Yesterday, listening to a solid gold music station on a satellite music service called Sirius XM, I heard an announcement of a new, temporary, radio channel called Onederland. It's purpose - to play only One Hit Wonders - artists who only had one hit (I am assuming, defined as only one hit that broke the Billboard Top 40).
This definition is, by definition, somewhat fluid. Some artists have one hit in one country, and many, in another. (I suspect that Onederland is using United States one-hit wonders). Or, you can have artists crossing over from another genre where they were more popular, or even from another field altogether, such as Richard Harris.
Note, I am not a "music blogger": if you are, and you disagree with any of these, I welcome your comments (or additions of your favorites).
Do you have any favorite one hit wonders? I have a number. And, if you need help remembering, here is one of the many lists available on the Internet.
My all-time favorite One Hit Wonder - MacArthur Park, as sung by actor Richard Harris. (I also loved the version by Donna Summer. I just love this song. Period.). I played the 45 I had of this song almost to death (and it was probably amazing my father didn't commit homicide, either - he must have heard each rendition in our small apartment).
King Tut, sung by comedian Steve Martin.
The instrumental "Telstar" by The Tornados. It's one of my favorite instrumentals, along with this one:
Chariots of Fire Theme - Vangelis.
Reflecting a one hit wonder crossover by a group that had a number of hits on the R&B charts, this was their only top 40 on the pop charts: O-o-h Child by the Five Stairsteps.
Finally - bringing back memories of my childhood in the Bronx, a borough of New York City, two come to mind:
Gun Hill Road - Back When My Hair Was Short. This was released in 1972, when I still lived in the Bronx, off of -yes, Gun Hill Road.
White Plains - My Baby Loves Loving (because I also lived just off of White Plains Road).
Do you have any favorite One Hit Wonders? Please feel free to share.
Great choices!
ReplyDeleteThank you.
DeleteI like that you do Music Mondays. I haven't heard these songs but I am sure they must be good. In English ones - I love Bryan Adams :) And then a couple from Boyzone and Beatles!
ReplyDeleteI love Bryan Adams, too!
DeleteI always thought that the Cowsills had a one hit wonder with 'The Rain, the Park and Other Things', but I Googled them and found out I was wrong. I think I wore out the 45 RPM I had. I did own the Richard Harris album MacArthur Park, but gave it away years ago. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.
ReplyDeleteYes, there was Indian Lake, and Hair. I loved their version of Hair.
DeleteGood ones..My favorite one hit wonder is Patrick Swayze, "She's Like the Wind"..
ReplyDeleteA beautiful song. RIP!
DeleteThanks a bunch for visiting my blog! I don't have any one-hit wonders to add, but I do know I've probably watched that Steve Martin performance to King Tut about a thousand times. :D
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing these..there are quite a lot that I haven't heard earlier..queuing them up to listen now :)
ReplyDeleteKing Tut! Now I have that running thru my head! I need to add that to my running playlist for the iPod!
ReplyDeleteThis made me think of that Tom Hanks' movie, 'That Thing You Do'. Have you seen it?
ReplyDeleteVangelis is my husband's all time favourite - he can watch the movie too again and again.
MacArthur Park was one of my favorites as well.
ReplyDelete