the most emotionally affecting music is what was popular when I was 13
May 20, 2015 8:46 PM Subscribe
25 One-Hit Wonders From The '90s & Early 2000s You Totally Forgot Existed
The Complete List of True One-Hit Wonders - "Sixty artists who achieved the No. 1 song on the Billboard pop chart, then disappeared into obscurity"
90s One Hit Wonders - Where Are They Now?
The Death Of The One-Hit Wonder
The Complete List of True One-Hit Wonders - "Sixty artists who achieved the No. 1 song on the Billboard pop chart, then disappeared into obscurity"
90s One Hit Wonders - Where Are They Now?
The Death Of The One-Hit Wonder
I still hear quite a few of these on the radio. Granted, I'm a compulsive dial-changer when I'm in the car, but as usual, headlines saying "You Forgot" or "You Love This" or "You Hate That" never actually speak to me personally. I'd love for that whole headline style to die in a fire now, please.
Great collection, though. Thank you for posting!
posted by scaryblackdeath at 8:54 PM on May 20, 2015 [4 favorites]
Great collection, though. Thank you for posting!
posted by scaryblackdeath at 8:54 PM on May 20, 2015 [4 favorites]
I can't be friends with someone who thinks of Fountains of Wayne as a one-song band.
posted by escabeche at 8:55 PM on May 20, 2015 [58 favorites]
posted by escabeche at 8:55 PM on May 20, 2015 [58 favorites]
Interesting mix of the well and goodly forgotten and the not-so-much (we all remember Mambo Number 5, no matter how mad we may be about that fact).
Though, actually, I'll forgive Mambo Number 5, since it ultimately gave us this.
posted by Itaxpica at 8:55 PM on May 20, 2015 [10 favorites]
Though, actually, I'll forgive Mambo Number 5, since it ultimately gave us this.
posted by Itaxpica at 8:55 PM on May 20, 2015 [10 favorites]
I mean "Radiation Vibe" hit #14 on the US alternative charts!
posted by escabeche at 8:56 PM on May 20, 2015 [11 favorites]
posted by escabeche at 8:56 PM on May 20, 2015 [11 favorites]
I think I heard One Headlight on the radio yesterday. I certainly hadn't forgotten about many of these songs (in the sense that, if you name the song, I can probably hum it), but I'm not exactly wishing that Semisonic or Kris Kross would've put out more hits. But yeah, screw Lou Bega.
posted by axiom at 9:00 PM on May 20, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by axiom at 9:00 PM on May 20, 2015 [3 favorites]
The pop music station in my home town (AAALLLL the GREATEST hitz from the 80's 90's and ToDAY) would play half these songs endlessly, and probably still do today. Especially "Closing Time" "Breakfast at Tiffany's" and "The Way"
posted by hellojed at 9:04 PM on May 20, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by hellojed at 9:04 PM on May 20, 2015 [3 favorites]
I don't know about The Wallflowers as a one-hit wonder. I also remember "6th Avenue Heartache", and their cover of Bowie's "Heroes" being bigger than "One Headlight"
posted by holybagel at 9:05 PM on May 20, 2015 [20 favorites]
posted by holybagel at 9:05 PM on May 20, 2015 [20 favorites]
You Would Think All This ’90s Nostalgia Would Mean More Album Sales For Ol’ Fastball
posted by naju at 9:12 PM on May 20, 2015 [12 favorites]
posted by naju at 9:12 PM on May 20, 2015 [12 favorites]
My middle school science teacher tried to teach us some sort of sex ed lesson to go along with that Lisa Loeb song. I'm still not sure quite what, but by the end most of us were just waiting to get out of there.
posted by downtohisturtles at 9:15 PM on May 20, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by downtohisturtles at 9:15 PM on May 20, 2015 [1 favorite]
Stacy’s Mom a "gem"? *boggle*
and if ONLY I could for get that "I'm Blue" song. If only. That is right up there with that Santana feat. Rob Thomas song "smooth" and the Macarena.
posted by cj_ at 9:16 PM on May 20, 2015 [2 favorites]
and if ONLY I could for get that "I'm Blue" song. If only. That is right up there with that Santana feat. Rob Thomas song "smooth" and the Macarena.
posted by cj_ at 9:16 PM on May 20, 2015 [2 favorites]
Did Ric Ocasek produce "Stacy's Mom"? I always thought the production was very Cars-like.
I don't know about The Wallflowers as a one-hit wonder
Agreed. Anyway, I never got the idea that the term is a putdown. One hit is one more than most artists have. You can have, say, "Ode To Billie Joe", or you can have nothing.
posted by thelonius at 9:16 PM on May 20, 2015 [1 favorite]
I don't know about The Wallflowers as a one-hit wonder
Agreed. Anyway, I never got the idea that the term is a putdown. One hit is one more than most artists have. You can have, say, "Ode To Billie Joe", or you can have nothing.
posted by thelonius at 9:16 PM on May 20, 2015 [1 favorite]
I ended up working for the producer of Rump Shaker. I will never forget it.
posted by grumpybear69 at 9:16 PM on May 20, 2015 [8 favorites]
posted by grumpybear69 at 9:16 PM on May 20, 2015 [8 favorites]
I'm always weirded out by mentions of Semisonic as one hit wonders since I just think of them as being the band formed by half of Trip Shakespeare after they broke up, had a few good songs and a drummer with a rubber face.
posted by ursus_comiter at 9:17 PM on May 20, 2015 [7 favorites]
posted by ursus_comiter at 9:17 PM on May 20, 2015 [7 favorites]
For a brief three months During the Fall of 1998, I worked the cafe at Barnes and Noble in Phoenix, AZ. The general manager fancied himself an arbiter of taste and thought he was always being clever by playing "Closing Time" to signal that the store was closing. To this day, I hear the opening piano and the lyric "So gather up your jackets and move it to the exits/I hope you have found a friend" when I smell a mocha latte.
posted by zooropa at 9:21 PM on May 20, 2015 [8 favorites]
posted by zooropa at 9:21 PM on May 20, 2015 [8 favorites]
OK, the license plate at 0:24 in the "Stacy's" video says: "I *heart* Ric"
posted by thelonius at 9:23 PM on May 20, 2015
posted by thelonius at 9:23 PM on May 20, 2015
Make that "25 One-Hit Wonders From The '90s & Early 2000s You Totally Forgot Existed Totally Remember All The Words To And Are Now Singing"
I have a very strong memory of being age 13 and using some sort of song-downloading-0.1 (was it Audiology? Audiogalaxy? Some crazy Windows program you had to run separately?) to search and download Blu Cantrell - Hit 'Em Up Style. Ah, memories.
posted by Zephyrial at 9:28 PM on May 20, 2015 [17 favorites]
I have a very strong memory of being age 13 and using some sort of song-downloading-0.1 (was it Audiology? Audiogalaxy? Some crazy Windows program you had to run separately?) to search and download Blu Cantrell - Hit 'Em Up Style. Ah, memories.
posted by Zephyrial at 9:28 PM on May 20, 2015 [17 favorites]
From "the Death of the One-hit Wonder" I would not at all have expected that songs stay in the top 100 for longer now than they used to. That's the opposite of what I would have predicted.
posted by RobotHero at 9:31 PM on May 20, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by RobotHero at 9:31 PM on May 20, 2015 [1 favorite]
By this point in my life i think i was 37 years old. I had been waiting since I was like 13 years old playing the drums in my attic to have a rock star moment and that was it.
– Semisonic's Jacob Slichter remembers the Clearmountain Pause in "Closing Time"
posted by parrishioner at 9:32 PM on May 20, 2015 [14 favorites]
– Semisonic's Jacob Slichter remembers the Clearmountain Pause in "Closing Time"
posted by parrishioner at 9:32 PM on May 20, 2015 [14 favorites]
Dan Wilson, the lead singer of Semisonic, has done all right for himself since; he co-wrote and produced "Somebody Like You," for Adele, winning an Album of the Year Grammy as a result. He also won a Song of the Year Grammy for "Not Ready to Make Nice" which he co-wrote with the Dixie Chicks. That's a pretty decent second act.
posted by jscalzi at 9:32 PM on May 20, 2015 [17 favorites]
posted by jscalzi at 9:32 PM on May 20, 2015 [17 favorites]
This is probably the best chance I'm ever gonna have to post my theory about "Closing Time" as an instance of Noam Chomsky's theory of the trace.
posted by escabeche at 9:33 PM on May 20, 2015 [12 favorites]
posted by escabeche at 9:33 PM on May 20, 2015 [12 favorites]
Semisonic drummer Jacob Slichter wrote a decent memoir of the experience of being a one hit wonder.
posted by Chrysostom at 9:36 PM on May 20, 2015
posted by Chrysostom at 9:36 PM on May 20, 2015
If you like one hit wonders, Todd of Todd's Pop Song Reviews "One Hit Wonderland" series is pretty good.
Take On Me - A-Ha
Baby Got Back - Sir Mix A Lot
Kung Fu Fighting - Carl DOuglas
Come On Eileen - Dexys Midnight Runners
Rico Suave - Gerardo
Achy Breaky Heart - Billy Ray Cyrus
The Safety Dance - Men Without Hats
Play That Funky Music - Wild Cherry
Monster Mash - Bobby Pickett
Tubthumping - Chumbawamba
Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer - Elmo & Patsy
Party All The Time - Eddie Murphy
Closing Time - Semisonic
Me and Mrs. Jones - Billy Paul
It's Raining Men - The Weather Girls
Cotton Eye Joe - Rednex
Unbelievable - Emf
I Ran (So Far Away) - Flock of Seagulls
I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) - The Proclaimers
To Be with You - Mr Big
In A Gadda Da Vida - Iron Butterfly
Who Let the Dogs Out? - Baha Men
Somebody's Watching Me - Rockwell
Smooth Criminal - Alien Ant Farm
You Light Up My Life - Debby Boone
You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) - Dead Or Alive
Walking In Memphis - Marc Cohn
How Bizarre - OMC
Float On - The Floaters
Ghetto Supastar - Pras
Absolutely (Story of a Girl) - Nine Days
Groove Is in the Heart - Deee-Lite
Just a Friend - Biz Markie
Informer - Snow
Hooked on a Feeling - Blue Swede
Maniac - Michael Sembello
Lullaby - Shawn Mullins
Word Up - Cameo
Blue (Da Ba Dee) - Eiffel 65
St. Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion) - John Par
posted by Tenuki at 9:42 PM on May 20, 2015 [42 favorites]
Take On Me - A-Ha
Baby Got Back - Sir Mix A Lot
Kung Fu Fighting - Carl DOuglas
Come On Eileen - Dexys Midnight Runners
Rico Suave - Gerardo
Achy Breaky Heart - Billy Ray Cyrus
The Safety Dance - Men Without Hats
Play That Funky Music - Wild Cherry
Monster Mash - Bobby Pickett
Tubthumping - Chumbawamba
Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer - Elmo & Patsy
Party All The Time - Eddie Murphy
Closing Time - Semisonic
Me and Mrs. Jones - Billy Paul
It's Raining Men - The Weather Girls
Cotton Eye Joe - Rednex
Unbelievable - Emf
I Ran (So Far Away) - Flock of Seagulls
I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles) - The Proclaimers
To Be with You - Mr Big
In A Gadda Da Vida - Iron Butterfly
Who Let the Dogs Out? - Baha Men
Somebody's Watching Me - Rockwell
Smooth Criminal - Alien Ant Farm
You Light Up My Life - Debby Boone
You Spin Me Round (Like a Record) - Dead Or Alive
Walking In Memphis - Marc Cohn
How Bizarre - OMC
Float On - The Floaters
Ghetto Supastar - Pras
Absolutely (Story of a Girl) - Nine Days
Groove Is in the Heart - Deee-Lite
Just a Friend - Biz Markie
Informer - Snow
Hooked on a Feeling - Blue Swede
Maniac - Michael Sembello
Lullaby - Shawn Mullins
Word Up - Cameo
Blue (Da Ba Dee) - Eiffel 65
St. Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion) - John Par
posted by Tenuki at 9:42 PM on May 20, 2015 [42 favorites]
and if ONLY I could for get that "I'm Blue" song. If only. That is right up there with that Santana feat. Rob Thomas song "smooth" and the Macarena.
What's the song where the guy keeps saying "...and swim through your veins like a fish in the sea"? Holy F did that gross me out the first time, and then it was on heavy rotation for like, 2 years.
posted by 3urypteris at 9:49 PM on May 20, 2015
What's the song where the guy keeps saying "...and swim through your veins like a fish in the sea"? Holy F did that gross me out the first time, and then it was on heavy rotation for like, 2 years.
posted by 3urypteris at 9:49 PM on May 20, 2015
What's the song where the guy keeps saying "...and swim through your veins like a fish in the sea"?
That's Uncle Kracker, "Follow Me".
I wish I didn't know that, but here we are.
posted by PsychoTherapist at 9:55 PM on May 20, 2015 [24 favorites]
That's Uncle Kracker, "Follow Me".
I wish I didn't know that, but here we are.
posted by PsychoTherapist at 9:55 PM on May 20, 2015 [24 favorites]
I feel like Len's "Steal My Sunshine" should be in there somewhere.
posted by Wataki at 10:02 PM on May 20, 2015 [44 favorites]
posted by Wataki at 10:02 PM on May 20, 2015 [44 favorites]
I wish I didn't know that, but here we are.
As a second order effect, I wish that I hadn't read this comment, because then I wouldn't have remembered that I know that.
posted by brennen at 10:11 PM on May 20, 2015 [6 favorites]
As a second order effect, I wish that I hadn't read this comment, because then I wouldn't have remembered that I know that.
posted by brennen at 10:11 PM on May 20, 2015 [6 favorites]
I can't find it now, but the last demographically-tuned one-hit-wonders-of-our-teenaged-years thread I remember here was amazing, so I just want to briefly endorse any impulses towards a re-hashing of that theme. Shit has been getting a little heavy on the old MeFi of late.
posted by brennen at 10:15 PM on May 20, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by brennen at 10:15 PM on May 20, 2015 [1 favorite]
I feel like Len's "Steal My Sunshine" should be in there somewhere.
Hello, Wataki. We have among us a pleasant spring, do you not agree? Pleasantries aside, you have made a powerful enemy this day.
posted by the uncomplicated soups of my childhood at 10:16 PM on May 20, 2015 [54 favorites]
This is the thread where we all hurt each other with music
posted by The Whelk at 10:21 PM on May 20, 2015 [10 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 10:21 PM on May 20, 2015 [10 favorites]
Hahahaha, I'm didn't even hear or pay attention to a lot of these when they came out so no nostalgia trip for me!
