Sunday, January 22, 2006
One-hit wondering
A comment I just wrote in the previous post got me to wondering everyone's favorite songs by one-hit wonders. Off the top of my head, I will say Alan O'Day's "Undercover Angel" (1977). The lyrics and sentiment are crazy, but it's still catchy, and I never get tired of it. One of my all-time favorite songs from the era is "You Sexy Thing" (1975) by Hot Chocolate; that one even made our self-produced wedding-reception music. It was their lone hit in the U.S., but, according to the Web, technically they are not one-hit wonders, as they had dozens of chart hits in the U.K.
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13 comments:
I will have to give this some thought. I love 80s music. And as we know most of those songs were one hit wonders.
I have to give mention to Norman Greenbaum's "Spirit in the Sky" There are way too many to list, but a few other of my favorites are: Afternoon Delight
(Starland Vocal Band)
My Sharona
(The Knack)
Last Kiss
(Frank Wilson and the
Cavaliers)
Cast Your Fate to the Wind
(Sounds Orchestral)
Come On Eileen (maybe a 1-hit)
(Dexy's Midnight Runners)
Hang on Sloopy
(The McCoys)
99 Red Balloons
(Nena)
Tainted Love --- Soft Cell
I have a few that I really like, but the one I love most is "Do you know what I mean" by Lee Michaels.
OK, Mom's entry is very surprising (except for Starland Vocal Band, whom we saw open for John Denver in the '70s, a story unto itself); I haven't even heard of a couple of those!
RE: "Tainted Love" -- a good one, as long as you don't count the B-side "Where Did Our Love Go?" that often was played with it.
RE: "Do You Know What I Mean" -- No, Chris, I really don't; I have never heard of that song OR the artist!
I'll pick " Beach Baby" by First Class. Or is it First Class by Beach Baby.
Second fave is "Sky High" by Jigsaw, or is it Jigsaw by Sky High
wait ... I have Soft Cell's single and their album ... ummm no I don't. We are talking about freakin' Soft Cell.
Hold on, let me take my poster off of my wall and send it to you.
It IS the one that starts out that way highhardone, and I am quite surprised you don't know what I mean little ginger, check your email
OK, now I know what you mean. I listened to the link from Chris, and I TOTALLY know that song! Though I could've sworn the voice was a bit different. Now I have to go hear "Beach Baby," because that doesn't ring a bell either. I love "Sky High" and almost included that one originally myself.
Jon, this is why I love you: You get all worked up and passionate even about stuff that doesn't matter! :-) I can loan you my 12" Soft Cell single of "Tainted Love"/"Where Did Our Love Go?"
I have NO idea who Highhardone is!
As soon as I typed that, I started singing "Beach baby, beach baby, give me a chance" in my head (or something like that) if that's the one.
I loved Cast Your Fate to the Wind! I liked We Five and they sang it.
I heard "If You Leave" by OMD today. Love it! I remember Angela telling a story about going to see them in concert. They were opening for someone and Angela made her own homemade T-shirt. And people wanted to know who OMD was. Is that right, Angela?
I also heard "Tainted Love" today. Great song. And I love "Come On Eileen."
Wow, you have a great memory. Yes, I went to a Powerstation concert JUST to see OMD open. I made a T-shirt of the cover of their album "Dazzle Ships," and at least one person came up to ask me who OMD was. I would guess the show was around late '85 or early '86, before "Pretty in Pink" made them semi-known for "If You Leave." In relating this story, I was going to say it makes me sound like a total dork, but you have to remember, this was before you could wander into the mall and buy band shirts. And forget about eBay or even the Internet then. (Kids today! They've got it so easy!) My lifeline to that kind of stuff in those days was the back pages of Rolling Stone, through mail order. Burning Airlines. Blue Meanie Records. Sigh. I'm having an Edith Bunker moment ...
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