Friday Riffs: What’s your favorite ’90s one-hit wonder?
Since this is sort of a return-to-the-‘90s weekend, with Sugar Ray, Gin Blossoms and others playing tonight’s “Summerland” concert at Chastain; Richard Marx offering his hits with a string section on Saturday at The Fred; and Barenaked Ladies, Blues Traveler and others coming to Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre on Monday, it seemed like a good week to pay homage to our favorite one-hit wonders from the decade that brought us Nirvana AND MC Hammer.
There are plenty of artists who could have made this list, like Lit, who is also on the “Summerland” bill. Or others, such as Ben Folds Five, Shawn Colvin, Sinead O’Connor and Marc Cohn. In the case of the former, well, they’re getting enough attention this weekend. And the latter acts still have thriving careers, despite a regular chart presence.
So here are 10 of my favorites – and just choosing 10 took much more time than really necessary.
Weigh in below with some of your picks from the decade of flannel and frivolity.
Len, “Steal My Sunshine” – At the height of this song’s popularity, I remember a former co-working saying, “This just SOUNDS like a one-hit wonder.” How right he was. But I continue to be swayed by the song’s awesome sample of the Andrea True Connection.
The Verve, “Bitter Sweet Symphony” – These sublime Brits had more than a dozen hits in their homeland but this hypnotic thing of beauty represented their only U.S. chart appearance.
Soup Dragons, “Divine Thing” – If you have SiriusXM, chances are you’ve heard this one recently since it’s a favorite on the “’90s on 9” channel. If you aren’t familiar with the Scots’ bluesy pop tune, get listening.
Sunscreem, “Love U More” – I’ll admit that my husband gets the credit (or blame) for, a few years ago, re-introducing me to this sumptuous dance-pop song from the British trio that specializes in house/techno music. Glad he did.
Edwyn Collins, “A Girl Like You” – So Collins sounds like a creepy David Bowie. That only makes the song more mesmerizing.
Chumbawumba, “Tubthumping” – Earlier this week, the British dance-punk-pop outfit announced its demise after 30 years. And no one cared. R.I.P. to the band that provided one of the all-time best drinking songs.
Billie Myers, “Kiss the Rain” – Hopes were high that the emotive Myers would be a career artist given her immediate vocal presence. Her follow-up, “Tell Me,” made an occasional radio appearance and in 2010 Myers hit the dance charts with “Wonderful,” but who really remembers her outside of “Rain”?
Ghost Town DJs, “My Boo” – Jermaine Dupri crafted the Miami bass sound for this hip-hop-lite crew. I just remember it as a song synonymous with summer.
New Radicals, “You Get What You Give” – Name-checking Courtney Love and Marilyn Manson sure seemed cool at the time, didn’t it? But who couldn’t love a band that counted Danielle Brisebois among its members?
Michael Penn, “No Myth” – What a hoot to watch Penn with wife Aimee Mann on their joint tours and listen to Mann tease him about being “Romeo in black jeans.”
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119 comments Add your comment
Nonia
July 13th, 2012
6:12 am
money (That’s What I Want)-by The Flying Lizards……..
A classic indeed!
Ice Man
July 13th, 2012
6:19 am
ICE ICE BABY
Sluggo
July 13th, 2012
6:22 am
I’d Die without you – PM Dawn
90s rock!
July 13th, 2012
7:08 am
Meat Puppets- Backwater
dirty
July 13th, 2012
7:16 am
If we are talking ione hit wonders you have got to include the Four Non Blondes
NJ
July 13th, 2012
7:24 am
Wicked Game by Chris Isaak, 500 Miles by the Proclaimers, and The Crash Test Dummies’ Mmm Mmm Mmm
Already misses the '90's
July 13th, 2012
7:31 am
Amen on Crash Test Dummies. Honorable mention goes to Tarzan and Jane by Toy Box, and the Macarena.
christy girl
July 13th, 2012
7:35 am
bitch,meridith brooks
Buford Sowega
July 13th, 2012
7:47 am
Dammit. That sample used in “Don’t You Steal My Sunshine” is now looping endlessly in my head. I remember when it hit the radio it stayed stuck in my head for weeks. Oh well–maybe for a blessed little while it will take the place of all the songs my four year old has brought into my world. I dare you to get the new My Little Pony theme song to quit your mental play list. Dammit.
