Greatest one-hit wonders

[natural tickler]

OK guys, we named greatest rock group, album, etc, now its time to name the greatest one-hit wonders. I know you have may, so start namin'😛

for me,

Crash Test Dummies
Meredith Brooks (could never get off the 'bitch' label
Kajagoogoo
Falco

 

[TklDuo-Drew]

Blue Suede- "Hooked on a Feeling"
Steam- "Na Na, Hey Hey,
Head East- "Never Been Any Reason"
Nantucket- "Heartbreaker"
Jasper Rath- "You"


My choices, anyway.


Drew

 

[Dave2112]

The one-hit-wonders I personally like would probably be...

"Got You Where I Want You - The Flys (A really great band that should have been more than a one-hitter...)
"Voices Carry" - 'til Tuesday
"Breakfast at Tiffany's" - Deep Blue Something
"Jealous" - Gene Loves Jezebel
"Fly Me Courageous" - Drivin' and Cryin'
"Eye of the Tiger" - Survivor (Don't laugh! Before it got ruined by the damn Rocky tie-in, it was pretty cool tune on it's own...
🙄 )
"When the Reign Comes Down" - Holy Soldier (I gurantee I'm the only one on the Forum who's heard of them...)
"I'm On To You" - Hurricane


Then are some that fall into the category of "Great" if only for thier staying power. These are the one-hit wonders that didn't go away in a year and have become bar-band standards...

"My Sharona" - The Knack
"867-5309" - Tommy Tutone
"Never Been any Reason" - Head East
"The Break-up Song" - Greg Kihn
"Day after Day" - Badfinger
"Driver's Seat" - (I don't even remeber who sang that damn thing...)
"New Girl Now" - Honeymoon Suite

Oh, you could go on and on on that catagory

 

[tactillianlover]

Berlin

 

[Neutron]

Didn't Blue Suede Have Two Hits??

I thought they sung a song about how Willy Willy Willy won't go home?

Or did The Sweet do that?


5 Man Electrical Band : The Werewolf

Paper Lace: The Night Chicago Died

Tron

 

[Coffee]

I want candy by Bow Wow Wow
Come on Ilene Dexie Midnight Runners

 

[TklDuo-Drew]

The one-hit-wonders I personally like would probably be...

"Got You Where I Want You - The Flys (A really great band that should have been more than a one-hitter...)
"Voices Carry" - 'til Tuesday
"Breakfast at Tiffany's" - Deep Blue Something
"Jealous" - Gene Loves Jezebel
"Fly Me Courageous" - Drivin' and Cryin'
"Eye of the Tiger" - Survivor (Don't laugh! Before it got ruined by the damn Rocky tie-in, it was pretty cool tune on it's own...
🙄 )
"When the Reign Comes Down" - Holy Soldier (I gurantee I'm the only one on the Forum who's heard of them...)
"I'm On To You" - Hurricane


Then are some that fall into the category of "Great" if only for thier staying power. These are the one-hit wonders that didn't go away in a year and have become bar-band standards...

"My Sharona" - The Knack
"867-5309" - Tommy Tutone
"Never Been any Reason" - Head East
"The Break-up Song" - Greg Kihn
"Day after Day" - Badfinger
"Driver's Seat" - (I don't even remeber who sang that damn thing...)
"New Girl Now" - Honeymoon Suite

Oh, you could go on and on on that catagory

Good choices , Dave. Especially Gene Loves Jezebel and Honeymoon Suite, didn't think anyone remembered those. (Sniff and the Tears did "Drivers Seat")

I'll add "Sausilto Summer Nights" by Diesel and "Starry Eyes" by The Records.


Drew

 

[The Sean Man]

"Kung Fu Fighting"- Carl Douglas

The Sean Man

 

[featherfingers]

According to the book, "One-Hit Wonders", a one-hit wonder is any performer who only made the Billboard TOP 40 charts ONCE in their recording career... so this will be a hard one for most music lovers to swallow...

My favorite ONE-HIT WONDER, based on the above information, is:

THE JIMI HENDRIX EXPERIENCE ~ "ALL ALONG THE WATCHTOWER"

 

[mistertickle123]

Signs - Five Man Electrial Band
Insense & Pepermint - Strawberry Alarm Clock
Smokin' In The Boys Room - Brownsville Station
Stuck In The Middle With You - Steeleye Span
The Boys Are Back In Town - Thin Lizzy
Play That Funky Music - Wild Cherry
Slide - Slave
Gonna Fly Now (Theme From Rocky) - Bill Conte
Couldn't Get It Right - Climax Blues Band
Funky Town - Lipps Inc.
Fire - The Crazy World of Arthur Brown
Don't You Want Me - Human League
One Thing Leads To Another - The Fixx

 

[natural tickler]

Take on Me- Aha
Butterfly-Crazy Town
Safety Dance- Men without Hats (funny video though with the midget)😛

 

[dman68]

save tonight- eagle eye cherry
sex & candy- marcy playground

 

[tkrexx]

Since I've seen several mentioned that aren't actually "One-Hitters," I'll go ahead and date myself a little. "Tracy" by the Cufflinks, a studio band whose singer was the same vocalist for the Archies. I like the Dexies, the Dummies, Deisel and Aha as well. Anyone remember "Talk-Talk," by "Talk-Talk?" Or "500 Miles," from "Benny and Joon?"

