Uhh, dodge_this, I am a passive listener sometimes. I may have heard something else by those artists, but if I or one of my older siblings haven’t heard it, they are one-hit wonders. That is, IMHO. Take whatever you want with a grain of salt as I am not an expert on such things. 
Minnie Ripperton…“Loving You is Easy cuz your’e beautiful”
ooooo oooo ooo ooo ooo ooo
What about (and I don’t know the artist
Disco Duck
Dead Skunk in the Middle of the Road.
Sigh. Here goes the ol’ boomer, dating himself again.
**The Knickerbockers ** with “Lies”, killer guitar and great Beatles imitation
**? and the Mysterians ** classic “96 Tears” Love that organ.
(and a big second to Sugarloaf. I recently happened to run across a cassette by them in a convenience store and was impressed by some of the other cuts)
**Terry Stafford **and “Suspicion”, sounding suspiciously like Elvis. He did have a followup, “I’ll Touch a Star,” but it isn’t anthologized much.
And on the strange side,Robert Mitchum and “Thunder Road” from the drive-in classic B movie of the same name. He even released an album of -gasp- calypso music in 1957. Must have been all that 50’s ganja…
For great Tex-Mex meets garage band, there’s **Sir Douglas Quintet ** and “She’s About a Mover” Doug Sahm on lead and Augie Meyers on organ later teamed with Freddy Fender and Flaco Jimenez to form Texas Tornados
Another great snarling 60s rocker was The Seeds’ “Pushin’ Too Hard.”
Not to mention The 13th Floor Elevators, Electric Prunes or Crabby Appleton Ah, the 60s…
Disco Duck was sung by Rick Dees.
Maybe that’s what inspired Disco Demolition Night in Chicago.
Disc jockey Rick Dees cashed in on the disco craze with the first.
Singer Songwriter **Louden Wainwright III ** did the second memorable ditty.
Rick Dees
They’re one-hitters not because they didn’t do anything else that was good, but because they didn’t do anything else that was a hit.
Did someone say Barry McGuire and “Eve of Destruction”? Apologies if they did…
Hey, no worries. I was just under the impression they had more than one (or two hits). I’m no expert either. For the record, some of those other songs and artists listed in the thread - I haven’t even heard of them…
Maybe I should start listening to radio once again
The mid 60’s (especially around '66) were full of one hit wonders:
- We Five: You Were on My Mind
- Bob Lind: Elusive Butterfly
- Crispian St. Peters: Pied Piper
- Bob Kuban: The Cheater
- Jewel Akens: The Birds and Bees
- Ian Whitcomb: You Turn Me On
- Bobby Hebb: Sunny
-
Jonathan King: Everyone’s Gone to the Moon
etc, etc.
RealityChuck: Sure I remember “It’s a Gas”. The height of humour from my eleven year old perspectitve. I think I even remember clipping it out of MAD, and most definitely remember the “melody” and rhythm.
BTW Chuck, The Cyrkle were named by John Lennon. IIRC, they had another semi-hit - “Turn Down Day”.
Add “Ballroom Blitz” by Sweet - I heard that the other day in (of all places) a strip club! Also “Werewolves of London” by Warren Zevon. Check him out; he’s rather demented without being disgusting. Also Robert Cray’s “Smoking Gun” off of “Strong Persuader,” he does good guitar, and anybody who can come up with “Did my best to love you, now do your best to leave,” deserves recognition.
“(I Always Feel Like) Somebody’s Watching Me,” by somebody or other, but with background vocals by Michael Jackson.
“Maniac,” from “Flashdance.”
“You turn me on (Round and Round)” by Dead or Alive
Rockwell did “Somebodys Watching Me”
“Tainted Love” by Soft Cell
“Groove is in the Heart” by DeeLite
Lots of great stuff here, but no one has listed
D.O.A. by Bloodrock
“We were flying along, and hit something in the air …”
somehow its about a car crash where (surprise) someone dies. Came out around 1970.
[aside]
BTW, when Bloodrock was touring for their album (Bloodrock), their openning act was Ted Nugent. After his kick-ass set, the headliners were DOA. My date appreciated the part of the set where Sweatty Teddy came out from backstage dressed in a furry loincloth and big furry hat with horns and jumped around on the amps and speakers.
