Let's Play A Game: Name as many One-Hit Wonders as you can ...

[ADecentMelody]

One of my favorite one hit wonder hits...


The Flys - Got You Where I Want You

 

[yertle-the-turtle]

Katrina and the Waves - 'Walking on Sunshine'

oh and 'More To Lose' by Seona Dancing is one of the most fantastic 80s pop songs ever. AND it has Ricky Gervais on vocals!

 

[lmjhitman]

Norway, not Sweden - i used to love A-ha when I was a kid.

I used to love A-Ha too, and think "The Sun Always Shines on TV" is infinitely better than "Take on Me".

A couple more:

Tripping Daisy - I Got a Girl
Veruca Salt - Seether

 

[sallycinnamon78]

I used to love A-Ha too, and think "The Sun Always Shines on TV" is infinitely better than "Take on Me".

A couple more:

Tripping Daisy - I Got a Girl
Veruca Salt - Seether

I agree with that... I also loved the song Stay On These Roads - it was beautiful.

 

[beau2ifulday]

Veruca Salt - Seether

I would think it would be Volcano Girls as the one hit for Veruca Salt.

 

[phanan]

A few more...

The Flaming Lips - She Don't Use Jelly
Dream Academy - Life In A Northern Town
GTR - When The Heart Rules The Mind
Murray Head - One Night In Bangkok
Paul Hardcastle - 19

 

[Moonlit_Angel]

Dream Academy - Life In A Northern Town
Murray Head - One Night In Bangkok
Paul Hardcastle - 19

to all of these. And I like that Flys song, too. Been a while since I've heard that song.

Angela

 

[thesuburbskill]

some of my favorite 1hitwonders

a girl like you - edwin collins (sp?)
sleep well tonight - gene (think they were big in the uk tho)
desire - gene loves jezebel (actually not sure if they only had 1 hit)
southern california - wax
pretend we're dead - L7
natural one - folk implosion
friends of p - the rentals
standing outside a phonebooth etc. - primitive radio gods

 

[thesuburbskill]

A few more...

The Flaming Lips - She Don't Use Jelly

imo they would definitely not fall under the 1hitwonder category ... id put them up there with the pixies and sonic youth in terms of how much theyve influenced modern rock

wasnt "do you realize" somewhat of a hit? if by hit, meaning it was on the billboard charts.. then probably not heh

 

[Bono's shades]

Rick Springfield - Jessie's Girl

I thought Rick Springfield had quite a few more hits than that. What about Love Somebody and Don't Talk To Strangers? I used to hear those on the radio all the time when I was in junior high/high school.

 

[shrmn8rpoptart]

verve pipe-the freshman
citizin kane-better days
fenix tx-all my fault
lifehouse-hanging by a moment
gary numan-cars
house of pain-jump around
human league-keep feeling (fascination)
jimmy's chicken shack-do right
kajagoogoo-too shy
kernkraft (?)-zombie nation
len-steal my sunshine
lfo-summer girls
mfsb-the sounds of philadelphia (soul train theme)
master p-make 'em say ugh (na na na na)
nails-88 lines about 44 women
peter schilling-earth below us
pure prarie league-amy
twisted sister-we're not gonna take it
ram jam-black betty
rednex-cotton eye joe
rick trevino-bobbie ann mason (had to throw some country in )
rupert holmes-escape (the pina colada song)
wooly bully-sam sham & the pharoahs
semisonic-closing time
simple minds-don't you forget about me
sinead o'connor-nothing compares 2 u
sir mix-a-lot-baby got back
soul asylum-runaway train
sponge-plowed
squirrel nut zippers-hell
steeler's wheel-stuck in the middle
taco-puttin on the ritz
tal bachman-she's so high
tommy tutone 867-5309
trio-da da da
underworld-born slippy
vast-i don't have anything
the verve-bittersweet symphony
vertical horizon-everything you want
ween-push the little daisies
wheatus-teenage dirtbag
whitetown-your woman
yellow-oh yeah

wow that was a fun trip through itunes (and i could've added so many more...)

 

[MissVelvetDress_75]

One of my favorite one hit wonder hits...


The Flys - Got You Where I Want You

I love that song.

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

wow that was a fun trip through itunes (and i could've added so many more...)

haha, as i was reading your list i thought "wow, someone must have a list of this somewhere or something"

 

[Moonlit_Angel]

"The Captain Of Her Heart"-Double
"My Ever-Changing Moods"-Style Council
"Break My Stride"-Matthew Wilder
"Mouth"-Merril Bainbridge

By the way, I love Trio's "Da, Da, Da" .

Angela

 

[phanan]

human league-keep feeling (fascination)
twisted sister-we're not gonna take it
simple minds-don't you forget about me
soul asylum-runaway train

wow that was a fun trip through itunes (and i could've added so many more...)

Great list, although I would argue with the above four.

Human League had several hits - Don't You Want Me particularly comes to mind.

Twisted Sister had I Wanna Rock - I remember that video.

Simple Minds had two other huge hits (in the U.S. anyway) with Alive & Kicking and Sanctify Yourself.

Soul Asylum had a radio hit with Black Gold before Runaway Train, although it wasn't the major hit that the latter was.

I totally forgot about some of the others though. As Moonlit_Angel already said, I love Da Da Da as well. Also like Puttin' On The Ritz.

FYI - the Peter Schilling song is called Major Tom (Coming Home). Great tune...

 

[Hewson]

imo they would definitely not fall under the 1hitwonder category ... id put them up there with the pixies and sonic youth in terms of how much theyve influenced modern rock

Yes and Herman's hermits had as much influence during the British Invasion as the Beatles and Poison influenced hard rock just as much as Led Zeppelin and Bono's guitar work influenced as many shredders as Jimi Hendrix and Eddie Van Halen.

