Music Blog : One Hit Wonders

08/17/07
Music Blog : One Hit Wonders
Previously on Music Blog : The All Time Masters - http://blog.2old2play.com/Permalink/1265/13690

The One Hit Wonders is about as tough as it gets. You see, there are - by my count - almost 1,400 out of 4,660 songs that qualify as "one hit wonders", or an artist or group that only has a single song that makes it to the Top 100 and then is never heard from again (at least not on the Top 100). I wish I could do the "No" Hit Wonders because there are some absolutely mind boggling names on the list, Led Zeppelin not the least of them.

The ground rules - for this list I focused on the top 11 (don't ask why 11) for any given year between 1970 and 1999. That alone filters the list down to 65 from 1,400. Unfortunately, duets and misspellings will count as one hit wonders, sometimes incorrectly. The list also thinks that major debuts in 1999 ended there (I'm looking at you, Christina Aguilera, and perhaps we all would have been better off if that had been the case) I've done my best to filter those out.

The 1970's

1971 - 06 - Raiders - Indian Reservation (The Lament Of The Cherokee Reservation)
1971 - 11 - Janis Joplin - Me And Bobby McGee
1972 - 05 - Sammy Davis Jr - Candy Man
1972 - 09 - Melanie - Brand New Key
1972 - 10 - Wayne Newton - Daddy Don't You Walk So Fast
1973 - 06 - Kris Kristofferson - Why Me
1973 - 11 - Vicki Lawrence - The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia
1974 - 02 - Terry Jacks - Seasons In The Sun
1974 - 07 - MFSB - TSOP (The Sound Of Philadelphia)
1976 - 05 - Wild Cherry - Play That Funky Music
1976 - 10 - Walter Murphy & The Big Apple Band - A Fifth Of Beethoven
1977 - 03 - Emotions - Best Of My Love
1977 - 05 - Hot - Angel in Your Arms
1977 - 07 - Thelma Houston - Don't Leave Me This Way
1977 - 09 - Alan O'Day - Undercover Angel
1977 - 10 - Mary MacGregor - Torn Between Two Lovers
1978 - 03 - Debby Boone - You Light Up My Life
1978 - 05 - Exile - Kiss You All Over
1978 - 09 - A Taste of Honey - Boogie Oogie Oogie
1979 - 01 - The Knack - My Sharona
1979 - 05 - Peaches And Herb - Reunited
1979 - 09 - Anita Ward - Ring My Bell

My favorite from that list would have to be My Sharona.

The 1980's

1980 - 05 - Captain & Tenille - Do That To Me One More Time
1980 - 08 - Lipps, Inc - Funkytown
1981 - 11 - Joey Scarbury - Greatest American Hero
1982 - 11 - Soft Cell - Tainted Love
1983 - 09 - Michael Sembello - Maniac
1984 - 11 - John Waite - Missing You
1985 - 05 - Chaka Khan - I Feel For You
1985 - 10 - A-Ha - Take On Me
1986 - 03 - Klymaxx - I Miss You
1986 - 07 - Eddie Murphy - Party All the Time
1987 - 03 - Gregory Abbott - Shake You Down
1987 - 06 - Robbie Nevil - C'est La Vie

Wow, so many great songs in that list, but I have to go with Maniac by Michael Sembello.

The 1990's

1990 - 03 - Sinead O'Connor - Nothing Compares 2 U
1991 - 05 - Timmy T - One More Try
1991 - 06 - EMF - Unbelievable
1992 - 02 - Sir Mix-A-Lot - Baby Got Back
1992 - 03 - Kriss Kross - Jump
1993 - 09 - Wreckx-N-Effect - Rump Shaker
1993 - 10 - Snow - Informer
1994 - 06 - Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories - Stay
1995 - 11 - Dionne Farris - I Know
1996 - 04 - The Tony Rich Project - Nobody Knows
1996 - 11 - Quad City DJ's - Come On Ride The Train
1997 - 08 - Mark Morrison - Return Of The Mack
1999 - 06 - Sixpence None The Richer - Kiss Me

My personal favorite would have to be Return of the Mack by Mark Morrison, which is a little ironic when you think about - the song title is "Return of the Mack". Well how could he return to some place he'd never been (and would never go again)?

I have to say my all time favorite one hit wonder that didn't actually make this list is Kiss The Rain by Billie Myers from 1998. It might be horribly trite and formulaic but it still gives me chills every time I listen to it.

Not sure what I'll do for my next music blog. I'm thinking about diving into individual years to see where certain artists just take over the music charts for a period of time.