In other words, this makes me realize that I'm now old enough that what counts for nostalgia nowadays still feels "new" to me.
posted by treepour at 10:22 PM on May 20, 2015 [1 favorite]
In other words, this makes me realize that I'm now old enough that what counts for nostalgia nowadays still feels "new" to me.
posted by treepour at 10:22 PM on May 20, 2015 [1 favorite]
Wataki: "I feel like Len's "Steal My Sunshine" should be in there somewhere."
For it to make a list of songs that people totally forgot existed, it would first have to stop being unremovably stuck in the head of anyone who's ever heard it, which I don't believe is the case, or even possible.
posted by Copronymus at 10:25 PM on May 20, 2015 [7 favorites]
For it to make a list of songs that people totally forgot existed, it would first have to stop being unremovably stuck in the head of anyone who's ever heard it, which I don't believe is the case, or even possible.
posted by Copronymus at 10:25 PM on May 20, 2015 [7 favorites]
What about Wheatus - Teenage Dirtbag?
posted by namewithoutwords at 10:30 PM on May 20, 2015 [20 favorites]
posted by namewithoutwords at 10:30 PM on May 20, 2015 [20 favorites]
What's the song where the guy keeps saying "...and swim through your veins like a fish in the sea"?
That's Uncle Kracker, "Follow Me".
I wish I didn't know that, but here we are.
posted by PsychoTherapist at 13:55 on May 21 [+] [!]
My brother and I still occasionally rib our mom for buying his album based on that single, but then why should she have expected anything other than the single that was constantly playing on the radio?
posted by DoctorFedora at 10:33 PM on May 20, 2015
That's Uncle Kracker, "Follow Me".
I wish I didn't know that, but here we are.
posted by PsychoTherapist at 13:55 on May 21 [+] [!]
My brother and I still occasionally rib our mom for buying his album based on that single, but then why should she have expected anything other than the single that was constantly playing on the radio?
posted by DoctorFedora at 10:33 PM on May 20, 2015
I'd love for that whole headline style to die in a fire now, please.
I know! There's this assumption that I'm a millennial woman who is achingly nostalgic for Britney and Blink 182 and The Fresh Prince and shit like that, and who has "forgotten" or "never heard of" all this stuff I know. Please stop assuming I am that young and that dumb, Internet!
posted by Ursula Hitler at 10:34 PM on May 20, 2015 [7 favorites]
I know! There's this assumption that I'm a millennial woman who is achingly nostalgic for Britney and Blink 182 and The Fresh Prince and shit like that, and who has "forgotten" or "never heard of" all this stuff I know. Please stop assuming I am that young and that dumb, Internet!
posted by Ursula Hitler at 10:34 PM on May 20, 2015 [7 favorites]
I'll see your Steal My Sunshine And raise you a Better Days.
posted by usonian at 10:41 PM on May 20, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by usonian at 10:41 PM on May 20, 2015 [2 favorites]
namewithoutwords: "What about Wheatus - Teenage Dirtbag ?"
Any tweens who may have wandered into this conversation may know it as a One Direction song, but rest assured that Wheatus was there first.
posted by Copronymus at 10:43 PM on May 20, 2015
Any tweens who may have wandered into this conversation may know it as a One Direction song, but rest assured that Wheatus was there first.
posted by Copronymus at 10:43 PM on May 20, 2015
Hard to believe they left out one-hit-wonders Looking Glass whose 1972 hit "Brandy" was a gigantic hit during that summer. It's always on these lists.
posted by Seekerofsplendor at 10:49 PM on May 20, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by Seekerofsplendor at 10:49 PM on May 20, 2015 [3 favorites]
I honest and truly love Len's first two albums. It's weird and incredibly white Canadian hip hop mixed with random DJ pop collage, but damn if it's not catchy. Then the main guy put out another album on Spotify that was mostly him in a cheap lofi mic asking people if they remember his band. It wasn't flattering...
posted by downtohisturtles at 10:52 PM on May 20, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by downtohisturtles at 10:52 PM on May 20, 2015 [1 favorite]
I feel like the main link on this post just proves how idiosyncratic these nostalgia songs really are. Granted, I wasn't 13 in 2005, but a few of these songs really hit that note for me, while most just did not.
Plus, the standard seemed to be pretty broad, and the list spanned 1992-2004, leaving a lot of room to ask "what about 'We Were Only Freshmen'? What about that one cover of 'Video Killed the Radio Star?'"
posted by salvia at 10:58 PM on May 20, 2015 [3 favorites]
Plus, the standard seemed to be pretty broad, and the list spanned 1992-2004, leaving a lot of room to ask "what about 'We Were Only Freshmen'? What about that one cover of 'Video Killed the Radio Star?'"
posted by salvia at 10:58 PM on May 20, 2015 [3 favorites]
Oh we're raising the stakes, are we?
OK BARBIE LET'S GO PARTY
posted by carsonb at 11:04 PM on May 20, 2015 [21 favorites]
OK BARBIE LET'S GO PARTY
posted by carsonb at 11:04 PM on May 20, 2015 [21 favorites]
Also,
White Town - (I Could Never Be) Your Woman
posted by carsonb at 11:05 PM on May 20, 2015 [23 favorites]
White Town - (I Could Never Be) Your Woman
posted by carsonb at 11:05 PM on May 20, 2015 [23 favorites]
What about Wheatus - Teenage Dirtbag?
Wheatus is still around. They played this song on The Chris Gethard Show about a year ago.
posted by dogwalker at 11:14 PM on May 20, 2015 [1 favorite]
Wheatus is still around. They played this song on The Chris Gethard Show about a year ago.
posted by dogwalker at 11:14 PM on May 20, 2015 [1 favorite]
I LOVE AQUA I DONT CARE WHO KNOWS IT IT IS THE HAPPIEST MUSIC IN THE WORLD
GET HAPPY!
posted by The Whelk at 11:15 PM on May 20, 2015 [16 favorites]
GET HAPPY!
posted by The Whelk at 11:15 PM on May 20, 2015 [16 favorites]
deep in his basement lab, Lou Bega considers the many mambos the world isn't ready for....
posted by The Whelk at 11:16 PM on May 20, 2015 [24 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 11:16 PM on May 20, 2015 [24 favorites]
Actually, you know what is an odd Musical artifact? Those Nouvelle Vauge albums where they took punk and new wave music and arranged it like 60s boss nova and lounge and got French girls who didn't speak English to sing covers and it was everywhere and oh how we laughed, how cool and hip to hear these covers of Echo And The Bunnymen but then kept making those and more time passed and now they're just literally elevator music and Muzak. It went full circle! It got de-ironized!
posted by The Whelk at 11:19 PM on May 20, 2015 [8 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 11:19 PM on May 20, 2015 [8 favorites]
18. Silverchair, “Tomorrow”
What? So I guess if you ignore Freak, Abuse Me, Ana's Song, Anthem for the Year 2000 I guess they're a one hit wonder.
OK BARBIE LET'S GO PARTY
I'm sorry but I gotta stop you there. Aqua delivered an absolute string of hits that reliably charted in multiple countries. Barbie Girl into Dr Jones into Lollipop into Turn Back Time into Cartoon Heroes into Around the World into Bumble Bees. Then they went silent for nearly a decade, came back to the scene with Back to the 80s and the shortly after that awesome album Megalomania which hasn't generated hit singles but some well out of character but fucking awesome tracks like Playmate to Jesus and (Fuck Me) Like a Robot.
Søren Rasted is a figurative god amongst producers (like any good Scandinavian musician) and it shows with Aqua's songs.
posted by Talez at 11:20 PM on May 20, 2015 [15 favorites]
What? So I guess if you ignore Freak, Abuse Me, Ana's Song, Anthem for the Year 2000 I guess they're a one hit wonder.
OK BARBIE LET'S GO PARTY
I'm sorry but I gotta stop you there. Aqua delivered an absolute string of hits that reliably charted in multiple countries. Barbie Girl into Dr Jones into Lollipop into Turn Back Time into Cartoon Heroes into Around the World into Bumble Bees. Then they went silent for nearly a decade, came back to the scene with Back to the 80s and the shortly after that awesome album Megalomania which hasn't generated hit singles but some well out of character but fucking awesome tracks like Playmate to Jesus and (Fuck Me) Like a Robot.
Søren Rasted is a figurative god amongst producers (like any good Scandinavian musician) and it shows with Aqua's songs.
posted by Talez at 11:20 PM on May 20, 2015 [15 favorites]
If these are the "forgotten" songs of the era, what are the "remembered" ones? A lot of these songs strike me as the kind of earworm-y, still-popular stuff that would definitely be on the soundtrack of a movie about somebody who got conked on the head and woke up in 2003.
Steal My Sunshine freaked me out because I heard it for months and the singer sounded so much like a woman to me, and then I saw the video years later and was like, "Whaaaa...?" (The shock there wasn't nearly as great as Hot Child in the City, though. I grew up hearing that song on classic rock radio, and the singer sounds so much like a sexy lady that even when you see him you're like, "Wait, though... is anybody sure he had a penis?")
posted by Ursula Hitler at 11:21 PM on May 20, 2015
Steal My Sunshine freaked me out because I heard it for months and the singer sounded so much like a woman to me, and then I saw the video years later and was like, "Whaaaa...?" (The shock there wasn't nearly as great as Hot Child in the City, though. I grew up hearing that song on classic rock radio, and the singer sounds so much like a sexy lady that even when you see him you're like, "Wait, though... is anybody sure he had a penis?")
posted by Ursula Hitler at 11:21 PM on May 20, 2015
Aqua is, by far, the single greatest workout music ever. It needs to be in a museum, nothing has ever been that slick, that polished, and that addictive.
posted by The Whelk at 11:22 PM on May 20, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 11:22 PM on May 20, 2015 [2 favorites]
Although if you're looking for a one hit wonder of Barbie Girl may I suggest Sam Kekovich and Melissa Tkautz?
posted by Talez at 11:22 PM on May 20, 2015
posted by Talez at 11:22 PM on May 20, 2015
Did Ric Ocasek produce "Stacy's Mom"? I always thought the production was very Cars-like.
According to Wikipedia, the producers were Adam Schlesinger, Mike Denneen, and Chris Collingwood. Schlesinger said the song was a tribute to The Cars.
posted by bryon at 11:22 PM on May 20, 2015 [2 favorites]
According to Wikipedia, the producers were Adam Schlesinger, Mike Denneen, and Chris Collingwood. Schlesinger said the song was a tribute to The Cars.
posted by bryon at 11:22 PM on May 20, 2015 [2 favorites]
I mean if you want something really forgotten y need like, what was it Sarah C said in the last thread, a novelty boy band that sung about Jennifer Love Hewiett - something so hothouse and specific to the time and tastes it could only exist for six weeks in June in 1997.
You need REAL one offs. you need the Rico Sauave of 98'
posted by The Whelk at 11:23 PM on May 20, 2015 [3 favorites]
You need REAL one offs. you need the Rico Sauave of 98'
posted by The Whelk at 11:23 PM on May 20, 2015 [3 favorites]
The same friend who turned me onto Nirvana, Sound Garden, Manson, NiN, Garbage, the Femmes, the Ramones, et al., was completely obsessed with Aqua, and forced me to listen to all of the songs. They were kind of insane genius.
posted by brennen at 11:24 PM on May 20, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by brennen at 11:24 PM on May 20, 2015 [3 favorites]
If you want an incredibly intelligent, brilliant yet completely meta track from Aqua try Dirty Little Pop Song which is unapologetically slathered in three layers of irony.
posted by Talez at 11:28 PM on May 20, 2015
posted by Talez at 11:28 PM on May 20, 2015
Like if you want the perfect example of a late 90s (defined as 95'-01) one hit wonder that is very of its time that GOT STEADY PLAY but NOT ANYMORE it would have to be like, not by someone who is now considered cool or who had success in a non-mainstream genre and still has it, not someone who has gone to great success doing other things, not even a goofy novelty song like Lou Bega cause everyone likes goofy novelty SONG....It would have to be something that could reliably reach the top five for one week in like 97 and then was never heard again.
Like we're basically looking for a shitty nurock song here.
posted by The Whelk at 11:30 PM on May 20, 2015 [5 favorites]
Like we're basically looking for a shitty nurock song here.
posted by The Whelk at 11:30 PM on May 20, 2015 [5 favorites]
I mean the more forgotten stuff is the neo-garage rock revival throwback stuff partly cause it's a little too out of place on pop stations and partly cause we finally killed guitar music, it only took a few decades but he killed it and it is dead and over forever the end. (Until the next revival)
posted by The Whelk at 11:36 PM on May 20, 2015
posted by The Whelk at 11:36 PM on May 20, 2015
So Søren Rasted started a band with his nephew called "Hej Matematik" (the name of a primary school maths book) and made a few nifty tracks including my favourite, Sikke en Fest which I strongly maintain that it needed to be translated and released into the Anglophone markets because it's just got this catchy as hell Europop thing going on with this majestic buildup then and then the drop. Oh it's just so good.
posted by Talez at 11:37 PM on May 20, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Talez at 11:37 PM on May 20, 2015 [2 favorites]
Like we're basically looking for a shitty nurock song here.
?
posted by brennen at 11:37 PM on May 20, 2015
?
posted by brennen at 11:37 PM on May 20, 2015
Why did I just know that was going to be a papa roach video I just knew
posted by The Whelk at 11:39 PM on May 20, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by The Whelk at 11:39 PM on May 20, 2015 [5 favorites]
I totally edited it to the video I was trying to link but copied some weird one. Does that qualify as an acceptable typofix? Crap.
posted by brennen at 11:41 PM on May 20, 2015
posted by brennen at 11:41 PM on May 20, 2015
Why did I just know that was going to be a papa roach video I just knew
I mean, if you were to incarnate the Platonic ideal of "shitty nurock".
posted by brennen at 11:42 PM on May 20, 2015 [1 favorite]
I mean, if you were to incarnate the Platonic ideal of "shitty nurock".
posted by brennen at 11:42 PM on May 20, 2015 [1 favorite]
Well, based on a rough mixture of Wikipedia diving and personal remembrances I think perhaps this might fit The Whelk's criteria:
Rome- I Belong To You (Every Time I See Your Face)
Wikipedia on Rome's career
Alas it isn't nu rock
posted by Doleful Creature at 11:43 PM on May 20, 2015
Rome- I Belong To You (Every Time I See Your Face)
Wikipedia on Rome's career
Alas it isn't nu rock
posted by Doleful Creature at 11:43 PM on May 20, 2015
Hoobastank?
