# What do one-hit wonder bands do for concerts? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 15, 2014, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-one-hit-wonder-bands-do-for-concerts/686194 "2014-04-15T18:34:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2014, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-one-hit-wonder-bands-do-for-concerts/686194/41 "2014-04-16T07:17:13Z")
> [@nevadaexile](#): > > I would have thought that fans of The Heavy would have also wanted to hear this: > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1QUZzeZoPQ](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1QUZzeZoPQ) Yeah, I like that tune even more than, “How Do You Like Me Now?” > [@Jamicat](#): > > Someone made me go to this concert once, they played this one song for like an hour, then they took a break for like 30 seconds, and then proceeded to play that same song all over again for another hour…and then AGAIN…I said to the girl,“WTF is this shit?” > > She said,“Trans Siberian Orchestra”. :o TSO is, to me, more a production or a musical or stage show than a concert. Went a few years back (free ticket!) and was surprised at the. . .EVERYTHING. Just so much going on. I used to go to ‘oldies’ concerts put on by a local radio station. They had a lot of one-hit-wonders. They’d play a 45 min set, and then someone else would come out. Great fun, very entertaining. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2014, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-one-hit-wonder-bands-do-for-concerts/686194/42 "2014-04-16T11:05:56Z")
> [@CheeseDonkey](#): > > People basically only go there to hear their one song, right? Like what does Dishwalla do when it holds a concert? Do they play their one song and leave? I’ve seen Dishwalla in concert! They were opening for Fishbone (double one hit wonder night!) and played 8-10 songs with “Counting Blue Cars” right smack in the middle. I couldn’t tell you any titles nowadays, but I remember liking the new songs they were playing. This was the early 2000s, so it would have been in support of the album “[Opaline](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opaline_%28album%29).” ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2014, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-one-hit-wonder-bands-do-for-concerts/686194/43 "2014-04-16T12:00:06Z")
> [@nevadaexile](#): > > I would have thought that fans of The Heavy would have also wanted to hear this: > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1QUZzeZoPQ](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1QUZzeZoPQ) Yeah, I would’ve put Short Change Hero on a similar level of popularity to How You Like Me Now? I mean, that makes them a 2-hit wonder, but still. ---
**Author:** ![Soylent\_Juicy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@Soylent\_Juicy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soylent_Juicy)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2014, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-one-hit-wonder-bands-do-for-concerts/686194/44 "2014-04-16T14:00:00Z")
I saw Sandbox back in the day and they only had one good song at the time. They came out on stage, looked at the small crowd, and the singer kind of huffed “Nice crowd.” They played stuff nobody knew and when someone yelled “CURIOUS!” (their one popular song) the singer said snottily “Yeah like we’re going to play that one right away.” They played it at the very end. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2014, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-one-hit-wonder-bands-do-for-concerts/686194/45 "2014-04-16T14:49:13Z")
I’ve heard that Rupert Holmes, who’s responsible for the hit “Escape” (if you like pina coladas…), has in his performance contracts that he be allowed to play a large set list of his own songs. Apparently people just want to him to perform the one song then get lost. I remember before the Dave Matthews Band hit it big that Dave Matthews hated being know for just their one song “What Would You Say” and described being at performances trying to play other songs while people yelled out “Play the Birthday Song! Play the Birthday Song!” ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2014, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-one-hit-wonder-bands-do-for-concerts/686194/46 "2014-04-16T14:50:35Z")
> [@handsomeharry](#): > > There’s also The Pass, New World Man (it was recognized in the mid-80s), the Mission, and Subdivisions; they at least got semi–regular airtime when the contemporaneous album was out. > So, what’s the total something like 10-12? “New World Man” is actually the only Rush song to crack the Billboard Top 40 in the USA. A lot of well-known acts are, technically, one hit wonders. Jimi Hendrix’s only top 40 hit was “All Along the Watchtower.” Emerson, Lake & Palmer’s only Top 40 hit was “From the Beginning.” Frank Zappa’s only Top 40 hit was “Valley Girl.” ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2014, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-one-hit-wonder-bands-do-for-concerts/686194/47 "2014-04-16T15:18:37Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > I’ve seen Dishwalla in concert! They were opening for Fishbone (double one hit wonder night!) and played 8-10 songs with “Counting Blue Cars” right smack in the middle. I couldn’t tell you any titles nowadays, but I remember liking the new songs they were playing. > > This was the early 2000s, so it would have been in support of the album “[Opaline](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opaline_%28album%29).” There’s a documentary about Fishbone. It’s aired (censored) on PBS, and I saw it via Netflix. It’s terrific! And that band is made up of some incredibly talented musicians. