One-hit wonder

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For the Californian Punk band by the same name, see One Hit Wonder (band).

UK 45 rpm single for "Mickey" (1982) by one-hit wonder Toni Basil

CD single of the Baha Men's "Who Let the Dogs Out?"

In the music industry, a one-hit wonder is an artist generally known for only one hit single.

The hits of many one-hit wonders are novelty songs that are, to an extent, deliberately short-lived, recorded for humor or to cash in on a fad. Examples include Rick Dees’s "Disco Duck," related to the disco craze of the 1970s, C.W. McCall's "Convoy," related to the CB radio craze of the 1970s, and Buckner & Garcia’s "Pac Man Fever," related to the 1980s-era arcade game Pac Man. More commonly, however, one-hit wonders are serious-minded musicians who struggled to continue their success after their popularity waned. Some artists only had one chart success, due to their untimely death, such as Shannon Hoon of Blind Melon, and Minnie Riperton.

Because one-hit wonders are only popular for a brief time, their hits often have nostalgia value and are featured on era-centric compilations and soundtracks to period films.

One-hit wonders are normal in any era of pop music, but are most common during reigns of entire genres that do not last for more than a few years, such as disco and new wave.

Though the term is sometimes used in a derogatory manner, some fans often have a great passion for these songs and the artists that created them. Some one-hit wonder artists have embraced this following openly, while others distance themselves from their hit in an attempt to craft successful songs with different sounds, or embark on new careers as songwriters (such as Linda Perry of 4 Non Blondes), or recording industry executives (such as Gerardo).

Contents

1 Questions of definition
2 Other uses
3 Trivia
4 Lists of greatest one-hit wonders

4.1 VH1's list of \"100 greatest one-hit wonders\"
4.2 Brent Mann’s 100 \"all-time great one-hit wonders\"
4.3 Channel 4's \"50 Greatest One Hit Wonders\"

5 See also
6 References
7 External links

Questions of definition

Most music industry insiders consider a song in the top forty positions of Billboard Magazine’s Hot 100 to be a hit. Thus, any performer who only recorded one song that reached the Top 40 is, technically, a one-hit wonder. However, the term is more generally applied to musicians best known for only one song, meaning that some artists who fit the above criteria are not considered one-hit wonders, while others who do not are considered such.

In the United Kingdom, the term one-hit wonder is used to describe a singer or band who had only one hit reach the Top 20 in the UK Singles Chart, while all subsequent releases ranked no higher than No. 21; this description is therefore far more restrictive than that used in the United States, and elsewhere.

Here are some other criteria that also affect a performer’s status as a one-hit wonder:

