Timeless one hot wonders

[Barking Spiders]

whoops, typo there but it still kinda works

Obviously most one hit wonders are cheesy novelty tunes that either fizzle out forever or manage to make their way onto wedding party playlists e.g. Hey Macarena. Then there are a few that become classics and even though the performers still maintain long careers they never trouble the charts again even though their other singles might be even better than the hit. So, which hits do you rate and which other singles by the same acts do you reckon should've also been as big. To kick things off...

Blue Oyster Cult - Reaper is still a staple of rock radio but I always though Godzilla should've charted seeing as it came from a RIAA gold disc album.

The Vapors -Turning Japanese is now a bit of an evergreen but I was surprised when the follow up News At 10 never charted, what with being off the same album and with a sound that should've appealed to Jam fans.

Edited November 26, 2019 by Barking Spiders

[Twigman]

Golden Earring - Radar Love

 

I do have an album called Golden Earring's greatest hits but to be frank I don't rate much else and can see why they were one hit wonders.

 

they have a surprisingly extensive discography!!

https://www.discogs.com/artist/247009-Golden-Earring

Edited November 26, 2019 by Twigman

[Teebs]

Hocus Pocus by Focus

(I assume it was a one-hit wonder anyway )

[Flat Al]

I think Sylvia was almost a hit for Focus too.

[Teebs]

Just now, Flat Al said:

I think Sylvia was almost a hit for Focus too.

I wasn't sure, but I'm probably wrong then

[Guest]

Black Betty by Ram Jam.

[Oopsdabassist]

27 minutes ago, Flat Al said:

I think Sylvia was almost a hit for Focus too.

House Of The King from focus 3 was also used as the them tune for a TV series back in the day, can't remember what it was, but Miriam Stoppard was on it.

[RGW2012]

In the Meantime by Spacehog - great track but they didn't seem to follow up with anything of note!

[Rich]

41 minutes ago, Twigman said:

Golden Earring - Radar Love

 

I do have an album called Golden Earring's greatest hits but to be frank I don't rate much else and can see why they were one hit wonders.

 

they have a surprisingly extensive discography!!

https://www.discogs.com/artist/247009-Golden-Earring

Back in the day, Mrs Rich saw Golden Earring with Focus in support. Apparently the Earrings were dull and Focus totally blew them off stage.

 

[fleabag]

Anita Ward - Ring My Bell , perhaps ?

[fleabag]

Black Box - Ride On Time

[Twigman]

I was going to nominate Tommy James and the Shondells - Crimson and Clover but then I realised they did the original of I think We're Alone Now - but was it a hit for them or was the cover version (Tiffany?) the only hit version?

 

Edited November 26, 2019 by Twigman

[Rageofklugman]

How about Stiltskin - Inside. I had the album on cassette and it wasn't bad, but seeing as none of the other songs featured on a jeans advert they were never heard from again.

[dave_bass5]

My Sharona - the Knack

[Muzz]

One with a TV tie-in: Nantucket Sleigh Ride by Mountain...

[BrunoBass]

21 minutes ago, Muzz said:

One with a TV tie-in: Nantucket Sleigh Ride by Mountain...

Excellent track 

[BrunoBass]

Unbelievable by EMF still fills the floor, sounds great and although it’s very much of it’s time it hasn’t dated badly. I know they had a few minor hits too, but Unbelievable was the one big hit and one song they’re really known for. Number 1 in the USA, Top 3 in the UK and pretty much every other country with a singles chart. And scarily, it’s nearly thirty years old...

Edited November 26, 2019 by BrunoBass

[Oopsdabassist]

37 minutes ago, Rageofklugman said:

How about Stiltskin - Inside. I had the album on cassette and it wasn't bad, but seeing as none of the other songs featured on a jeans advert they were never heard from again.

We are just learning that one to add to our set, oddly I had never heard it before....shows just how much attention I pay to adverts I guess.......

[BrunoBass]

It seems a true One Hit Wonder, by definition, is an artist that’s had one UK number single, and then nothing else. 
 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_one-hit_wonders_on_the_UK_Singles_Chart

 

I must admit I’m familiar with very few of these from 2010 onwards.

[Teebs]

I Am the One and Only - Chesney Hawkes

[Hellzero]

Please Please Me - The Beatles.

Wonder if they are still on dole ?

 

 

 

 

 

[Rageofklugman]

26 minutes ago, Oopsdabassist said:

We are just learning that one to add to our set, oddly I had never heard it before....shows just how much attention I pay to adverts I guess.......

It might depend on your age! It was in a Levi's advert in the mid-nineties at a time when that pretty much guaranteed you a number 1 off the back of it. Still a good song though.

[EliasMooseblaster]

Sleeping Satellite by Tamsin Archer.

Doesn't seem to get a great deal of radio play these days. I'd more or less forgotten about it until a few years ago, when the band shared a bill with a singer who included it in her set. The lyrics make no sense, and the production pigeonholes it very much to the '90s, but I can't deny it's a good tune.

[Barking Spiders]

scuse me people. the OP isn't meant to be about just naming one hit wonders but it's about the ones you rate  AND ALSO what other singles released by the same bands should've been hits but sank without trace

e.g.

House of Pain, best known for Jump Around but the follow up Shamrock and Shenanigans is just as good...IMO

 

[Ant1972]

53 minutes ago, BrunoBass said:

Unbelievable by EMF still fills the floor, sounds great and although it’s very much of it’s time it hasn’t dated badly. I know they had a few minor hits too, but Unbelievable was the one big hit and one song they’re really known for. Number 1 in the USA, Top 3 in the UK and pretty much every other country with a singles chart. And scarily, it’s nearly thirty years old...

Their second album "stigma" is awesome and still sounds great.