[/aside]
How about “I’m a Boinger” by Billy and the Boingers?
I seem to remember more of them in the US too. There was one song called “Strip” that I heard many times, back in the day.
Good heavens, you remind me of my strange experience getting hit on by Sky Sunlight Saxon on the SF subway. He tried to persuade me he’d started the entire psychedelia movement. I think he’d taken a few too many psychedelics himself.
As to the original subject, no one-hit-wonder thread is complete without Thomas Dolby’s “She Blinded Me with Science.”
“Never Say Never” - Romeo Void
“Mexican Radio” - Wall of Voodoo
“I Eat Cannibals” - Toto Coelo
“Luka” - Suzanne Vega (lots of good stuff by her, but that’s her only chart hit)
“Small Town Boy” - Bronski Beat
And if we’re mentioning Kajagoogoo, we’ve got to remember
“Never Ending Story” - Limahl
(not to be confused with The Song That Never Ends, by Lamb Chop, who is slightly more attractive than Limahl - but only slightly)
“Wouldn’t It Be Good” - Nick Kershaw, not the appalling remake on the Pretty in Pink soundtrack
“Closer I Am To Fine” - Indigo Lesb-… I mean Girls. See Suzanne Vega.
“Our House” - Madness
“She Blinded Me With Science” - Thomas Dolby (no other real hits, as I recall)
“I Know What Boys Like” - The Waitresses
“Major Tom” - Peter Schilling (reply to D. Bowie)
“Total Eclipse Of The Heart” - Bonnie Tyler
“Only the Lonely” - The Motels
“Promises, Promises” - Naked Eyes (I always thought that would make a great ad for Thomas’s English Muffins - “You made me…Thomas’s Thomas’s”)
Jeez, nobody remembered:
“Wishing” - Flock of Seagulls
“Dance Hall Days” - Wang Chung
OK, I’ll stop now.
Around 1980 there was a really bad ditty (which of course we guys and girls constantly dedicated to each other on our station’s {“Dedication Hour”), called “Pilot of The Airwaves” by Charlie Dore (guessing at spelling).
Prerequisite quibble to the effect that Warren Zevon is not a one-hit wonder by any definition, other than mistaken impression.
Sir
I’ve been pondering what I heard on the radio back when I was 11-13 years old (about 1991-1993)and had a pair of headphones on constantly:
Charles and Eddie “Would I Lie to You?”
Spin Doctors “Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong” and “Two Princes”
Shakespeare’s Sister “Stay”
Information Society “New York”
My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult “Sex on Wheelz”
Tasmine Archer “Sleeping Satelite”
Machine in Motion “World in Fascination”-I actually had a cassingle of this. The band began as Man and Machine and had to change the name because another band already used it.
Red-Head Kingpin-I don’t recall the title of the song, but I do recall a song by this artist being played on 104 KRBE around this time frame. I always thought it ironic that a guy who boasted no one ranked above him dropped off the face of the earth after one song.
Does anyone else remember these songs?
hardygrrl, I am right there with ya!
Wang Chung also had “Everybody Have Fun Tonight”. It’s one of my favourite song/music video combinations of all time.
dantheman, I have those arcade songs you’re talking about. I got them from a geek friend who kinda had a feeling I’d be amused by them. Do you know how many songs there were in all? I might have only heard some of them.
My list:
Deon Estus (featuring George Michael)- “Heaven Help Me”
Paperboy- “The Ditty”
Jeff Healey Band- “Angel Eyes”
When In Rome- “Promise”
.38 Special- “Second Chance”
Icehouse- “Electric Blue”
Stephen Bishop- “It Might Be You”
Restless Hearts- “When She Cries”
Simple Minds- “Don’t You Forget About Me”
Was Not Was- “Walk The Dinosaur”
I also think we didn’t hear nearly enough from Breathe, Crowded House, Fine Young Cannibals, and Go West. Here’s hoping we see more from Neve, Lit, Semisonic, Three Doors Down, and Homegrown.