[QUOTE=fishbicycle]
Wow, is he really touring on his own steam, for the one song? QUOTE]
He was just on some oldies concert show on PBS. Guess what he sang.
Surely you’re whooshing us?
Yeah, that was the one!
ETA: With The Turtles. “We must get off drugs now!!!” Yeah, Mark.
Disagree; the Femmes followed that album with the amazing 180 of Hallowed Ground, which arguably invented a subgenre of music. They continued to make several great records - “American Music,” one of their most beloved songs, came out in '90 or so!
Chris Isaak first broke into the public consciousness with “Wicked Game,” but he’s shown himself more than competent as an actor since then. If that song were the sole basis for his fame, the show would have been called “The ‘Wicked Game’ Show.”
Which would have been a pretty cool title, now that I think about it.
Yes, and the Turtles ripped the Mamas and the Papas list of songs off the floor! They did put on a great show though: “We don’t play that shit. We play this shit!”
I went with my ex. She was in a hurry to get a seat in the Forum, and in trying to keep up, I nearly knocked over Mackenzie Phillips, who was making her own way to the venue. Literally, a brush with…well, something. 
Small world, eh?
They weren’t exactly one-hit-wonders, but ‘Love Will Keep Us Together’ was certainly the catalyst for The Captain and Tenille getting their own variety show, etc.
Or how about The Knack with ‘My Sharona’?
How about Don Ho?
Don McLean? I know he’s released other stuff, but shit on a Pringle, he has truly drained the teat with “American Pie.”
And I’m sure someone will come along and name two dozen other songs he’s done, but to most people born in the 70s or later, the only reason they even know this guy’s name is because of “American Pie.” A phenominal song, indeed, but I wager he wouldn’t have one tenth of the career he’s had, nor would he be asked to perform anywhere today, had he not written it.
While this may be true, my local alternative station will trot out “Blister in the Sun” every couple of years and play it as part of the regular rotation like once a day for several months. No one pretends it’s a new song, but no one acknowledges it’s almost as old as most of the DJs are either.
I had no idea it was released in 1982!
It’s 2007, Viva Terlingua was recorded thirty four years ago and Gary P. Nunn is still opening and closing his shows with London Homesick Blues. Besides that and playing the root on the downbeat and the 5th on the backbeat, what else has he done?
Chris Isaak is a very talented singer-songwriter with a more than respectable catalog of songs. Believe me, I know - my wife has all nine of his studio albums, including his Chistmas album, which is actually pretty good.
The man’s a hard-working performer who had the good fortune - or misfortune - to see one of his songs break out as a monster hit. If that hadn’t happened, he’d have been that really good singer only the music snobs have heard of. Is that better than being a one-hit wonder?
The all-time champ for this sort of thing has to be Chubby Checker. Note how many times he dipped back into the “The Twist” well by recording variations on the same theme.
I can’t beleive you are the only person in America who hasn’t watched VH1’s “One Hit Wonders” hosted by Bill Shatner (who does a great job, btw)
That answers any thing you’d ever want to know about OHWs.
Dead now, but I’d vote for “Tiny Tim” (Herbert Khaury) with Tiptoe Through the Tulips.
I suspect that this may be an impossible question to answer. Tiny Tim, Don Mclean (I thought of him first), and many others are excellent candidates. Do we measure success by the amount of money the song has earned them directly?
If we can include musical groups how about the Greatful Dead? How many top 40 hits have they had because I can only think of “Touch of Grey.” I think they were one of the most profitable touring bands ever.
Marc
No cite, but I’ve heard he requires at least 5 songs be put on any promotional posters as to not be “that guy that sings American Pie.” 
Uh, I read the wiki link but it does not tell me, what is the second hit?
Except, of course, that their touring success was independent of, and before (and after), the success of that song – they didn’t even like to play it in concert.