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Favorite one-hit wonder artists?
There's tons of one hit wonder artists out there. Those who made one or two hits but then faded into obscurity.
Have any of you ever pursued these artists' other music, and if so, who stood out to you the most?
For me it's Marcy Playground. They had the smash hit Sex and Candy and also much lesser known but still played frequently Saint Joe On The Schoolbus. They should have been more recognized because the self titled debut record these songs are from is flawless. They could picked at random for singles since there's not a bad track to be found. Their few later albums are really good as well. They never deserved obscurity IMO.
I work with their bassist. He keeps his platinum record for Sex and Candy at his desk.
That's awesome but did the single go platinum or the whole self titled record?
I don't think they count as one hit wonders.
Certainly not one hit wonders.
A couple of other songs by them that I like are Brother in Arms and Romeo & Juliet.
I wonder if they would have made it "big" if their singer hadn't died. Sad story.
See also: Mother Love Bone.
Blind Melon's Blind Melon, and Soup were pretty big records when they came out. His death may have brought in some extra publicity, but I wouldn't attribute their success to Hoon's death.
No, you're reading me backwards: I think they would have been bigger if he hadn't died.
oh! that makes sense. I totally agree.
My favorite one-hit wonder artist is probably Irma Thomas. Her only big national hit was I Wish Someone Would Care. But she had a bunch of other great tunes that were successful in and around New Orleans, and has had a long career that still continues to this day. And her voice was and still is amazing. She really is one of the best soul singers ever.
But my favorite song by a one-hit wonder might be I Put A Spell On You by Screamin' Jay Hawkins.
Every time I listen to Savage Garden I think of two things:
The band got their name from the Rice novel, and one of the first gifts my wife gave me when we got together was their albums. She wanted to make sure I understood that Australia had more to offer musically than AC/DC. :)
And she picked Savage Garden to demonstrate Australian music?
It's certainly different from AC/DC.
But Midnight Oil, Men at Work, John Butler Trio, Crowded House*, Cold Chisel and Jimmy Barnes' solo work, Icehouse, Little River Band...
*shared by New Zealand because bloody Aussies never gonna steal Neil Finn.
Men at Work made it to the States, and I've got at least one of their albums on vinyl. :)
Don't forget The Triffids!
I didn't fall in love with her for her taste in music. :)
My wife is Indian. I completely relate.
My favorite one hit wonder artists is OK GO. Their albums are really good especially the first two. It's been awhile since I listened to it so Id have to look up which one I liked better than the other. But there was one where every single song was incredible.
For old, but not too old one hit wonders, Soft Cell (Tainted Love), Dexy's Midnight Runners (Come on Eileen) and Nena (99 Red Balloons / Luftballons) come to mind.
Once we leave former top-40, I'd have to say that Avi Buffalo (What's In It For?) is probably my favorite. I've followed his somewhat quiet career ever since, but nothing past this track was big in the indie world.
Nena had several big hits and is playing big gigs in Germany.
Do we count Eve 6? They kinda had two hits, Inside Out was big and than Here's to the Night was even bigger. I wish they'd keep making more music, but it's clear that the guys consider the band just a thing they have to do rather than what they like based on their side projects.
Reptilla, by The Strokes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8-tXG8KrWs
The Strokes became popular in a very weird and interesting time in music. The economy had just gone bad, and popular music in general was shifting away from metal over to disco (Slipknot -> MGMT -> Daft Punk/Random Access Memories). But for a very short time- 2008 - 2010- it genuinely looked like Grunge might make a comeback of sorts under the guise of lo-fi.
Alas, it never happened. Rock went full disco with MGMTs "Electric Feel", then dropped off the face of the fucking Earth altogether and went completely underground. I don't know of a single mainstream rock song created by a relatively new rock band that has reached the billboard top 100 in nearly a decade (So, Foo Fighters don't count).
Rock as a genre, in the mainstream, simply no longer exists.
Another one hit wonder that came out at this time was "Ride" by The Vines: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KL_dI3GtB4o
Anecdotally speaking, the result is that people such as myself who graduated high school around 2007 - 2010 all really like rock music- but most people I've met who graduated before or after do not.
Not a one hit wonder. 'Is This It' is one of the influential albums of the 21st century so far.