No, wait.
Crazytown- Butterfly
posted by kittensofthenight at 11:45 PM on May 20, 2015 [4 favorites]
No, wait.
Crazytown- Butterfly
posted by kittensofthenight at 11:45 PM on May 20, 2015 [4 favorites]
sorry
posted by kittensofthenight at 11:45 PM on May 20, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by kittensofthenight at 11:45 PM on May 20, 2015 [2 favorites]
And OMC isn't forgotten. It's played all the time on Pride FM. I'm not sure how the song is gay though. Maybe because the Kiwis are so obsessed about sexing during Cricket and that appeals to the gay community? Can someone help me out here?
posted by Talez at 11:46 PM on May 20, 2015
posted by Talez at 11:46 PM on May 20, 2015
"You got me sprung with you tongue ring..."
I wish we has SJWs and a tumblr in the late 90s. Ugh.
posted by kittensofthenight at 11:47 PM on May 20, 2015 [3 favorites]
I wish we has SJWs and a tumblr in the late 90s. Ugh.
posted by kittensofthenight at 11:47 PM on May 20, 2015 [3 favorites]
Ugh. Chumbawumba aren't a one hit wonder either you ignorant yanks. They're a two-hit wonder because Top of the World was fucking EVERYWHERE during World Cup '98.
posted by Talez at 11:49 PM on May 20, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by Talez at 11:49 PM on May 20, 2015 [4 favorites]
That Rome track feels like a shitty mid 90s R&B thing that got lost in time, so not the vibe we're going for in UNDERSTANDABLY FORGOTTEN LATE 90s THEATRE
crazytown: Butterflies is a lot closer, I also feel like we need a really bad syrupy ballad, like so bad it can't even be used for satirical or camp purposes cause it's just unlistenable but it was put out by like, someone with a name (I am thinking of Jennifer Lopez specifically) so it got on the radio.
posted by The Whelk at 11:49 PM on May 20, 2015
crazytown: Butterflies is a lot closer, I also feel like we need a really bad syrupy ballad, like so bad it can't even be used for satirical or camp purposes cause it's just unlistenable but it was put out by like, someone with a name (I am thinking of Jennifer Lopez specifically) so it got on the radio.
posted by The Whelk at 11:49 PM on May 20, 2015
That Rome track feels like a shitty mid 90s R&B thing that got lost in time
That's because the percussion and chord structure seems to be ripped almost verbatim from K-Ci & Jo Jo's All My Life.
posted by Talez at 11:52 PM on May 20, 2015
That's because the percussion and chord structure seems to be ripped almost verbatim from K-Ci & Jo Jo's All My Life.
posted by Talez at 11:52 PM on May 20, 2015
Maybe Comedy Bang Bang has ruined this one but perhaps It's Been A While fits?
posted by kittensofthenight at 11:52 PM on May 20, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by kittensofthenight at 11:52 PM on May 20, 2015 [1 favorite]
Bookhouse: "I almost feel bad about this."
Brookhouse wins the thread, but I'll submit Caroline's Spine - Sullivan and Spacehog - In The Meantime as consolation prizes.
I also feel obligated to mention Indeep - Last Night A DJ Saved My Life though that's obviously from quite longer ago.
posted by namewithoutwords at 11:54 PM on May 20, 2015 [3 favorites]
Brookhouse wins the thread, but I'll submit Caroline's Spine - Sullivan and Spacehog - In The Meantime as consolation prizes.
I also feel obligated to mention Indeep - Last Night A DJ Saved My Life though that's obviously from quite longer ago.
posted by namewithoutwords at 11:54 PM on May 20, 2015 [3 favorites]
Let's see, what other usually-on-these-lists bands need defending? How about The Rentals?
Marcy Playground?
Crash Test Dummies?
posted by carsonb at 11:59 PM on May 20, 2015
Marcy Playground?
Crash Test Dummies?
posted by carsonb at 11:59 PM on May 20, 2015
Bookhouse: "I mean if you guys want to party"
Er, this is Brookhouse winning the thread. sorry.
posted by namewithoutwords at 12:00 AM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
Er, this is Brookhouse winning the thread. sorry.
posted by namewithoutwords at 12:00 AM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
I always thought Breakfast at Tiffany's was a Better than Ezra song. How could I have been wrong? Berenstain Bears indeed.
posted by kittensofthenight at 12:06 AM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by kittensofthenight at 12:06 AM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
The Darkness for all the wins, forever.
posted by biddeford at 12:08 AM on May 21, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by biddeford at 12:08 AM on May 21, 2015 [3 favorites]
I will always rue the day that slightly shitty dinner in the west village called Breakfast At tiffany's closed cause it always reminded me of the song and hey, that's a nice little ditty.
posted by The Whelk at 12:08 AM on May 21, 2015
posted by The Whelk at 12:08 AM on May 21, 2015
Several of these are stretching the one-hit wonder definition but Blu Cantrell's inclusion is particularly ridiculous - Breathe has way more listens on Spotify than Hit 'Em Up Style does...
posted by garlicsmack at 12:11 AM on May 21, 2015
posted by garlicsmack at 12:11 AM on May 21, 2015
I remember being dissapointed, at the time (as a freshman in college? Jesus...) that The Darkness' turned out to be a novelty act and not a fun retro pop metal band. I would file it alongside Tenacious D- good musicians, fun songs, but not a Real Band and therefore False Metal.
In the end posers are people too but still for a second I wanted there to be a pop metal revival in the same way that The Strokes and The White Stripes pumped blood into garage rock.
posted by kittensofthenight at 12:13 AM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
In the end posers are people too but still for a second I wanted there to be a pop metal revival in the same way that The Strokes and The White Stripes pumped blood into garage rock.
posted by kittensofthenight at 12:13 AM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
Weirdly considering how much groundwork was done by groups like the darkness I wouldn't be surprised if that's what we all move to in like three? Years? We're due for a traditionalist revival and pop metal hasn't had a day in the sun for a while now sooooo
posted by The Whelk at 12:16 AM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by The Whelk at 12:16 AM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
I mean we're currently inside a cultural rediscovery of R&B, in particular that kind of mid 90s stuff, and also like Prince, but prince is always unchanging and eternal so that doesn't count.
posted by The Whelk at 12:19 AM on May 21, 2015
posted by The Whelk at 12:19 AM on May 21, 2015
I know it's not actual hit stuff, but when I think of Chumbawamba, I always think of English Rebel Songs over Tubthumping. How a band as political as Chumbawamba got to be a one-hit wonder over a song about drinking confuses me.
Also Nouvelle Vague is fun to listen to and awesome in concert (I will never forget dancing on the tables at World Cafe Live) and I will fight you if you tell me I can't like them now that their irony is dead.
posted by immlass at 12:36 AM on May 21, 2015 [2 favorites]
Also Nouvelle Vague is fun to listen to and awesome in concert (I will never forget dancing on the tables at World Cafe Live) and I will fight you if you tell me I can't like them now that their irony is dead.
posted by immlass at 12:36 AM on May 21, 2015 [2 favorites]
Although if you're looking for a one hit wonder of Barbie Girl may I suggest Sam Kekovich and Melissa Tkautz?
Opening this up to Australian songs opens up a whole 'nother can of worms
posted by retrograde at 12:53 AM on May 21, 2015 [2 favorites]
Opening this up to Australian songs opens up a whole 'nother can of worms
posted by retrograde at 12:53 AM on May 21, 2015 [2 favorites]
Like who could forget Britney Spears, Spice Girls, NSync or Backstreet Boys? No one ever, that’s who.
Aw, Jeez, she answered my rhetorical question right there in the article and it didn't stick in my head. Don't I feel like a dummy now!
Also, she answered it with bands I must admit I would be just fine forgetting, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind-style. (OK, so I'd lose Baby One More Time, which I'll confess I actually like. But I think it'd be worth the sacrifice.)
posted by Ursula Hitler at 1:23 AM on May 21, 2015
Aw, Jeez, she answered my rhetorical question right there in the article and it didn't stick in my head. Don't I feel like a dummy now!
Also, she answered it with bands I must admit I would be just fine forgetting, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind-style. (OK, so I'd lose Baby One More Time, which I'll confess I actually like. But I think it'd be worth the sacrifice.)
posted by Ursula Hitler at 1:23 AM on May 21, 2015
You know, I never had any opinion about One Direction one way or the other, but after hearing the crime against humanity they performed with that version of "Teenage Dirtbag", I hate them with the fiery passion of a thousand suns.
posted by cthuljew at 1:28 AM on May 21, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by cthuljew at 1:28 AM on May 21, 2015 [3 favorites]
I just listened to Steal My Sunshine for the first time in like 9 years, and now I'm surprised I was once so convinced the singer was a woman. Admittedly his voice does sound kind of like a husky lady, but not that much. (Maybe it had something to do with the fact that I mostly heard the song playing at bone-rattling, nuance-obscuring volume in clubs.)
The Hot Child in the City guy still sounds like he should be some Blondie-esque hot chick wearing platform boots, though.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 1:44 AM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
The Hot Child in the City guy still sounds like he should be some Blondie-esque hot chick wearing platform boots, though.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 1:44 AM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
Though, actually, I'll forgive Mambo Number 5, since it ultimately gave us this.
oh, my god. what have you done
posted by EndsOfInvention at 1:48 AM on May 21, 2015 [3 favorites]
oh, my god. what have you done
posted by EndsOfInvention at 1:48 AM on May 21, 2015 [3 favorites]
This takes the cake. Early 80's flashback warning.
posted by Mr. Yuck at 1:57 AM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Mr. Yuck at 1:57 AM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
This morning I tried to answer the question "What song is to me, as Breakfast at Tiffany's is to my daughter"*
I mean, it's only 90's right, that's pretty recent.
Nope, the answer is Three steps to Heaven by Eddie Cochrane .
It's a fun game to play if you want to feel very very old.
*Breakfast at tiffany's was Number 1 in the summer 19 years before her birth.
Three streps to Heaven was number 1 in the summer 19 years before my birth.
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 2:00 AM on May 21, 2015 [3 favorites]
I mean, it's only 90's right, that's pretty recent.
Nope, the answer is Three steps to Heaven by Eddie Cochrane .
It's a fun game to play if you want to feel very very old.
*Breakfast at tiffany's was Number 1 in the summer 19 years before her birth.
Three streps to Heaven was number 1 in the summer 19 years before my birth.
posted by Just this guy, y'know at 2:00 AM on May 21, 2015 [3 favorites]
One if my favorite fun facts: Closing Time is actually about pregnancy and birth.
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 2:54 AM on May 21, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 2:54 AM on May 21, 2015 [4 favorites]
I'm a bit shocked that someone just got away with calling The Proclaimers a one-hit-wonder, and not a single Scottish mefite said a word.
It's like insinuating to a Welshman that he knows his sheep really well, and not in return getting a lecture on the abusive nature of national stereotypes.
posted by Eleven at 3:46 AM on May 21, 2015 [12 favorites]
It's like insinuating to a Welshman that he knows his sheep really well, and not in return getting a lecture on the abusive nature of national stereotypes.
posted by Eleven at 3:46 AM on May 21, 2015 [12 favorites]
I'm a bit shocked that someone just got away with calling The Proclaimers a one-hit-wonder
"I wanna gie mahh-reeed . . . "
posted by Herodios at 3:56 AM on May 21, 2015
"I wanna gie mahh-reeed . . . "
posted by Herodios at 3:56 AM on May 21, 2015
Well, a lot of these aren't one hit wonders in other countries.
I went out with someone as a student who was really into classical music - not my thing, but even so, when round at his for the first time I had a look at his CD collection. He had a total of two pop albums - one being The Shirehorses, which were song parodies, and the other being the Len album.
posted by mippy at 4:26 AM on May 21, 2015
I went out with someone as a student who was really into classical music - not my thing, but even so, when round at his for the first time I had a look at his CD collection. He had a total of two pop albums - one being The Shirehorses, which were song parodies, and the other being the Len album.
posted by mippy at 4:26 AM on May 21, 2015
Re: Chumbawamba - something I was reading a while ago suggested Denim's Summer Smash would have been the big silly season chart hit of '97, were it not for the crash that killed Diana bumping it off the radio.
One of the comments under that video:
maskof 2 years ago
The Illuminati only wish they could have this kind of genuine talent, instead of the mindless brain cancer producing music they foist on the public.
posted by mippy at 4:29 AM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
One of the comments under that video:
maskof 2 years ago
The Illuminati only wish they could have this kind of genuine talent, instead of the mindless brain cancer producing music they foist on the public.
posted by mippy at 4:29 AM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
Wait...Secret Smile wasn't a hit in the US? I still hear that on the radio every time I get a haircut.
posted by mippy at 4:32 AM on May 21, 2015
posted by mippy at 4:32 AM on May 21, 2015
Seems to me that a few things complicate matters here. One is that one country's one-hit wonder can be another's solid chart act, and in an international meeting-place like Mefi that's a recipe for trouble. Another is that it's easy nowadays to look up lists of songs that reached number one in any particular year or decade (for some countries), and to find the acts that only ever had one of them, but it isn't so easy to bring up lists of all top ten hits; you'll usually have to look up songs and bands individually to get that level of detail, and internet list-makers often can't be bothered. A band with several top ten hits but only one number one, or only one in one particular country, might then get unfairly called a one-hit wonder.
Beyond that, though, it feels wrong to call an act a one-hit wonder if he, she or they went on to record album after album that sold well to an appreciative fan-base. Surely the pure one-hit wonder is a hit song by an act that had no other hits and didn't stick around for very long. Even better would be the platonic ideal of one-hit-wonderful: a massive world-wide hit that was the artist's only recorded single, released shortly before they were struck down by a rogue meteorite.
posted by rory at 4:34 AM on May 21, 2015 [3 favorites]
Beyond that, though, it feels wrong to call an act a one-hit wonder if he, she or they went on to record album after album that sold well to an appreciative fan-base. Surely the pure one-hit wonder is a hit song by an act that had no other hits and didn't stick around for very long. Even better would be the platonic ideal of one-hit-wonderful: a massive world-wide hit that was the artist's only recorded single, released shortly before they were struck down by a rogue meteorite.
posted by rory at 4:34 AM on May 21, 2015 [3 favorites]
"Actually, you know what is an odd Musical artifact? Those Nouvelle Vauge albums.."
