# What musical genres are mainly known by only one song? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [April 4, 2022, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musical-genres-are-mainly-known-by-only-one-song/962248 "2022-04-04T17:02:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2022, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musical-genres-are-mainly-known-by-only-one-song/962248/141 "2022-04-07T03:31:46Z")
Great minds think alike – see post 136 😉 . ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2022, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musical-genres-are-mainly-known-by-only-one-song/962248/142 "2022-04-07T13:19:37Z")
Are there well-known sea shanties other than the Spongebob Squarepants theme? ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2022, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musical-genres-are-mainly-known-by-only-one-song/962248/143 "2022-04-07T13:31:48Z")
Drunken Sailor? Dead Man’s Chest? (Not a real shanty, but then neither is the Spongebob theme) Good Ship Venus (probably best known in the Sex Pistols version) Other possibilities - Blow The Man Down and Spanish Ladies ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2022, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musical-genres-are-mainly-known-by-only-one-song/962248/144 "2022-04-07T14:42:43Z")
I don’t know what genre you’d call Bobby McFerrin’s “Don’t Worry, Be Happy”—it’s an a cappella song with all the vocal effects done by one person—but as far as I can think, it’s the only song of its kind that most people know. ---
**Author:** ![veryfrank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/87869e/32.png) [@veryfrank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/veryfrank)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2022, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musical-genres-are-mainly-known-by-only-one-song/962248/145 "2022-04-07T16:06:39Z")
The fusion of country and techno never really took off, but Rednex’s cover of “Cotton Eye Joe” was a novelty hit in 1995 or so and is likely the only track the “genre” left for posterity. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/mOYZaiDZ7BM/maxresdefault.jpg "Rednex - Cotton Eye Joe (Official Music Video) [HD] - RednexMusic com") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mOYZaiDZ7BM) ---
**Author:** ![InfraBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infrablue/32/6366_2.png) [@InfraBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InfraBlue)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2022, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musical-genres-are-mainly-known-by-only-one-song/962248/146 "2022-04-07T22:16:24Z")
Just about the only Hindi surf song that is fairly known is Mohammed Rafi’s _Jaan Pehechaan Ho_ [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/XLgoak2kP6A/hqdefault.jpg "Mohammed Rafi - Jaan Pehechaan ho") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLgoak2kP6A) ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2022, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musical-genres-are-mainly-known-by-only-one-song/962248/147 "2022-04-07T22:48:35Z")
> [@digs](#): > > But “One Step Beyond” was in heavy rotation, partly due to a fun MTV video. You could make a claim that it was the only Two Tone track a lot of people know. Though I’d agree there are other well known madness songs, and probably other Two Tone acts like The Beat and The Specials (almost as big as madness in the UK, Ghost Town at least is as famous as any Madness track). ---
**Author:** ![Hakushon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hakushon/32/5503_2.png) [@Hakushon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hakushon)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2022, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musical-genres-are-mainly-known-by-only-one-song/962248/148 "2022-04-08T19:23:49Z")
Theremin music: “Theme from Star Trek.” “Good Vibrations” doesn’t count, because the instrument featured on that was not _technically_ a theremin. ETA- My bad, neither did _Star Trek_ use a theremin. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2022, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musical-genres-are-mainly-known-by-only-one-song/962248/149 "2022-04-08T22:50:20Z")
I liked Jesus and Mary Chain and My Bloody Valentine since their earliest albums. But I never heard the term “shoegaze” used. Yacht Rock? Being Toto (and a somewhat random selection of breezy classics)? ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2022, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musical-genres-are-mainly-known-by-only-one-song/962248/150 "2022-04-08T22:58:16Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > Yacht Rock? Being Toto (and a somewhat random selection of breezy classics)? Nah, must be Steely Dan. ---
**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:** [April 8, 2022, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musical-genres-are-mainly-known-by-only-one-song/962248/151 "2022-04-08T23:18:50Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > I liked Jesus and Mary Chain and My Bloody Valentine since their earliest albums. But I never heard the term “shoegaze” used. > **[Shoegaze](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoegaze)** > > Shoegaze (originally called shoegazing and sometimes conflated with "dream pop") is a subgenre of indie and alternative rock characterized by its ethereal mixture of obscured vocals, guitar distortion and effects, feedback, and overwhelming volume. It emerged in Ireland and the United Kingdom in the late 1980s among neo-psychedelic groups who usually stood motionless during live performances in a detached, non-confrontational state. The name comes from the heavy use of effect My Bloody Valentine'... I wasn’t aware of the term until the 2000s myself, but I wasn’t into shoegaze until c. 2002. I understand the term to be used contemporaneously, and with negative connotations at the time it was big (late 80s/early 90s), but I don’t have first-hand knowledge of the term then, as I came into the genre about ten years later. Jesus and Mary Chain I don’t think of as shoegaze, but I suppose it could be proto-shoegaze. I think of it more as “noise pop.” But these sorts of sliced-and-diced genre classifications are fluid and can get a bit nebulous. Jesus and Mary Chain were very familiar to me in the early 90s, and they just fit under the catch-all genre of “alternative” to me, which would be anyone from REM to The Pixies to Sonic Youth to Porno for Pyros to Dinosaur, Jr., to the Vaselines. