Haven't been on this site in ages, and surprised I still have an account!

Anyway, just wanted to post something that sometimes irritates me - every time I hear an example on the broadcasts.

It's struck me that broadcasters (whatever they may be) and often album-producers (CDs, the like) seem to think many acts only had 1 hit.  I'm posting here because even though most of my immediate examples are '80s, I know there are many from over the decades that fit this.

By the way these people play/place songs, you'd think these acts, e.g., only had 1 hit:

Dion & the Belmonts - Runaround Sue
Billy Ocean - Carribean Queen
Men at Work - Down Under

I've listened to alot of oldies music (via that type radio) in the past, and I lived the '80s, so I'm very aware there was more to these performers than what is played now!

Any more?  I know there are; just haven't kept all the victims in my memory to reel off.

Agreed ... though I heard Billy Ocean's other major hits on my radio station just last week (Love Really Hurts Without You ... and When the Going Gets Tough). He has longevity ... and was quite versatile.  As for Men At Work .... I'm an Aussie and KNOW they had many more hits.  ;)

I watched a show on TV where Glass Tiger were cited as OHW for Don't Forget Me (When I'm Gone), which had me confused (as they had 14 Top 40 hits here in Canada), but at the end of the show, it all made sense when it said a "VH-1 Production".  But even still, in America, the group had 4 singles reach the Top 40. 

You can't be a one hit wonder if you have more than 1 song in the charts

You can't be a one hit wonder if you have more than 1 song in the charts
Even if the record reached #100 in the charts, it is still a hit, because people went out to buy it (or downloaded it).

Even if the record reached #100 in the charts, it is still a hit, because people went out to buy it (or downloaded it).


Karma to you sir!

Some people say a song that reached #100 is not a hit, but if that was the case, then a Hot 100 chart would serve no purpose.  Glad someone agrees with me on this :)

The definition of a one hit wonder is too vague.  Here is an example of a country specific one hit wonder:



In 1982, a group from Australia called Mental As Anything, reached the Top 40 in Canada with Too Many Times.  It was their only hit here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VezFz1Qfx8


In the UK, Mental As Anything also reached the Top 40 just once with Live it Up in 1987.  This branded them a one hit wonder there, despite two other singles reaching the UK Top 100.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eThl2OayKRw


Now, as gibbo can probably tell you, these guys had hit after hit in Australia.

The phrase to use is to say "One Hit Wonder in that country".

Another weak example is Spandau Ballet.  Always their 1st hit "True" is played.  Granted it wasn't as big, but they had another hit here - "Gold".  Basically 2-hit wonder whittled down to a 1-hit.

Another weak example is Spandau Ballet.  Always their 1st hit "True" is played.  Granted it wasn't as big, but they had another hit here - "Gold".  Basically 2-hit wonder whittled down to a 1-hit.


They also had 'Only When You Leave' in 1984, which was their 3rd of 3 Top 40 hits total across North America.  Our UK friends knew them best for these and about 15 others

VH1 included Madness in their great One Hit Wonders show.  If they bothered to check, Madness had 14 top 10 hits in the UK besides "Our House."
::)

VH1 included Madness in their great One Hit Wonders show.  If they bothered to check, Madness had 14 top 10 hits in the UK besides "Our House."
::)



Even in the US, Madness had a 2nd Top 40 hit in 1983 with an excellent cover of Labi Siffre's 1971 song 'It Must Be Love'

An Englishman named Maurice Mickelwhite knows Madness were not one hit wonders, and has just one thing to say regarding that ...

http://img828.imageshack.us/img828/3128/mcaine.png

Vanilla Ice is a good example, he had another hit "Play That Funky Music" that nobody really talks about. I was just looking at his iTunes page and his top 15 songs or so are all different versions of "Ice Ice Baby", pretty funny.  ;D

The definition of a one hit wonder is too vague.  Here is an example of a country specific one hit wonder:



In 1982, a group from Australia called Mental As Anything, reached the Top 40 in Canada with Too Many Times.  It was their only hit here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VezFz1Qfx8


In the UK, Mental As Anything also reached the Top 40 just once with Live it Up in 1987.  This branded them a one hit wonder there, despite two other singles reaching the UK Top 100.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eThl2OayKRw


Now, as gibbo can probably tell you, these guys had hit after hit in Australia.


Too true .... The Mentals certainly 'Lived it up' in Oz as they had hits 'too many times'!  That was a great example of a very successful rock/pop band being virtually unkown overseas.

