I remember Eels being quite popular for “novacaine for the soul”
I’ve heard some of their songs since and I feel that they have a lot of good music that never really made it well in the US. “Fresh Feeling” is one of my faves.
I do think they made a bit of a mini-resurgence with “Mr E’s Beautiful Blues”
That song is something I hear in the background a lot. But I didn’t know it was by Blur before this thread. I think if you were to ask people who sang “Girls and Boys”, most probably wouldn’t even recognize the song, or else they would know the song but not the artist. Therefore, IMO, Blur still counts.
Aww. I came into this thread specifically to add The Eels. They’re easily one of my top 10 favorite artists of all time.
I guess I can add Reel Big Fish, since the only super hit of theirs seems to be “Sell Out” and it was mediocre at best compared to “Beer” and everything off of “Why Do They Rock So Hard”
I also nominate Nine Days, whose fleeting presence was overshadowed by Absolutely (Story of a Girl). The entire “Madding Crowd” cd ranged from enjoyable to outright haunting. I haven’t checked out their second cd yet.
They finally released their second CD???!!!???
That thing has been in limbo for years. I must get it, I loved “The Madding Crowd.”
Isn’t Hawkwind technically a one-hit wonder? And they’ve been going on for, what, 35 years now? Sure, their output has been of enormously variable quality, but I think a lot of their good stuff is really underappreciated.
I consider Zevon a genius.
Procol Harum had only two hits in the top forty: *Whiter Shade of Pale * and Conquistador, but they turned out a string of very successful albums. (Okay, *Something Magic * was something of a stinker, but still … ) Still around today, thoug with considerable changes in the band’s membership. They’ve got a great concert DVD.
And all of Bachelor No. 2. And most of everything else she’s ever done.
Oh yeah. I’m a fan.
Has my favorite artist, Tom Waits, EVER had a mainstream hit in his 30+ year career? I can’t think of a single time I’ve ever heard a Tom Waits song on non-college radio (excluding covers, like Rod Stewart’s version of his “Downtown Train”).
Well, this is no surprise to Englishmen, but most Americans probably don’t know that Status Quo had a long, fruitful, profitable career.
In America, they only had one hit: “Pictures of Matchstick Men.” But they’re the Grand Old Men of hard rock in Britain.
I think if you quoted the chorus to most people they would recognise it.
Not knowing the name of the artist is irrelevant.
I agree. I just had their two albums on my MP3 player the other day. They held up surprisingly well over the years. I’ve been on a new wave kick lately, listening to stuff like Human Sexual Resonse, Siouxsie, Fad Gadget, Skafish, Crime and the City Solution, Lydia Lunch…I even threw on that crappy Gleaming Spires Lp the other day and listened to it the whole way through! Talk about your one hit wonder…Are YOU ready for the sex girls?
The Fleshtones are one of the most underappreciated bands out there. They had a minor hit in the early 80s with “Shadow Line” and they’ve never stopped doing their house rockin soul punk R&B thing, but hardly anyone knows who the fuck they are. Their newest album “Do You Swing” is one of the best albums they ever made. Please check out the Fleshtones. Love them, worship them, see them live…
The garage punk band The Fuzztones had a minor hit in the 80s with “Nine Months Later” and then faded back into oblivion. Like the Fleshtones, The Fuzztones’ newest album “Salt For Zombies” is one of their best, but most people will never hear it.
Do the Pogues count as being a (US) one hit wonder (“Fairytale of New York”)? Nah, probably not. There’s TONS of Pogues fans around no matter where you are.
Does anybody remember the one hit wonder band Belfegore? The had an Awesome hit, “All That I Wanted” in the early 80s that was years ahead of its time. It was sort of the Industrial Dance Metal that all the kids were digging by the mid 90s.
Then there’s Killing Joke. They had a few US near-hits, like “80s” and “Money Is Not Our God” but their not nearly as popular as they deserve to be.
“I Don’t Want To Grow Up” was a hit, wasn’t it? I don’t know if it was an actual chart hit, but it was on MTV a lot.
I think in this case some knowledge of the artist is necessary. This thread is about bands whose only recognition to the unwashed masses is that one particular hit, while the rest of their repertoire goes unnoticed. Since most people don’t know that Blur sings “Girls and Boys”, they can’t really say, “Well, I like ‘Girls and Boys’ and ‘Song 2’ so I’m going to check out this artist.” They only know that Blur did “Song 2”, so Blur looks like a one-hit wonder. The entire catalog of Blur can’t be eclipsed by “Girls and Boys” if people don’t know that Blur did that song–people aren’t going to use “Girls and Boys” to make judgments on Blur’s work if they don’t know that Blur did “Girls and Boys”. I think this is actually a good example for this thread: the song “Girls and Boys” is being used in commercials and such, so it is getting some recognition, but because the Blur + “Song 2” association is so strong, people don’t realize that Blur did “Girls and Boys”.
Or something like that. It makes sense in my head, but I’m not good with words.
What is a jambochie?
Or whatever it is that shaved his head?
Well, he sort of did when he added a monologue to Primus’s Tommy the Cat.
A jumbo jet? 
I LOVE the Pogues. 
Oh! And I’m not sure, but did the Bloodhound Gang have any other big hits besides “The Bad Touch” (that “lets do it like they do on the discovery channel” song)? I don’t know, I don’t keep up with the charts much. If they didn’t, I’d count em.
I’ve been preaching this for years on end, to dead ears! 
Yeah, an art teacher at school long, long, long ago played one of their albums a lot.
Didn’t they also do that “love the one you will” song … ?
Hey, now that we have the internet, I can go look for their music!
Face To Face. The original Face to Face, (10 - 9 - 8, Under the Gun), not the punk band that hijacked the name later. They were pretty good. Late 80s, MTV.
Singer Laurie Sargent continued on afterward – sang on parts of the Streets of Fire soundtrack, and had a song on Party of Five, and is now part of Twinemen. Interesting indie music. Great voice.