They came out around 2005-6. In the UK at least, the easy listening revival happened a decade earlier - Andy Williams had a top 10 hit in the UK after one of his songs was used in an ad, and the Mike Flowers Pops got to No.1 with a musak-y cover of Wonderwall.
I always think that each decade's commercial pop culture borrows from the childhood years of the ones making it. In the 90s, bad observational comics talked about Spangles and Pulp dressed in charity shop crimplene. The 80s went through a fifties phase - Back to the Future, Athena posters of James Dean posing next to a car. This decade? Any kitsch 80s and 90s star you can think of is now appearing in ads - Kevin Bacon, Jean Claude Van Damme, Arnold Schwarzenegger and David Hasselhoff for BT - and when they aren't, there's a winsome ironic acoustic cover playing over it. Doritos ads parody East 17 songs. Teenagers not born when Kurt Cobain shot himself and L7 flung tampons are making albums that sound like grunge and riot grrrl. And the shops are full of the clothes I saw in Just 17 as a teenager, but never had access to buy.
It's what happens when your peers grow up and start being the ones that are making and marketing things.
posted by mippy at 4:45 AM on May 21, 2015 [6 favorites]
They came out around 2005-6. In the UK at least, the easy listening revival happened a decade earlier - Andy Williams had a top 10 hit in the UK after one of his songs was used in an ad, and the Mike Flowers Pops got to No.1 with a musak-y cover of Wonderwall.
I always think that each decade's commercial pop culture borrows from the childhood years of the ones making it. In the 90s, bad observational comics talked about Spangles and Pulp dressed in charity shop crimplene. The 80s went through a fifties phase - Back to the Future, Athena posters of James Dean posing next to a car. This decade? Any kitsch 80s and 90s star you can think of is now appearing in ads - Kevin Bacon, Jean Claude Van Damme, Arnold Schwarzenegger and David Hasselhoff for BT - and when they aren't, there's a winsome ironic acoustic cover playing over it. Doritos ads parody East 17 songs. Teenagers not born when Kurt Cobain shot himself and L7 flung tampons are making albums that sound like grunge and riot grrrl. And the shops are full of the clothes I saw in Just 17 as a teenager, but never had access to buy.
It's what happens when your peers grow up and start being the ones that are making and marketing things.
posted by mippy at 4:45 AM on May 21, 2015 [6 favorites]
A lot of those songs are on the lite rock stations regularly. Disappointing list, and I demand my 45 seconds back.
posted by jpe at 4:48 AM on May 21, 2015
posted by jpe at 4:48 AM on May 21, 2015
That TaTu song is still excellent, but then I love everything Trevor Horn has laid a hand on.
Bands here not one-hit wonders this side of the pond:
Semisonic (Secret Smile is much, much better known here, and they also had that godawful chemistry puns song)
Crazy Town - well, the lead singer did a song with Paul Oakenfold that was a big hit
Macy Gray
The Darkness
posted by mippy at 4:48 AM on May 21, 2015
Bands here not one-hit wonders this side of the pond:
Semisonic (Secret Smile is much, much better known here, and they also had that godawful chemistry puns song)
Crazy Town - well, the lead singer did a song with Paul Oakenfold that was a big hit
Macy Gray
The Darkness
posted by mippy at 4:48 AM on May 21, 2015
OK, I'm gonna click on this list and if that one inexplicable post-grunge #1 with kind of Lemmy-like vocals isn't on here... I guess I'll keep it all inside.
posted by comealongpole at 4:57 AM on May 21, 2015
posted by comealongpole at 4:57 AM on May 21, 2015
I've always thought that an interesting series for the AV Club or a similar site would be in-depth, track-by-track reviews of the albums that one hit wonders come from.
posted by HeroZero at 5:22 AM on May 21, 2015 [6 favorites]
posted by HeroZero at 5:22 AM on May 21, 2015 [6 favorites]
You know that each artist thought that their one hit was going to be the start of a big recording career and you wonder about that moment when the light went off and they realized that their one big moment was already past them.
posted by octothorpe at 5:33 AM on May 21, 2015
posted by octothorpe at 5:33 AM on May 21, 2015
Hahahaha, I'm didn't even hear or pay attention to a lot of these when they came out so no nostalgia trip for me!
Same here. I gave up on radio and pop in general at about when Milli Vanilli was a thing. I don't recognize many of the song titles people are talking about here, and several of the bands I've heard of but I couldn't identify them by sound.
posted by Foosnark at 5:34 AM on May 21, 2015
Same here. I gave up on radio and pop in general at about when Milli Vanilli was a thing. I don't recognize many of the song titles people are talking about here, and several of the bands I've heard of but I couldn't identify them by sound.
posted by Foosnark at 5:34 AM on May 21, 2015
My eyes don't see Bustle.
posted by clvrmnky at 5:37 AM on May 21, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by clvrmnky at 5:37 AM on May 21, 2015 [3 favorites]
I will always rue the day that slightly shitty dinner in the west village called Breakfast At tiffany's closed cause it always reminded me of the song and hey, that's a nice little ditty.
I remember that place and as I recall I think I kind of liked it.
posted by dances with hamsters at 5:56 AM on May 21, 2015 [12 favorites]
I remember that place and as I recall I think I kind of liked it.
posted by dances with hamsters at 5:56 AM on May 21, 2015 [12 favorites]
I get weirdly offended whenever I hear Semisonic described as a one-hit wonder. What about "Singing in My Sleep"???!!
posted by a fiendish thingy at 5:57 AM on May 21, 2015
posted by a fiendish thingy at 5:57 AM on May 21, 2015
i heard this was the thread where we were defending Aqua for the bubblegum pop geniuses they undeniably were
posted by griphus at 5:57 AM on May 21, 2015 [8 favorites]
posted by griphus at 5:57 AM on May 21, 2015 [8 favorites]
So this thread has devolved into just trolling each other with terrible one-hit-wonders now?
How Bizarre.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 5:58 AM on May 21, 2015 [7 favorites]
How Bizarre.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 5:58 AM on May 21, 2015 [7 favorites]
I'm quite disappointed to have just discovered that the singer of 'Teenage Dirtbag' is a guy.
posted by Flashman at 6:00 AM on May 21, 2015
posted by Flashman at 6:00 AM on May 21, 2015
This FPP is... kind of like Nashville..... with a tan
posted by nakedmolerats at 6:02 AM on May 21, 2015 [9 favorites]
posted by nakedmolerats at 6:02 AM on May 21, 2015 [9 favorites]
You know that each artist thought that their one hit was going to be the start of a big recording career and you wonder about that moment when the light went off and they realized that their one big moment was already past them.
Well, there is always that moment, I suppose, but sometimes it is not the end. Mickey and Sylvia were a one hit wonder in 1956 with the weirdly ahead-of-its-time Love Is Strange, then in 1973 Sylvia had another hit with the R&B/proto-disco Pillow Talk. And then she was the founder and CEO of Sugar Hill records, which brought us The Message and Rapper's Delight, paving the way for hip-hop. So there is a one-hit wonder from the first term of the Eisenhower administration whose effects are still ripping outwards.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 6:03 AM on May 21, 2015 [7 favorites]
Well, there is always that moment, I suppose, but sometimes it is not the end. Mickey and Sylvia were a one hit wonder in 1956 with the weirdly ahead-of-its-time Love Is Strange, then in 1973 Sylvia had another hit with the R&B/proto-disco Pillow Talk. And then she was the founder and CEO of Sugar Hill records, which brought us The Message and Rapper's Delight, paving the way for hip-hop. So there is a one-hit wonder from the first term of the Eisenhower administration whose effects are still ripping outwards.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 6:03 AM on May 21, 2015 [7 favorites]
And now for a sixties one-hit-wonder that was actually from the nineties...
Ladies and Gentlemen, The Oh-needers.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 6:05 AM on May 21, 2015 [7 favorites]
Ladies and Gentlemen, The Oh-needers.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 6:05 AM on May 21, 2015 [7 favorites]
Hej, I like 'How Bizarre'. There's a reason these songs became one hits: they're all pretty good songs.
posted by Flashman at 6:06 AM on May 21, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by Flashman at 6:06 AM on May 21, 2015 [4 favorites]
The shock there wasn't nearly as great as Hot Child in the City yt , though.
You might like then that the singer is actually a two-hit wonder: shortly after leaving Sweeney Todd, Nick Gilder hit the charts again with Roxy Roller, which is kind of musically and thematically in the same boat.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 6:07 AM on May 21, 2015 [2 favorites]
You might like then that the singer is actually a two-hit wonder: shortly after leaving Sweeney Todd, Nick Gilder hit the charts again with Roxy Roller, which is kind of musically and thematically in the same boat.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 6:07 AM on May 21, 2015 [2 favorites]
This Starclub song got a lot of radio play for a short time. I think it deserved more.
posted by Ice Cream Socialist at 6:17 AM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Ice Cream Socialist at 6:17 AM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
Take On Me - A-Ha
Well, I mean until U-2 hit big with their cover of "The Sun Always Shines on TV" which they called "Beautiful Day".
I've listened to that first A-Ha album within the last couple of weeks. Holds up well - no filler!
posted by freecellwizard at 6:22 AM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
Well, I mean until U-2 hit big with their cover of "The Sun Always Shines on TV" which they called "Beautiful Day".
I've listened to that first A-Ha album within the last couple of weeks. Holds up well - no filler!
posted by freecellwizard at 6:22 AM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
Evan and Jaron — "Crazy for This Girl" (2000)
Duncan Sheik — "Barely Breathing" (1996)
Nine Days – "Absolutely (Story of a Girl)" (2000)
Tal Bachman — "She’s So High" (1999)
The late 90s were full of this special genre of crap: completely non-rocking white guys with guitars singing about girls, usually in the third person, usually with a lot of dumb generic non-details about how this girl has hair and sometimes smiles. "Barely Breathing" doesn't quite match lyrically, but if you're not paying attention to the words you wouldn't tell the difference.
I count Matchbox 20, Vertical Horizon, and Train among the late 90s Craprock About Girls groups, but they each had more than one radio hit, somehow.
posted by Metroid Baby at 6:26 AM on May 21, 2015 [15 favorites]
Duncan Sheik — "Barely Breathing" (1996)
Nine Days – "Absolutely (Story of a Girl)" (2000)
Tal Bachman — "She’s So High" (1999)
The late 90s were full of this special genre of crap: completely non-rocking white guys with guitars singing about girls, usually in the third person, usually with a lot of dumb generic non-details about how this girl has hair and sometimes smiles. "Barely Breathing" doesn't quite match lyrically, but if you're not paying attention to the words you wouldn't tell the difference.
I count Matchbox 20, Vertical Horizon, and Train among the late 90s Craprock About Girls groups, but they each had more than one radio hit, somehow.
posted by Metroid Baby at 6:26 AM on May 21, 2015 [15 favorites]
You know that each artist thought that their one hit was going to be the start of a big recording career and you wonder about that moment when the light went off and they realized that their one big moment was already past them.
A while ago we were wondering what had happened to Craig from Bros. For the uninitiated, Bros were a (boy) band consisting of Aryan pin-up twin brothers and a mousy fella who was considered so uninteresting to their teenage fans that Smash Hits nicknamed him 'Ken'. Turns out he went into management and is now insanely successful behind the scenes.
The real money is in songwriting and publishing. A lot of minor popstars - Crispin Hunt, Stephen Duffy, Cathy Dennis, Betty Boo, her what was in 4 Non Blondes - have gone into the writing for starlets side of things. If you write something that's as big a hit as I Kissed A Girl or Forget You or Angels - or the golden goose, a Christmas hit - you're set for life without the pressure of being a person in the public eye. The Spice Girls were very smart in insisting on songwriting credits on all their hits.
posted by mippy at 6:32 AM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
A while ago we were wondering what had happened to Craig from Bros. For the uninitiated, Bros were a (boy) band consisting of Aryan pin-up twin brothers and a mousy fella who was considered so uninteresting to their teenage fans that Smash Hits nicknamed him 'Ken'. Turns out he went into management and is now insanely successful behind the scenes.
The real money is in songwriting and publishing. A lot of minor popstars - Crispin Hunt, Stephen Duffy, Cathy Dennis, Betty Boo, her what was in 4 Non Blondes - have gone into the writing for starlets side of things. If you write something that's as big a hit as I Kissed A Girl or Forget You or Angels - or the golden goose, a Christmas hit - you're set for life without the pressure of being a person in the public eye. The Spice Girls were very smart in insisting on songwriting credits on all their hits.
posted by mippy at 6:32 AM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
I thought I heard a sonic boom. Must have been an SR-71 passing overhead.
posted by dr_dank at 6:32 AM on May 21, 2015
posted by dr_dank at 6:32 AM on May 21, 2015
Talez: Can someone help me out here?
If you really want to know the rest, hey, buy the rights.
posted by dr_dank at 6:36 AM on May 21, 2015 [8 favorites]
If you really want to know the rest, hey, buy the rights.
posted by dr_dank at 6:36 AM on May 21, 2015 [8 favorites]
I count Matchbox 20, Vertical Horizon, and Train among the late 90s Craprock About Girls groups, but they each had more than one radio hit, somehow.
My only teen-cringe band crush was inexplicably Matchbox 20, but I've never put them in this genre. Did they have any songs about smiling hair girls? They did do the 3rd person sometimes, but most of their songs were more high school-relationship angsting.
posted by nakedmolerats at 6:44 AM on May 21, 2015
My only teen-cringe band crush was inexplicably Matchbox 20, but I've never put them in this genre. Did they have any songs about smiling hair girls? They did do the 3rd person sometimes, but most of their songs were more high school-relationship angsting.
posted by nakedmolerats at 6:44 AM on May 21, 2015
Okay, so ya... I can say most of you should have heard these and still remember these... If you want slightly obscure try Fun Lovin' Criminals - Scooby Snacks.
posted by Nanukthedog at 6:50 AM on May 21, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by Nanukthedog at 6:50 AM on May 21, 2015 [5 favorites]
Same here. I gave up on radio and pop in general at about when Milli Vanilli was a thing. I don't recognize many of the song titles people are talking about here, and several of the bands I've heard of but I couldn't identify them by sound.
Foosnark
I think this is the future of hipsterdom.
In the 90s and 2000s you would boast about only liking achingly obscure music that the unwashed hadn't heard of. Now that our pop culture is increasingly being consumed by nostalgia, your pop cred will come from how little nostalgic value anything has for you.
