One Hit Wonders

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Originally posted by Keith Mattox:
Did they have anything else besides "Take on Me"?

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They did rather well over here in England & most of Europe. After "Take on Me" came "The Sun always Shines on TV", "Hunting High & Low" and "Train of Thought", all from their first LP. The second album (Scoundrel Days) saw the releases of several more Top 10 singles those being "I've Been Losing You", "Manhattan Skyline" & "Cry Wolf" of which the latter one an award for Best Video. Third album, even more hits : "Stay on these Roads", "Touchy", "The Blood that Moves the Body" and "You are the One". Things started to go downhill after that with only 1 track off their fourth (and best album) entering the top 10, that being a cover of the Everyly Brothers "Crying in the Rain". Fifth album (Memorial Beach) and singles sank without trace in 1993. Then last year they reformed and released their latest album, "Minor Earth, Major Sky". Band members have done solo stuff in between: Morton's stuff being crap and Pal forming his own indie band called "Savoy" who are actually very good.

I'm sure by now, I've lost all my credibility (did I have any to begin with?). Does this make me "The Master of the Boybands?"

Steve

Scando pop forever!

I wonder what bands did well here but were one-hit wonders in Europe? Greg Kihn did fairly well in Germany. Huey Lewis and the News perhaps? Did Bob Seger play at all across the Atlantic (not that I would wish that on anyone)? What about Billy Joel (ditto)?

Cheers

Keith.

Toni Basil - "Hey Ricky"
Total Coehlo - "I Eat Cannibals"
Kajagoogoo - "Too Shy"

Need I say more...

Dave Dever, NANA

You ain't seen Nothin' Yet - Bachman Turner Overdrive

P.

Hell, they produced at least 5 albums that were big sellers in Canada, USA, and Australasia... only one hit here? Surely there is understanding of guitars outside of redneck countries?

Rico - ok, the Kans are sorted, now whatabout the rainforests?

Actually Rico I gotta admit that that was a bit of a Troll. I kinda got to thinking that maybe they did do something after the splendiferous "You aint" but I'm damned for the life of me if I can think of anything that followed it up in the UK. Any takers out there?

Whoah oh Black Betty Bam Ba Lang!!!

Rock on

P. - Donning Harry Enfield guise

Some one-hit wonders from the disco era:

Samantha Sang: Emotion
The Silvers: Boogie Fever
Anita Ward: Ring My Bell
A Taste of Honey: Boogie Oogie Oogie (the band that beat out Elvis Costello for the Grammy's "best new artist" award. He won it next year )
Wild Cherry: Play that Funky Music
Van McCoy & The Soul City Symphony: The Hustle
The Trammps: Disco Inferno

Does it really get any better than this?

I had to sit through all of these for an hour a day as the radio in drafting class, along with most of the poeple in the class, was rigidly tuned to Top 40. Oh the pain.

But the topper was that huge hit: "Feelings"; I've managed to forget the "artist" that created it.

Cheers

Keith.

How about.... Float on - by the Floaters?

I cannot describe how incredibly humerous my mates and I found that record whilst we were sitting around in the corner of the local disco nighterie getting up to things that would have had us thrown out and barred for life if the bouncers would've spotted us. Disco truly did suck! You had to laugh though.

Man

P.

cheers

Nigel

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Disco truly did suck!

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Donna Summer - I feel love
Sister Sledge - We are family
Odyssey - Going back to my roots
Lipps Inc - Funky Town

not all one hit wonders, but you have to laugh at someone who thinks these all suck

Plastic Bertrand - "Ca Plane Pour Moi"

Jackie Brenston - "Rocket 88".

Sgt. Barry Sadler - "Ballad of the Green Berets"

Rick Dees - "Disco Duck"

Cletus Maggard: White Knight
C.W. McCall: Convoy

The songs here just keep getting better and better...

Cheers

Keith.

PS Carl Douglas: Kung Fu Fighting

oh yeah baby, it just keeps getting better....

I believe I'm going to throw-up.

I'll even throw in a copy of Mull of Kintyre (or however its spelt).

Andrea True - "More More More". AT was a porn star looking for a new career.

Bloodrock - "D.O.A." Least likely name for a band with a pop hit, ever.

Disco Tex and His Sex-O-Lettes - "Get Dancin'". AKA Sixties US fringe celebrity Monti Rock III cashing in on the disco fad.

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"Afternoon Delight" -- Starland Vocal Band

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That will stick in my mind as the nadir of the decade...

Others:

Hot Chcocolate: You Sexy Thing
Blue Magic: Sideshow
Five String Electric Band: Signs
Jim Stafford: Spiders and Snakes
The DeFranco Family featuring Tony DeFranco: Heartbeat–It's A Lovebeat
Ray Stevens: The Streak
Bo Donaldson & The Heywoods: Billy, Don't Be A Hero
Jessi Colter: I'm Not Lisa
Gilbert O'Sullivan: Alone Again (Naturally)
Brownsville Station: Smokin' In The Boy's Room
Morris Albert: Feelings
Henry Gross: Shannon
England Dan & John Ford Coley: I'd Really Love To See You Tonight

I listened to these during my "formative years"

Cheers

Keith.

