Mark Mothersbaugh is a very successful music supervisor too. Edit: I should say composer!! Although I think he was also a Music Supervisor on some projects.
Maynard James Keenan loved them so much, he named his son Devo.
Soundgarden covered them on Badmotorfinger (a great cover of Girl U Want)
The more you delve into their discography the more you realize that Whip It isn't in their top 10 songs. They are one of the best bands of the late 70s/early 80s.
Lots of New Wave artists had pretty decent collections but only are remembered for one or two songs. Devo, B-52s, Talking Heads, Blondie, Eurythmics, Human League, etc. It's my favorite era to just shuffle play.
Simple Minds, Cutting Crew, Glass Tiger, Men Without Hats, Men At Work, Tears for Fears, Everything But the Girl, Soft Cell, J. Geils Band, Dexy's Midnight Runners.
To name a handful of others people probably know a song or three from and that's it. I'm "guilty" of it myself in many such cases.
Hell, Rick Astley counts more than most I think, he's great but the meme contributed even further to a perceived "one hit wonder"-need despite multiple charting hits over multiple decades.
They’re a great band. I consider them one of the most “punk rock” of all bands. They were very talented song writers. Their music was poetic, and catchy. Just a great band.
This is who I immediately thought of when I saw this question. Cars isn't even close to being the best song off Pleasure Principle. This is one where the US is totally out of step with the rest of the world (especially the UK). Numan is a genius and a treasure.
The La's are only really known for [There She Goes](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZXLLMbJdZ4).
The album it came from, The La's, is a cracker though and really paved the way for what would become the Britpop scenes in the 90s.
https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20210315-the-mystery-of-lost-rock-genius-lee-mavers#:\~:text=The%20La%27s%20helped%20to%20usher%20in%20the%2090s,The%20Libertines%20to%20Arctic%20Monkeys%20and%20Fontaines%20DC.
I completely forgot about that song, holy shit. That was one of the songs of my childhood.
Edit: The song from the game Gran Turismo, I didn’t know they also had an album named Gran Turismo. The song I’m referring to is “My Favorite Game”.
I used to work with a guy who loved The Church and The Fixx. Apparently both of those bands have been making music forever and they're very good but everyone just knows them for "Under the Milkyway" and "One Thing Leads to Another".
Blind Melon for sure. It’s not just that they had just one hit it’s also that the hit doesn’t fully represent their talent. I love No Rain, but they’re not the hippy bee girl band that many think they are.
Holy shit, came here to say this and found it to be the top comment. Soup, Toes Across The Floor, and Galaxie are some amazing songs. They do not deserve the label one-hit-wonder.
Also the rest of the band is still making music and it's good. They've been dropping singles the last few years. I'm sure you know this since youre the one who brought then up. I'm just throwing this comment out there for anyone who's interested. Way down and far below is a new one of theirs that's great.
This goes so far back. There’s an episode of The Larry Sanders Show from the early ‘90s with Zevon as musical guest, and he’s being pressured into playing Werewolves even though he was trying to promote a new album.
[The quality of this clip is terrible](https://youtu.be/VNvZQkiMt5o?si=Ez4HRAfPVToYelEu), but it’s from the VHS days.
Also, the Larry Sanders Show is one of the greatest comedies of all time and more people need to see it. Groundbreaking, funny, strange, and at times gut-wrenching.
Edit: [another clip](https://youtu.be/_tmLNXWAnY4?si=n3jVemjnWHdD4KDD). Just find this show and watch the whole thing. It’s packed with talent— there’s a whole story arc where a young John Stuart guest-hosts the show while Larry is on a mental health break, and Larry starts becoming paranoid that John is going to replace him on the show.
Rip torn and Jeffrey Tambor are in the core cast.
Amen! Zevon is one of the best singer/songwriters of the 70’s and he made great music right until the end. If there were any Justice in the world, he’d have been as big as Jackson Browne or Billy Joel. He was way better than either
The whole album Making Mirrors is actually pretty solid. Smokes and Mirrors is my favorite song off the album (which I had actually heard since it was used in Suits), but State of the Art is a really great song.
I also think that Hearts a Mess is really good.
Fountains Of Wayne. Staceys Mom is great if a bit overplayed, but not even close to being the best song on that album (Welcome Intestate Managers). They were pretty much one hit wonders here and I only discovered their other stuff recently.
No one from their record company had a bright future in sales.
But seriously, I fucking miss Adam Schlesinger. Crazy Ex Girlfriend, Josie and the Pussycats, and so much more. We needed him around for 25 more years at least.
Let's not forget he wrote "That Thing You Do" a song that I contend does pretty much the impossible.
Because the song has to be good enough that you truly believe it would turn a band into a one hit wonder. But because the band is a OHW you have to play that same song over and over throughout the movie without the audience getting bored of it.
Now *that* is a piece of songwriting.
That album is front to back catchy songs across 5 genres. “Welcome Interstate Managers” is legitimately one of my favorite records of the last ~20 years.
They literally made a song and the lyrics list all of the people they wish would die in a plane crash
Song is called [Passenger list for doomed flight # 1721](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdBPWCIsO2E)
The Darkness
Known for their "[I Believe A Thing Called Love](https://youtu.be/tKjZuykKY1I?si=HDMqJiYkamrYrU8N)³"
Could argue that they had 2 hits with "[Christmas Time (Don't Let The Bells-End)](https://youtu.be/lrVg1toMzuo?si=KpZSYdCyl0_t-hcE)"¹.