The more obscure the things you're nostalgic about are, the cooler you will be. While everyone else is singing along with "One Headlight", you'll be reminiscing about the Japanese-only version of a single an alt-country band released in 1997.
posted by Sangermaine at 6:52 AM on May 21, 2015 [2 favorites]
Foosnark
I think this is the future of hipsterdom.
In the 90s and 2000s you would boast about only liking achingly obscure music that the unwashed hadn't heard of. Now that our pop culture is increasingly being consumed by nostalgia, your pop cred will come from how little nostalgic value anything has for you.
The more obscure the things you're nostalgic about are, the cooler you will be. While everyone else is singing along with "One Headlight", you'll be reminiscing about the Japanese-only version of a single an alt-country band released in 1997.
posted by Sangermaine at 6:52 AM on May 21, 2015 [2 favorites]
"Battleflag" by Lo-Fidelity Allstars is probably one of my favorite 90s one-hit-wonders ever. That song was on K-Rock every fifteen minutes between 1998 and 1999 and they never charted in the US again.
posted by griphus at 6:57 AM on May 21, 2015 [8 favorites]
posted by griphus at 6:57 AM on May 21, 2015 [8 favorites]
As long as we're throwing out bands/songs that ear wormed for only a sparkling moment when I was a youth --
Remy Zero - Prophesy
Lit - My Own Worst Enemy
Primitive Radio Gods - Standing Outside A Broken Phone Booth With Money In My Hand
eels - Novocaine for the Soul
Juliana Hatfield Three - My Sister
The Breeders - Cannonball
And this really fits both the sappy romance and crappy rock categories:
Lifehouse - Hanging by a Moment
posted by cult_url_bias at 7:08 AM on May 21, 2015 [11 favorites]
Remy Zero - Prophesy
Lit - My Own Worst Enemy
Primitive Radio Gods - Standing Outside A Broken Phone Booth With Money In My Hand
eels - Novocaine for the Soul
Juliana Hatfield Three - My Sister
The Breeders - Cannonball
And this really fits both the sappy romance and crappy rock categories:
Lifehouse - Hanging by a Moment
posted by cult_url_bias at 7:08 AM on May 21, 2015 [11 favorites]
I love it when one-hit wonders are someone's favorite band and they have deep knowledge about them (yes I realized I mentioned how much I love A-ha above ... "that isn't even their best sooooongg!!!"). True stories:
* I had a roommate will almost a full CD shelf of Yell-o CDs (remember "Oh Yeah" from Ferris Bueller?).
* I was riding in a car with a friend and in the back floorboard found a Case Logic tape case FULL of Men Without Hats albums ("Safety Dance", remember?) ... man she loved those guys.
Also in the UK the Smurfs were not a one-hit wonder apparently. Can anyone explain this?
posted by freecellwizard at 7:10 AM on May 21, 2015
* I had a roommate will almost a full CD shelf of Yell-o CDs (remember "Oh Yeah" from Ferris Bueller?).
* I was riding in a car with a friend and in the back floorboard found a Case Logic tape case FULL of Men Without Hats albums ("Safety Dance", remember?) ... man she loved those guys.
Also in the UK the Smurfs were not a one-hit wonder apparently. Can anyone explain this?
posted by freecellwizard at 7:10 AM on May 21, 2015
I'm too incensed with rage by the notion of The Proclaimers being a one hit wonder to do more than drop this YT link to Mary Lambert's cover of Teenage Dirtbag for those who want more options than 1D.
Mary Lambert - Teenage Dirtbag
posted by angeline at 7:17 AM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
Mary Lambert - Teenage Dirtbag
posted by angeline at 7:17 AM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
Well, a lot of these aren't one hit wonders in other countries.
True - I almost thought the Darkness caption was sarcastic (they had a #1 album and multiple top 10 singles in the UK).
posted by EndsOfInvention at 7:19 AM on May 21, 2015
True - I almost thought the Darkness caption was sarcastic (they had a #1 album and multiple top 10 singles in the UK).
posted by EndsOfInvention at 7:19 AM on May 21, 2015
It would have to be something that could reliably reach the top five for one week in like 97 and then was never heard again.
What about Bob Carlisle - Butterfly Kisses?
posted by everybody had matching towels at 7:19 AM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
What about Bob Carlisle - Butterfly Kisses?
posted by everybody had matching towels at 7:19 AM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
griphus: That song was on K-Rock every fifteen minutes between 1998 and 1999 and they never charted in the US again.
I'll never forget when Q104.3 changed from the modern hard rock to soft rock formats in the late 90s. I was tuned into k-rock when the DJ (maybe Booker) took a call from a listening hysterically reporting that Q104 was playing AIR SUPPLY.
That ranks right up there with a k-rock call-in contest where they were giving away Phish tickets for whomever could call in and name a song of theirs. After several failing entries, the winning caller got them for naming "dancing around the room".
Pre-google life was downright primative.
posted by dr_dank at 7:22 AM on May 21, 2015 [2 favorites]
I'll never forget when Q104.3 changed from the modern hard rock to soft rock formats in the late 90s. I was tuned into k-rock when the DJ (maybe Booker) took a call from a listening hysterically reporting that Q104 was playing AIR SUPPLY.
That ranks right up there with a k-rock call-in contest where they were giving away Phish tickets for whomever could call in and name a song of theirs. After several failing entries, the winning caller got them for naming "dancing around the room".
Pre-google life was downright primative.
posted by dr_dank at 7:22 AM on May 21, 2015 [2 favorites]
I remember at some point in I think 98? 99? K-Rock played Jay-Z's "Hard Knock Life" for some reason and people lost their shit.
posted by griphus at 7:26 AM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by griphus at 7:26 AM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
"You got me sprung with you tongue ring..."
I wish we has SJWs and a tumblr in the late 90s. Ugh.
At the risk of sounding ignorant, what's wrong with this line?
posted by josher71 at 7:41 AM on May 21, 2015
I wish we has SJWs and a tumblr in the late 90s. Ugh.
At the risk of sounding ignorant, what's wrong with this line?
posted by josher71 at 7:41 AM on May 21, 2015
I am curious about the non-hit wonders who onlly ever made up to spots #21-50 on the Bill Board charts. (As in, "we were this close, maaaaan.")
For example, I really like the band Del Amtri, and their awesome breakup song "Spit in the Rain" made it to #21 on the UK charts but nowhere on the US charts, according to Wikipedia. But I still love that song -- and a lot of their other stuff, too -- even though they never made it big.
posted by wenestvedt at 7:47 AM on May 21, 2015
For example, I really like the band Del Amtri, and their awesome breakup song "Spit in the Rain" made it to #21 on the UK charts but nowhere on the US charts, according to Wikipedia. But I still love that song -- and a lot of their other stuff, too -- even though they never made it big.
posted by wenestvedt at 7:47 AM on May 21, 2015
Take On Me - A-Ha
I've listened to that first A-Ha album within the last couple of weeks. Holds up well - no filler!
Let's not forget that the best song from their first album went to number one in the UK, that they had substantial international hits from each of their first three albums, that they recorded a Bond theme (which was still a big deal in 1987; still is, really), and that their 2009 swansong album was very well-received, going top ten in the third and fourth biggest music markets in the world (and, indeed, almost all of their albums made the top ten in Germany).
Actually, it turns out that their swansong wasn't: they're coming out with a tenth album this year. One-USA-hit wonders, maybe, but one-hit wonders? Never!
posted by rory at 7:53 AM on May 21, 2015 [3 favorites]
I've listened to that first A-Ha album within the last couple of weeks. Holds up well - no filler!
Let's not forget that the best song from their first album went to number one in the UK, that they had substantial international hits from each of their first three albums, that they recorded a Bond theme (which was still a big deal in 1987; still is, really), and that their 2009 swansong album was very well-received, going top ten in the third and fourth biggest music markets in the world (and, indeed, almost all of their albums made the top ten in Germany).
Actually, it turns out that their swansong wasn't: they're coming out with a tenth album this year. One-USA-hit wonders, maybe, but one-hit wonders? Never!
posted by rory at 7:53 AM on May 21, 2015 [3 favorites]
Speaking of Del Amitri, they were a 1HW with "Roll to Me."
I was in college from 1996-2000 and for three years I had a work study job in a small office on campus. I would sit for hours on end doing data entry and light office work, and I sat at a small desk in an office with two women (shout out to Molly and Terri) who listened to the "big hits/today's music" radio station all day long. So much of this music here was pounded into my brain. It's funny how a single song can take you back to a specific time and place in life.
Anyone remember these?
Sister Hazel - All for You
Edwin McCain - I'll Be
posted by mbd1mbd1 at 8:10 AM on May 21, 2015 [2 favorites]
I was in college from 1996-2000 and for three years I had a work study job in a small office on campus. I would sit for hours on end doing data entry and light office work, and I sat at a small desk in an office with two women (shout out to Molly and Terri) who listened to the "big hits/today's music" radio station all day long. So much of this music here was pounded into my brain. It's funny how a single song can take you back to a specific time and place in life.
Anyone remember these?
Sister Hazel - All for You
Edwin McCain - I'll Be
posted by mbd1mbd1 at 8:10 AM on May 21, 2015 [2 favorites]
Wenestvedt, Del Amitri's biggest hit in the U.S. was "Roll To Me", which made it to #10 on the charts even though "Food For Songs" and "Tell Her This" were much better songs off the same album.
posted by angeline at 8:12 AM on May 21, 2015
posted by angeline at 8:12 AM on May 21, 2015
On the one hand, I hate myself every time I accidentally click on a Bustle "article" ("Tamogotchi" and "I'm To Sexy" - did you even try?). On the other hand, this thread has been great for my massive 90s Spotify playlist.
posted by naoko at 8:13 AM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by naoko at 8:13 AM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
It's always disappointing to see Duncan Sheik regarded as a footnote of 90s pop nostalgia; granted "Barely Breathing" was his breakout hit, but "She Runs Away" got a fair bit of radio play too, and "In The Absence of Sun" was on the "The Saint" soundtrack. Honestly, that whole album is great, as are many of his followup albums, especially "Daylight" and "White Limousine"
posted by Uther Bentrazor at 8:15 AM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Uther Bentrazor at 8:15 AM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
After a good night's sleep, I'm ready to unleash hell.
oooh that "reggae" breakdown
posted by Bookhouse at 8:15 AM on May 21, 2015 [2 favorites]
oooh that "reggae" breakdown
posted by Bookhouse at 8:15 AM on May 21, 2015 [2 favorites]
and my entry into the postgrunge category
posted by Bookhouse at 8:16 AM on May 21, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by Bookhouse at 8:16 AM on May 21, 2015 [3 favorites]
One of my favorite Rock/Alternative Festival memories was at HFStival 1998 when Fastball took the side stage and decided to open with The Way. They had a decent crowd, everyone was into it, and then as soon as the last chord was struck the crowd left en mass to go see Marcy Playground which was set to play the main stage about 10 minutes later.
As the entire crowd walked away the lead of Fastball started berating us saying "You can't all fucking leave! We have more than one song, assholes!" or something along those lines. My friend shrugged and commented "Probably shouldn't have opened with the only song any of us wanted to hear."
posted by jermsplan at 8:20 AM on May 21, 2015 [7 favorites]
As the entire crowd walked away the lead of Fastball started berating us saying "You can't all fucking leave! We have more than one song, assholes!" or something along those lines. My friend shrugged and commented "Probably shouldn't have opened with the only song any of us wanted to hear."
posted by jermsplan at 8:20 AM on May 21, 2015 [7 favorites]
How is it possible that: 1. I had never seen the video for "I believe in a thing called love" before, and 2. It is even better than the song itself.
posted by 256 at 8:20 AM on May 21, 2015
posted by 256 at 8:20 AM on May 21, 2015
i actually like this one. I didn't remember that the band was made up of six year olds.
posted by Bookhouse at 8:23 AM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Bookhouse at 8:23 AM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
The Darkness had multiple albums and this guy is NOT a true The Darkness fan!!!!! UGH
posted by Anonymous at 8:24 AM on May 21, 2015
posted by Anonymous at 8:24 AM on May 21, 2015
What's the criteria for "hit" in this context? Because if it's "singles with videos, that reached at least the lower portion of the charts for a while," then Sir Mix-A-Lot had at least a couple of other records ("Posse On Broadway" and "My Hooptie") that conceivably would qualify.
posted by Nat "King" Cole Porter Wagoner at 8:26 AM on May 21, 2015
posted by Nat "King" Cole Porter Wagoner at 8:26 AM on May 21, 2015
256, I LOVED Monster Magnet! But I would argue that they were a two-hit wonder; Powertrip got a lot of play on my local rock radio station (KXTE).
posted by naoko at 8:27 AM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by naoko at 8:27 AM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
...and then as soon as the last chord was struck the crowd left en mass to go see Marcy Playground...
I am loving the idea of fair-weather fans shuffling as one big group between numerous stages of bands just in time to hear the single and move on. Like 90% of the concert is bands playing deep cuts to exactly nobody because everyone's two stages over listening to a song they've heard ten thousand times on the radio and ready to split just as soon as its over.
posted by griphus at 8:30 AM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
I am loving the idea of fair-weather fans shuffling as one big group between numerous stages of bands just in time to hear the single and move on. Like 90% of the concert is bands playing deep cuts to exactly nobody because everyone's two stages over listening to a song they've heard ten thousand times on the radio and ready to split just as soon as its over.
posted by griphus at 8:30 AM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
I love it when one-hit wonders are someone's favorite band and they have deep knowledge about them (yes I realized I mentioned how much I love A-ha above ... "that isn't even their best sooooongg!!!"). True stories:
I guess they're more two-hit, but there was a guy in my dorm in the 90s who was huge into Toto.
posted by dirigibleman at 8:31 AM on May 21, 2015
I guess they're more two-hit, but there was a guy in my dorm in the 90s who was huge into Toto.
posted by dirigibleman at 8:31 AM on May 21, 2015
Josher71-
Nothing's wrong with that line in particular. It stood out to me as almost unbearably 90s but yeah its not offensive o out t of context. I just can imagine the amazing takedown that song or indeed many of these songs would get on our current media climate.
posted by kittensofthenight at 8:40 AM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
Nothing's wrong with that line in particular. It stood out to me as almost unbearably 90s but yeah its not offensive o out t of context. I just can imagine the amazing takedown that song or indeed many of these songs would get on our current media climate.
posted by kittensofthenight at 8:40 AM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
There's so much flat-out, wanton cruelty in this thread and I love you all.