Jimi Hendrix, Frank Zappa, Lou Reed, Janis Joplin, The Grateful Dead, Iggy Pop, Beck, and Radiohead each only had one Top 40 hit but are rarely, if ever, considered one-hit wonders. These performers are known for other successes, like album or concert ticket sales, critical acclaim, strong fan followings, or influence on other musicians.
Prominent members of popular groups who have only one solo hit typically are not seen as one-hit wonders. Steely Dan's Donald Fagen, The Lovin' Spoonful's John Sebastian, and The Beach Boys' Brian Wilson each achieved chart success only once as solo artists, but are all well-known for their contributions to music through their respective bands.
Conversely, groups led by popular solo artists are usually not called one-hit wonders. Derek & the Dominoes' sole hit "Layla" is associated with group leader Eric Clapton, who had considerable success before and after the lifespan of Derek & the Dominoes.
Performers who are successful in one country or continent, but who are known for only one song in another, are usually considered one-hit wonders in the latter. Germany’s Nena, the United Kingdom’s Frankie Goes to Hollywood and Canada’s Crash Test Dummies each had considerable success in their homelands, but are considered one-hit wonders in the United States and the United Kingdom.
Performers who are successful in specific genres, but only produce one crossover hit, are generally considered one-hit wonders by the public at large, but not by fans of their respective genres. Celtic music singer Loreena McKennitt, heavy metal band Uriah Heep, Christian rock group Jars of Clay, and country music singer Billy Ray Cyrus are each popular within their respective genres, but known to the greater public for a single song each.
Performers who had more than one Top 40 hit are sometimes considered one-hit wonders, if one song greatly overshadows the rest of their repertoire. a-ha’s "Take on Me" made the top 10 of VH1's 100 Greatest One-hit Wonders, even though the group had two Billboard Top 20 singles: "Take On Me" and "The Sun Always Shines On TV." However, "Take On Me" is much more remembered today. Similarly, Great White is sometimes called a one-hit wonder for "Once Bitten Twice Shy", but "The Angel Song" was also a Top 40 hit.
Performers like Golden Earring and Maxine Nightingale, who produce two major hits before fading into obscurity, are sometimes called 'two-hit wonders," but this term is not as common.
While the term one-hit wonder generally refers to popular music, the term is sometimes used to describe composers of classical music who are well known mostly because of a single piece of music. Extending the term to classical composers is more subjective, because there are no comparable sales rankings for classical music; there is no commonly accepted way to determine what constitutes a 'hit' in classical music. This can be determined by recording sales records, classical concert programs, play lists of classical radio stations, the number of recordings of a piece by a variety of orchestras, and familiarity to the general public.

Other uses

The term 'one-hit wonder' is occasionally used to refer to an artist, other than a musical performer, who is best known for a single work. For example, author Joseph Heller wrote several novels, but is still best known for Catch-22; while actress Natasha Henstridge has yet to match the success of the film Species.

In video games, the term 'one-hit wonder' is used to describe a video game character that dies after one hit. A good example is Billy Bob from Capcom's Gun.Smoke.

Jimmy Glass, an English football goalkeeper, who is remembered for scoring a goal in the last seconds of the final day of 1998-99 English Third Division season which kept his club Carlisle United in the Football League, relegating Scarborough F.C. to the Football Conference instead. Glass wrote an autobiography, entitled One-Hit Wonder.

Trivia

The phenomenon of one-hit wonders was celebrated in Tom Hanks' 1996 film That Thing You Do!, which featured a fictional 1960s band called The Wonders that broke up shortly after their only hit single. The name 'Wonders' was originally spelled 'One-ders', a deliberate play on the term. Ironically, while the movie was in theaters, the soundtrack (recorded under the name 'The Wonders', but actually recorded by Fountains Of Wayne) only got as high as #26 on the charts. 'The Wonders' never made it to the charts again, so they were, in a sense, both a real and fictitious one-hit wonder band.
In a stand-up routine on the Dr. Demento basement tapes, comedian Rob Paravonian humorously noted that Johann Pachelbel was the original one-hit wonder. See Pachelbel's canon.
Norman Greenbaum is a double one-hit wonder. In 1968, under the name 'Dr. West's Medicine Show and Junk Band', he had a semi-hit with the novelty song "The Eggplant That Ate Chicago" and in 1971, scored a hit under his own name with "Spirit In The Sky". Ironically, another group, Doctor and the Medics, became a one-hit wonder with their version of "Spirit In The Sky" in 1986, and British television stars The Kumars also became one-hit wonders in the UK, when they reached No. 1 with Gareth Gates with the same song in 2003.
Limahl is also a double one-hit wonder in the United States. In 1983, his band Kajagoogoo scored its only US hit with "Too Shy" (although the band had several other hits in the UK). The following year, after he had left the band, he had a solo hit with the eponymous theme to the film The NeverEnding Story.
Benny Mardones has had only one hit, "Into the Night", making him a 'one-hit wonder'; however, his song hit the Top 20 twice - in 1980 and again in 1990.
A small number of artists have the distinction of being regarded as one-hit wonders in both the US and UK, but with different songs. American husband and wife duo Art and Dotty Todd scored a hit in the UK with "Broken Wings" in 1953, but did not make it to the top forty in their homeland until "Chanson D'Amour (Song Of Love)" in 1958. Rock band Semisonic scored a US hit with "Closing Time" in 1998, but are better known in the UK for "Secret Smile, from their album Feeling Strangely Fine.
In his book One Hit Wonderland (Ebury Press, 2003), British writer and comedian Tony Hawks describes his attempts to shake off his one-hit wonder status by having another hit somewhere in the world. The book describes several aborted attempts, before he achieves a Top 20 hit in Albania with veteran comic actor Norman Wisdom.

