Are They A One-Hit Wonder?

IdRatherBeSkiing said:
I am not saying they decide but I think everybody comes up with their own interpretation of who is a one hit wonder.
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That's my point.

IdRatherBeSkiing said:
If the work is no good, why should the public know about them? If they were good, the public would know because they would have been played somewhere.
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But the minor hits of artists labeled "OHW" _are_ played somewhere--Lost 45's, deep-track channels, people's personal playlists, etc. Much of the debate in this thread is about songs that received plenty of play in their day--if you make the Billboard Hot 100, someone is playing and/or buying your music. But years later, when media make their playlists and the minor hits don't make the cut, they label the artist a OHW and people like us complain about that.
 
I think the basic idea is if you played two songs that were hits in their day for 1000 people today, how many would recognize both songs as hits?

Play a clip of EMF "Unbelievable" for 1000 people. Then play a clip of "Lies". How many would say they recognize "Lies" as a hit and have heard it since it's peak? Probably not many.

Then play a clip of Dead Or Alive "You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)" followed by "Brand New Lover". How many recognize both as hits and have heard them since their peaks? Probably quite a few.
 
sadchild said:
Play a clip of EMF "Unbelievable" for 1000 people. Then play a clip of "Lies". How many would say they recognize "Lies" as a hit and have heard it since it's peak? Probably not many.
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I would! :wavey:
sadchild said:
Then play a clip of Dead Or Alive "You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)" followed by "Brand New Lover". How many recognize both as hits and have heard them since their peaks? Probably quite a few.
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Those are 2 different songs? :idk:




Quietly leaves the room.....
 
sadchild said:
I think the basic idea is if you played two songs that were hits in their day for 1000 people today, how many would recognize both songs as hits?
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IMO, it's more about whether or not an artist had more than one popular (hit) song on the radio, in their time. I don't think it matters how people feel now - although that's an interesting phenomenon in itself. If an artist had a 2nd or 3rd song that made the top 40 (or top of some chart), and had mainstream airplay for a long period of time, such that people - at the time - would tend to mention more than one song when referring to the artist, then it's not a OHW.
IdRatherBeSkiing said:
Most artists don't just have one hit then disappear. They try multiple times to regain past glory. And some of those tries will show up on some chart somewhere or somebody's memory. There would almost never be a true one hit wonder by that definition.
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Pop Muzik by M. You Get What You Give by New Radicals. These are artists who disbanded after their one hit. So in that case, there's no argument. I'm sure there are many more.
 
scotchandcigar said:
Pop Muzik by M. You Get What You Give by New Radicals. These are artists who disbanded after their one hit. So in that case, there's no argument. I'm sure there are many more.
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The band Sheriff had been disbanded for several years before someone started playing their one hit and it became a hit. I think also true for Billy Vera and the Beaters (who's song became a hit because it was used on "Family Ties").
 
Dexy's Midnight Runners. Every One Hit Wonder show has "Come On Eileen" as a One Hit Wonder. In the USA they had 1 top 40 charted hit which went to #1. They had a followup "hit" which peaked at #86. By all conventional definitions, a true one hit wonder.

In the UK, they had 2 #1 hits, 2 additional top 10 hits and 4 additional top 20 hits.

One Hit Wonder?
 
"Hey, how about that Bob Hope, huh? Do we call him a one-hit wonder? Hey, I wanna tell ya, in 1950 he had a #16 hit with Margaret Whiting, Blind Date. Today the song is largely forgotten. His only other chart hit was Two Sleepy People, a duet with Shirley Ross from the movie Thanks For The Memory. It reached #15 in January 1939 and today is pretty much forgotten. But the B-side, Thanks For The Memory, became Hope's theme song. Yes sir, and he sang it on hundreds of radio shows and television specials. And hey, he even sang it on the October 1 1956 "Lucy & Bob Hope" episode of I Love Lucy. Thanks For The Memory may not have made the charts except as a B-side but I just wanna say I think the song qualifies Bob Hope as a one-hit wonder. Yes sir!"


 
That's funny. So Hope is technically not a one-hit wonder (wikipedia actually reports three top 40s??) but subjectively he's a one-hit wonder.... for a song that wasn't even a top 40 hit!
 
When 3G cell service started (or was it 4G?) I used to rant about it being a lie because the organization that establishes the standards that benchmark cell speed said that 3G that was being advertised by the cell companies was quite a bit lower than the benchmark. We’ll, the marketing departments won out.

We’ve all been living a lie. A 2.3G potato-cakeless lie.
 
HecticArt said:
When 3G cell service started (or was it 4G?) I used to rant about it being a lie because the organization that establishes the standards that benchmark cell speed said that 3G that was being advertised by the cell companies was quite a bit lower than the benchmark. We’ll, the marketing departments won out.

We’ve all been living a lie. A 2.3G potato-cakeless lie.
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I think that was 4G which was ultimately why it was called LTE and not 4G. I don't think you can get slower than 3G at least thats what it feels like when you get in a 3G area now.
 
By the strict "top 40" definition of one-hit wonder, they are not. But are both songs basically forgotten (aside from specialty shows and stations that focus on the 80s)?

Nu Shooz
#3 "I Can't Wait"
#28 "Point Of No Return"
#41 "Should I Say Yes"
 
Not technically a one-hit wonder. But are they subjectively?

Strawberry Alarm Clock
#1 Incense and Peppermints
#23 Tomorrow

Since I don't know either song, I don't make a good judge for this one.

Credit: C98
 
Surprisingly, Incense & Peppermints was not a number-one hit here in Los Angeles. It got to #2 on the KHJ Boss 30 (behind Apples Peaches Pumpkin Pie) and #3 on the KFWB Fabulous Forty (behind Apples Peaches Pumpkin Pie and Higher & Higher). Tomorrow reached #4 on the KHJ Boss 30 in February 1968 but stalled at #23 nationally. Barefoot In Baltimore reached #21 on the KHJ Boss 30 in August 1968 but stalled at #67 nationally. KHJ never played Strawberry Alarm Clock's Sit With The Guru or Good Morning Sunshine.

Of our other top-40 stations, KRLA was "all-request radio" in 1967 and early 1968 and did not publish a regular music survey, KBLA switched to country music as KBBQ in January 1967 and KFWB switched from top-40 to all-news in March 1968.

Every oldies station in the 1980s, '90s and early 2000s played Incense & Peppermints but ignored Tomorrow. Strawberry Alarm Clock was not a one-hit wonder in 1968 but certainly can be considered as such in 2021.


 
Channel98 said:
Every oldies station in the 1980s, '90s and early 2000s played Incense & Peppermints but ignored Tomorrow. Strawberry Alarm Clock was not a one-hit wonder in 1968 but certainly can be considered as such in 2021.
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You just nailed the idea of this thread. Well-put, and dead on!
 
I'd say a high percentage of 70's on 7 hits are OHW. Beach Baby by First Class is just one example. I think there are hundreds of bands from that era that only had one popular song, then or now.
 
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