But that person who linked Steal My Sunshine is going to the special hell.
posted by pseudonymph at 8:43 AM on May 21, 2015 [5 favorites]
But that person who linked Steal My Sunshine is going to the special hell.
posted by pseudonymph at 8:43 AM on May 21, 2015 [5 favorites]
For example, this piece of shit song. Fucking gross, right? Dont you want to read a gif based essay on how awful it is?
posted by kittensofthenight at 8:44 AM on May 21, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by kittensofthenight at 8:44 AM on May 21, 2015 [2 favorites]
I'm a bit shocked that someone just got away with calling The Proclaimers a one-hit-wonder, and not a single Scottish mefite said a word.
One of my most favorite lines from a song is from "It's Saturday Night":
So let me walk straight
don't let me feel pain
I'm gonna scratch cars
with my keys again
posted by Lucinda at 8:50 AM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
One of my most favorite lines from a song is from "It's Saturday Night":
So let me walk straight
don't let me feel pain
I'm gonna scratch cars
with my keys again
posted by Lucinda at 8:50 AM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
These guys are totally cosplaying Sam and Dean, right?
posted by pseudonymph at 8:53 AM on May 21, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by pseudonymph at 8:53 AM on May 21, 2015 [3 favorites]
Additional evidence for my theory: the Sam analogue stops the song to go have a small, soulful piano solo in a dingy bar, which is a very Sam thing to do.
posted by pseudonymph at 8:56 AM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by pseudonymph at 8:56 AM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
For example, this piece of shit song. Fucking gross, right? Dont you want to read a gif based essay on how awful it is?'
You mean the mixture of sexualizing and infantalizing that goes on in this song? I WOULD like to see an animated gif listicle explaining it!
posted by josher71 at 8:58 AM on May 21, 2015
You mean the mixture of sexualizing and infantalizing that goes on in this song? I WOULD like to see an animated gif listicle explaining it!
posted by josher71 at 8:58 AM on May 21, 2015
"25 songs from a 15-year period that the author remembers and has not a single interesting thing to say about!"
posted by Navelgazer at 9:03 AM on May 21, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by Navelgazer at 9:03 AM on May 21, 2015 [5 favorites]
Speaking of Del Amitri, they were a 1HW with "Roll to Me. yt "
Aw, you guys missed out on the most depressing Top 40 song I can think of.
My least favourite 90s 1HW is probably this toss. Remember it being very divisive on bolt dot com.
I quite like that Tal Bachman, though. If it sounds like it could have soundtracked a 90s sitcom (see here) I'm into it.
posted by mippy at 9:04 AM on May 21, 2015
Aw, you guys missed out on the most depressing Top 40 song I can think of.
My least favourite 90s 1HW is probably this toss. Remember it being very divisive on bolt dot com.
I quite like that Tal Bachman, though. If it sounds like it could have soundtracked a 90s sitcom (see here) I'm into it.
posted by mippy at 9:04 AM on May 21, 2015
Anyway, we did this earlier this year with a much, much superior list. (Which is not to discount the "more inside" here, which is itself infinitely better than the first link.)
posted by Navelgazer at 9:06 AM on May 21, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by Navelgazer at 9:06 AM on May 21, 2015 [4 favorites]
This is the best song by The Darkness.
A colleague of mine believes that Christmas albums by US artists tend to be rubbish because y'all haven't had any new Christmas hits accepted into the canon for a while now, whereas we have to suffer Cliff Richard, all the glam rock Christmas songs from the 70s, Stay Another Day (a song about someone's brother committing suicide that somehow got the Christmas No.1) and the general cultural tradition of who will be this year's Xmas No.1 - which sadly over the last few years has been dominated by whomever won the X Factor. The only Darkness song I could stand to hear these days (I listened to a LOT of radio when they were about) is this enjoyably childish Chrimble ditty.
posted by mippy at 9:08 AM on May 21, 2015
Do New Radicals not count? You Get What You Give is one of my all-time favorite songs but they never did much after that (although I know the sole member of the band went on to write some songs for people.)
posted by gucci mane at 9:11 AM on May 21, 2015 [6 favorites]
posted by gucci mane at 9:11 AM on May 21, 2015 [6 favorites]
Hello, I would just like to make the case that You Can't Stop the Bum Rush is actually a fine album worthy of your ear holes (and as much as MeFites fawn over sterile overproduced corporate pop, ya'll cannot judge). Also that Chumbawumba created a number of stirring anthems for marginalized youth, and that the best Flock of Seagulls song is the one you've never heard of.
Have a beautiful day.
posted by byanyothername at 9:14 AM on May 21, 2015 [3 favorites]
Have a beautiful day.
posted by byanyothername at 9:14 AM on May 21, 2015 [3 favorites]
But that person who linked Steal My Sunshine is going to the special hell.
They didn't even have to link it...
posted by Flashman at 9:14 AM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
They didn't even have to link it...
posted by Flashman at 9:14 AM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
Well, gucci mane, there's this, which got some radio play
I had the New Radicals inaccurately mentally labeled as "that one Christian alt rock band I liked" for years and years, probably because of the biblical reference in that song
posted by prize bull octorok at 9:17 AM on May 21, 2015 [2 favorites]
I had the New Radicals inaccurately mentally labeled as "that one Christian alt rock band I liked" for years and years, probably because of the biblical reference in that song
posted by prize bull octorok at 9:17 AM on May 21, 2015 [2 favorites]
Flashman: They didn't even have to link it...
!!!
Holy god, that's horrifying. My brain can apparently remember it so well that it was playing in my head and I genuinely thought I was listening to it. I have wandered into a Stephen King novel.
posted by pseudonymph at 9:18 AM on May 21, 2015 [5 favorites]
!!!
Holy god, that's horrifying. My brain can apparently remember it so well that it was playing in my head and I genuinely thought I was listening to it. I have wandered into a Stephen King novel.
posted by pseudonymph at 9:18 AM on May 21, 2015 [5 favorites]
Actually I must have missed SmyS back then; I guess it didn't get a lot of airplay on CJSW. Listening to it now... maybe 2 Chumbawumbas/5 on the earworm scale?
[2 minutes later] Uh oh, no, now it's starting to sink in. Help.
posted by Flashman at 9:26 AM on May 21, 2015 [2 favorites]
[2 minutes later] Uh oh, no, now it's starting to sink in. Help.
posted by Flashman at 9:26 AM on May 21, 2015 [2 favorites]
You'd think so, Flashman, because you haven't been subjected to it 3,000 times in a month.
For the rest of us, though, you just hear the title and your brain goes all "Karen! I love you!!!"
posted by Navelgazer at 9:29 AM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
For the rest of us, though, you just hear the title and your brain goes all "Karen! I love you!!!"
posted by Navelgazer at 9:29 AM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
and now that song will be stuck in my head until L.A.T.E.R. this week.
I'll just drop this here.
Letters to Cleo - Here and Now
posted by cmfletcher at 9:34 AM on May 21, 2015 [5 favorites]
I'll just drop this here.
Letters to Cleo - Here and Now
posted by cmfletcher at 9:34 AM on May 21, 2015 [5 favorites]
I had the New Radicals inaccurately mentally labeled as "that one Christian alt rock band I liked" for years and years, probably because of the biblical reference in that song
No, that would be Jars of Clay.
posted by Ben Trismegistus at 9:36 AM on May 21, 2015 [4 favorites]
No, that would be Jars of Clay.
posted by Ben Trismegistus at 9:36 AM on May 21, 2015 [4 favorites]
Like you want a nineties one-hit-wonder fine here you go.
posted by Navelgazer at 9:45 AM on May 21, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by Navelgazer at 9:45 AM on May 21, 2015 [5 favorites]
As always, I will turn to this to protect me from all other, and lesser, earworms.
[This is not solely and strictly true, but the others on my list have mostly been linked. Hi there, Hobo Humpin' Slobo Babe and Fever For The Flava!]
Here is my actual entry in this one-hit-wonder contest. I still love this weird damn song.
posted by pseudonymph at 9:46 AM on May 21, 2015 [3 favorites]
[This is not solely and strictly true, but the others on my list have mostly been linked. Hi there, Hobo Humpin' Slobo Babe and Fever For The Flava!]
Here is my actual entry in this one-hit-wonder contest. I still love this weird damn song.
posted by pseudonymph at 9:46 AM on May 21, 2015 [3 favorites]
Wow, I have so many opinions about Teenage Dirtbag right now.
I'd never seen the music video, so I was surprised to see Noel represented by the quintessential beautiful popular girl. As a nerd myself, I always assumed she was at least somewhat nerdy or awkward too. But of course not, what was I thinking? Those girls don't exist in pop culture, unless they undergo an incredible makeover to become beautiful and popular.
I'd never actually heard One Direction before, and I'm extremely not impressed by their rendition of this song. It's "Keds and tube socks", not "two socks" you idiot. And, it's SUPER weird to see this song about being a lonely nerdy kid performed by a popular boy band, to a crowd of screaming female fans. Like, I just can't even.
posted by gueneverey at 9:49 AM on May 21, 2015 [4 favorites]
I'd never seen the music video, so I was surprised to see Noel represented by the quintessential beautiful popular girl. As a nerd myself, I always assumed she was at least somewhat nerdy or awkward too. But of course not, what was I thinking? Those girls don't exist in pop culture, unless they undergo an incredible makeover to become beautiful and popular.
I'd never actually heard One Direction before, and I'm extremely not impressed by their rendition of this song. It's "Keds and tube socks", not "two socks" you idiot. And, it's SUPER weird to see this song about being a lonely nerdy kid performed by a popular boy band, to a crowd of screaming female fans. Like, I just can't even.
posted by gueneverey at 9:49 AM on May 21, 2015 [4 favorites]
You know at least one of them had to have asked "who's Iron Maiden," too.
posted by Navelgazer at 10:09 AM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Navelgazer at 10:09 AM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
Alright. I've always loved Teenage Dirtbag, and I just now watched the video. On its own it's not that memorable, but the twist at the end adds something. But mostly it's notable for featuring a pre-American Pie Jason Biggs and Mena Suvari.
Anyways, how about The Verve - Bittersweet Symphony?
posted by mbd1mbd1 at 10:25 AM on May 21, 2015 [2 favorites]
Anyways, how about The Verve - Bittersweet Symphony?
posted by mbd1mbd1 at 10:25 AM on May 21, 2015 [2 favorites]
I mean if you want something really forgotten y need like, what was it Sarah C said in the last thread, a novelty boy band that sung about Jennifer Love Hewiett - something so hothouse and specific to the time and tastes it could only exist for six weeks in June in 1997.
Novelty boy band song about Jennifer Love Hewitt though it may be, LFO's Girl on TV can never truly be forgotten as long as there is YouTube.
posted by Copronymus at 10:29 AM on May 21, 2015
Novelty boy band song about Jennifer Love Hewitt though it may be, LFO's Girl on TV can never truly be forgotten as long as there is YouTube.
posted by Copronymus at 10:29 AM on May 21, 2015
That Verve song became played to death at a level I never thought could have existed. It still gives me a "not that fucking song again" reaction today.
Nevelgazers link to the Toadies reminded me of a song I had all but forgotten about: The Refreshments - Banditos
posted by cmfletcher at 10:30 AM on May 21, 2015 [6 favorites]
Nevelgazers link to the Toadies reminded me of a song I had all but forgotten about: The Refreshments - Banditos
posted by cmfletcher at 10:30 AM on May 21, 2015 [6 favorites]
Alright. I've always loved Teenage Dirtbag, and I just now watched the video. On its own it's not that memorable, but the twist at the end adds something. But mostly it's notable for featuring a pre-American Pie Jason Biggs and Mena Suvari.
The song was big on the soundtrack to the film "Loser," which came out after American Pie.
posted by Navelgazer at 10:35 AM on May 21, 2015 [2 favorites]
The song was big on the soundtrack to the film "Loser," which came out after American Pie.
posted by Navelgazer at 10:35 AM on May 21, 2015 [2 favorites]
cmfletcher: That was the other one I was debating between posting!
posted by Navelgazer at 10:35 AM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Navelgazer at 10:35 AM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
The Drugs Don't Work - The Verve. Huge, huge in my neck of the woods.
It's interesting to see how 1HW cling on to fame in different territories. Anastasia? Anybody? Headlined a local rock festival near my parents' house in little Denmark not that long ago.
Also, anybody nostalgic for Aqua can swap 1990s location with me. My clubbing life was one long nightmare trying to dodge horrific Eurodance crap in Copenhagen nightlife. Thank god there was one club playing, er, Menswear and Kula Shaker.
posted by kariebookish at 10:36 AM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
It's interesting to see how 1HW cling on to fame in different territories. Anastasia? Anybody? Headlined a local rock festival near my parents' house in little Denmark not that long ago.
Also, anybody nostalgic for Aqua can swap 1990s location with me. My clubbing life was one long nightmare trying to dodge horrific Eurodance crap in Copenhagen nightlife. Thank god there was one club playing, er, Menswear and Kula Shaker.
posted by kariebookish at 10:36 AM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
Some men just want to watch the world burn. And I will dance as it burns.
posted by cthuljew at 10:37 AM on May 21, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by cthuljew at 10:37 AM on May 21, 2015 [4 favorites]
You are dead to me, cthuljew.
posted by kariebookish at 10:40 AM on May 21, 2015 [5 favorites]
posted by kariebookish at 10:40 AM on May 21, 2015 [5 favorites]
You are dead to me too, Navelgazer.
posted by kariebookish at 10:46 AM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by kariebookish at 10:46 AM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
The worst part about Cotton Eye Joe is that at the time, there was a dance that with it. Which we were forced to learn by our grade 8 English teacher who felt that the boys in her class should know how to dance at a school dance, for pete's sake, not just stand around. It's an awful faux-line-dance-boot-scoot bit of 90's cruft.
Ah Grade 8 dances.
Di Di Na na na? Be my baby.
I actually really like this one, Another Night, Another Dream
posted by the uncomplicated soups of my childhood at 10:47 AM on May 21, 2015
Ah Grade 8 dances.
Di Di Na na na? Be my baby.
I actually really like this one, Another Night, Another Dream
posted by the uncomplicated soups of my childhood at 10:47 AM on May 21, 2015
The worst part about Cotton Eye Joe is that at the time, there was a dance that with it.
You have no idea what a luxury it is to be able to situate this in the past, as if it will never happen to you again.
Weddings are terrible.
posted by brennen at 10:58 AM on May 21, 2015 [4 favorites]
You have no idea what a luxury it is to be able to situate this in the past, as if it will never happen to you again.