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-one-hit-wonder-bands-do-for-concerts/686194/48 "2014-04-17T04:07:49Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > I’ve heard that Rupert Holmes, who’s responsible for the hit “Escape” (if you like pina coladas…), has in his performance contracts that he be allowed to play a large set list of his own songs. Apparently people just want to him to perform the one song then get lost. > > I remember before the Dave Matthews Band hit it big that Dave Matthews hated being know for just their one song “What Would You Say” and described being at performances trying to play other songs while people yelled out “Play the Birthday Song! Play the Birthday Song!” Rupert Holmes had a second top 40 hit, titled “Him”. ---
**Author:** ![epbrown01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7ba0ec/32.png) [@epbrown01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/epbrown01)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-one-hit-wonder-bands-do-for-concerts/686194/49 "2014-04-17T05:00:24Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > Rupert Holmes had a second top 40 hit, titled “Him”. Over by the window, there’s a pack of cigarettes. Not my brand, you understand, sometimes that girl forgets A favorite of mine. It actually kinda sucks that the same guy made the Pina Colada song. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-one-hit-wonder-bands-do-for-concerts/686194/50 "2014-04-17T05:17:47Z")
Okay, according to computer translation, the Spanish word “colada” means “tap”. But “piña colada” means “strained pineapple”. WTF? ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-one-hit-wonder-bands-do-for-concerts/686194/51 "2014-04-17T05:52:09Z")
> [@Mister\_Rik](#): > > Okay, according to computer translation, the Spanish word “colada” means “tap”. But “piña colada” means “strained pineapple”. WTF? I don’t know how “tap” comes into it, but _colada_ is a past participle of the verb _colar_, to strain. ---
**Author:** ![DChord568](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@DChord568](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DChord568)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-one-hit-wonder-bands-do-for-concerts/686194/52 "2014-04-17T13:12:14Z")
> [@lawoot](#): > > I don’t think the Beatles, after Beatlemania hit, ever played a set that was more than 30 minutes long in their career. Why bother, when no one can hear the music over the screaming. I think I read in one of the books on the Beatles (I think it was [this one](http://www.amazon.com/The-Beatles-Biography-Bob-Spitz/dp/0316013315)), that their playlist never varied much over the years, either. Your first statement is true. As for the setlist never varying from 1964-1966…this is true for George and Ringo. George got “Roll Over Beethoven” through roughly 1964, “Everybody’s Trying to Be My Baby” in 1965, and “If I Needed Someone” in 1966. Ringo would get “Boys,” “I Wanna Be Your Man” and occasionally “Act Naturally.” Song sung by John or Paul varied with the times, and newer singles and the occasional album track were added as time went on. What is true is that the set list seldom varied within a given tour. It tended to be the same few songs, 30 minutes or less and off. But there would be changes for the tour that followed. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-one-hit-wonder-bands-do-for-concerts/686194/53 "2014-04-17T13:49:07Z")
I used to work with a guy who had gone to see Golden Earring back in the early 70s when “Radar Love” was their only known song in the US (they were huge in the Netherlands for many years already, but unknown everywhere else). They played “Radar Love” basically 3 times in a row and got booed off the stage. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-one-hit-wonder-bands-do-for-concerts/686194/54 "2014-04-17T14:56:17Z")
There are a lot of bands LIKE Golden Earring, who have had long careers, a lot of albums, and a lot of success in different parts of the world, but who are viewed as “one hit wonders” in the USA. Thin Lizzy were huge in Europe, but are known in the USA almost exclusively for “The Boys Are Back in Town.” Status Quo has been around forever and has made loads of great albums, but most Americans either don’t know them or know them ONLY for “Pictures of Matchstick Men.” Mr. Big still sells out big arenas in Japan and elsewhere, but most Americans remember only one of their songs: “To Be With You.” ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-one-hit-wonder-bands-do-for-concerts/686194/55 "2014-04-17T18:53:53Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > There are a lot of bands LIKE Golden Earring, who have had long careers, a lot of albums, and a lot of success in different parts of the world, but who are viewed as “one hit wonders” in the USA. We need a more common-sense approach to applying the label one-hit wonder. Wayne Jancik, the guy who literally wrote the book on one-hit wonders, had a very cut-and-dried formula, which is widely followed: to be a OHW, you must have had exactly one song chart in Billboard’s top 40. Under this rule, major artists like Jimi Hendrix and the Grateful Dead qualify. (Not Golden Earring, though, who had \*two \*US Top 40 hits.) That’s silly; a OHW should be a flash in the pan act, not one with a deep catalog full of well known songs, only one of which happened to chart as a single in the USA. On the other hand, obvious OHW material may be disqualified by having had one smash and another song that barely squeaked into the Top 40–perhaps as a follow-up to the smash–and that is generally forgotten. Jay and the Techniques technically were not a OHW because they had three Top 40 hits, but does anyone remember them for anything other than “Apples, Peaches, Pumpkin Pie”? ---
