Would you rather -- music edition

I was listening to Sirius/XM and they were playing a concert from an '80s cruise. Among the groups were Tommy Tutone, Katrina and the Waves and Mike + the Mechanics.

It got me wondering, if you were a music group, would you rather have one huge hit that everyone knows, like Jenny 867-5309 and Walking on Sunshine, or a some good songs that people recognize and were hits, but not big ones, like All I Need is a Miracle and The Living Years?

Those one-hit wonders have got a lot of mileage out of a single song, but not sure that anyone wants to hear them for a full set.

 

If it was an upbeat, rockin' song like the two you mentioned, I'd take one-big-hit-wonder status. Another example might be The Knack*.

On the other hand, if I was Billy Vera and had to play that damn ballad over and over for the rest of my life, ughhh.


* — I realize the Knack had at least one minor hit ("Good Girls Don't") besides "My Sharona"

 

I clicked on the thread, read the first line, and assumed the scenario was "would you rather be stuck on that cruise for a week or attempt to swim to shore through 100 miles of shark infested waters?"

And my answer without hesitation would have been "swim."

 

If those are the comparisons, though, I think you've got to go with Option No. 2. Those Mike and the Mechanics songs are still staples on the 80s stations alongside the bigger hits you mentioned. So you're still getting royalties from them 30 years later and you can say you're not quite a one-hit wonder.

Now if you're talking an absolute mega-hit that took over a summer and made you millions AND is still in somewhat regular rotation, like Mambo No. 5 for Lou Bega, YMCA for The Village People, Livin' La Vida Loca for Ricky Martin, or Who Let the Dogs Out? for the guys that sang Who Let the Dogs Out?, that's a different ballgame entirely.

 

Not even the upbeat, rockin' songs are immune from giving their bands that feeling:

 

Plus enough equity of hits to fill out a festival (or in this case, cruise) lineup and be somewhat of an attraction for years after you peak.

 

Definitely option 2. How many one-hit wonders are actually under appreciated? If you have a few really good songs like Mike and the Mechanics, you almost always have some hidden gems, too.

 

I also choose No. 2 because there is always the possibility in the future your music will be re-evaluated, re-discovered and suddenly you’re a legendary band 30 years down the road when your discography is discovered by hipsters. No one is going to do that with a one-hit wonder.

 

Mike and the Mechanics re-evaluated, re-discovered and suddenly a legendary band 30 years down the road when their discography is discovered by hipsters = 0% chance

 

I was thinking more along the lines of Big Star.

 

Isn't Mike of Mike and the Mechanics also a member of Genesis? They'd always at least be a footnote in pop music history.

 

The Knack's debut is a killer power pop album that still sounds great today. Yeah, they were savaged by critics, (the whole "Nuke the Knack" thing coupled with Dave Marsh's vicious takedown of their second album in Rolling Stone) but that was a great album even if they are Exhibit A for the oldest axiom in the music bidness, got your whole life to make your first album, six months to make the second one.