Week of 5/6/02

[poltr1]

We've had rain here three days in a row. There have been flood watches posted by the National Weather Service. What's really said or unfair is that while we in southwest Ohio are getting rain, the folks in New York City, Philadelphia, and the northeast US are still suffering through a drought. If I could only move the rain, or at least the rainwater, from here to there.......

VH1 is featuring yet another countdown series this week: Top 100 One-Hit Wonders. My wife and I have been watching this almost religiously. I don't know what their ranking criteria is; some of them had two hits but the second hit barely cracked the top 40. Some of the songs they played so far brought back good memories, and some just made us cringe. We were discussing other one-hit wonders we remember -- and some we wish we forgot -- that haven't been shown yet. Here's a sample of the ones we came up with:

• Alone Again Naturally by Gilkbert O'Sullivan
  
• The Night Chicago Died by Paper Lace
  
• Beach Baby by First Class
  
• Billy Don't Be a Heroby Bo Donaldson & the Heywoods
  
• Dream Weaver by Gary Wright
  
• Wildfire by Michael Murphey
  
• Shannon by Henry Gross
  
• Afternoon Delight by the Starland Vocal Band
  
• Undercover Angel by Alan O'Day
  
• You Light Up My Life by Debby Boone
  
• My Sharona by the Knack
  
• Cars by Gary Numan
  
• Whip It by Devo
  
• In A Big Country by Big Country
  
• She's A Beauty by The Tubes
  
• Opposites Attract by Paula Abdul
  

What one-hit wonders do you remember?

Comments

You are correct!

[poltr1]

Just checked my favorite top-40 music resource, The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits (5th Edition) by Joel Whitburn, and Paula Adbul did indeed have several #1 hits. (The book only goes up to 1991, and it listed 6 #1 hits by her. I'm hazy on popular music after 1986; that's when I stopped listening to top-40 altogether when a station played "Nasty" by Janet Jackson three times in four hours.

So far, Heart & Soul, Safety Dance, and 867-5309/Jenny were listed on the countdown. Mexican Radio was the answer to a trivia question, so I doubt it will be listed. And the Dead or Alive song is called "You Spin Me Around (Like A Record)".