Photograph Of You)” **Thomas Dolby** : “Hyperctive” and “She Blinded Me With Science” plus more session and production work than you could shake a stick at. Much underappreciated and not a OHW. **Big Country** : 12 Top 40 hits in the UK. **Five** : 7 million albums worldwide, 10 Top 10 singles and 3 No 1s. Not exactly OHWs. **Right said Fred** : 2 Hits that I can think of. Recently did quite well with the awful “You’re My Mate”. Now class, I think we can all do better than this, don’t you? ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2002, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-hit-wonders/139686/33 "2002-12-02T17:38:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Skogcat \* > \*\*Star trekking across the Universe > On the starship enterprise > Under Captain Kirk!! > > “Ahh, we come in peace, > Shoot to kill, shoot to kill, shoot to kill, > We come in peace, > Shoot to kill, shoot to kill, men!” \*\* [The Firm](http://home.wanadoo.nl/~sytze/sttrekkin/) ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2002, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-hit-wonders/139686/34 "2002-12-02T17:49:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by RealityChuck \* > \*\*" > “Don’t Pull Your Love Out On Me, Baby,” Hamilton, Joe Frank, and Reynolds > \*\* A few years later, Hamilton, Joe Frank & Reynolds had another #1 single, “Falling in Love.” - A few other contenders: Zager & Evans, whose only hit was “In the Year 2525.” Nick Gilder (“Hot Child in the City”) Carl Douglas (“Kung Fu Fighting”) Ocean (“Put Your Hand in the Hand”- I heard this piece of crud at folk Masses for years!) - Oddly enough, some successful bands belong in this category. Example: Status Quo has been very popular in Europe for decades, but only had ONE hit in America: “Pictures of Matchstick Men.” ---
**Author:** ![Lizard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@Lizard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lizard)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2002, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-hit-wonders/139686/35 "2002-12-02T18:10:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by New & Improved Scott \* > \*\*Crash Test Dummies were bigger in Canada, and were got to hear alot from them, like “Superman’s Song” and “The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead”. \*\* Oh god! I had never heard “The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead” until I bought the “Dumb & Dumber” soundtrack, but I LOVE that tune! I think some of the great OHW’s are “The Promise” by When In Rome. I’m not sure these guys even had a second _album_ “Oh Sheila” by Ready to Face the World. A lot of people think this was a Prince hit, because RtFtW’s lead singer looks so much like him. It’s actually a good tune with a funky bassline that yes, is reminiscent of Prince’s sound. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2002, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-hit-wonders/139686/36 "2002-12-02T18:58:19Z")
Looking Glass with "Brandy."The BEST one hit wonder. Did Betty Buckley have anything besides “Memory”? Julie Covington with “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina.” A #1 one hit wonder. ---
**Author:** ![Ol\_Gaffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Ol\_Gaffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ol_Gaffer)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2002, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-hit-wonders/139686/37 "2002-12-02T19:19:01Z")
**The New Radicals** - “Get What You Give” (or something like that) **Deep Blue Something** - “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” ---
**Author:** ![photopat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e95f7d/32.png) [@photopat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/photopat)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2002, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-hit-wonders/139686/38 "2002-12-02T19:20:05Z")
Katrina & the Waves-Walking on Sunshine. That one was always fun Men Without Hats-Safety Dance. Aha-Take on Me Save Ferris-Goodbye, (I think) and the album had a really good cover of Come on Eileen. ---
**Author:** ![slortar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@slortar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slortar)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2002, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-hit-wonders/139686/39 "2002-12-02T20:29:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by AwSnappity \* > [snip]Basically anything from the 80s is a OHW–the guys who did “Mexican Radio” [snip] \*\* Wall of Voodoo. _bows_ _exits stage left_ ---
**Author:** ![dwc1970](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@dwc1970](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwc1970)\ **Post date:** [December 2, 2002, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-hit-wonders/139686/40 "2002-12-02T21:04:59Z")
I don’t think any of these have been mentioned yet: One-hit wonders: Dream Academy- Life in a Northern Town Thompson Twins- Hold Me Now Til Tuesday- Voices Carry Timbuk 3- My Future’s So Bright I Gotta Wear Shades Strawberry Alarm Clock- Incense and Peppermint Here are some two-hit wonders: Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, Time After Time- Cindi Lauper Twilight Zone, Radar Love- Golden Earring A Whiter Shade of Pale, Conquistador- Procol Harem Don’t Tell Me You Love Me, Sister Christian- Night Ranger And three-hit wonders: Everybody Wants to Rule the World, Head Over Heals, Shout- Tears for Fears I even managed to think of a four-hit wonder: Eye of the Tiger, The Search is Over, High on You, I Can’t Hold Back- Survivor Actually, I think some of these get a little ambiguous as to whether or not any of their “hits” should count. A lot of the bands mentioned in this thread had a song or two that rode on the success of the one big hit that put them on the music map with brief popularity, but the subsequent hits did not have any holding power. To me a true one-hit wonder is a band whose legacy was short-lived and is most often only associated with one song. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-hit-wonders/139686.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-hit-wonders/139686.md?page=3)