Interesting One Hit Wonders

**bagtagley** · 11-01-2005, 11:22 AM

I was watching the top 100 one hit wonders on VH1 and they pointed out the fact that quite a few popular and influential artists are technically one hit wonders:

Jimmy Hendrix
The Grateful Dead
Janis Joplin

What are some others?

**nesta** · 11-01-2005, 11:34 AM

Originally Posted by bagtagley

VH1 and they pointed out the fact that quite a few popular and influential artists are technically one hit wonders:

Jimmy Hendrix
The Grateful Dead
Janis Joplin

And you believe this crap?
VH1 is some kind of authority on popular music?? Time to switch stations tagbag

**bagtagley** · 11-01-2005, 11:46 AM

Originally Posted by nesta

And you believe this crap?
VH1 is some kind of authority on popular music?? Time to switch stations tagbag

Forget your medication this morning?

They are one hit wonders, each only had one top 40 hit. Note the word "technically". Please try to keep up.

**nesta** · 11-01-2005, 11:55 AM

Sorry I didn't realize you wanted to get so technical. You don't really care for music do you?
I would think there's literally thousands of one hit wonders given your "definition"

**bagtagley** · 11-01-2005, 12:18 PM

Originally Posted by nesta

Sorry I didn't realize you wanted to get so technical. You don't really care for music do you?
I would think there's literally thousands of one hit wonders given your "definition"

It's really not that technical, it just appears that your intense music snobbery has clouded your ability to grasp the concept.

Thousands? Great, that was the point of the thread. Let's hear them.

**stump832** · 11-01-2005, 12:31 PM

Hear what? I got lost in all the dumb semantics.

MT · 11-01-2005, 12:34 PM

Eifel 65

**El Chupacabra** · 11-01-2005, 12:37 PM

Originally Posted by bagtagley

I was watching the top 100 one hit wonders on VH1 and they pointed out the fact that quite a few popular and influential artists are technically one hit wonders:

Jimmy Hendrix
The Grateful Dead
Janis Joplin

What are some others?

Right Said Fred. Amazed that they didn't score more than one Top 40 hit.

**Plakespear** · 11-01-2005, 02:12 PM

Originally Posted by nesta

I would think there's literally thousands of one hit wonders given your "definition"

Um, yeah, there are. But how many of those one hit wonders were also the most successful touring band in history, the most influential guitarist in history, or an icon who continues to sell records and influence others thirty years after her death?

I think the point is that these were extremely popular artists, yet they didn't have a ton of top forty hits.

Well, here a few that I don't think have had too many songs in the top 40:

Depeche Mode, the Cure, Jane's Addiction.

Bruce Springsteen didn't have a top ten single until "Hungry Heart", off of his fifth album, and five years after Born to Run.

Pearl Jam hasn't had a hit single in over a decade, but continue to sell out every venue they play.

**altagirl** · 11-01-2005, 02:23 PM

Originally Posted by nesta

Sorry I didn't realize you wanted to get so technical. You don't really care for music do you?
I would think there's literally thousands of one hit wonders given your "definition"

What's so confusing here? It was an interesting statement, that these highly influential musicians didn't have more hit singles. How hard is that to comprehend?

**Benny Profane** · 11-02-2005, 09:07 AM

c'mon, does "top 40" even really exist anymore in the world of IPods and satellite? Listen to "classic" rock radio, and you'll hear a friggin led zep song for the 10,000th time, but I'll bet it never was a top 40 hit.

Jimi put out a great album called "Smash Hits" in, like, 1970. nuff said.

**bagtagley** · 11-02-2005, 09:19 AM

Originally Posted by Benny Profane

Listen to "classic" rock radio, and you'll hear a friggin led zep song for the 10,000th time, but I'll bet it never was a top 40 hit.

Isn't that the point?

Originally Posted by Benny Profane

Jimi put out a great album called "Smash Hits" in, like, 1970. nuff said.

What does this have to do with the rest of your post?

**Benny Profane** · 11-02-2005, 10:50 AM

I also like pistachio ice cream. And long walks on the beach.

s-m-a-s-h h-i-t-s .......... i-r-o-n-y

**iceman** · 11-02-2005, 12:04 PM

That's a tough one, Bag. I can think of a lot of "real" one-hit wonders (Starland Vocal Band, Golden Earring, I'm looking at you), and a lot of influential and important musicians that never got near the charts, but influential musicians with a single top 40 hit? Maybe Stevie Ray and "Must Have Been The Weather"? I can't seem to find if it made the charts though.

**gincognito** · 11-02-2005, 12:39 PM

How about Neil Young? How many "hits" did he have? I know Heart of Gold was up there (number one I believe), but don't know of any others.

Sick and ashamed and happy (and the Rheostatics would fit the bill in Canada),
d.

**bagtagley** · 11-02-2005, 12:49 PM

Originally Posted by Benny Profane

s-m-a-s-h h-i-t-s .......... i-r-o-n-y

But that was a compilation of their biggest "hits" (here and particularly abroad) to date.

So ironic in the context of the thread I suppose, but you understand my bewilderment.

**Tippster** · 11-02-2005, 12:59 PM

I'm assuming you mean Top 40 in the US. Waaaay different story in the UK: Hendrix had 5 top 40 hits there.

**iceman** · 11-02-2005, 08:05 PM

No, he was talking about West Virginia, it's all very different there.

**Benny Profane** · 11-05-2005, 04:46 PM

And, in a week or two, if you make the charts, the girls will tear you apart.

**Steven S. Dallas** · 11-05-2005, 09:37 PM

Originally Posted by iceman

"Must Have Been The Weather"?

"Couldn't Stand the Weather"? That song is fucking

.

That's all I got though. Oh, and nesta, don't be an idiot.

**nesta** · 11-06-2005, 11:20 AM

I wasn't trying to be, soory bout that Steve.
I was just trying to say more or less what Benny Pro said. Except he did a better job than me.

**iceman** · 11-06-2005, 02:29 PM

Originally Posted by Steven S. Dallas

"Couldn't Stand the Weather"? That song is fucking

.

This could possibly be why I couldn't find it in the charts.

**Buster Highmen** · 09-02-2021, 10:14 AM

Procol Harum, "A Whiter Shade of Pale".

Now that I've infected your brain with a stuck song, I always marvel at this tune. So many rock concerts in the 60s and 70s ended, the lights went up and they'd play this song while the dazed and confused crowd dispersed.