 

[Tania]

The Knack - My Shrona
Right Said Fred - I'm Too Sexy
Shakespears Sister - Stay
Billy Ray Cyrus - Achy Breaky Heart
Snow - Informer

That's all I can think of at the moment.

 

[phanan]

Michael Penn - No Myth
Everything But The Girl - Missing
Frida - I Know There's Something Going On (I'm sure she had other solo hits in Sweden though)
The Proclaimers - I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)

 

[jick]

Katrina and the Waves - 'Walking on Sunshine'

oh and 'More To Lose' by Seona Dancing is one of the most fantastic 80s pop songs ever. AND it has Ricky Gervais on vocals!

Who is Ricky Gervais and what band is he on now?

Cheers,

J

 

[jick]

human league-keep feeling (fascination)

Sorry I disagree. Human League made a bigger hit called "Human" and this to me was their "one-hit song."

Cheers,

J

 

[jick]

I'd like to add:

Mr. Big - To Be With You
Lisa Loeb - Stay
Ultravox - Vienna
Propaganda - Duel
Naked Eyes - Always Something There To Remind Me
General Public - Tenderness

Cheers,

J

 

[phanan]

Sorry I disagree. Human League made a bigger hit called "Human" and this to me was their "one-hit song."

Cheers,

J

In the U.S., Human was a big hit, but Don't You Want Me was definitely their biggest.

So with three hit singles mentioned already, I guess they don't qualify for this.

 

[shrmn8rpoptart]

alright i'm back for some more, and after a little reading, you guys were spot on with your critiques of my last songs...

autograph-turn up the radio
aqua-barbie girl
donna lewis-i love you always forever
big country-in a big country
buster poindexter-hot hot hot
carl douglas-kung fu fighting
the cardigans-love fool (though i would like to consider "my favorite game", i don't think it was ever a BIG hit
cat steven-wild world
hary chapin-cats in the cradle
charlie daniels band-devil went down to georgia
corey hart-i wear my sunglasses at night
crash test dummies-mmm mmm mmm mmm
criss cross-jump! jump!
devo-whip it
digital underground-the humpty dance
eagle eye cherry-save tonight
el darbage-who's johnny
english beat-tears of a clown

that's all the more i can think of (and i'm sure i screwed some up, the 80's and older stuff gets a little hazy for me)

 

[sallycinnamon78]

[B
human league-keep feeling (fascination)
the verve-bittersweet symphony
wheatus-teenage dirtbag

[/B]

Well, no, actually.

In the UK:

Human League - Don't You Want Me was huge. I lived in the US for a few years too and they were constantly playing it on the radio - and this was 10 years after this song was released. The same applies to their ballad, Human.

I don't know if their 1995 single , Tell Me When, came out in the States, but it was in the top 10 for a fair while here.

The Verve had several hits here - Not only Bittersweet Symphony (which was in the top 40 for just over a year) but also History, Sonnet, The Drugs Don't Work, and Lucky Man.

Wheatus did very well with a fairly bad cover version of Erasure's A Little Respect.

 

[sallycinnamon78]

Oh, and while we're at it (again, this refers to the UK):

Aqua followed up Barbie Girl with another hit Dr Jones.

Crash Test Dummies also had Afternoons and Coffeespoons. It didn't do as well as Mmmm Mmmm Mmmm Mmmm, but I lived in the States when this song was realeased - can't ermember the chart position, but it got a hell of a lot of airplay.

Eagle Eye Cherry did well with Faliing In Love Again.

 

[sallycinnamon78]

Oh, and while we're at it (again, this refers to the UK):

Aqua followed up Barbie Girl with another hit Dr Jones.

Crash Test Dummies also had Afternoons and Coffeespoons. It didn't do as well as Mmmm Mmmm Mmmm Mmmm, but I lived in the States when this song was realeased - can't ermember the chart position, but it got a hell of a lot of airplay.

Eagle Eye Cherry did well with Faliing In Love Again.

Simple Minds were extremely successful over here and because one of the biggest bands of the 1980s.

 

[phanan]

cat steven-wild world
hary chapin-cats in the cradle
corey hart-i wear my sunglasses at night
criss cross-jump! jump!
el darbage-who's johnny
english beat-tears of a clown

Cat Stevens has quite a few hits besides Wild World, including Peace Train and Morning Has Broken.

Cat's In The Cradle was his biggest hit by far, but Harry Chapin had a few other minor hits like Taxi.

Corey Hart's biggest hit was actually Never Surrender.

Kriss Kross - I think they had a few other songs, but since I never listened to them, I don't know for sure.

I remember a song from the 80s called Rhythm Of The Night and I believe that was DeBarge as well.

English Beat had a great hit song from the 80s called Save It For Later.


I thought of a few more:

Thomas Dolby - She Blinded Me With Science
Iron Butterfly - In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida
Dog's Eye View - Everything Falls Apart (scratch this one - Small Wonders was a radio hit too)
Timbuk 3 - The Future's So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades

 

[sallycinnamon78]

gary numan-cars: he also did well with Are Friends Electric?

Classing Ultravox as a one hit wonder with Vienna is a load of tripe. If I Was was huge, Dancing With Tears In My Eyes did well, Love's Great Adventure also charted.

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

I remember a song from the 80s called Rhythm Of The Night and I believe that was DeBarge as well.

English Beat had a great hit song from the 80s called Save It For Later.

yeah, that was el debarge. that's the bigger hit too, iirc.

same with english beat, save it for later was their big hit over here - the states, that is.

most people are doing this already but anyone who lists songs should state what country they're from so there's no question about locations. i know most people don't put their actual location in their profile.

 

[all_i_want]

lifehouse - hanging on a moment
the calling - wherever you will go