1 of 1- aflem
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Sept. 25th Is National One Hit Wonder Day
It was started by a music journalist who wanted to celebrate artists who only had one shot in the spotlight, before their careers dimmed for good. I can think of a ton of great One Hitters, but for the sake of Oldies, the two that stand out were once profiled on Casey Kasem's American Top 40 many years ago.
He was doing a special edition on the "Greatest Disappearing Acts Of All Time," and the second biggest group - #2 in the category based on chart data - was The Elegants with "Little Star" a huge hit from 1958, which reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. The group was never heard from again.
But the top pick at the time was a super smash from 1969 by a duo that went into the chart stratosphere and then virtually disappeared. It was Zager and Evans, whose "In The Year 2525" remains perhaps one of the all time great one hit wonders. (Their follow-up, "Mr. Turn Key," about a prison, didn't go anywhere and the two broke up over disagreements in the type of music they wanted to play, never to be heard from again.)
So Happy One Hit Wonder Day. As I often say, better to have had only one hit than none at all!
One Hit Wonder Day
- Little Rich
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Re: Sept. 25th Is National One Hit Wonder Day
I have a copy of tenth edition of The Billboard Book of One-Hit Wonders, copyright 1998. Most of the Billboard reference books which were compiled by Joel Whitburn (founder of Records Research, Inc who is known to have the most notable comprehensive collection of pop music vinyls in the world) did not publish Wonders. Instead, Wayne Jancik, psychotherapist who has a coveted collection of recorded music and associated database, compiled the One-Hits Wonders text.
Great reference with phenomenally vast, comprehensive, reliable database vetting disclosed in the One-Hit Wonder book's Introduction.
Like other Billboard reference texts, all good things must come to an end: there hasn't been an update, IMHO in large part because "pop genealogy" has become so complex with so many more sub-genres of sub-genres with many songs being multi-categorized that it would be far too complicated to compile those data. It would make Darwin roll over in his grave. When you were done, you would likely have few people agreeing, 100%, on the categorization of all the pop songs.
It's time to kick back and enjoy the music!!
- aflem
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Re: Sept. 25th Is National One Hit Wonder Day
I have the Jancik book and it's great.
But then there's the question of what constitutes a One Hit Wonder. Does a group who had a huge hit but then their follow-up didn't get past #99 get designated a OHW? They made the chart a second time, but not very high. What's the cut-off point?
And also what about established artists who chose to record a one-off tune that became a big song. The Four Seasons had a great hit in "Don't Think Twice" under the name of The Wonder Who. Are they a one hit wonder even though the Seasons had a ton of hits?
I'm not sure if the question is ever answerable.
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Thread Starter- GrimsbyFan
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Re: Sept. 25th Is National One Hit Wonder Day
I recognize that there are different ideas as to what constitutes a "one hit wonder". Is the criteria only having one song ever on the charts? Is it only having one song achieve a certain arbitrary level on the charts?
I like to keep it simple. The way I look at it is this: a song was a hit if it made the top 40. It's an arbitrary number, of course, but that seems to have been the generally accepted benchmark for most of the countdown shows on radio over the years. So for me, a performer is a one-hit wonder if they had one and only one song reach the top 40 on the charts.
I don't have the Jancik book. What is its criteria for declaring an artist a one-hit wonder?
- GrimsbyFan
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Re: Sept. 25th Is National One Hit Wonder Day
Answering my own question from an earlier post.. When I researched a list of one hit wonders, it made mention of the Jancik book as a resource and stated that their criterion was "only one song in the top 40."
As I perused the list, certain performers and/or songs struck me as (in addition to being distinctive by being one- hit wonders) being particularly interesting or unique or odd. For example:
The Happy Whistler - Don Robertson 1956
A song with no vocals. The entire song is whistling.
Sukiyaki - Kyu Sakamoto 1963
A song sung entirely in Japanese.
Gallant Men - Senator Everett Dirkson 1967
A song sung by a U.S. politician
Surfing Bird - The Trashmen 1964
A song where the lyrics are composed of the same line (with 2 exceptions) repeated over and over and over.
Little Ole Man - Bill Cosby 1967
A song sung by a comedian
Last edited by GrimsbyFan (September 28, 2024 2:37 pm)
- C.D.P.
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Re: Sept. 25th Is National One Hit Wonder Day
"Liechtensteiner Polka" by Will Glahe should qualify if only the CHUM chart and Billboard are considered, however, Willy charted annually in Germany/Austria so . . .
ein prosit & auf wiedersehen
Last edited by C.D.P. (September 28, 2024 4:38 pm)
- GrimsbyFan
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Re: Sept. 25th Is National One Hit Wonder Day
Some one-hit wonder songs might be considered unique not only for being one--hit wonders, but for being distinctive in other ways.
For example:
If You Wanna Be Happy - Jimmy Soul
The most sexist song ever on the charts?
Yellow Balloon - Yellow Balloon
The only song ever on the charts where the band's name and the title of the song were the same?
Tip Toe Through The Tulips - Tiny Tim
The weirdest song to ever hit the charts?
Timothy - The Buoys
The only song about cannibalism to ever hit the charts?
Feel free to disagree or disprove any of these statements.
- AzMike
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Re: Sept. 25th Is National One Hit Wonder Day
Same band's/artist's name & title that charted,,,,,
Kool And The Gang's single of the same name charted on the Hot 100 at #59 in.69.
#1 R&B in '55 Bo Didley - Bo Didley - Bo Didley - Bo Didley (artist, song, album, beat)
- Lorne
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Re: Sept. 25th Is National One Hit Wonder Day
In 1987, Living In A Box reached #17 with "Living In A Box". That's the highest-charting example from the Hot 100 that I know of where the song title and artist name were the same, and it was also their only top 40 hit.
I think that The Sweet Inspirations are also worthy of mention ... their only top 40 hit was "Sweet Inspiration" (#18 in 1968), and I wonder if that's the only time that an artist reached the top 40 with a song title that was a singular version of their name. The only other example that I know of is "Chairman Of The Board" by Chairmen Of The Board, but that song just missed the top 40 as it peaked at #42 in 1971.