Blast from the Past: What's your favorite "One-Hit Wonder" song/artist?

one man's opinion...

[ken5050]

I was clicking through some links on Wikipedia last night, and stumbled across the "List of One-hit Wonders" in the United States." Amazingly, they have separate, detailed individual lists for each decade ( I've posted the links below..)I was astonished at how many there were, how many I'd liked, and many I'd pretty much forgotten; and I spent several hours on YouTube, reminiscing, and then downloading some of the tunes. So, enjoy.. if you have a favorite, opine below...

[ken5050]

From Wikipedia: "A one-hit wonder is a Top 40 phenomenon; the combination of artist and song that scores huge in the music industry with one single, but is unable to repeat the achievement. The term can refer to the artist, the song, or both together."

List of 1950's US OHWs

List of 1960's US OHWs

List of 1970's US OHWs

List of 1980's US OHWs

List of 1990's US OHWs

List of 2000's US OHWs

List of 2010's US OHWs

Gotta warn y'all: It's addictive, and time consuming.....I came of age in the 60's, and still haven't finished with that decade's list.

Everyone have a great day!!!

[Daveinyork]

Play that Funky Music White Boy.

[oh8eleven]

[winodog]

AWB had a few hits, I think.
How about kung fu fighting?

[Tax-chick]

In the lists from 2011 and 2012, I recognize some country music performers who have popular songs on the radio now. A singer or group who steadily produces reasonably successful material isn’t a “one-hit wonder” just because one song is exceptionally successful.

[rjsimmon]

Lots of songs to bring back good memories. But I am curious about what their criteria happened to be. There are a few artists that would not be categorized as “One Hit Wonders” such as Devo, Don Williams, Mickey Gillie, Emylou Harris, Donald Fagen, etc.

[DoodleDawg]

A favorite of my dad’s that was a hit long before I was born: “Questions Of My Life” by the Marmalades. I swear he could quote every lyric from memory. Whenever it came on the radio the volume went up and the whole car had to be silent on pain of death.

[billhilly]

Talahatchee Bridge, Bobby Gentry (Ode to Billy Joe)

[JPG]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zX1-e0w3mUw

[mkmensinger]

“Sally Sayin’ Somthin’” by Billy Harner. He was also my barber.

[mountainlion]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0x8S1U7O3w

[ken5050]

Good morning..I almost didn’t post those links..IMHO, a OHW has to age, ripen, many years, like a good wine..

[jurroppi1]

Ides of March - Vehicle.

[ken5050]

yup..and she was hot....

well..off to Mass...

[P.O.E.]

“Ride, Captain Ride” - Blues Image

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAnGe40-o9Q

[jjotto]

One-hit-wonder lists usually say more about the compilers own lack of knowledge than they do about the music business.

That said, there ARE actually one-hit-wonders, just a lot fewer of them than a lot of writers imagine.

[trebb]

How about the "classic" "Oh Babe, What Would Ya Say" by Hurricane Smith?

I kind of liked the sound.

[Tax-chick]

You have to look back from a distance of a lot more than 2 or 3 years.

[Leaning Right]

I just poured myself another cup of coffee. I suspect that I won’t be doing much today other than going through all those great links.

Thanks for posting this!

[TomGuy]

In the mid 2000 decade I started 'collecting' some of the songs I remember listening to late into the nights in the early 1960s. The one TV channel we could get went off the air about 10:30 p.m., so the only late night option was AM radio from some of the super stations of that era. I managed to collect about 250 classics. Some songs were sung by 'other' artists, but I had my preferences.

One of the most difficult to find was Sunday Morning Coming Down. Kristofferson wrote it and both he and Johnny Cash sang it (IIRC). But the version I liked was sung by Ray Stevens, who was noted for his comedic songs. The Stevens version was the best, but it didn't show up on most of the music websites. I did eventually run across it in mp3 format on some obscure website -- and I saved it.

I still occasionally put on the earphones, auto load, and listen to many of those old classics late into the night.