Totally 90s
July 13th, 2012
7:50 am
Cumbersome – Seven Mary Three… Sex & Candy – Marcy Playground… Breakfast at Tiffany’s – Deep Blue Something… Inside Out – Eve6
Ricochet
July 13th, 2012
7:50 am
I love music and, even though I’m old, enjoy most genres (hip hop, techno-pop and rap being exceptions). Guess that is why I sort of tuned out most of the tripe that was spewing from the radio in the 1990s. Notable exceptions for me: No Myth (M. Penn), I’ve Got A Lot To Learn About Love (The Storm). The rest pretty much sucked. Now, for those of you old enough to remember, comparte the ONe Hit Wonders of, say, The 90s with The 70s. No comparison. Even the bad songs were better then.
RipVanWinkle
July 13th, 2012
7:56 am
Must have been asleep when most of these people came out. Here is VH1 top 90’s One Hit Wonders..now these I remember!
13. Cotton Eye Joe – Red-Nex
12. The Humpty Dance – Digital Underground
11. You Get What You Give – New Radicals
11. One Of Us – Joan Osborne
9. Jump Around – House Of Pain
8. Barely Breathing – Duncan Sheik
7. Ice Ice Baby – Vanilla Ice
6. Closing Time – Semisonic
5. Tubthumping – Chumbawamba
4. Macarena – Los Del Rio
3. Rico Suave – Gerardo
2. I’m Too Sexy – Right Said Fred
1. Baby Got Back – Sir Mix-A-Lot
Drew
July 13th, 2012
8:03 am
The New Radicals were an intriguing mystery, breaking up with a Top Ten single and a hit album on the charts… but given the number of references to cocaine there are on that album, perhaps it’s not THAT big a mystery. Gregg Alexander is a talented songwriter and producer who continues to pop up behind the scenes, most famously with the Michele Branch/Carlos Santana song “The Game of Love” which could’ve fit seamlessly onto that one New Radicals album.
Class of '98
July 13th, 2012
8:05 am
The greatest one hit wonder of all time, not just the 1990’s, is “Ice Ice Baby” by Vanilla Ice. I thought everybody knew that.
FCM
July 13th, 2012
8:10 am
Blind Melon’s “No Rain”…..although I understand they had great success outside the US.
Wondering
July 13th, 2012
8:23 am
I’m with RipVanWinkle here – not even close on these top 10
Pam
July 13th, 2012
8:24 am
The 90’s was truly the worst decade for music. But a few that haven’t been mentioned stand out.
Calloway – I Wanna Be Rich
Sinead O’Conner – Nothing Compares 2 U
Tag Team – Whoomp There It Is
Proclaimers – I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)
Lou Bega – Mambo #5
Haddaway – What Is Love
Marc Cohn – Walking In Memphis
FM Fats
July 13th, 2012
8:26 am
Cantaloop by US3 comes to mind. Love the Andrea True reference. She tried country in the mid-70’s before she had the disco hit. One of her band members was Larry Campbell, who went on to play in Bob Dylan’s band in the late 90’s.
Sid Vicious
July 13th, 2012
8:26 am
MMMBop – by Hanson is without a doubt the best single, one hit wonder etc etc that there was in the 90’s…I play that song at the right times still to these days…And this is coming from a guy who thinks Rush, the Beatles & the Sex Pistols are the best ever…
Fred ™
July 13th, 2012
8:35 am
Whoomp there it is
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-FPimCmbX8
Patriot
July 13th, 2012
8:40 am
The article, the responses and current playlists support the hypothesis that there STILL has been no decent music since 1982.
Patriot
July 13th, 2012
8:41 am
The Macarena was kind of catchy, though.
Fred ™
July 13th, 2012
8:42 am
Patriot
July 13th, 2012
8:40 am
The article, the responses and current playlists support the hypothesis that there STILL has been no decent music since 1982.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Here’s your sign:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5ZkdHImCuQ
richard whiskey
July 13th, 2012
8:45 am
right said fred and i’m to sexy,remember al bundy singing that on married with children
TB
July 13th, 2012
8:45 am
Just got Paid – Johnny Kemp
Dennis
July 13th, 2012
8:47 am
Aqua – Barbie Girl – forever a song of the summer…
TB
July 13th, 2012
8:47 am
Sorry – I know that was the 80’s, but I like it…
CoachPaulJ'smanboobs
July 13th, 2012
8:55 am
Georgia Tech! One hit wonder in the 90’s!!! wheeeee
TT
July 13th, 2012
8:57 am
Everything About You – Ugly Kid Joe – 1992. That one hit wonder was an anthem for the early 90’s.
