One-Hit Wonders and songs they made that didn't suck

[TheWritingWaffle]

Kind of in the vein of the "Most underappreciated songs," I was listening to "Come On Eileen" on the radio and I thought "Hey, this is better than people make it out to be." From there, I thought - what if they were other songs one-hit wonders made that were pretty good, and just got buried by the one hit and a flopped follow-up?

I'll start with Dexys Midnight Runners, and start with "Plan B." Building track, and pretty well-paced.

Also, Carl Douglas' "I Want To Give You My Everything." Another catchy number — albeit nothing too special — that was actually supposed to be the single, it got outplayed by its novelty B-Side, "Kung Fu Fighting"

 

[Dick Whitman]

Anything else Blind Melon ever did after "No Rain."

They were actually really, really good.

 

[Boom_70]

T Rex - Bang a Gong

Blue Oyster Cult - Don't Fear The Reaper ( Some may argue that BOC fit's one hit)

 

[Riptide]

Hard to beat "My Sharona." The Knack owned radio for six months in 1979.

 

[albert77]

I could probably come up with at least a dozen great one-hit wonders just from 1966-70.

Let's see:

96 Tears: ? and the Mysterians
Hey Little Girl: Syndicate of Sound
Talk, Talk: Music Machine
Double Shot (Of My Baby's Love): Swingin' Medallions
We Ain't Got Nothin' Yet: Blues Magoos
Land of 1,000 Dances: Cannibal and the Headhunters
I Fought The Law; Bobby Fuller 4
Nobody But Me: Human Beinz
Liar, Liar: The Castaways
Lies: The Knickerbockers
I Want Candy: The Strangeloves
Friday On My Mind: Easybeats
California Sun: The Rivieras
Wipe Out: The Surfaris
Are You Ready?: Pacific Gas & Electric
Ride Captain Ride: Blues Image
Eve Of Destruction: Barry McGuire
Psychotic Reaction: Count Five
Come On Down To My Boat: Every Mother's Son
Little Bit Of Soul: The Music Explosion
Expressway To Your Heart: Soul Survivors
Incense and Peppermints: Strawberry Alarm Clock
In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida: Iron Butterfly
Green Tambourine: Lemon Pipers
Pictures of Matchstick Men: Status Quo

 

[Big Circus]

T Rex - Bang a Gong

Blue Oyster Cult - Don't Fear The Reaper ( Some may argue that BOC fit's one hit)

Yeah, I wouldn't put BOC in this category. The classic rock station in my hometown played plenty of "Burning For You."

 

[BTExpress]

Hard to beat "My Sharona." The Knack owned radio for six months in 1979.

They also had "Good Girls Don't", which contained the censored lines where "Til she's sitting on your face" became "When she puts you in your place" and "wishing you could get inside her pants" was re-recorded as "wishing she was givin' you a chance" on the "clean" version.

So I guess that makes them a two-hit wonder.

 

[Boom_70]

T Rex - Bang a Gong

Blue Oyster Cult - Don't Fear The Reaper ( Some may argue that BOC fit's one hit)

Yeah, I wouldn't put BOC in this category. The classic rock station in my hometown played plenty of "Burning For You."

Right - forgot about Burning for You

 

[Boom_70]

I could probably come up with at least a dozen great one-hit wonders just from 1966-70.

Let's see:

96 Tears: ? and the Mysterians
Hey Little Girl: Syndicate of Sound
Talk, Talk: Music Machine
Double Shot (Of My Baby's Love): Swingin' Medallions
We Ain't Got Nothin' Yet: Blues Magoos
Land of 1,000 Dances: Cannibal and the Headhunters
I Fought The Law; Bobby Fuller 4
Nobody But Me: Human Beinz
Liar, Liar: The Castaways
Lies: The Knickerbockers
I Want Candy: The Strangeloves
Friday On My Mind: Easybeats
California Sun: The Rivieras
Wipe Out: The Surfaris
Are You Ready?: Pacific Gas & Electric
Ride Captain Ride: Blues Image
Eve Of Destruction: Barry McGuire
Psychotic Reaction: Count Five
Come On Down To My Boat: Every Mother's Son
Little Bit Of Soul: The Music Explosion
Expressway To Your Heart: Soul Survivors
Incense and Peppermints: Strawberry Alarm Clock
In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida: Iron Butterfly
Green Tambourine: Lemon Pipers
Pictures of Matchstick Men: Status Quo

Good List - would add "I'd Love to Change The World " Ten Years After

and "Time" The Chambers Brothers

"Are You Ready" Pacific Gas and Electric Company

 

[Songbird]

I kept waiting for Candlebox to have another great song like "Far Behind"



Madonna's Maverick Records poured a lot of money into the band being great. Never materialized.

 

[three_bags_full]

One Headlight -- Wallflowers

 

[Dick Whitman]

One Headlight -- Wallflowers

Really? "Sixth Avenue Heartache" was a bigger hit, wasn't it?

EDIT:

"One Headlight" - 2
"The Difference" - 23
"Heroes" (Bowie cover) - 26
"Sixth Avenue Heartache" - 33
"Three Marlenas" - 41
"Sleepwalker" - 73

Four of those songs were in the top 10 of the mainstream and alternative rock charts.

The Wallflowers, in my opinion, do not qualify as a one-hit wonder.

"No Rain" was the only Blind Melon song to reach the Billboard Hot 100. I am flabbergasted that it only reached No. 20.