Even in the US, Madness had a 2nd Top 40 hit in 1983 with an excellent cover of Labi Siffre's 1971 song 'It Must Be Love'



Yup, I remember when "It Must Be Love" hit the Top 40.  However, it's totally overshadowed by "Our House," which is an awesome song, BTW, and I never get sick of hearing it.

Similarly, Adam Ant had U.S. Top 40 hits with "Room at the Top" (1986) and "Wonderful" (1995), but most Americans only know "Goody Two-Shoes," which, coincidentally, climbed to #12 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1983 just like "Our House."
"Strip" and "Desperate But Not Serious" were Hot 100 hits and ever-adored by New Wave fans.  

Thus for Adam & and the Ants/Adam Ant's eleven UK Top 10 hits (including 3 number one songs), and for the significant pop culture cache Stewart Goddard carries, I don't consider him a "One Hit Wonder."

I consider The Knack a One Hit Wonder even though they had three or four other Top 40 hits besides "My Sharona."  The Knack did not maintain a loyal worldwide audience the way Adam Ant and Madness did.  

Similarly Men Without Hats had a second American hit with "Pop Goes the World" in 1987, but "Pop" was a hit on the lingering strength of "The Safety Dance."  MWH and The Knack did retain small followings but little pop culture exposure unrelated to their respective One Hits.  

Then there are artists who had one hit but I don't consider One Hit Wonders because they don't write Top 40-type music, although they are accomplished in their own genres, such as Funkadelic ("One Nation Under a Groove") and Vangelis ("Chariots of Fire").

Some accomplished artists with one U.S. Top 40 hit in the '80s, '90s, or '00s:*

Toni Basil: Mickey (#1) 1982
Vangelis: Chariots of Fire - Titles (#1) 1982
Dexys Midnight Runners: Come On Eileen (#1) 1983
Jan Hammer: Miami Vice Theme (#1) 1985
Bobby McFerrin: Don't Worry Be Happy (#1) 1988
Sinead O'Connor: Nothing Compares 2U (#1) 1990
Grover Washington, Jr: Just the Two of Us (#2) 1981
Gnarles Barkley: Crazy (#2) 2006
Harold Faltermeyer: Axel F (#3) 1985
Love and Rockets: So Alive (#) 1989
Thomas Dolby: She Blinded Me With Science (#5) 1983
Chumbawamba: Tubthumping (#6) 1997
Soft Cell: Tainted Love (#8) 1982
Tracey Ulman: They Don't Know (#8) 1984
Gary Numan: Cars (#9) 1980
Faith No More: Epic (#9) 1990
Grateful Dead: Touch of Grey (#9) 1987
Queensryche: Silent Lucidity ((#9) 1991
Amy Winehouse: Rehab (#9) 2007
Frankie Goes To Hollywood: Relax (#10) 1984
Beck: Loser (#10) 1994
Scritti Politti: Perfect Way (#11) 1985
Devo: Whip It (#14) 1980
The Blow Monkeys: Digging Your Scene (#14) 1986
Moby: South Side (#14) 2001
Midnight Oil: Beds Are Burning (#17) 1988
Concrete Blonde: Joey (#19) 1990
Cypress Hill: Insane in the Brain (#19) 1993
Bruce Cockburn: Wondering Where the Lions Are (#21) 1980
Rush: New World Man (#21) 1982
Roseanne Cash: Seven Year Ache (#22) 1981
Robert Cray Band: Smoking Gun (#22) 1987
Siouxsie and the Banshees: Kiss Them For Me (#23) 1991
Garbage: Stupid Girl (#24) 1996
The Church: Under the Milky Way (#24) 1988
The Psychedelic Furs: Heartbreak Beat (#26) 1987
The White Stripes: Icky Thump (#26) 2005
Iggy Pop: Candy (#28) 1991
The Style Council: My Ever Changing Moods (#29) 1984
Pat Metheny Group: This is Not America (#29) 1984
Kate Bush: Running Up That Hill (#30) 1985
Tom Tom Club: Genius of Love (#31) 1982
Talk Talk: It's My Life (#31) 1984
Alison Moyet: Invisible (#31) 1985
Bryan Ferry: Kiss and Tell (#31) 1988
The Lightning Seeds: Pure (#31) 1991
Frank Zappa: Valley Girl (#32) 1982
Liz Phair: Why Can't I (#32) 2003
Public Enemy: Give It Up (#33) 1994
Sugarhill Gang: Rapper's Delight (#36) 1980
Marshall Crenshaw: Someday, Some Way (#36) 1982
Fatboy Slim: Praise You (#36) 1999
Emmylou Harris: Mister Sandman (#37) 1981
Haircut 100: Love Plus One (#37) 1982
The Icicle Works: Whisper to a Scream (#37) 1984
k.d. lang: Constant Craving (#38) 1992
The Communards: Don't Leave Me This Way (#40) 1987

*If I include artists from the '50s, '60s, and '70s, the list would grow too looooong!
I don't include "solo" hits (eg. Ric Ocasek of The Cars or Dennis DeYoung of Styx)
I say some, because people say: Don't forget Sir Mix-A-Lot!
Toni Basil was famous as a choreographer and actress before she was a pop singer.