Tay
July 13th, 2012
9:02 am
Return of the Mack-Mark Morrison…you lied to me!
Patrick
July 13th, 2012
9:11 am
Probably my #1 90s One-Hit Wonder (at least in the U.S.) would have to be O.M.C.’s “How Bizarre”.
Jimm
July 13th, 2012
9:20 am
Um. Closing Time by Semisonic?
Kitster
July 13th, 2012
9:24 am
Dee-Lite – Groove is in the Heart
Snow – Informer
SWV – Right Here
EMF – Unbelievable
Four of my favorite 90’s One Hit Wonders.
Dano
July 13th, 2012
9:27 am
Hmmm easy selection here……Love Spreads by the Stone Roses. What an incredible song, even though they were so wasted at Music Midtown they started and stopped the song about 4 times before giving up. Honorable Mention is Unbelievable by EMF – that tune just puts you in a good mood.
just me
July 13th, 2012
9:30 am
Lisa Loeb – Stay
just me
July 13th, 2012
9:31 am
Kitster…. SWV had plenty of hits.
Need Some New Faces
July 13th, 2012
9:32 am
Tubthumping for sure.
JeffK
July 13th, 2012
9:37 am
I remember some idiot DJ saying that the New Radicals would be the new coming of the Rolling Stones…whoops! They SUCKED!!
dave grohl
July 13th, 2012
9:37 am
the wallflowers-one headlight,
Dis Tub B a Thumpin
July 13th, 2012
9:42 am
Tubthumping – Chumbawamba: One of my favorites, and the most underrated inspirational song to come out of the 90’s (IMO). I don’t understand why some many people put it down. It is on permanent rotation in my play list. And it’s lyrics, “I get knocked down, I get up again”, have helped me through many a tough day.
Ain't That the Truth, Ruth
July 13th, 2012
9:44 am
Lisa Loeb. One-hit-Goliath. And by the way, proofreading is always nice–even in this age of diminishing newspaper budgets.
LJF1
July 13th, 2012
9:45 am
Right Said Fred – Too Sexy
Bizmarkie – Just a Friend
Gerardo – Rico Suave
4 Non Blondes – What’s up
Cardigans – Love Fool
Billy Ray Cyrus – Achy Breaky Heart
House of Pain – Jump Around
Sophie B Hawkins – Damn I wish I was your lover
Onyx – Slam
Calloway – I wanna be rich
Divinyls – Touch Myself
Marcy Playground – Sex & Candy
Mike
July 13th, 2012
9:48 am
SWV?? Definitely not one hit wonders. They had three multi-platinum albums and just released a new album in April. Hell, “Weak” hit the #1 spot on the pop charts and the R&B charts.
Mary
July 13th, 2012
9:54 am
Oh man, now I’m gonna spend my lunch downloading way too many songs from iTunes.
Me Again
July 13th, 2012
9:56 am
“Here’s Where the Story Ends” from the Sundays and the incomparable Harriett Wheeler
Val
July 13th, 2012
9:56 am
Got to add Savage Garden-Truly Madly Deeply best song ever!
DevilDogOz
July 13th, 2012
10:01 am
Thanks to everyone who contributed but it’s Jane Child ‘Dont Wanna Fall in Love’ (actually 1989). Sitting here in Afghanistan clicking on these and flashing back…..
Contessa
July 13th, 2012
10:06 am
“Monsters and Angels” by Voice of the Beehive.
Tomahawkin
July 13th, 2012
10:16 am
Thanks Everyone for Taking Kristen to School
SWV was the most Underrated Female R&B Group of All Time
Tomahawkin
July 13th, 2012
10:22 am
Quad City DJ’s
“Come On Ride That Train!
That Song was Sooo Good it had to be Done Twice in DJ Taz’s “That’s Right” Remix
That old School DJ Tazz Still Goes Hard!
