One-Hit Wonders

This can sometimes be judged a pejorative concept, akin to novelty records, but in many cases, it's simply that an act had one really big hit that overshadowed all their others. That's what I'm aiming for here.

Gin Blossoms - Hey, Jealousy

Kris Kross - Jump

The Connells - '74-'75

Stawberry Switchblade - Since Yesterday

Gigolo Aunts - Where I Find My Heaven

Sort of a tough discussion as the UK and USA vary so much. For example, Take That is very well known in the UK. In the states, they were a one-hit wonder with 'Back For Good'. It's amazing to study the UK charts and discover so many hits by acts that we've considered one-hit wonders. Given all of the rap and country we get, I find it insulting that so many successful UK songs never get heard here. From a US point of view, here are a few that I can think of off the top of my head....

Madness - Our House

Thomas Dolby - She Blinded Me With Science

Dexy's Midnight Runners - Come On Eileen

Sinead O'Connor - Nothing Compares 2 U

Slade - Run Runaway (well 'My Oh My' did peak at #37)  

Soft Cell - Tainted Love

Snow Patrol - Chasing Cars

Sonique - It Feels So Good

Swing Out Sister - Breakout

Kings Of Leon - Use Somebody

Gary Numan - Cars

Ted Nugent - Cat Scratch Fever

Icicle Works - Whisper To A Scream (Bird's Fly)

Toni Basil - Mickey

I could go on and on and on, though I'm trying to focus on acts that had much more success in the UK.

Pretty sure Toni Basil is a one-hit wonder over here, too. Though that might have something to do with her not being a proper pop star having a career  

Of all those, I can see where the problem was, but especially Kings of Leon being one-hit wonders staggers me  

Mention of Soft Cell reminds me of probably the classic culture divide example: at the start of 1989, Marc Almond covered Gene Pitney's excellent "Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart", and Pitney also sang on it. Because Pitney hadn't hit in the US for years, and Almond was little known, though the record was a huge #1 in the UK, it was not released in the US because the delicate American audience would assume it was a gay love duet  

  Marc Almond & Gene Pitney - Something`s Gotten Hold Of My Heart

Got a few more, and will post those 1-hitters soon as I find my notes.

good moring son...I Loved the video. Gene Pitney goes back to the Bobby Vee & Dale & Grace era...always loved his voice. I see he died in 2006...Bobby Vee told me he did when it happened in an email. He said he had lost a lifelong friend. Dale told me he was gay...but on NNDB.com...it said he was straight. I do know Bobby Vee told me that as a young writer he would copyright his songs in his mother's name...so I just don't know...I love you...send more like these

Whilst having a bit of a tidy-round, I found a bit of paper on which I wrote down the results of a television poll from May 2006 (so, it's a bit dated):

May 7, 2006 TOP 50 ONE HIT WONDERS

01 KUNG FU FIGHTING Carl Douglas
02 99 RED BALLOONS Nena
03 BECAUSE I GOT HIGH Afroman
04 SUGAR SUGAR The Archies
05 CAN YOU DIG IT? The Mock Turtles
06 ALWAYS LOOK ON THE BRIGHT SIDE OF LIFE Monty Python
07 SPIRIT IN THE SKY Norman Greenbaum / Doctor and the Medics
08 WHO LET THE DOGS OUT? Baha Men
09 THE SAFETY DANCE Men Without Hats
10 TWO PINTS OF LAGER AND A PACKET OF CRISPS PLEASE Splodgenessabounds

11 GROOVE IS IN THE HEART Deee-Lite
12 TROUBLE Shampoo
13 IT'S RAINING MEN The Weather Girls
14 ALL BY MYSELF Eric Carmen
15 JILTED JOHN Jilted John
16 I'LL BE THERE FOR YOU The Rembrandts
17 DOCTORIN' THE TARDIS The Timelords
18 ROCK ME AMADEUS Falco
19 FLAT BEAT Mr Oizo
20 VIDEO KILLED THE RADIO STAR The Buggles

21 JE T'AIME... MOI NON PLUS Jane Birkin & Serge Gainsbourg
22 MAMBO #5 Lou Bega
23 TURNING JAPANESE The Vapors
24 MICKEY Toni Basil
25 MOULDY OLD DOUGH Lieutenant Pigeon
26 PUMP UP THE VOLUME M/A/R/R/S
27 LOVIN' YOU Minnie Riperton
28 AXEL F Harold Faltermeyer / Crazy Frog
29 FUCK IT (I DON'T WANT YOU BACK) Eamon / F.U.R.B. Frankee
30 I'M THE URBAN SPACEMAN Bonzo Dog DooDah Band

31 SPACEMAN Babylon Zoo
32 MY SHARONA The Knack
33 SHADDAP YO FACE Joe Dolce Music Theatre
34 EVERYBODY'S FREE (TO WEAR SUNSCREEN) Baz Luhrmann
35 MATCHSTALK MEN AND MATCHSTALK CATS AND DOGS Brian & Michael
36 MACARTHUR PARK Richard Harris
37 MONSTER MASH Bobby 'Boris' Pickett and the Crypt Kickers
38 RAPPER'S DELIGHT The Sugarhill Gang
39 FIRE The Crazy World of Arthur Brown
40 THE ONE AND ONLY Chesney Hawkes