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Originally posted by Alex S:
When Mike Hanson has reached CDS2/XPS/52/SC/500 etc we should confiscate his record collection and present him with this lot.

I'll even throw in a copy of Mull of Kintyre (or however its spelt).

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Are you sure he'll be able to cope with the upgrade in his music collection?

Anyway, moving swiftly on..

Just had a look at some old Now complilations we've got lying around. How's about these then:

M/A/R/R/S - Pump up the Volume

Los Lobos - La Bamba

Karel Fialka - Hey Matthew

Jan Hammer - Crocket's Theme

Double - The Captain Of Her Heart

Steve

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Hot Chcocolate: You Sexy Thing
Blue Magic: Sideshow
Five String Electric Band: Signs
Jim Stafford: Spiders and Snakes
The DeFranco Family featuring Tony DeFranco: Heartbeat–It's A Lovebeat
Ray Stevens: The Streak
Bo Donaldson & The Heywoods: Billy, Don't Be A Hero
Jessi Colter: I'm Not Lisa
Gilbert O'Sullivan: Alone Again (Naturally)
Brownsville Station: Smokin' In The Boy's Room
Morris Albert: Feelings
Henry Gross: Shannon
England Dan & John Ford Coley: I'd Really Love To See You Tonight

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Depends how you define the definition of 'one hit'.
1. Hot Chocolate had a string of minor hits in the early to mid 70's in the Caribbean islands, well before the dross of YST.
2. Blue Magic had another minor hit (probably from the same album) called Three Ring Circus. This was the era when I thought both Blue Magic and the Stylistics were white women!
3. Jim Stafford I think may have had another minor hit 'I was stoned and I missed it' but I may be wrong here. I do recall seeing him once on television doing a very accomplished solo guitar rendition of 'Flight of the Bumblebee'.. so he can't be all that bad. Besides his parody of the Garden of Eden story is sort of humorous even now.
4. The DeFranco Family were a hit every time a teenage girl hung up a picture of Canadas answer to Donny Osmond (but what was the freakin' question).
5. Jessi Colters song was really not that bad. In a way it reminded me of an early Janis Ian
piece.
6. Ray Stevens also has some drunken sing along anthems as well as the spiritual 'Everything is Beautiful'.
7. Bo Donaldson et al... truly execrable and beyond redemption.
8. Gilbert O'Sullivan... again he had some other minor 'hits' - Matrimony, Nothing Rhymed and maybe one or two others. Alone Again is not a half bad song and has some of the self derision as the Half Hit Wonder- Mr. Nick Drake.
9. Morris Albert... some interesting chord progressions and inversions in this song make it somewhat interesting. Unfortunately this became cocktail lounge schlock and lost much of its candy-sweetness. Speaking of which whatever happened to Katie Kissoon of the Sugar Candied Kisses fame?
10. Henry Gross... a far better producer than musician. The Rolling Stones first Record Guide referred to his guitar playing as 'wholly dumb' if memory serves correctly.
11. England Dan Seals and JF Coley... also had another hit or two from the same album... Nights are Forever without You comes to mind.

I have quite a bit of 70's schock-rock on LP. But you know what.. some of it is really quite decent when billowing out of the DBL/sixpack.
Even Python Lee Jackson.
Some of the Disco era songs had 12 inch 45rpm that sounded devastatingly good...Vicki Sue Robinsons 'Turn the Beat Around' is a good example. This has got PRT in spades. Not to be confused in any way with the far inferior Gloria Estafan cover.
Off now to listen to Mull of Kintyre on the DBLs

Ron
Dum spiro audio
Dum audio vivo

http://homepages.go.com/~rontoolsie/index1.html

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Depends how you define the definition of 'one hit'.

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True - I'm going by my exposure to AM airplay in the states, and whatever else I picked up along the way.

Here's the definitive list, btw: One Hit Wonders

Cheers

Keith.

"cancer, and my name is larry..." - was it as totally cheesy then as I suspected (and now know) it was? Where was weird al yankovich when we needed him?

Who was the guy who sung the song about "Aeriel"? That must have been a one-hitter.

And then there was "Mouldy Old Dough".

Rico - ok, the Kans are sorted, now whatabout the rainforests?

'There goes Concorde again' - The Native Hipsters.

'Money' - The Flying Lizards (yes it’s a cover version, but its so cool! - the album is great too).

'The view from her room' - Weekend (they followed up with a fabulous album, but few people noticed).

'TVOD / Warm Leatherette' - The Normal.

'Papa's got a brand new pigbag' - Pigbag (followed up with two flop albums which whilst not being bad probably only sold about 12 copies each…).

Tony.

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There was another one hit wonder about the vietnam war, "Camouflage", I think. The performer's name escapes me though...

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The album containing Camoflage is called "The Big Heat, released in 1985. The performers name is Stanard Ridgeway - formerly of Wall of Voodoo. You might remember their hit "Mexican Radio" - from an album called "Call of the west".

Rico - all your base are belong to us

BTW Pig Bag must have sold more than 12 albums I also have them.

unfortunately this doesn't sound good to me

Team

Sounds good to me.