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

[doeadear.livejournal.com]

Actually, Gilbert O'Sullivan had two top 40 hits, the second being Claire.

[bravencrazy.livejournal.com]

Paula Abdul was only around for two or three years, but she had several #1 hits, including Straight Up, Cold-Hearted Snake and Promise of a New Day.

I remember:

• Heart & Soul by T'Pau
  
• Mexican Radio by Voodoo Wall
  
• Safety Dance by Men Without Hats
  
• 867-5309 Jenny by Tommy and the Tutones
  
• You Spin Me Right Round by Dead or Alive (I'm not sure if the song title is right.)
  

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)".

Oh yeah....I remember now.....

[poltr1]

Yes, he did. I forgot all about that song until you mentioned it. Had a really nice harmonica or melodica solo in the middle of it, too.

[figmo.livejournal.com]

I'd pull Devo and The Tubes out of that category. Both had kicked around for a while before they had a #1 hit.

Both groups got lots of album airplay.

Some I'd add:

• "Harper Valley P.T.A" by Jeannie C. Riley
• "Happiest Girl in the Whole U.S.A." by Donna Fargo
• "The Name Game" by Shirley Ellis
• "Peppermint Twist" by Joey Dee
• "The Bristol Stomp" by the Dovells
• "Mah Na Mah Na" by Piero Umiliani
• "Je T'Aime...Moi Non Plus" by Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin
• "Loving You Has Made Me Bananas" by Guy Marx (allegedly done on a dare by Dean Martin)
• "Tiptoe Through the Tulips" by Tiny Tim (you might want to discount it because he did hang around for a while
• "Playground in My Mind" by Clint Holmes
• "Na Na Hey Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye)" by Steam
• "Fire" by The Crazy World of Arthur Brown
• "Louie Louie" by The Kingsmen
• "Last Kiss" by J. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers
• "Dominique" by the Singing Nun (Sister Sourire, I believe)
• "Surfin' Bird" by The Trashmen

I could go on longer, but I need to get to sleep. :-)

--She who works in radio

Devo ROCKS!

[poltr1]

I think VH1 used American top-40 singles as part of their criteria. Some of the bands they included had second or third hits, but they didn't get above #25 or thereabouts. I was at their website (http://www.vh1.com) and they don't list any ranking criteria whatsoever for their one-hit wonders.

The local album rock station where I grew up -- 97 Rock, in Buffalo -- played The Tubes' White Punks On Dope fairly often, and since we were close to the Canadian border, they played a lot of Canadian artists that I wouldn't have heard about otherwise. Now the closest decent album rock station I can find is Oxford, Ohio's WOXY -- 97X, The Future of Rock 'n Roll! -- but they're more "progressive" than "album-rock".

I've been listening to Devo since 1978, when a friend in high school loaned me his copy of Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! I've been hooked ever since, although I haven't bought any of their albums after New Traditionalists. Devo and Todd Rundgren were two artists/groups I know of that experimented with video in the late 70s before MTV debuted.
(And no, the Buggles didn't make the list.) I hope Warner Bros. decides to put Devovision (a collection of their early videos) onto DVD.

I remember some of those songs too, and others. Harper Valley PTA made the list at #95. Na Na Hey Hey is often sung in sporting arenas, usually during the last game in a playoff series when the home team wins and the visiting team loses. There were very few hits that made the list that were released before 1970.