One Hit Wonder Day

[scottm18]

I don’t think there is any trouble with this thread - it’s a fun trip. Thanks for the correction - although I can honestly say I cannot recall this song - I was 21 when this song came out according to the interweb. Evidently a top 10 in the US but ultimately more popular in Canada than the US.

Incredibly memorable if for it's dead on Wolfman Jack vocal imitation alone.

 

[scottm18]

A-ha!
How could I not list this one!:

Yeah one hit wonder only for the US-- but we did get some air play for the Sun Always Shines on TV But pathetic recognition of this Norwegian band that *still* going today.

Check out their beautiful cover of Crying in the Rain for instance.

 

[scottm18]

How many people know that this band was formed from a couple that was great friends with John Denver...and sang backup on "Take Me Home Country Roads". Yep!

 

[scottm18]

Diesel - Sausalito Summernight

Double - The Captain Of Her Heart

Tsunami - The Runaround

Always loved how Sausalito Summer Nights was from a Dutch band singing about specifics of California

 

[Quad Linda]

Three consecutive UK number 1 singles. Two consecutive singles in the UK top ten at the same time. Sixth and thirtieth largest selling UK singles of all time. Yeah, definitely one hit wonders.

I understand where you're coming from, and you're right! As I mentioned earlier, which country or chart? It's all nebulous. In the US, however, they had one single that made the top 40: relax. It hit #10.

Please don't think I'm attacking Frankie. I'm a huge fan. I've bought 4 versions of Pleasuredome, CD singles, 12" singles, Ultra Rare Trax, Liverpool (expanded, too), compilations, Johnson's solo stufff & UK surround SACD. One of the most prized SACD's in my collection.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frankie_Goes_to_Hollywood_discography

As to In-A-Gadda, I bought the 45 when it came out. It was a 3 minute novelty. I had it on 8-track (split over two programs!), CD, MoFi Gold CD, SACD and lenticular CD. I bought most of their albums on UK CD's, before domestic CD's came out.

http://www.45cat.com/record/456606

Still more One Hit Wonders:
Blues Magoos - We Ain't Got Nothing Yet




American Breed - Bend Me, Shape Me
Guys from my old neighborhood.
#1 in Chicago and New Zealand, #3 Cash Box, Billboard #7.
They had other hits in Chicago, but not on the national charts.
I have their LP's autographed by all of them.
Lead singer Gary Loizzo had a recording studio in suburban Orland Park. RIP

 

[jaybird100]

I’ve been listening to music for 50 years and still today I’ll hear a different version of a song I’ve heard a million times. This one I think was taken off the radio because of its story, It’s one of my favorite!

Some stations may have pulled it from their playlists, but it wasn't across the board. Most stations continued to play the song. The local top 40 stations, here in South Florida, played the heck out of it.

 

[scottm18]

Nu Shooz “I Can’t Wait”

Iffy. They had "Point of No Return" also... but it wasn't as good or as popular.

 

[scottm18]

You need to get the stereo version. Amazing production. The jibberish at the end is actually the liner notes off an ampex tape box!

The Australian actor in Dish, Castle and then a wonderful road traveling movie I can't remember the name of is a national treasure for Australia. Michael Caton I believe his name is. I think he was also in a very funny movie with fellow Aussie Paul Hogan...Bedfellows or something.

 

[scottm18]

I have checked out all of the above links (that I didn't already know) and it's amazing how many of these I have never heard. OHW must be very regional in many cases.
Anyway, didn't see this anywhere above Beach Baby by First Class



or this one Shanon by Henry Gross

Once again a foreign group with First Class (British I believe in this case) singing about California days. Classic tune regardless.

 

[scottm18]

Cartoons WITCH DOCTOR

Got to love Scandinavia. I believe these guys were Danish.

 

[LuvMyQuad]

This is a strange one from my childhood. I believe the B side of the single had the same song but played backward? The B-side title was spelled backward as well.

 

[elmer]

Just learned today that George Frayne, leader of Commander Cody & his Lost Planet Airmen passed away today at age 77.

Hot Rod Lincoln was their only Top Ten hit

 

[scottm18]

Okay so I read through these quickly and this is one of my favorite subjects so I couldn't help commenting on a few

As a "music encyclopedia", here's my comprehensive list of *all-time favorite* one hit wonders in the US that I haven't seen posted yet--60s thru 90s. This will keep you guys busy quite some time if you don't know these songs

60s:
*Human Beinz "Nobody But Me"
*Swingin' Medallions "Double Shot O' My Baby's Love"
*Jimmy Soul "If You Wanna Be Happy"
... And my favorite one hit wonder from the 60s:


70s:

*Alan O'Day "Undercover Angel" (top-notch studio musician backup)
*Nicolette Larson "Lotta Love" (Neil young penned)
* Janis Ian "At Seventeen"
* Jessi Colter "I'm Not Lisa"
*CW McCall "Convoy". How many people know this is the birth of Mannheim Steamroller with Chip Davis behind the helm.
*Maxine Nightingale "Back where We Started From"
*Minnie Riperton "Lovin' You" (mother of Maya Rudolph from SNL)
*King Harvest "Dancing in the Moonlight"
... and my *two* favorite OHWs from the 70s:

and...


