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Timeless one hot wonders


Barking Spiders

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5 hours ago, Twigman said:

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?

 

Having checked out the facts:

Tommy James and the Shondells had one number one hit in UK : Mony Mony

 

Hanky panky reached #1 in the US but only #38 in UK

I think we're alone now - did not chart in UK if it was ever released - Lene Lovich recorded it on the B-side of Lucky Number and Tiffany had 3 weeks at #1 with her version of it.

 

 

Crimson and Clover reached #1 in US but did not chart in UK if it was ever released.

 

One of my other bands did a cracking cover of it

 

Edited by Twigman
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2 hours 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.

The reason they were one hit wonders was that the band was put together off the back of the advert music. IIRC the track didn't even have lyrics for the jeans advert, but there was so much interest after the ad that the songwriter threw a band together, whacked some lyrics on the one tune they had and threw a load more filler in there.

It was reasonably well known at the time and seen by lots of people as pretty cynical and not very "authentic" - shows how long ago it was :)

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4 hours ago, Barking Spiders said:

 

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.

Especially so, considering their links with The Jam. Apparently when they reformed a while back they went down really well. Annoyingly they were on that bit too late at Rebellion for me to see them.

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1 hour ago, adamg67 said:

The reason they were one hit wonders was that the band was put together off the back of the advert music. IIRC the track didn't even have lyrics for the jeans advert, but there was so much interest after the ad that the songwriter threw a band together, whacked some lyrics on the one tune they had and threw a load more filler in there.

It was reasonably well known at the time and seen by lots of people as pretty cynical and not very "authentic" - shows how long ago it was :)

I always assumed that Smashing Pumpkins' Today was what the jeans company wanted, but the band said 'NO!!!'

So the marketing bods got an unknown to record something with the same chords / distorted guitar pattern.

I'm probably wrong... :/

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2 hours ago, skankdelvar said:

Three timeless one-hit wonders from the Sixties:

Spirit In The Sky
Eve of Destruction
San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)
 

Wasn't Spirit in the Sky also a one hit wonder for Doctor and the Medics? I wonder if there are others that were a one hit wonder for one band and were subsequently a one hit wonder for another band?

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1 minute ago, Roger2611 said:

I wonder if there are others that were a one hit wonder for one band and were subsequently a one hit wonder for another band?

Or how about as I posted up there^^^  A one hit wonder (1 UK #1) who had one of their other songs covered which went to #1 for someone else and they became one hit wonders

 

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40 minutes ago, Teebs said:

I always assumed that Smashing Pumpkins' Today was what the jeans company wanted, but the band said 'NO!!!'

So the marketing bods got an unknown to record something with the same chords / distorted guitar pattern.

I'm probably wrong... :/

I think the Smashing Pumpkins thought the same as you. According to AllMusic: Pumpkin leader Billy Corgan went as far as announcing from the stage at a 1994 show in Munich, "Hi, we're Stiltskin."

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1 hour ago, Roger2611 said:

Wasn't Spirit in the Sky also a one hit wonder for Doctor and the Medics?

Well remembered.

I'd been thinking of the Greenbaum original very much to the exclusion of anything else, possibly in a subconscious attempt to forget the Gareth Gates version (with The Kumars, my how we laughed) which in its guise as the 2003 Comic Relief single also got to #1 in the charts despite being as much fun as an outbreak of Ebola at CenterParcs.

 

Edited by skankdelvar
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