**Author:** ![DChord568](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@DChord568](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DChord568)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-one-hit-wonder-bands-do-for-concerts/686194/56 "2014-04-17T19:18:38Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > We need a more common-sense approach to applying the label one-hit wonder. Wayne Jancik, the guy who literally wrote the book on one-hit wonders, had a very cut-and-dried formula, which is widely followed: to be a OHW, you must have had exactly one song chart in Billboard’s top 40. Under this rule, major artists like Jimi Hendrix and the Grateful Dead qualify. (Not Golden Earring, though, who had \*two \*US Top 40 hits.) That’s silly; a OHW should be a flash in the pan act, not one with a deep catalog full of well known songs, only one of which happened to chart as a single in the USA. On the other hand, obvious OHW material may be disqualified by having had one smash and another song that barely squeaked into the Top 40–perhaps as a follow-up to the smash–and that is generally forgotten. Jay and the Techniques technically were not a OHW because they had three Top 40 hits, but does anyone remember them for anything other than “Apples, Peaches, Pumpkin Pie”? Sure…“Keep the Ball Rollin.'” But this only illustrates the point. For people like me who are music history obsessives, it IS useful to know that folks like Hendrix and the Dead are, under the strict definition of the term above, one-hit wonders. As music history obsessives, we of course also know the full depth and breadth of their careers, so we can apply the term “one-hit wonder” in context. The strict definition is useful because, for much of rock’s history, there was a very firm divide between success on the Top 40 charts (which was the province of AM radio until the mid-70s) and success on “underground” (later AOR) radio. There were plenty of acts who were big in one arena, but non-enitites on the other. And there were some who were successful in both. I don’t mind that this sort of chart minutiae doesn’t interest the average music listener. I only mind if people for whom it is not of interest make foolish statements due to their ignorance. Meanwhile, I don’t see anything wrong if some of us choose to understand these matters in depth — somebody has to do it! ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-one-hit-wonder-bands-do-for-concerts/686194/57 "2014-04-17T19:22:41Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Huh. For some reason, I thought the Church had another hit in the US with “Almost With You,” (one of my all-time favorite songs) but apparently that didn’t chart at all (or maybe it wasn’t released as a single here, I don’t know.) “Metropolis” apparently did well on the modern rock and mainstream rock charts, but never crossed into the Hot 100. Don’t get me started. Their record company at the time didn’t even _release_ in the US the album that song comes from (The Blurred Crusade), claiming that it needed to be more “commercial”…their hardest rocking and most dynamic record ever-and it isn’t like we’re talking the Residents or Chrome here, but an extraordinarily tuneful band with an album chock full of hooks. But, of course, the _real_ issue at the time (1982) was synthpop, and a guitar-based band was pretty SOL in that environment. I am convinced that if that album was recorded and released at any number of other times, it would have been a huge hit. But I prefer them this way, without fame ruining them (as the album your other song comes from, Gold Afternoon Fix, almost did). ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-one-hit-wonder-bands-do-for-concerts/686194/58 "2014-04-17T21:23:09Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > I used to work with a guy who had gone to see Golden Earring back in the early 70s when “Radar Love” was their only known song in the US (they were huge in the Netherlands for many years already, but unknown everywhere else). They played “Radar Love” basically 3 times in a row and got booed off the stage. They didn’t play ‘Twilight Zone’? For the longest time, I thought that was their biggest hit. I liked it much better than ‘Radar Love’. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2014, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-one-hit-wonder-bands-do-for-concerts/686194/59 "2014-04-17T21:34:10Z")
> [@Kimballkid](#): > > They didn’t play ‘Twilight Zone’? For the longest time, I thought that was their biggest hit. I liked it much better than ‘Radar Love’. “Twilight Zone” didn’t come out until the early 1980s. Interesting that this thread would show up, because Lisa Loeb (“Stay”) is playing in my area this weekend. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-one-hit-wonder-bands-do-for-concerts/686194.md?page=2)