80s:
*Slade "Run Runaway"
*Reflex "Politics of Dancing"
*Murray Head / Chess "One Night in Bangkok"
*After the fire "Der Kommissar"
*Gregory Abbott "Shake You Down"
*Champaign "How Bout us"
*Clarence Clemons (with Jackson Browne) "Friend of Mine"
... and my favorite OHW from the 80s--an extended version no less:


90s:
*Len "Steal My Sunshine"
*Semisonic "Closing Time", although their previous group Trip Shakespeare was way better.
*OMC "How Bizarre"
*Chumbawamba "Tub-thumping"
* OMC "How Bizarre"
*Tonic "If You Could Only See"
*Soul Dragons "I'm Free"
And my favorite OHW from the 90s:

 

[MidiMagic]

Back in the day singles were almost always mono. The added echo and Wah-Wha effect would of been done to add some depth to the mono recordings and make them better stand out on AM radio. The same effects used to excess on album stereo versions I suspect would have been a bit over the top! Singles were often shortened as well, less than three minutes, I suppose that the general audience had a short attention span.
It's always nice to have both versions, frustrating that you rarely hear the original singles played on radio anymore, always the album version, most noticable if the track is much longer than the single was.

There was a standard among broadcasters that airplay of music required that a song must play in 3.5 minutes or less. This was necessary to get the required number of commercials in.

3.5 minutes was the maximum capacity of a 10-inch 78 rpm record.

When the 45 replaced the 78, broadcasters continued to limit airplay to records lasting 3.5 minutes or less. This continued until the Beatles' "Hey Jude" appeared at 7 minutes 11 seconds. The clamor for the song to be played forced broadcasters to revise this rule.

This was also the first Beatles song recorded on an 8-track studio recorder in August 1968.

 

[par4ken]

As to In-A-Gadda, I bought the 45 when it came out. It was a 3 minute novelty. I had it on 8-track (split over two programs!), CD, MoFi Gold CD and lenticular CD. I bought most of their albums on UK CD's, before domestic CD's came out.

I found that the single version was hard to find after it's initial success. I purchased the LP many years latter, then the CD and then still later a deluxe version of the CD that included the single as a bonus track. There is a box set put out by Cherry Red that includes all the CD"s mono and stereo as well as the singles. I recommend it, it's not brickwalled either.

One evening I tuned into WCFL Chicago and was delighted to hear "Long Gold" they played the full length album version of In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida. I don't recall WLS ever playing any "long gold"!

 

[Sixtyten]

There's a better criteria for "one hit wonder" - I mean "Slade"? "Merry Christmas, Everybody?" or "Cum On Feel The Noize"? And it's this. They aren't one hit wonders if they had more than one top 20 chart song in their native country. So "Aneka" is a one hit wonder (thank god) whereas, Slade, Dexy's Midnight Runners, FGTH, Madness et al aren't. Easy.

of course by this arbitrary criteria it means that "Jive Bunny" (shudders) wasn't a one off aberration

 

[MidiMagic]

Alvin & The Chipmunks

Sheb Wooley The Purple People Eater

Johnny Horton THE BATTLE OF NEW ORLEANS

The Chipmunks actually had at least 4 hits before the movies:
Witch Doctor (before they were called the Chipmunks - credited Ross Bagdasarian)
The Chipmunk Song (Christmas don't be late)
Alvin's Harmonica (I like girls)
Ragtime Cowboy Joe

Sheb Wooley had other hits, including:
That;'s my Pa
Shaky Breaky Car (under the pseudonym "Ben Colder)
Almost Persuaded #2 (Ben Colder)

Johnny Horton had other hits, including:
Sink the Bismarck
North to Alaska
When it's Springtime in Alaska
The Mansion you Stole

Iron Butterfly had to make a 3.5 minute or less single to get it played. I have the album and the single on a K-tel record.

Something interesting about "Percolator" (Billy Joe & the Checkmates):

Boots Randolph had another song "Percolator" (flip side of "Yackety Sax") with an interesting twist.
I was able to play the Checkmates song on a keyboard in counterpoint to accompany the Randolph song.

 

[Quad Linda]

Swing Out Sister - Breakout




Billy Swan - I Can Help
from Burt Sugarman's Midnight Special:




The Crazy World of Arthur Brown - Fire
from Beat Club




Big Bopper - Chantilly Lace
from American Bandstand




Sir Mix a Lot - Baby Got Back




Edie Brickell & New Bohemians - What I Am
from Arsenio Hall

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4arTTHK-bA

Amboy Dukes - Journey to the Center of the Mind
Ted Nugent!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrUH9pGk90w

 

[MidiMagic]

The Tokens THE LION SLEEPS TONIGHT

The Tokens also had all of these charted songs (highest number on chart given):
"Tonight I Fell in Love" 15 *
"The Lion Sleeps Tonight" 1 *
"B'wa Nina (Pretty Girl)" 55
"La Bamba" 85
"Hear the Bells" 94
"He's in Town" 43
"I Hear Trumpets Blow" 30
"Portrait of My Love" 36
"It's a Happening World" 69
"She Lets Her Hair Down (Early in the Morning)" 61 # *
"Don't Worry Baby" 95
"The Lion Sleeps Tonight" (re-release) 51

"Tina" (originally "Tina Singu") was originally intended to be the A side of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight". *

* I have the original records
# Also appeared in advertising

 

[MidiMagic]

The Cuff Links "Tracy"

They had other songs on the charts, but none on the top 40.