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2022, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musical-genres-are-mainly-known-by-only-one-song/962248/152 "2022-04-08T23:29:50Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > Yacht Rock? Being Toto (and a somewhat random selection of breezy classics)? There’s probably a half-dozen or more prototypical, well-known yacht rock songs: Toto’s _Africa_ and _Rosanna_, Christopher Cross’s _Sailing_ and _Ride Like the Wind_, the Doobie Brothers’ _What a Fool Believes_, Rupert Holmes’ _Escape (The Pina Colada Song)_, Steely Dan’s _Hey Nineteen_, etc., and so, I’m not sure that yacht rock would fit the OP. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2022, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musical-genres-are-mainly-known-by-only-one-song/962248/153 "2022-04-09T02:19:09Z")
I accept yacht rock is not a good example. I was a big fan of _Mojo_ magazine in the early 90s but I can’t recall them using the term. Possibly “shoe gazing” as a descriptor; certainly not as a genre. British music was big at the time and many of the acts toured Canada. I saw so many alternative bands at that time: Jesus and Mary Chain, Billy Bragg, The Happy Mondays, Oasis, Garbage, Pixies; Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Echobelly, Lush, The Breeders, Matthew Sweet, Supergrass, Chemical Brothers, Stone Roses, The Prodigy, many more. Naturally, I will never understand the music scene nearly as well as I did in my university days. I do not find these detailed nebulous words very useful. I seem to recall the word “mopey” often used to describe the far-from-upbeat music. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2022, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musical-genres-are-mainly-known-by-only-one-song/962248/154 "2022-04-09T02:29:02Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > > [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > > > Yacht Rock? Being Toto (and a somewhat random selection of breezy classics)? > > There’s probably a half-dozen or more prototypical, well-known yacht rock songs: Toto’s _Africa_ and _Rosanna_, Christopher Cross’s _Sailing_ and _Ride Like the Wind_, the Doobie Brothers’ _What a Fool Believes_, Rupert Holmes’ _Escape (The Pina Colada Song)_, Steely Dan’s _Hey Nineteen_, etc., and so, I’m not sure that yacht rock would fit the OP. If I hear ‘Ya Mo B There’ one more time, I’m going to ya mo burn this place to the ground! ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2022, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musical-genres-are-mainly-known-by-only-one-song/962248/155 "2022-04-09T04:26:40Z")
Someone mentioned Ghost Town by the Specials. I was introduced to it as an example of **Dub**. And, like the thread title says, the only song of that genre as far as any of us knew. (As we’d later have to tell people in this century, “Dub, NOT dubstep!”) We were so excited when the late 80s/early 90s Folk/Reggae/Bluegrass/Dub band _ **Fellow Travellers** _ did a Dub album. Well, it was the main guy (Jeb Loy Nichols) and bandmate Martin Harrison hanging out in On-U Studios with Adrian Sherwood. They took their album cuts as a starting point and Dubified 'em. Put out an album called _A Few Good Dubs._ It’s wonderful, especially after you hear the originals. Here’s a taste (that Dub rhythm kicks in at 0:27, and at the 0:41 mark they really sound like that bridge in Ghost Town): [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/tIOXLKg1ang/maxresdefault.jpg "A Dub Supreme") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIOXLKg1ang) (fyi, they’d earlier done a dub of their poignant [“Yesterday’s a Long Long Way To Go”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_hS8wiaJCk) called [“Long Time Dub”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VxOkMKv2GX8)… I always play them together to make a Part I & II deal) ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2022, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musical-genres-are-mainly-known-by-only-one-song/962248/156 "2022-04-09T13:57:57Z")
> [@digs](#): > > Someone mentioned Ghost Town by the Specials. I was introduced to it as an example of **Dub**. I’m trying to give whoever did this the benefit of the doubt but there is no way Ghost Town is Dub. Even in the way You Really Got Me by the kinks is heavy metal (as in it’s not what anyone would consider heavy metal at the time or by a heavy metal band but if you analyze it all the elements of heavy metal are there) Ghost Town is not dub. It’s pretty much the founding record of Two Tone though, but there enough well known Madness songs for it not to count for the OP. My guess is however made that introduction got Two Tone and Dub confused 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2022, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musical-genres-are-mainly-known-by-only-one-song/962248/157 "2022-04-09T14:33:38Z")
Thanks for fighting ignorance. I thought I knew music, but I’d never heard to two-tone (two notes? two chords? Naah, guess I’ll have to look into it). But I’ve heard plenty of Dub records that sound just like the instrumental part of Ghost Town… ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2022, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musical-genres-are-mainly-known-by-only-one-song/962248/158 "2022-04-09T14:44:37Z")
Autotune: Cher - Believe (in Life after Love) Guitar talkbox: Frampton - Do you Feel Like We Do Rock song by a group known primarily for hiphop: Sabotage - Beastie Boys - Yes, they were always a rock band first but best known as rappers. ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2022, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musical-genres-are-mainly-known-by-only-one-song/962248/159 "2022-04-09T15:16:31Z")
When I think of speed metal, the only song that comes to mind is Jesus Built M Hotrod by Ministry. Saw them in concert years ago, they stretched that song out into a 10 minute sprint. The band and the audience needed a break after that song. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2022, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musical-genres-are-mainly-known-by-only-one-song/962248/160 "2022-04-09T15:27:09Z")
If bagpipes is a genre, then Amazing Grace. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musical-genres-are-mainly-known-by-only-one-song/962248.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-musical-genres-are-mainly-known-by-only-one-song/962248.md?page=9)