I consider The Knack a One Hit Wonder even though they had three or four other Top 40 hits besides "My Sharona."  The Knack did not maintain a loyal worldwide audience the way Adam Ant and Madness did.  



The Knack have the honor of being the only artist during the 70s to have 2 #1 hits on the Canadian chart from a debut album:  My Sharona and Good Girls Don't from their 1979 self-titled debut.  Good Girls Don't also reached #11 in the US, and in 1980, they had a 3rd US Top 40 with Baby Talks Dirty, which to me, was their greatest song.  These however get overshadowed by My Sharona and are never often heard on radio

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zc3KXwd8ZWQ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-dKbd3XBHM



I don't include "solo" hits (eg. Ric Ocasek of The Cars or Dennis DeYoung of Styx)


But you included Bryan Ferry of Roxy Music :P

'Love is the Drug' was a US Top 40 hit in 1976

Vanilla Ice is a good example, he had another hit "Play That Funky Music" that nobody really talks about. I was just looking at his iTunes page and his top 15 songs or so are all different versions of "Ice Ice Baby", pretty funny.  ;D


'Play That Funky Music', I thought was the better song.  Seems that it's never heard on the radio :(

The Knack have the honor of being the only artist during the 70s to have 2 #1 hits on the Canadian chart from a debut album:  My Sharona and Good Girls Don't from their 1979 self-titled debut.  Good Girls Don't also reached #11 in the US, and in 1980, they had a 3rd US Top 40 with Baby Talks Dirty, which to me, was their greatest song.  These however get overshadowed by My Sharona and are never often heard on radio

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zc3KXwd8ZWQ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-dKbd3XBHM


But you included Bryan Ferry of Roxy Music :P

'Love is the Drug' was a US Top 40 hit in 1976


Ah yes, good catch.

Bryan shouldn't be on the list.

Ah yes, good catch.

Bryan shouldn't be on the list.


Yep...Bryan Ferry and Roxy Music had numerous hits in the UK and Australia...

Some accomplished artists with one U.S. Top 40 hit in the '80s, '90s, or '00s:*

Toni Basil: Mickey (#1) 1982
Vangelis: Chariots of Fire - Titles (#1) 1982
Dexy's Midnight Runners: Come On Eileen (#1) 1983
Jan Hammer: Miami Vice Theme (#1) 1985
Bobby McFerrin: Don't Worry Be Happy (#1) 1988
Sinead O'Connor: Nothing Compares 2U (#1) 1990
Grover Washington, Jr: Just the Two of Us (#2) 1981
Gnarles Barkley: Crazy (#2) 2006
Harold Faltermeyer: Axel F (#3) 1985
Love and Rockets: So Alive (#) 1989
Thomas Dolby: She Blinded Me With Science (#5) 1983
Chumbawamba: Tubthumping (#6) 1997
Soft Cell: Tainted Love (#8) 1982
Tracey Ulman: They Don't Know (#8) 1984
Gary Numan: Cars (#9) 1980
Faith No More: Epic (#9) 1990
Grateful Dead: Touch of Grey (#9) 1987
Queensryche: Silent Lucidity ((#9) 1991
Amy Winehouse: Rehab (#9) 2007
Frankie Goes To Hollywood: Relax (#10) 1984
Beck: Loser (#10) 1994
Scritti Politti: Perfect Way (#11) 1985
Devo: Whip It (#14) 1980
The Blow Monkeys: Digging Your Scene (#14) 1986
Moby: South Side (#14) 2001
Midnight Oil: Beds Are Burning (#17) 1988
Concrete Blonde: Joey (#19) 1990
Cypress Hill: Insane in the Brain (#19) 1993
Bruce Cockburn: Wondering Where the Lions Are (#21) 1980
Rush: New World Man (#21) 1982
Roseanne Cash: Seven Year Ache (#22) 1981
Robert Cray Band: Smoking Gun (#22) 1987
Siouxsie and the Banshees: Kiss Them For Me (#23) 1991
Garbage: Stupid Girl (#24) 1996
The Church: Under the Milky Way (#24) 1988
The Psychedelic Furs: Heartbreak Beat (#26) 1987
The White Stripes: Icky Thump (#26) 2005
Iggy Pop: Candy (#28) 1991
The Style Council: My Ever Changing Moods (#29) 1984
Pat Metheny Group: This is Not America (#29) 1984
Kate Bush: Running Up That Hill (#30) 1985
Tom Tom Club: Genius of Love (#31) 1982
Talk Talk: It's My Life (#31) 1984
Alison Moyet: Invisible (#31) 1985
Bryan Ferry: Kiss and Tell (#31) 1988
The Lightning Seeds: Pure (#31) 1991
Frank Zappa: Valley Girl (#32) 1982
Liz Phair: Why Can't I (#32) 2003
Public Enemy: Give It Up (#33) 1994
Sugarhill Gang: Rapper's Delight (#36) 1980
Marshall Crenshaw: Someday, Some Way (#36) 1982
Fatboy Slim: Praise You (#36) 1999
Emmylou Harris: Mister Sandman (#37) 1981
Haircut 100: Love Plus One (#37) 1982
The Icicle Works: Whisper to a Scream (#37) 1984
k.d. lang: Constant Craving (#38) 1992
The Communards: Don't Leave Me This Way (#40) 1987