Weddings are terrible.
posted by brennen at 10:58 AM on May 21, 2015 [4 favorites]
I actually really like this one, Another Night, Another Dream
"I tawwk tawwk I tawwk to yewwww..."
My favorite thing about the "Another Night" video is how a single microphone could obviously never be enough for a man of Real McCoy's stature.
posted by Navelgazer at 11:00 AM on May 21, 2015
"I tawwk tawwk I tawwk to yewwww..."
My favorite thing about the "Another Night" video is how a single microphone could obviously never be enough for a man of Real McCoy's stature.
posted by Navelgazer at 11:00 AM on May 21, 2015
He whispers his bad mojo into it like a dangerous vine-fruit.
posted by the uncomplicated soups of my childhood at 11:05 AM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by the uncomplicated soups of my childhood at 11:05 AM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
So these don't all strictly apply....but they were all more or less one (sometimes two) hit wonders for me that absolutely take me back to various stages of my life. This list is like a fever-dream of my upbringing. It's concentrated nostalgia fuel off the top of my head and I need to stop or I will spend hours on youtube...
Geggy Tah - Whoever You Are
Ann Lee - Two Times
Luscious Jackson - Naked Eye
Everything - Hooch
Cornershop - Brim Full of Asha
Big Audio Dynamite - Rush
Domino - Getto Jam
Paper Boy - Ditty
Snow - Informer
Trik Turner - Friends and Family
Spin Doctors - Two Princes
posted by jnnla at 11:05 AM on May 21, 2015 [4 favorites]
Geggy Tah - Whoever You Are
Ann Lee - Two Times
Luscious Jackson - Naked Eye
Everything - Hooch
Cornershop - Brim Full of Asha
Big Audio Dynamite - Rush
Domino - Getto Jam
Paper Boy - Ditty
Snow - Informer
Trik Turner - Friends and Family
Spin Doctors - Two Princes
posted by jnnla at 11:05 AM on May 21, 2015 [4 favorites]
Mr. Yuck: "This takes the cake. Early 80's flashback warning."
I love that the number is a prime.
posted by Mitheral at 11:06 AM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
I love that the number is a prime.
posted by Mitheral at 11:06 AM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
Some great ones from The Complete List of True One-Hit Wonders:
Maurice Williams & the Zodiacs, "Stay"
The Shocking Blue, "Venus"
Wild Cherry, "Play That Funky Music"
Lipps, Inc., "Funkytown"
Some other faves:
Thelma Houston, "Don't Leave Me This Way"
Fontella Bass, "Rescue Me"
Cheryl Lynn, "Got to Be Real"
Vicki Sue Robinson, "Turn the Beat Around"
Jean Knight, "Mr. Big Stuff"
Modern English, "I Melt with You"
Sniff 'n' the Tears, "Driver's Seat"
The Babys, "Every Time I Think of You
posted by kirkaracha at 11:07 AM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
Maurice Williams & the Zodiacs, "Stay"
The Shocking Blue, "Venus"
Wild Cherry, "Play That Funky Music"
Lipps, Inc., "Funkytown"
Some other faves:
Thelma Houston, "Don't Leave Me This Way"
Fontella Bass, "Rescue Me"
Cheryl Lynn, "Got to Be Real"
Vicki Sue Robinson, "Turn the Beat Around"
Jean Knight, "Mr. Big Stuff"
Modern English, "I Melt with You"
Sniff 'n' the Tears, "Driver's Seat"
The Babys, "Every Time I Think of You
posted by kirkaracha at 11:07 AM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
It's interesting to see how 1HW cling on to fame in different territories.
About 3 years ago I saw Dada at a local bar since a friend was, for some strange reason, a fanatic and it was only 2 blocks from my house. The place was packed and I was one of about 5 people who didn't know all the songs. I overheard people driving over 2 hours to catch this show.
posted by cmfletcher at 11:09 AM on May 21, 2015 [2 favorites]
About 3 years ago I saw Dada at a local bar since a friend was, for some strange reason, a fanatic and it was only 2 blocks from my house. The place was packed and I was one of about 5 people who didn't know all the songs. I overheard people driving over 2 hours to catch this show.
posted by cmfletcher at 11:09 AM on May 21, 2015 [2 favorites]
Oh, Teenage Dirtbag. I worked on-air at a modern rock station in the early 2000s, and that song would occasionally show up as one of our recurrents (older songs that still got semi-regular play). I was always intrigued that the radio edit we got from the label left in the line "her boyfriend's a dick," but trimmed out "he brings a gun to school" -- a sign of a certain kind of late-90s post-Columbine sensitivity, perhaps.
And how on earth has this thread on 90s one-hit wonders made it several hundred comments without anybody mentioning Harvey Danger or Flagpole Sitta? (A band I've loved for years, but, alas, probably best classified as a one-hit wonder...)
posted by theoddball at 11:13 AM on May 21, 2015 [9 favorites]
And how on earth has this thread on 90s one-hit wonders made it several hundred comments without anybody mentioning Harvey Danger or Flagpole Sitta? (A band I've loved for years, but, alas, probably best classified as a one-hit wonder...)
posted by theoddball at 11:13 AM on May 21, 2015 [9 favorites]
downtohisturtles
I believe you're misremembering the "skits" or whatever you call the talking parts in between songs off their second album, Get Your Legs Broke. That's where the person is going around asking people if they'd heard of Len. Which I'm pretty sure was just a joke considering their first album did hardly anything, and it wasn't until Smarty Pants off of Get Your Legs Broke that they achieved any kind of scant fame.
Smarty Pants is an amazing song btw. A Canadian earworm up there with 5440's Ocean Pearl.
posted by wyndham at 11:32 AM on May 21, 2015
I believe you're misremembering the "skits" or whatever you call the talking parts in between songs off their second album, Get Your Legs Broke. That's where the person is going around asking people if they'd heard of Len. Which I'm pretty sure was just a joke considering their first album did hardly anything, and it wasn't until Smarty Pants off of Get Your Legs Broke that they achieved any kind of scant fame.
Smarty Pants is an amazing song btw. A Canadian earworm up there with 5440's Ocean Pearl.
posted by wyndham at 11:32 AM on May 21, 2015
Do New Radicals not count? You Get What You Give is one of my all-time favorite songs but they never did much after that (although I know the sole member of the band went on to write some songs for people.)
My local alt-rock radio station had a free concert at the time this song was popular (maybe 99 or so?) with New Radicals & a few other people & Less Than Jake, which is the only band ska-crazed me actually wanted to see on the bill. So New Radicals came out and did their set and they did the one song anyone knew of theirs about halfway through, which was fine, no biggie. Then they finished their set, left the stage, came back to do an encore.. and played it again. In summary, screw that band, but at least they knew what they were dealing with.
posted by zempf at 11:34 AM on May 21, 2015 [3 favorites]
My local alt-rock radio station had a free concert at the time this song was popular (maybe 99 or so?) with New Radicals & a few other people & Less Than Jake, which is the only band ska-crazed me actually wanted to see on the bill. So New Radicals came out and did their set and they did the one song anyone knew of theirs about halfway through, which was fine, no biggie. Then they finished their set, left the stage, came back to do an encore.. and played it again. In summary, screw that band, but at least they knew what they were dealing with.
posted by zempf at 11:34 AM on May 21, 2015 [3 favorites]
Flagpole Sitta - oh yeah, the Peep Show song. Owing to the fact I obtained it via Limewire during a time when kids would be filling in the MP3 tags themselves, that song is forever misclassified in my music library as being by the Brian Jonestown Massacre. I've left it that way, as I kind of wish it was.
posted by Flashman at 11:39 AM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by Flashman at 11:39 AM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
And how on earth has this thread on 90s one-hit wonders made it several hundred comments without anybody mentioning Harvey Danger or Flagpole Sitta ? (A band I've loved for years, but, alas, probably best classified as a one-hit wonder...)
I mean, as ever, I think what this signifies is that "one-hit wonder" is mostly about the shear in perspectives between the strata of attention/publication/broadcast that is a "hit" at a national scale and the strata where most art is actually made and consumed. I know there are plenty of groups that barely even exist long enough to crank out a thing that is on the radio a lot, but it's amazing how many things that make some one-hit-wonder list are this little projection into the world of "hits" from some body of actual work spanning decades and substantive albums and thousands of shows.
posted by brennen at 11:43 AM on May 21, 2015 [2 favorites]
I mean, as ever, I think what this signifies is that "one-hit wonder" is mostly about the shear in perspectives between the strata of attention/publication/broadcast that is a "hit" at a national scale and the strata where most art is actually made and consumed. I know there are plenty of groups that barely even exist long enough to crank out a thing that is on the radio a lot, but it's amazing how many things that make some one-hit-wonder list are this little projection into the world of "hits" from some body of actual work spanning decades and substantive albums and thousands of shows.
posted by brennen at 11:43 AM on May 21, 2015 [2 favorites]
Harvey Danger are one of my favorite bands forever and ever, to the point that I (perhaps not entirely wisely, in retrospect) had some of their lyrics tattooed on me after flying cross-country to attend 6 of their 8 final shows in 2008, so I am overjoyed to see they have fans here. That whole first record is incredible from start to finish, actually, and their entire post-radio career was and is so criminally underappreciated that it makes me want to weep.
There is no purpose to this comment other than to say: Holy shit, I love that band SO MUCH, and 17-year-old sullen alterna-goth dbr was SO UPSET when she discovered that "Flagpole Sitta" had been included on the track listing to Jock Rock 2000 -- not to be confused with the inimitable Jock Jams series -- because jocks.
Come to think of it, life was so much better when I still had the presence of mind to be legitimately heartbroken whenever people whose aesthetics I did not personally approve of were given the opportunity to listen to individual songs by my favorite bands without having to first dive into their back catalog and emotionally invest themselves in the music, maaaaan.
posted by divined by radio at 12:14 PM on May 21, 2015 [10 favorites]
There is no purpose to this comment other than to say: Holy shit, I love that band SO MUCH, and 17-year-old sullen alterna-goth dbr was SO UPSET when she discovered that "Flagpole Sitta" had been included on the track listing to Jock Rock 2000 -- not to be confused with the inimitable Jock Jams series -- because jocks.
Come to think of it, life was so much better when I still had the presence of mind to be legitimately heartbroken whenever people whose aesthetics I did not personally approve of were given the opportunity to listen to individual songs by my favorite bands without having to first dive into their back catalog and emotionally invest themselves in the music, maaaaan.
posted by divined by radio at 12:14 PM on May 21, 2015 [10 favorites]
I sure had shitty taste in American music as a kid. But if we're talking about one-hit wonders, what about the one that ran through east-Asia? (last link sorta nsfw.)
posted by halifix at 12:26 PM on May 21, 2015
posted by halifix at 12:26 PM on May 21, 2015
I would have really liked it if the author expanded a bit more than "wow this song. loved it!" and such. Apart from the terse dismissal of Lou Bega, which is well deserved.
And I was so happy to Ctrl + F "Letters to Cleo". God that song is orgasmic. Not even being on the Melrose Place soundtrack can sully it. But I don't get the hate for "Steal My Sunshine". It was one of the many great songs featured on the Most 90est Movie Of The 90s, Go.
The late 90s were full of this special genre of crap: completely non-rocking white guys with guitars singing about girls, usually in the third person, usually with a lot of dumb generic non-details about how this girl has hair and sometimes smiles. "Barely Breathing" doesn't quite match lyrically, but if you're not paying attention to the words you wouldn't tell the difference.
Yes, this is everything I hated about late 90s pop music. I always saw these bands as a reaction to the edgy misogyny of nu metal, by going in the other extreme and elevating mortal women to the status of unattainable goddess-like creatures.
posted by Aya Hirano on the Astral Plane at 12:26 PM on May 21, 2015 [2 favorites]
And I was so happy to Ctrl + F "Letters to Cleo". God that song is orgasmic. Not even being on the Melrose Place soundtrack can sully it. But I don't get the hate for "Steal My Sunshine". It was one of the many great songs featured on the Most 90est Movie Of The 90s, Go.
The late 90s were full of this special genre of crap: completely non-rocking white guys with guitars singing about girls, usually in the third person, usually with a lot of dumb generic non-details about how this girl has hair and sometimes smiles. "Barely Breathing" doesn't quite match lyrically, but if you're not paying attention to the words you wouldn't tell the difference.
Yes, this is everything I hated about late 90s pop music. I always saw these bands as a reaction to the edgy misogyny of nu metal, by going in the other extreme and elevating mortal women to the status of unattainable goddess-like creatures.
posted by Aya Hirano on the Astral Plane at 12:26 PM on May 21, 2015 [2 favorites]
I never thought of that type of pop as being a reaction to nu metal. It more seemed like they were both popular styles but just ignored one another totally.
posted by josher71 at 12:45 PM on May 21, 2015
posted by josher71 at 12:45 PM on May 21, 2015
One Hit Wonderland is a pretty good video series exploring ...one hit wonders. background, hiistorical context, Where Are They Now, etc
posted by The Whelk at 12:56 PM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by The Whelk at 12:56 PM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
It's always disappointing to see Duncan Sheik regarded as a footnote of 90s pop nostalgia
He also wrote the music for Spring Awakening (based on the German play of the same name), which had a good run on Broadway, and helped launch some pretty solid careers for Lea Michele (Glee, etc), Jonathan Groff (Glee, Frozen, some non-musical acting), Skylar Astin (Pitch Perfect), and probably some others. I mean, this isn't the same thing as having a Billboard number 1 hit song, but he seems to have done pretty well for himself.
posted by litera scripta manet at 1:13 PM on May 21, 2015 [2 favorites]
He also wrote the music for Spring Awakening (based on the German play of the same name), which had a good run on Broadway, and helped launch some pretty solid careers for Lea Michele (Glee, etc), Jonathan Groff (Glee, Frozen, some non-musical acting), Skylar Astin (Pitch Perfect), and probably some others. I mean, this isn't the same thing as having a Billboard number 1 hit song, but he seems to have done pretty well for himself.
posted by litera scripta manet at 1:13 PM on May 21, 2015 [2 favorites]
Worth noting that Jump by Kriss Kross was just featured in Pitch Perfect 2. (Which, honestly, is way better than it had any right to be, minus the fat shaming, which was dealt with in kind of a weird split of sometimes-body-positive in a fuck-you-I'm-awesome way and sometimes really awful. And there we a couple other issues around race and sexuality. Still, better than it had any right to be. Plus, Katey Sagal!)
And omg Blu Cantrell.. that song has never left the gay clubs.