LJF1
July 13th, 2012
10:24 am
Another GREAT song I just remembered:
Joe Public – Live & Learn
Adam
July 13th, 2012
10:34 am
Mazzy Star – Fade Into You
Harvey Danger – Flagpole Sitter
Blind Melon – No Rain
House of Pain – Jump Around
Collective Soul – Shine – (I know we don’t want to admit the boys from Stockbridge are one hit wonders, but come on, they are)
Hootie and the Blowfish – Only Want to Be With You
Fiona Apple – Criminal
The Breeders – Cannonball
ormewood
July 13th, 2012
10:43 am
Groovy Train by The Farm
#10HOF
July 13th, 2012
10:45 am
The 90’s were a great decade for music. I would have to say the song, “Got You Where I Want You” by “The Fly’s” is def a one hit wonder..
Emily
July 13th, 2012
10:53 am
Jesus Jones – Right Here Right Now
James – Laid
The Divinyls – I Touch Myself
Melissa Ruggieri
July 13th, 2012
10:54 am
DevilDogOz – Thanks so much for checking in from over there. Stay safe…and now I will have “Don’t Wanna Fall in Love” rattling around my head all day!
Adam – Love that Harvey Danger song, too. It was originally on my list, but then the list started stretching to 12, 13, 15 songs and I had to start chopping!
Cheers,
Melissa
Kitster
July 13th, 2012
10:56 am
Ah, yeah thanks for ‘taking me to school’. The did have a couple of OK songs didn’t they?
Maybe I was thinking of another girly group – maybe it was Oaktown 3-5-7?
Kitster
July 13th, 2012
10:59 am
HA! Melissa! You just reminded me of another with your last comment –
Dinosaur Jr. – Start Choppin’
Kitster
July 13th, 2012
11:06 am
Adam, if I am catching heat for listing SWV as a one hit wonder, I have to disagree on you calling both Collective Soul and Hootie and the Blowfish one hit wonders as well. Collective Soul had 5 Number 1 songs on their first two albums and several other charters. Hootie had 4 Top-10 songs on their first album and another on their second.
Diego
July 13th, 2012
11:11 am
One hit wonders means just that. Bands like Hootie (come on now!) and Lisa Loeb had more than 1 hit, believe it or not. (And Penn’s song came out in the late 80s, not in the 90s.)
Comment Here
July 13th, 2012
11:21 am
Blind Melon had great success outside the US until of course the guy died.
Katie
July 13th, 2012
11:21 am
Let’s not forget about Marky Mark And The Funky Bunch. He was actually a TWO hit wonder with Good Vibrations and Wild Side.
Also, Rednex – Cotton Eye Joe
Comment Here
July 13th, 2012
11:23 am
I hear you all but Hootie overall were a terrible band. That’s why no one takes them seriously.
Melissa Ruggieri
July 13th, 2012
11:25 am
Hey Diego – technically correct on “No Myth” that it was released in 1989. But, according to Billboard, it charted on Billboard’s Hot 100, Alternative Songs and the Adult Contempo charts in early 1990 (http://www.billboard.com/#/song/michael-penn/no-myth/281348). So it’s one of those both-decades songs, sort of like Richard Marx is a both-decades artist!
Thanks!
Melissa
What?
July 13th, 2012
11:33 am
Kitster, you think that SWV had a “couple of [ok] hits”? Really? Doesn’t “couple” mean two? Sweetie, they had more than a “couple” of hits.
How could you confuse SWV with Oaktown 3-5-7? The latter was a Hammer spin-off female rap group, while the former was a very talented–and successful–R&B group. Oaktown’s only hit was “Juicy Gotcha Crazy”, while SWV had a string of hits, which included: “Weak”, “Downtown”, “Free Your Heart”, “Anything”, “Right Here” (both the original and remix were hits), “You’re the One”, “Can We Get Freaky”, “All About You”, “Rain”, and the most recent, “Co-sign”. Of course, this is not an exhaustive list of their hits, but, hopefully, you get the idea.
I’ll bet that is way more “schooling” than you bargained for.
LJF1
July 13th, 2012
11:34 am
Eagle Eye Cherry – Save Tonight
Glenn
July 13th, 2012
11:35 am
I love that ” Steal my Sunshine ” song . I would deny it if you knew me .
DJB
July 13th, 2012
11:57 am
I nominate the summer breezy dance classic Where Do You Go by No Mercy.
DJB
July 13th, 2012
12:00 pm
And, how can you forget Me Mr Vain by Culture Beat.
DJB
July 13th, 2012
12:00 pm
Oops… Call Me Mr Vain…..
DJB
July 13th, 2012
12:04 pm
And, Missing by Everything but the Girl.