*If I include artists from the '50s, '60s, and '70s, the list would grow too looooong!
I don't include "solo" hits (eg. Ric Ocasek of The Cars or Dennis DeYoung of Styx)
I say some, because people say: Don't forget Sir Mix-A-Lot!
Toni Basil was famous as a choreographer and actress before she was a pop singer.



Good list. I'd like to point out that Vangelis also recorded with Jon Anderson (as Jon & Vangelis) and, in the late '60's/early '70's, as a member of Aphrodite's Child - who had a handful of European hits. But when it comes to the US of A - yes, he had only the one Top 40 hit.
Also, isn't Gnarls Barkley basically just one of the monikers of Cee Lo Green...? :-\\

Good list. I'd like to point out that Vangelis also recorded with Jon Anderson (as Jon & Vangelis) and, in the late '60's/early '70's, as a member of Aphrodite's Child - who had a handful of European hits. But when it comes to the US of A - yes, he had only the one Top 40 hit.


The 'Conquest of Paradise' theme by Vangelis was a long running number 1 in the Netherlands, I do believe?

As Jon and Vangelis, 'The Friends of Mr. Cairo' had a 5 week reign at #1 in Canada

^ Yes, that's why I specified U.S. Top 40.
8)

The 'Conquest of Paradise' theme by Vangelis was a long running number 1 in the Netherlands, I do believe?


Indeed. It spent 10 weeks at the #1 spot in 1995.

Indeed. It spent 10 weeks at the #1 spot in 1995.
The Greek progressive rock band formed in 1967, Aphrodite's Child which featured Vangelis and Demis Roussos on their single "Rain And Tears" is a one hit wonder in the UK, but in their own right Vangelis and Demis Roussos are not one hit wonders.

What gets me is when VH-1 does One Hit Wonders shows, they often base it on artists who had only 1 Top 40 hit, but then they mention songs like 'I Melt With You' by Modern English or 'Ca Plane Pour Moi' by Plastic Bernard, two songs that did reach the US Hot 100, but never even saw the Top 40.


The other day on the radio station I listen to, the DJ mentions he is going to play a song by Wang Chung, and mentions that they were one hit wonders, best known for 'Everybody Have Fun Tonight'.  At which point, he begins to play 'Dance Hall Days'. 

It gets bad when people who get paid to talk about music, don't know what they are talking about.

The other day on the radio station I listen to, the DJ mentions he is going to play a song by Wang Chung, and mentions that they were one hit wonders, best known for 'Everybody Have Fun Tonight'.  At which point, he begins to play 'Dance Hall Days'.  


Actual broadcast from the "And now, Tiffany, with her brand-new hit 'Saw Him Standing There', which is a cover of a song by a band called 'The Beatles'."  "Called"?  It was 1988.  Everybody still knew damn well who the Beatles were.  Hell, damn near everybody today still knows who the Beatles were.

'Ca Plane Pour Moi' by Plastic Bernard


Ah, Plastic Bertrand, Ca Plane Pour Moi (1978).  Often confused with Elton Motello's Jet Boy Jet Girl (1979), which was the exact same music, with completely different lyrics.  There is no translation of Bertrand's French that has any relation to Motello's English.  But it sure was funny to see people expecting to hear the first and WTFing to the second as soon as the chorus showed up.  Or vice versa - if there were any French speakers in the room who'd heard the Motello version, being even more bewildered by the (comparatively innocuous) original.