41 LOUIE LOUIE The Kingsmen
42 SINCE YESTERDAY Strawberry Switchblade
43 MY BOY LOLLIPOP Millie
44 MONEY The Flying Lizards
45 STUTTER RAP Morris Minor and the Majors
46 JUST SAY NO 'Grange Hill' cast
47 WOO HOO The 5,6,7,8's
48 JAPANESE BOY Aneka
49 SAVE YOUR LOVE Renee & Renato
50 BRIMFUL OF ASHA (FATBOY SLIM REMIX) Cornershop

Couldn't list all the ones which were also #1's. Many of these were not technically one-hits, but are remembered for these alone. I believe the voting wasn't entirely random, inasmuch as the selected 50 were already selected before people could vote.

Amazing chart! You know, I've always enjoyed the one-hitters best. Sure, I love many popular artists who score several hits, though those one-hit wonders really come through! Often they simply don't get a fair shake.

To add a few US one-hit wonders that are shocking .... Frankie goes to Hollywood only hit here with Relax! Most Americans never even heard Two Tribes! We only got Talk Talk's 'It's My Life'. Many of the bands you had years before we knew existed include Duran Duran, Wham, OMD, Dexy's Midnight Runners and Men At Work. I really must keep a little pen and paper on me. I'm all the time thinking of songs that belong here and forget. Will update as they come to me.

Edit to add ... Haircut One Hundred. We were lucky to get a glimpse. Love Plus One managed #37. (spits in Billboard's face).

Works both ways, though. We've never heard much of Hootie and the Blowfish, for example, and Creed never took, either. So it's not all bad   

A few more US one-hitters for the list ....   


Kate Bush - Running Up That Hill

Souxsie & The Banshees - Kiss Them For Me

Hoobastank - The Reason

Bryan Ferry - Kiss And Tell

Electronic - Getting Away With It

Duffy - Mercy

Double - The Captain Of Her Heart

Divinyls - I Touch Myself

Devo - Whip It

Soho - Hippychick

Sonique - It Feels So Good

Some of those I can understand (Duffy, Sonique, Electronic), some pretty much were one-hit wonders everywhere (Soho, Double, Divinyls*) , and some are better known for other work (Bryan "Roxy Music" Ferry). I don't know what to say about Hoobastank, though. They were half-right, perhaps   

*Australia notwithstanding

One Hit Wonders at the BBC
Another compilation show, and a nice reminder, albeit with many predictable inclusions (Crazy World of Arthur Brown, Carl Douglas, Nena, Vanilla Ice, Cornershop etc)

A YT playlist here has several worthy inclusions:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLg6s760Gus8axl4K65YplW-NdDI9y4frL

And a few more that don't make these lists:

Stiltskin - Inside

The RAH Band - Clouds Across The Moon

Fern Kinney - Together We Are Beautiful

Top 10 Revealed - One Hit Wonders
A series not worth noting down usually, but as this is a topic rarely covered, so...

10 FUNKY TOWN Lipps Inc
09 HOW LONG Ace
08 MAJOR TOM (COMING HOME) Pete Schilling
07 KUNG FU FIGHTING Carl Douglas
06 THE IDES OF MARCH Vehicle
05 96 TEARS ? and the Mysterians
04 THE SAFETY DANCE Men Without Hats
03 967-5309 Tommy Tutone
02 MY SHARONA The Knack
01 SPIRIT IN THE SKY Norman Greenbaum

with a few Bonus Tracks mentioned:

LOVE HURTS Nazareth
ALL RIGHT NOW Free
BRANDY (YOU'RE A FINE GIRL) Looking Glas
ONE THING LEADS TO ANOTHER The Fixx
COME ON EILEEN Dexys Midnight Runners

A mixture of the obvious and the obscure, maybe.

Nine years on...

One-Hit Wonders at the BBC: Volume 2
Another rum round-up (Patti Smith and Don Henley? John Cougar Mellencamp and Curtis Mayfield?) Fair enough with Lou Bega, Baltimore and Divinyls though.

One Hit Wonders w/OJ Borg - Bran Van 3000
A weekly show which sometimes interviews people associated with 1HWs. Steve "Liquid" Hawley was part of the BV3k collective who hit fame with Drinking In LA. He talked about Montreal, New York, the track's 25th anniversary, the real Stereo Mike, the Canadian Songs Hall of Fame, the Rolling Rock ad that sent the song stratospheric, making 2 solo albums, and the Transformers movie. Quite a lot, really.

One Hit Wonders w/OJ Borg - Motiv8
Steve Rodway talked about his band's moment, Rockin' With Myself, though he was also a producer who helped Pulp and the Spice Girls, not to mention working on Gina G's EuroVision success, and new projects.