Lists of greatest one-hit wonders

VH1's list of \"100 greatest one-hit wonders\"

In 2002, the American cable network VH1 aired a countdown of the 100 Greatest One-hit Wonders. The top ten consisted of:

Los Del Rio - "Macarena" (1996)
Soft Cell - "Tainted Love" (1982)
Dexys Midnight Runners - "Come On Eileen" (1982)
Right Said Fred - "I'm Too Sexy" (1991)
Toni Basil - "Mickey" (1982)
Baha Men - "Who Let the Dogs Out?" (2000)
Vanilla Ice - "Ice Ice Baby" (1990)
a-ha - "Take on Me" (1985)
Gerardo - "Rico Suave" (1991)
Nena - "99 Luftballons" (1984)

Brent Mann’s 100 \"all-time great one-hit wonders\"

In 2003, music journalist Brent Mann released the book [99 Red Balloons and 100 Other All-Time Great One-Hit Wonders]. The list was based on Mann’s professional opinion, and did not include many hits from the VH1 list. Instead, Mann reaches back as early as the 1950s, and includes some songs that are perhaps unfamiliar to modern audiences. He also included artists who had many hits in the United Kingdom or other markets, but not in the United States. His number one choice was "Walking In Memphis" by Marc Cohn.

Channel 4's \"50 Greatest One Hit Wonders\"

A 2006 television poll, conducted by Channel 4 in the UK, asked viewers to select their favourite one hit wonder from a shortlist of 60 [link]. Respondents could also vote by e-mail to select a song that was not on the original list, if they so wished. The top ten aired in March 2006 were:

Carl Douglas - "Kung Fu Fighting" (1974)
Nena - "99 Red Balloons" (1983)
Afroman - "Because I Got High" (2001)
The Archies - "Sugar, Sugar" (1969)
The Mock Turtles - "Can You Dig It?" (1990)
Monty Python - "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life" (1979)
Norman Greenbaum/Doctor and the Medics - "Spirit in the Sky (1970/1986)
Baha Men - "Who Let the Dogs Out?" (2000)
Men Without Hats - "The Safety Dance" (1983)
Splodgenessabounds - "Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps Please" (1980)

References

Mordden, Ethan (1980) A Guide to Orchestral Music. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195040414
[One Hit Wonders], 2003, Dg Deutsche Grammophon, catalog number 472700. The composers DG includes in this compilation are: Richard Addinsell, Tomaso Albinoni, Hugo Alfvén, Samuel Barber, Luigi Boccherini, Joseph Canteloube, Marc-Antoine Charpentier, Jeremiah Clarke, Léo Delibes, Paul Dukas, Reinhold Gliere, Ferde Grofé, Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov, Dmitri Kabalevsky, Aram Khachaturian, Edward MacDowell, Pietro Mascagni, Jules Massenet, Jean-Joseph Mouret, Carl Orff, Johann Pachelbel, Amilcare Ponchielli, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Emil Waldteufel, Peter Warlock, and Charles-Marie Widor.

External links

[One Hit Wonder Central]
[UK One Hit Wonders]
[MuchMusic TV show, One Hit Wonders]
[A selection of memorable One Hit Wonders] from music webzine CLUAS
[Ultimate One Hit Wonder page] - about 800 one hit wonders and near one hit wonders with comments and music samples

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