Are They A One-Hit Wonder?

The Hues Corporation – their name was a clever pun on the Howard Hughes Corporation – had a number-one hit in July 1974 with Rock The Boat. The song also reached #2 on the R&B chart and #5 on the Dance Club Songs chart. Their follow-up, Rockin' Soul, got to #12 in December 1974. Does anyone remember it in 2021?


 
sadchild said:
From this week's VJ Big 40 we have...

Michael Morales
#15 "Who Do You Give Your Love To?"
#28 "What I Like About You" (yes it's a cover)

I say subjectively he's a ZERO hit wonder, long forgotten aside from people who listen to stations/podcasts/playlists specifically 80s-related.
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If you search Wikipedia for him and click "Michael Morales" with no qualifiers, you get a serial killer. He should have gotten more play but it's hard to argue that you had a hit when you come in second to a serial killer.
 
jbnv said:
Like Tracy Chapman, a "OHW" for two separate decades.
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It's ridiculous to even mention her name, she has several hits on several charts. She's not Britney.

sadchild said:
General Public
#22 "I'll Take You There"
#27 "Tenderness"

I'm not sure if they are subjectively a one-hit wonder...
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They're an offshoot band from The English Beat; I don't know if it means anything to consider them on their own.
 
scotchandcigar said:
It's ridiculous to even mention her name, she has several hits on several charts. She's not Britney.
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I didn't realize she only had two top 40s. Yes, this is a perfect example of someone who is still known for much more than those two songs!

Tracy Chapman
#3 "Give Me One Reason"
#6 "Fast Car"

Subjectively a one-hit wonder? Hell no!

Which brings me to another ludicrous example....

Nirvana
#6 "Smells Like Teen Spirit"
#22 "About A Girl (Unplugged)" [Airplay Chart, not Hot 100]
#32 "Come As You Are"
#39 "The Man Who Sold The World (Unplugged)" [Airplay Chart, not Hot 100]
#45 "All Apologies" [Airplay Chart, not Hot 100]
#45 "You Know You're Right"
#63 "Aneurysm (Live)" [Airplay Chart, not Hot 100]
#64 "Lithium"

Anyone who thinks this "two top 40 hits" band is a OHW needs their head examined!!
 
sadchild said:
I didn't realize she only had two top 40s. Yes, this is a perfect example of someone who is still known for much more than those two songs!

Tracy Chapman
#3 "Give Me One Reason"
#6 "Fast Car"

Subjectively a one-hit wonder? Hell no!
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But if you isolate those hits into their respective decades and focus on the pop charts, then yes she was a OHW in both the 1980s and the 1990s.
 
jbnv said:
But if you isolate those hits into their respective decades and focus on the pop charts, then yes she was a OHW in both the 1980s and the 1990s.
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First of all, "isolating" two top 10 hits from a performer makes no sense. And my point was that she had a half-dozen hits on the rock, alt, or AC charts, so the hits on the pop chart don't really pertain to her. Her debut album had 3 songs that were in top 25 rotation on 1 or more charts. To this day, Talkin' 'bout a Revolution gets as much radio airplay as Fast Car. Her 2nd album had a top 10 on the rock charts. And aside from Give Me One Reason, the 2005 song Change was a hit too, although the charts were all screwed up by then.
 
Hey, did you ever hear of a band called The Who? Weird name. Anyway, I think they're a OHW; or maybe even a no-hit wonder. They have only one top 10 song: I Can See for Miles hit #9 way back in 1967. They had a few top 20s, and a couple more in the top 40. So they're crap, right?
 
jbnv said:
Dude, what's your problem?
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Sorry if I sounded aggressive, I'm not trying to, it just comes out that way when it's typed. I'm just having fun, but also making a point. My point is that artists who are not primarily pop artists, often have several, if not dozens of songs, that are big hits on the forums they're played on. Strictly speaking, most of what you're saying is factually accurate, but I don't like hearing that Tracy Chapman's a OHW, any more than a rock music fan would like hearing that The Who is a OHW.

As you know, the Billboard 100, a pop music chart, is more or less reflective of a band's success, depending on how closely their songs fit into the pop category. When they don't fit in, the stats are not representative.
 
scotchandcigar said:
Sorry if I sounded aggressive, I'm not trying to, it just comes out that way when it's typed. I'm just having fun, but also making a point. My point is that artists who are not primarily pop artists, often have several, if not dozens of songs, that are big hits on the forums they're played on. Strictly speaking, most of what you're saying is factually accurate, but I don't like hearing that Tracy Chapman's a OHW, any more than a rock music fan would like hearing that The Who is a OHW.

As you know, the Billboard 100, a pop music chart, is more or less reflective of a band's success, depending on how closely their songs fit into the pop category. When they don't fit in, the stats are not representative.
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I didn't say that Tracy Chapman is an absolute OHW; that would be ludicrous. Here's what I actually said:

"But if you isolate those hits into their respective decades and focus on the pop charts, then yes she was a OHW in both the 1980s and the 1990s."

If any part of this isn't clear, I'll be happy to explain.

And if you review my comments in this thread, you'll see that I agree that chart performance does not make or unmake a "hit."

Cheers.
 
jbnv said:
chart performance does not make or unmake a "hit."
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Quite true. Oldies stations play the Isley Brothers' Shout, which reached #47 in 1959 and #94 in 1962 when it was re-issued, and Van Morrison's Moondance, a 1970 album track that was released as a single in 1977 and peaked at #92.

Classic hits stations play a lot of songs which were not hits, such as Journey's Lights (68/1978), Tom Petty's Breakdown (40/1977), Billy Idol's Rebel Yell (46/1984), Billy Idol's White Wedding (108/1982, 36/1983), Billy Idol's Dancing With Myself (--/1981, 102/1983), Van Halen's Hot For Teacher (56/1984), Depeche Mode's Strangelove (76/1987, 50/1988), Wall Of Voodoo's Mexican Radio (58/1983), the Romantics' What I Like About You (49/1980) and I Melt With You by Modern English (78/1983).
 
Why would anyone isolate someone's hits into their respective decades? Or label an artist a one-hit wonder of decade A and decade B? I don't get the concept. One hit in the 70s, one hit in the 80s, one hit in the 90s = a one-hit wonder in three separate decades?
 
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