Tomahawkin
July 13th, 2012
12:11 pm
WHO LET THE DOGS OUT!!!
What year did that come Out??? 1999? or 2000???
I absolutely hate that Song
Tomahawkin
July 13th, 2012
12:13 pm
Gary Glitter’s
“HEYYYYYY”, Did that come out in the 90’s as a 1 hit wonder?
It Is now a National Sports Anthem Played at Hardcore Football Stadiums in the Northeast, where their fans are Rowdy
Fans will say “HEYYYYYY, You Suck!”
Kitster
July 13th, 2012
12:14 pm
Thank you, What? When I said they had some OK hits, I was joking and actually put a smiley at the end of that sentence, but it didn’t show up when I submitted the comment. Of the SWV songs you listed, I remember (and like) Weak, Right Here and (my favorite) I’m So Into You. The others I do not recall ever hearing on Top 40 radio.
And actually, I did like the one Oaktown song I remember – Yeah Yeah Yeah.
John
July 13th, 2012
12:20 pm
Collective Soul is in no way a one-hit wonder. I vote for Primitive Radio Gods “Standing Outside a Broken Telephone Booth With Money in My Hand”.
Party On
July 13th, 2012
12:21 pm
Who did – Here Comes the Hotstepper? That was a truly a one-hit wonder.
Charles
July 13th, 2012
12:23 pm
Best column you ever “wrote”…
Tomahawkin
July 13th, 2012
12:23 pm
SWV’s “Anything” song was Soooo Good, It has 3 verses to it…The Smooth-Slow Version 2.35 Minute version is Baby Makin Music
Tomahawkin
July 13th, 2012
12:24 pm
“Boom Boom Boom! Lemme Hear You Say Way-Yo!”
Way-ooooooooooooooo
That Goes good at a Game
Wasnt that song a 90’s one hit wonder?
Holly
July 13th, 2012
12:25 pm
Tom Cochran – Life Is A Highway
Del Amitri – Roll To Me
Bo Diddley
July 13th, 2012
12:31 pm
Rude Boys – Written All Over Your Face
2 in a Room – Wiggle It
Tony Terry – With You
Lisa Fisher – How Can I Ease the Pain?
D.R.S. – Gangsta Lean
Ini Kamoze – Here Comes the Hot Steppa
Des’ree – You Gotta Be
Lord Tariq & Peter Gunz – Deja Vu (Uptown Baby)
Shawn Mullins – Lullaby
chuck
July 13th, 2012
12:31 pm
Yes! lisa loeb and ungly kid joe for sure!
Tomahawkin
July 13th, 2012
12:36 pm
“Cotton Candy Sweet and Go, Let me see That Tootsie Roll”
Damn I love 90’s rap, so much different than the Current Pop Tart Crap that is out Now!
jarjar
July 13th, 2012
12:36 pm
Melissa,
Not to be a stickler, but didn’t the Soup Dragons have a much bigger hit with “I’m Free?” Sure, it was a Stones cover and later the basis for an HP commercial, but I remember I’m Free being a much bigger song. Had both albums on CD.
Tomahawkin
July 13th, 2012
12:38 pm
@Bo Diddley
Co-Sign on your 12:31 post
That Rude Boys Written All Over Your Face still goes Hard…
And that Here Comes The Hot Steppa was hot in 94, That was a Summer Anthem
NobodyImportant
July 13th, 2012
12:40 pm
Failure’s “Stuck on You”. That was what I wanted the 90s to sound like.
Honorable mention to Dig for “Believe”.
MountainDawg
July 13th, 2012
12:44 pm
“Love & Affection” Nelson (Ricky’s boys
)
Need Some New Faces
July 13th, 2012
1:31 pm
Was that “I Would Walk 500 Miles” song from the ’90’s?
LOVEMUSIC
July 13th, 2012
1:43 pm
In reply to Party On, Ini Kamoze did “Here comes the Hotstepper”. Definately a hot song at the time…it was 1995, my senior year in highschool.
LOVEMUSIC
July 13th, 2012
1:51 pm
Cheers 2 U by Playa
Cry No More by II D Extreme
Games by Chuckii Booker
How Can I Ease the Pain by Lisa Fischer
I Don’t Ever Want To See You Again by Uncle Sam
I Don’t Wanna Lose Your Love by B Angie B (although her song So Much Love was hot too)
Love Ambition by Jason Weaver
KD
July 13th, 2012
1:51 pm
I don’t know if it was a hit in the 90’s or not, but what about the song ” Good night Irene ” by The Dixie Midnight Runners, that was a classic.