Macy Gray !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Here's one for me: Bran Van 3000 - Drinkin' in LA
Or maybe Olive - You're Not Alone
I LOVE AQUA I DONT CARE WHO KNOWS IT IT IS THE HAPPIEST MUSIC IN THE WORLD
I see your Aqua and I raise you Prozzak.
Anyone for some Edwyn Collins?
(I'm finding it funny that I can almost date the moment I fell into loving dance music by how much less frequent the pop hits that stick in my mind are.)
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 1:20 PM on May 21, 2015
And omg Blu Cantrell.. that song has never left the gay clubs.
Macy Gray !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Here's one for me: Bran Van 3000 - Drinkin' in LA
Or maybe Olive - You're Not Alone
I LOVE AQUA I DONT CARE WHO KNOWS IT IT IS THE HAPPIEST MUSIC IN THE WORLD
I see your Aqua and I raise you Prozzak.
Anyone for some Edwyn Collins?
(I'm finding it funny that I can almost date the moment I fell into loving dance music by how much less frequent the pop hits that stick in my mind are.)
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 1:20 PM on May 21, 2015
Edwin McCain - I'll Be
Yeah, I was expecting this to show up on at least one of these lists. I'm pretty sure that was his one and only big hit, and I remember it being right up there with "Closing Time" as a popular 90s/early 2000s song that got plenty of radio play and was a staple for slow songs at school dances and the like.
And in the same vein as Lifehouse:
The Calling, Wherever You Will Go
posted by litera scripta manet at 1:23 PM on May 21, 2015
Yeah, I was expecting this to show up on at least one of these lists. I'm pretty sure that was his one and only big hit, and I remember it being right up there with "Closing Time" as a popular 90s/early 2000s song that got plenty of radio play and was a staple for slow songs at school dances and the like.
And in the same vein as Lifehouse:
The Calling, Wherever You Will Go
posted by litera scripta manet at 1:23 PM on May 21, 2015
This the part of the wedding reception thread where we put the sappy slow jams away for a bit and get back to the upbeat stuff.
Lucas - Lucas with the Lid Off
posted by cmfletcher at 1:31 PM on May 21, 2015 [3 favorites]
Lucas - Lucas with the Lid Off
posted by cmfletcher at 1:31 PM on May 21, 2015 [3 favorites]
Ctrl-F Hooch
boom. ok ok, BUT WATCH THE VIDEO. I did this for the first time just a couple weeks ago and life has not been the same since. It is... words fail me. So so so bad.
posted by clavicle at 1:39 PM on May 21, 2015
boom. ok ok, BUT WATCH THE VIDEO. I did this for the first time just a couple weeks ago and life has not been the same since. It is... words fail me. So so so bad.
posted by clavicle at 1:39 PM on May 21, 2015
I never thought of that type of pop as being a reaction to nu metal. It more seemed like they were both popular styles but just ignored one another totally.
I'm not saying these bands deliberately sat down and decided to react to nu metal by putting women on pedestals; but I do think the blatant misogyny of nu metal might have very well had an unconscious influence on soft-rock college radio songwriters to do this kind of lyrical response (wouldn't be the first time musicians have played the contrary game, either). I of course have no evidence whatsoever to back this up, but I also think it's highly unlikely these two camps were unaware of one another and what people were saying about them.
posted by Aya Hirano on the Astral Plane at 2:05 PM on May 21, 2015
I'm not saying these bands deliberately sat down and decided to react to nu metal by putting women on pedestals; but I do think the blatant misogyny of nu metal might have very well had an unconscious influence on soft-rock college radio songwriters to do this kind of lyrical response (wouldn't be the first time musicians have played the contrary game, either). I of course have no evidence whatsoever to back this up, but I also think it's highly unlikely these two camps were unaware of one another and what people were saying about them.
posted by Aya Hirano on the Astral Plane at 2:05 PM on May 21, 2015
256, I LOVED Monster Magnet! But I would argue that they were a two-hit wonder; Powertrip got a lot of play on my local rock radio station (KXTE).
Negasonic Teenage Warhead got some play too.
I love Monster Magnet too. They are true lifers - or at least Dave Wyndorf is - the kind of "one-hit wonders" who do their thing, chance into a hit, fade from radio/video fame and keep doing their thing. I mean, they were a pretty radio-unfriendly feedbacky psychedelic band at the beginning - it's particular and rarified rocker who cites Hawkwind as their biggest influence. "Stoner Rock" was growing in other scenes back then but it didn't have a lot of hits. Revival arena rock (pretending to be "grunge" but come on Soundgarden? Alice in Chains?) did, however, and since they could write hooks and took on '70s nostalgia with an appealing self-consciousness Monster Magnet got on the radio somehow. They couldn't follow up the commercial success of Powertrip but I guess they kept afloat as a touring band in Europe. They were in a bit of a musical rut for a while, Dave overdosed, the usual sort of down period, but their most recent release "Last Patrol" - I mean the 2013 version, the 2014 play-up-the-60s-pastiche "remix" is kinda fun but non-essential - is actually very good though and brings back the psychedelia somewhat.
posted by atoxyl at 2:25 PM on May 21, 2015
Negasonic Teenage Warhead got some play too.
I love Monster Magnet too. They are true lifers - or at least Dave Wyndorf is - the kind of "one-hit wonders" who do their thing, chance into a hit, fade from radio/video fame and keep doing their thing. I mean, they were a pretty radio-unfriendly feedbacky psychedelic band at the beginning - it's particular and rarified rocker who cites Hawkwind as their biggest influence. "Stoner Rock" was growing in other scenes back then but it didn't have a lot of hits. Revival arena rock (pretending to be "grunge" but come on Soundgarden? Alice in Chains?) did, however, and since they could write hooks and took on '70s nostalgia with an appealing self-consciousness Monster Magnet got on the radio somehow. They couldn't follow up the commercial success of Powertrip but I guess they kept afloat as a touring band in Europe. They were in a bit of a musical rut for a while, Dave overdosed, the usual sort of down period, but their most recent release "Last Patrol" - I mean the 2013 version, the 2014 play-up-the-60s-pastiche "remix" is kinda fun but non-essential - is actually very good though and brings back the psychedelia somewhat.
posted by atoxyl at 2:25 PM on May 21, 2015
divined by radio, there's a good chance we crossed paths at one of the Harvey Danger farewell shows (Schubas in Chicago?) on that night, that show, they struck me as a band at ease with both their legacy to their fans and their one-hit legacy, too. there's a bit of banter from that show -- I think by Sean Nelson? -- that went something like:
posted by theoddball at 3:36 PM on May 21, 2015
So, uh, before we settled on Harvey Danger as a name, we were almost Honeybucket. So just think, you know, you could all be telling your friends "No, Honeybucket! They're good! Yeah, they've got that Flagpole Sitta song, that was pretty good. But other songs, too!"but yeah, it's a travesty that they didn't get a hit out of, at least, Sad Sweetheart of the Rodeo.
posted by theoddball at 3:36 PM on May 21, 2015
Some time around 1999 I must have stopped listening to pop radio because I haven't even heard of any of the songs that postdate 1999, but I remember all of the examples prior to that. Weird.
Napster was released in 1999. Coincidence? I think not.
posted by ymgve at 4:01 PM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
Napster was released in 1999. Coincidence? I think not.
posted by ymgve at 4:01 PM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
a couple of contributions (for better or for worse):
Blessed Union of Souls, "Hey Leonardo (She Likes Me For Me)"
Filter, "Take A Picture"
or as I think of it, "awake-o my airplane"
posted by freeform at 4:20 PM on May 21, 2015 [2 favorites]
Blessed Union of Souls, "Hey Leonardo (She Likes Me For Me)"
Filter, "Take A Picture"
or as I think of it, "awake-o my airplane"
posted by freeform at 4:20 PM on May 21, 2015 [2 favorites]
I'm not trying to be obtuse but I don't get what you're saying there or is it just a joke I'm missing out on?
Napster introduced the era of music where you listened to what you wanted to listen to, not whatever the A-list on your local radio happened to be. I guess that hurt the one-hit wonders quite a bit.
posted by ymgve at 4:28 PM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
Napster introduced the era of music where you listened to what you wanted to listen to, not whatever the A-list on your local radio happened to be. I guess that hurt the one-hit wonders quite a bit.
posted by ymgve at 4:28 PM on May 21, 2015 [1 favorite]
“He's gone to build the su-per-co-lliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii-der.”
P.S. “How far down do you want to go?”
P.P.S. Not really a one-hit-wonder, but I still search the world over, ya feel me?
posted by ob1quixote at 5:50 PM on May 21, 2015
P.S. “How far down do you want to go?”
P.P.S. Not really a one-hit-wonder, but I still search the world over, ya feel me?
posted by ob1quixote at 5:50 PM on May 21, 2015
Whenever I thnk about my life before 2001, this song comes to mind. I don't know if it was a hit or not, but I still like dancing to this remix. I'm fortunate that the bones aren't creaking yet, so that's not a problem!
I occasionally wonder what sort of music will be in vogue when the youngsters who'll fix the robots that fix the robots that press the food pellet buttons in our old age homes shake their heads at us oldsters jamming to Flip Fantasia, or some such in the community room.
posted by droplet at 7:36 PM on May 21, 2015 [2 favorites]
I occasionally wonder what sort of music will be in vogue when the youngsters who'll fix the robots that fix the robots that press the food pellet buttons in our old age homes shake their heads at us oldsters jamming to Flip Fantasia, or some such in the community room.
posted by droplet at 7:36 PM on May 21, 2015 [2 favorites]
Only if you have a Citizen Dick t-shirt.
posted by cmfletcher at 8:16 PM on May 21, 2015
posted by cmfletcher at 8:16 PM on May 21, 2015
Extremely glaring omission: Whoomp! (There It Is) - Tag Team
Others:
Watch The Girl Destroy Me - Possum Dixon
Stars - Hum
Back To The Hotel - N2Deep
He Loves You Not - Dream
The One And Only - Chesney Hawkes
Graduation (Friends Forever) - Vitamin C
posted by SisterHavana at 9:10 PM on May 21, 2015 [2 favorites]
Others:
Watch The Girl Destroy Me - Possum Dixon
Stars - Hum
Back To The Hotel - N2Deep
He Loves You Not - Dream
The One And Only - Chesney Hawkes
Graduation (Friends Forever) - Vitamin C
posted by SisterHavana at 9:10 PM on May 21, 2015 [2 favorites]
> How is it possible that: 1. I had never seen the video for "I believe in a thing called love" before, and 2. It is even better than the song itself.
I Believe In a Thing Called Love - Literal Video Version
posted by ostranenie at 10:04 PM on May 21, 2015
I Believe In a Thing Called Love - Literal Video Version
posted by ostranenie at 10:04 PM on May 21, 2015
This was also when irony reigned supreme and so you ended up with bands becoming one hit wonders for ironic covers, like Dynamite Hack covering Easy-E's "Boyz-n-the-Hood" and Alien Ant Farm doing Michael Jackson's "Smooth Criminal".
Also I don't know if it was a genuine "hit" but in late 1999 the local "new rock alternative" station played Bobby Gaylor's "Suicide" so much it really did make me want to kill myself.
posted by Timmoy Daen at 6:02 AM on May 22, 2015 [4 favorites]
Also I don't know if it was a genuine "hit" but in late 1999 the local "new rock alternative" station played Bobby Gaylor's "Suicide" so much it really did make me want to kill myself.
posted by Timmoy Daen at 6:02 AM on May 22, 2015 [4 favorites]
You know that each artist thought that their one hit was going to be the start of a big recording career and you wonder about that moment when the light went off and they realized that their one big moment was already past them.
Well, there is always that moment, I suppose, but sometimes it is not the end.
I would add that sometimes a band has one hit, then loses its founder, wanders in the wilderness for a few years (including having its manager send out an entirely different unrelated band on tour under its name), relocates to a different continent, incorporates new members, and goes on to sell 40 million copies of a later album almost a decade after its "one hit."
posted by ricochet biscuit at 6:50 AM on May 22, 2015 [3 favorites]
Well, there is always that moment, I suppose, but sometimes it is not the end.
I would add that sometimes a band has one hit, then loses its founder, wanders in the wilderness for a few years (including having its manager send out an entirely different unrelated band on tour under its name), relocates to a different continent, incorporates new members, and goes on to sell 40 million copies of a later album almost a decade after its "one hit."
posted by ricochet biscuit at 6:50 AM on May 22, 2015 [3 favorites]
chaz: Rump shaker was produced by Pharell.
That is a claim which is not without controversy. I tend to believe Ty on this account.
posted by grumpybear69 at 7:05 AM on May 22, 2015
That is a claim which is not without controversy. I tend to believe Ty on this account.
posted by grumpybear69 at 7:05 AM on May 22, 2015
At one point, when a relative was showing me how to torrent, the file they picked was Top 200 hits of the 90s. While I do recognize alot of the songs both in the Bustle piece and what yall have mentioned from actually living in the 90s, I also saw more than I would have thought that are on the Top200 list. I would say its probably about a third to half 1HW.
posted by LizBoBiz at 6:45 AM on May 24, 2015
posted by LizBoBiz at 6:45 AM on May 24, 2015
Omg Timmoy Daen I love that Dynamite Hack song and that album is amazing. I remember being on IRC and someone had one of those MP3 scripts and that's how I found out about them. They also did a cover of Today Was A Good Day that was lesser known.
posted by gucci mane at 3:24 PM on May 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by gucci mane at 3:24 PM on May 24, 2015 [1 favorite]
He also wrote the music for Spring Awakening (based on the German play of the same name), which had a good run on Broadway
Not to mention it featured the pretty great (as showtunes go) Totally Fucked.
posted by psoas at 4:15 PM on May 26, 2015
Not to mention it featured the pretty great (as showtunes go) Totally Fucked.
posted by psoas at 4:15 PM on May 26, 2015
cmfletcher: "I'll just drop this here.
Letters to Cleo - Here and Now yt"
One of my favorite Beavis and Butthead videos.
Along with that one by Helium. "She probably rocks it till around 4, and has a late lunch, and then she goes to the mall. "
posted by Chrysostom at 10:07 AM on June 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
Letters to Cleo - Here and Now yt"
One of my favorite Beavis and Butthead videos.
Along with that one by Helium. "She probably rocks it till around 4, and has a late lunch, and then she goes to the mall. "
posted by Chrysostom at 10:07 AM on June 2, 2015 [1 favorite]
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Kim Gordon wept.
posted by lunasol at 8:53 PM on May 20, 2015 [26 favorites]