Dave, I thought Honeymoon Suite's only hit was "Bad Attitude?" And I must diagree with you about Badfinger, they had a string of hits. With the Beatles to back them, and all...The Fixx had at least 3; "Secret Separation" and my favorite, "Red Skies at Night." Ten years after "Couldn't Get It Right" (A truly kickass tune), Climax Blues Band released "I Love You," which was insanely popular for about 6 months, then never heard again except on adult softies stations. Steely Dan's lead singer was Gerry Rafferty. "My Sharona" is acknowleged as The Knack's great one of staying power, but how many guys still smile the wry one when you hear "Good Girls Don't?"

Okay, I'm done pickin' nits. I'll be good now.

Rxx

 

[natural tickler]

What's going on? by 4 non Blondes
99 luft balloons by Nena
Rico Suave by Gerardo

 

[MAJ0718]

How about McFadden and Whitehead's "Ain't No Stopping Us Now"? A note: Whitehead was killed in his native Philadelphia neighborhood this past May. Also "I Just Died (In Your Arms Tonight)" by The Cutting Crew.

Mark
a.k.a. MAJ0718

 

[the_Baron]

i'll stop the world and melt with you (modern english)

life in a northern town (the dream academy)

cruel to be kind (nick lowe)

billy, don't be a hero (bo donaldson and the heywoods)

saturday night (the bay city rollers)

seasons in the sun (terry jacks)

brandy (looking glass)

 

[leafstk]

Tears for Fears, lol 😀

 

[Mimi]

Heh....I remember Honeymoon Suite, too, but the song of theirs -I- was gonna list was "What Does It Take". Perhaps they were not a one-hit wonder if three of us all remember them having one hit, but they are of three different songs? LOL

Some others that would top my list...

"Lets Go All The Way" - Sly Fox
"Tarzan Boy" - Baltimore
"One Night in Bangkok" - Murray Head
"Funky Town" - Psuedo Echo (SO much better than the original, IMO)
"Wouldn't it be good" - Nick Kershaw
"Fooled Around and Fell In Love" - Elvin Bishop
"At This Moment" - Billy Vera and the Beaters
"More Than Words Can Say" - Alias
"When I'm With You" - Sheriff
"Tainted Love" - Soft Cell
"Relax" - Frankie Goes to Hollywood
"Break My Stride" - Matthew Wilder
"Run Run Away" - Slade (their only hit I can remember, not sure if they can be considered a one hit wonder, though)


There are tons more, I'm sure. Isn't it funny how your mind draws a total blank when you're REALLY trying to think of something??

Mimi 🙂

 

[featherfingers]

Ever heard of anyone being a One-Hit Wonder twice?
A guy named Johnny Cymbal had his one and only hit with a song called "Mr. Bass Man" in 1963. Five years later he changed his name to Derek and had a hit with "Cinnamon".

Special mention goes to Eric Clapton, who formed Derek & The Dominos. They had their one and only hit with "Layla". No one would call Eric Clapton a one hit wonder, though.

 

[steph]

"Rock Me Amadeus" Falco
"Somebody's Watching Me" Rockwell

I LOVED Honeymoon Suite!
XOXO

 

[MsDivaNYC]

80s were chock full of them...

Men Without Hats- 'Safety Dance'
Madness- 'Our House'

...and the guys who did 'C'mon Eileen'

 

[dskodj]

I've seen Falco mentioned here a few times as a 1 hit wonder...he actualy is a legend in Germany (and one of my alltime fave artists) and in the US he had more than 1 hit..he had "Der Kommissar" (before ATF covered it in 82 in english and in a more rock style), "Rock Me Amadeus", "Vienna Calling" and "The Sound Of Musik" which all cracked the US pop top 40 charts.

Also, Berlin has had 2, technicly 3 hits if ya wanna count club charts in US..but as for pop charts we have "The Metro" (1982) and "Take My Breath Away". For the club charts in late 82/early 83 there was "Sex" (which in more recent times has been played on retro radio stations).