Who Dat
July 13th, 2012
1:53 pm
Naughty By Nature OPP
Make em say Unhhhh Master P
Who Dat
July 13th, 2012
1:54 pm
Here Comes the Hot Steppa for sure!!!!
WhoDat
July 13th, 2012
1:59 pm
The Humpty Dance!!! Digital Underground!
Mustang Sally
July 13th, 2012
2:08 pm
Technically Vanilla Ice, Lou Bega and Sophie B. Hawkins are two hit wonders. Vanilla Ice remade Wild Cherry’s Play that Funky Music on the same Ice Ice Baby album. Lou Bega had Tricky Tricky on the same album as Mambo #5. Sophie B Hawkins also had Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep in 1995, right around the same time as Joan Osborne’s One of Us.
Some other 90s One Hit Wonders that come to mind:
Planet Soul – Set You Free
2Nu – This is Ponderous
The Primitives – Crash
The Freshman – The Verve Pipe
Fatboy Slim – The Rockafella Skank
Temple of the Dog – Hunger Strike
Haddaway – What is Love?
Robin S. – Show Me Love
Gina G – Ooh Ahh Just a Little Bit
N-Trance – Stayin’ Alive
jimbob
July 13th, 2012
2:26 pm
Anyone else remember that “I’m just a teenage dirtbag” song?? Cute ditty.
Also like that ‘down by the boathouse, I’ll show you my dark secret’ song.
Melissa Ruggieri
July 13th, 2012
2:28 pm
Hey Jar Jar – Yeah, that’s a good point and you are correct. They’re not even technically a one-hit wonder, then, since “I’m Free” was also a hit two years before “Diving Thing.” My bad! But “Divine” is still a great song
Cheers,
Melissa
Mustang Sally
July 13th, 2012
2:37 pm
Um, Nelson wasn’t a one hit wonder. They also had After the Rain, Time Will Tell and More than Ever off the same album.
Another one hit….
Jill Sobule – I Kissed A Girl
Kitster
July 13th, 2012
2:49 pm
Good pull Jimbob – the second song you mentioned is “Possum Kingdom” by the Toadies. Good tune.
“I’ll treat you well – my sweet an-gel – so help me, Jesus”
Tomahawkin
July 13th, 2012
2:52 pm
Naughty By Nature were Not One Hit Wonders
Feel Me Flow is a Classic as well as Uptown Anthem which was So Good It was on the Movie Juice
They were Better than 90 percent of todays Rap
Party On
July 13th, 2012
3:11 pm
Thanks LOVEMUSIC! Also, Digital Underground is a TWO Hit wonder, their first song – Doowutchyalike, but that was in 1989.
Adam
July 13th, 2012
3:17 pm
I stand corrected on Collective Soul; I forgot about “The World I Know” and a couple of other songs that got some radio play.
Remembered another one: Song 2 by Blur (aka the “Woo-Hoo” song)
Anyone from the UK would be ready to kill me now because they were huge in Britain, but Song 2 was the only one I remember charting in the U.S. If you liked that 90s britpop sound (Oasis, Stone Roses, Supergrass, The Verve, etc.), definitely check out Blur – top notch.
Melissa Ruggieri
July 13th, 2012
3:47 pm
Great Britpop suggestions, Adam. I was also a big fan of (London) Suede. Remember them? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPFd-CHLaAA
Brent
July 13th, 2012
4:10 pm
Soup Dragons were NOT “one-hit wonders”…their cover of the Rolling Stones’ “I’m Free” was a bigger hit than “Divine Thing” and gets played far more regularly.
Capt jack
July 13th, 2012
4:28 pm
Just FYI, one hit wonder is not the same as “one song I liked” and Temple of the Dog was Pearl Jam and Soundgarden, hardly 1 hit wonders.
What?
July 13th, 2012
7:02 pm
Kitster, since you were “joking” about SWV, we’re cool.
However, you and I both know that there is an obvious reason why you didn’t hear many of SWV’s hits on the Top 40. Most of their songs topped the R&B charts. They have always been one of my favorite girly groups, along with EnVogue and Atlanta’s own TLC and Xscape.
