One Hit Wonders

[Richard1978]

Re: Help!

God yeah, I remember this... Spagna sang it. I remember it playing in a disco the night I got my Leaving Cert results in June '87 (like the Uk A Levels).

I've still got that on a tape (1 of a few) of the Radio 1 chart show. I transferred all the unique stuff from those tapes to my hard drive a couple of year ago.

Owen Paul infamously missed his cue to sing on Pebble Mill (not at 1 by that time), which has been featured on a couple of clips shows.

[mark1970]

Re: One Hit Wonders

oh dear lord. Anyone who managed to get the pole position in vice city generating revenue knows this song only too well...

:d:d:d

[memoman]

Re: One Hit Wonders

Or have just one hit.
I think The Buggles had just one hit single though i know they made more than one album

Sherbet were one hit wonders in the U.K weren't they? (HOWZAT!)
Their follow up single YOU'VE GOT THE GUN flopped due to lack of airplay (or so i read) over there but was a hit here as were most of their records

I don't strictly agree with that defination,Wiklipedia have their opinion

One-hit wonder - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Flutterby]

Re: One Hit Wonders

YouTube - Pussycat - Mississippi (Original Promo)

Hello!
this is one of my fave ...
one hit wonders.

[vanhelsing]

Re: One Hit Wonders

The old buy one get one free compilation albums from th3 very early '80s're full of one hit wonders that nobody ever hears from ever again and for some reason they delibeately get ignored or forgetten about by the people who compile the CDs for HMV. I've been lucky to get hold of
Bang Bang (B.A Roberston)*
Dance Yourtself Dizzy (LIquid Gold)**
and find the Piranha's cover of zambesi, Chalkdust and O, Superman on Youtube.
Why don't they release an obscure '80s CD compilation instead of putting all the usual stuff on?

*More Vintage Cheese
** And they Danced the night away
(Good luck in finding them/getting hold of them)

[Richard1978]

Re: One Hit Wonders

I've found that some obscure 1980s songs haven't been released on CD ever, & probably not on iTunes.

The best way to find them is on vinyl, especically from bargin boxes at record fairs, where stall owners stick all their stock that isn't listed in the guides as being worth anything.

A few times I've paid pocket change for an LP just for one song.

I've got a working turntable so I can transfer them onto minidisc or to my computer via some special software.

[ClaudineJones]

Re: One Hit Wonders

I don't know if it made it into the charts but does anyone remember this one from The Dots? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3XiK...os=te4QNXW-sPU Delightfully 80's

[Austin Maxi]

Re: One Hit Wonders

There are some classics on this thread.

I haven't seen a mention of 'Dance Hall Days' by Wang Chung. I know Wang Chung had more success over in the states, with other songs such as 'Everybody Have Fun Tonight', and released several albums in the '80s - such as 'Points On A Curve', 'Mosaic', the soundtrack to 'To Live & Die In L.A.' and 'The Warmer Side Of Cool' ('Big World' on the last of these albums is a classic song), but as far as I'm aware 'Dance Hall Days' was their only British hit.

Anyone remember 'I Don't Mind At All' by Bourgeois Tagg?

[stuckinthe80's]

Re: One Hit Wonders

I have to say Owen Paul's 'My Favourite Waste Of Time' has to be one of those songs that stick in your head classics.
Do any of you remember a song called 'Platinum Blonde'? I can't find it on youtube and no one remembers is. The words go something like this...
(I forget the first verse but the first chorus goes like this)
'Mother and Father, I'm doing alright, I'm goin' away for a while so don't write. It's not for the money you know, it's a respectable show called
the platinum blonde. Can you read between the lines?
Can you read between the lines? Can you read between the liiiines'
It's about this girl who goes off to do some nudey stuff on stage somewhere but lets on to her parents she's doing some kind of play. Her parents arrive to watch her show without her knowing and are disgusted. Her father waits behind the stage door and shoots her only to arrive home to find a letter from her saying how she feels **** and wants to come home.
'Through the red lights and smoke on the stage, he watched his daughter perform, in shame and rage, he turned his head away. He could almost hear her say...Mother and Father you've got it all wrong, I like it right here this is where I belong. It might not be Shakespeare but I'm happier here as the Platinum Blonde'....Can you read between the lines.....etc.
Then when he goes home he finds the letter saying -
'Mother and Father I'm coming back home, I've missed you so much and I've been so alone. I always knew you were right, this is my very last night as The Platinum Blonde'. This song depressed me as did 'Hello this is Joany'.

Isn't this by a band called 'Prelude'? I had the single. It had a white cover with huge red lips on the front!

[Bristol RE]

Re: One Hit Wonders

Soft Cell and Musical Youth were not one hit wonders. They had quite a few other hits, including some in the top 10.

Soft Cell had 'Say Hello, Wave Goodbye', 'Bedsitter', 'Torch', and 'What'. Check them out, they are often better than 'Tainted Love'. They were influenced by Marc Almond's love of northern soul.

[Bristol RE]

Re: One Hit Wonders

I remember Wang Chung and Bourgeois Tag. They both should have achieved more.

[stockportyears]

Re: One Hit Wonders

Great thread, only up to page 24, all the posters are older ones I don't recognise. Let's revive this for the current crowd...

Of the ones mentioned, 'Feels Like Heaven' and 'The First Picture of You' are two of the best songs ever. I'd actually be a bit scared of hearing any more Fiction Factory or Lotus Eaters, as they couldn't possibly be as good as the songs they had hits with. I downloaded Feels Like Heaven, but baulked at listening to more than one thirty second clip of their other tracks, as the one I heard sounded a bit rubbish. Best remember them for that one piece of perfection.

Which I think is the point of a one-hit wonder. If they were truly a good artist, we would at least of heard of other songs from them, even if they weren't hits. John Farnham, for example, is thought of as a one-hit wonder here, but I've heard other songs of his and they're excellent. Just never got publicised in this country.
But sometimes, somebody has just one really good song inside them, and it's unfair to expect them to match it with a career or even an album's worth. If I'd written 'The First Picture of You', I simply wouldn't want to write anything else, as I'd know I couldn't match it.

Nowadays, commercial pressure is such that people get handed five album deals (that invariably have get out clauses for the record company after two) on the strength of one or two songs. Look at the Feeling (out of our date range, but an example). They came out with a lovely first album with two really magical pop hits, but I think they were pressured into bringing out their second album too soon, so it was rushed and tbh pretty awful - you really couldn't even guess they were from the same songwriter, there's such a dip in quality. Now everybody hates them, instead of remembering them fondly as good one or two hit wonders.

[darren]

Re: One Hit Wonders

one i remember is whigfield with saturday night.

[Richard1978]

Re: One Hit Wonders

I think Whigfield had some other hits, but nothing as big as Saturday Night.

It was the first song in the UK charts to go straight to #1 by an artist who hadn't previously charted, apart from the first ever chart & any charity ensambles.

[dwain-dibley]

Re: One Hit Wonders

falko-rock me amadeus
blackfoot sue-standing in the road
space-magic fly..french band not the uk one
landscape-einstien ago go
pink floyd-another brick in the wall

got a mp3 dvd full of one hit wonders