I need to thank you for reminding me of Oaktown’s other hit, “Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah”. I’d totally forgotten about that one. I’m very surprised that you’re familiar with them becauseI know that their songs were not on the Top 40.
What?
July 13th, 2012
7:23 pm
Rude Boys – Written All Over Your Face
Tony Terry – With You
Lisa Fisher – How Can I Ease the Pain?
D.R.S. – Gangsta Lean
Bo Diddley, you’re on it!!! However, Tony Terry was not a 1-hit wonder. He had “She’s Fly”, “Lovey Dovey”, and “Everlasting Love”. Other than that snafu, you got it goin’ on because you brought up “Gangsta Lean”.
Gerald
July 13th, 2012
10:22 pm
Above all else, I would put Primitive Radio Gods’ “Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth with Money In My Hand,” though my first thought was in fact “Steal My Sunshine,” a song I didn’t much like when it came out but that I have grown to love over the years.
Folk Implosion’s “Natural One,” Humm’s “Stars,” and The Flys’ “Got You (Where I Want You)” immediately come to mind. And Lucas’ “Lucas with the Lid Off,” which time would have likely forgotten if not for the brilliant Michel Gondry video.
Fred
July 14th, 2012
12:42 am
The most telling point of this thread is how little you’ll know about music if you rely on commercial radio for your personal soundtrack. You won’t hear all that much, likely won’t remember when it came out, who made it or if they ever did anything else. Casual music for casual listening.
I suppose that’s fine, but it doesn’t make for great conversation.
Class of '98
July 14th, 2012
10:15 am
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Class of '98
July 14th, 2012
10:17 am
Naughty By Nature were NOT one hit wonders. At my high school graduation in 1993a we briefly did the “Hip Hop Hooray” thing. Great song
Walter
July 14th, 2012
11:24 am
“I Know” by Dionne Farris.
Patrick
July 14th, 2012
12:13 pm
Great…thanks to this blog post I’ve been dropping money on Amazon MP3, expanding my collection even further. Two I don’t see listed here: Primitive Radio Gods’ “Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth With Money In My Hand” and Scatman John’s “Scatman”. For the latter, I can still vaguely remember a Good Humor commercial where they did a version of the song.
Praveen
July 14th, 2012
12:33 pm
The Verve had some bad lawyers. They didn’t make a single cent off the song because they were intimidated into thinking that the album could be blocked and settled to give up all royalties to the song to the Stones catalog owners. Keith Richards and Mick Jagger are given the writing credits for Bitter Sweet Symphony . Verve used a sample for the main opening instrumental hook but the sample was cleared beforehand and it was based off of the part of the orchestral reworking of the “The Last Time” which does not even closely resemble the Last TIme. In fact “The LAst Time” rips off common tunes from old bluesy songs more than the Bitter Sweet does of the Rolling Stones song. That is one song I will gladly download for free and not feel bad about it because the Verve wont make a single cent off of it.
Rant over: In addition to the above choices, my other favorites:
Deelite: Groove is in the heart.
Divinyls; Touch Myself
Already mentioned, but deserves mentioning again. Mazzy Starr : Fade into You. Awesome song
Pete Droge : Beautiful Girl
That song twiggy by the Japanese girl group.
THat Bloodhound song about “doing it like they do it on the discovery channel”.
That Hobo Humpin Slobo Babe song by Whale.
Wax: Southern California
Who said the 90s sucked?? Great decade for music and movies. And I was a teen of the 80s who will admit that.
dick whiskey
July 14th, 2012
1:19 pm
hey val savage garden was’nt a one hit wonder,besides truly madly deeply had chicka cherry cola a.k.a. i need you and i knew i loved you before i met you,more one hit wonders robyn show me love and been caught stealing by jane’s addiction,spin doctors two pricess’s
Fred ™
July 15th, 2012
11:12 am
Dick Whisky. Huh? Try some punctuation bro. I can’t translate that huge run on sentence. The whole world doesn’t text you know, some of us actually talk and spell still…………
Bo Diddley
July 16th, 2012
11:24 am
@What? OMG!! How could I forget “Everlasting Love”???? SHAME ON ME!
Angie
July 17th, 2012
11:39 am
West End Girls – Pet Shop Boys
Swing My Way – KP and Envyi
Praveen
July 18th, 2012
2:40 am
Pet Shop Boys were definitely not a one hit wonder. What Have I Done To Deserve This was just as big.