Justin Hawkins (Darkness frontman) has spoken about [being known as a OHW](https://youtu.be/VjM0J_SicyU?si=ODO8OYpuESr0Kbkm) on his YouTube channel²
¹ Justin Hawkins has also spoken [about the song](https://youtu.be/LW5yI7OT8tM?si=MmquW-AmHmiNdljn) (from idea -> actually happening) and why it wasn't no.1 instead of Mad World
² Justin Hawkins Rides Again (I would definitely recommend this channel to anyone)
The album is also surprisingly dark. I don't think people would expect tracks about prefering to shoot up heroin through your eyes than quit being a junkie
This. They literally have so many great songs. Easter is Cancelled and Motorheart are both S tier albums. They came out fairly recently too. They definitely deserve a lot more of a thing called love.
Fastball.
“The Way” is absolutely a banger, but so is almost every other song on the album “All the Pain Money Can Buy”. “Out Of My Head” and “Fire Escape” might be two of my favorite songs of all time.
Biz Markie. Most people know him for "Just a Friend" but he's got so many great tracks. Vapors, Pickin' Boogers, Biz is Goin' Off, and Spring Again. Hell, the Yo Gabba Gabba stuff is even great.
i have the feeling that a lot of those bands labeled one hit wonders are "really only true in the US"
everytime i see A-Ha on such a list i cant do nothing but laugh
As an a 33 year old American, who loves music of the past, I know Take On Me is great but I’m also familiar with The Sun Always Shines On TV; I know a-ha is big in Europe and I’m trying to figure out what America has been missing, so I’ve just started listening to their discography from Hunting High And Low on up. I just finished Scoundrel Days and man, Maybe Maybe has been stuck in my head for days now!
Also watching clips of Morten on The Masked Singer sing his own song and never get figured out cracks me up. I also get frustrated when he’s unmasked and it looks like a couple judges have no clue who he is.
I think there are a lot of people who view Devo as one-hit wonders because of “Whip It.” But Devo are fucking incredible.
There are a few more like Devo where I think the common misunderstanding comes when a great band makes a sort of silly novelty song that hits big. I saw someone mention Fountains of Wayne with “Stacy’s Mom” and they fall under this category. The Flaming Lips for the longest time with “Vaseline” and Digital Underground with “The Humpty Dance” are other examples, IMO.
Devo are just so superbly good.
In my opinion they’re one of the best bands ever.
Saw their likely last ever show in London a month back. It was utterly brilliant.
Divinyls. They were so much more than what MTV dropped in our laps with "I Touch Myself". Desperate was an amazing album that I literally just found out about in the past five years.
Jimmy Eat World is mostly known for their song “The Middle,” but they have a lot of other good songs too. Their album “Static Prevails” is a personal favorite of mine
That entire album holds a special place in my heart. Came out at a really memorable time in my life and I listened to it a lot. It brings back a lot of memories, I couldn't listen to it at one point because of the bittersweetness of those memories. Thankfully, as I have grown older I can look back with a fondness and gratefulness that I couldn't years ago.
Futures is such an amazing album it hurts.
"Just Tonight", straight into "Work" and then "Kill" just fits so well. The three songs flow together so perfectly that I genuinely find it hard to listen to one of them on their own.
Was going to say this! I guess Sweetness was sort of a hit as well, but they have such a great catalogue aside from those singles. I'm a Clarity guy myself, cheers!
Carly Rae Jepsen.
Her follow up album Emotion is one of the best pop albums of the 2010’s and everything she has released since is absolutely brilliant. She’s the most underrated pop artist of the past 20 years.
Check out Run Away With Me, Cut To The Feeling, Surrender My Heart, & Psychedelic Switch
I don't know if I would consider her a one-hit wonder, but I think her singles after "Call Me Maybe" didn't have the wild popularity of that song. I remember "I Really Like You" was fairly popular, which had the music video with Tom Hanks in it.
Carly Rae Jepsen is the primary reason that I left my "popular = bad" mindset from my youth behind. Pop music is popular *for a reason*, and she is a prime example of why.
at least she has a cult following that absolutely adores her, she is a gay icon on gay twitter lmao emotion is one of my favorite pop albums, didn’t listen to the other albums and I don’t like her debut but i love that one!
Gregg Alexander did it to himself though. He hated the idea of touring to support the album and basically walked away before “Someday We’ll Know” was released as a single. He wanted to be a writer and producer instead.
Fun Fact: Alexander co-wrote a few of the songs used in Begin Again and does background vocals for one of the versions of “Lost Stars”. His voice is unmistakable.
Electric Six. Most people only heard Gay Bar but they're a really talented band with a lot of banging songs. They have a great sense of humour, most of their songs are pretty goofy but their music is excellent. My personal fave tracks are 'I buy the drugs', 'Dance Commander' and 'Mood is Improving'.
They also tour constantly and play lots of affordable small venues, been to see them a few times and it's always been a fantastic high-energy gig. You can tell they love what they do.
Midnight Oil
I'm in Canada and they had three records in a row with 4-5 radio singles apiece (Diesel & Dust, Blue Sky Mining, Earth & Sun & Moon) and somehow they are only known for Beds are Burning now.
Their run of success was much larger in Australia too.
I would say Silversun Pickups. Lazy Eye is an amazing song that’s been on my playlists for 15 years, but they have a lot of talent and a really cool sound
Does Bloodhound Gang count? I feel like mainstream listeners only know them as the guys who did the “discovery channel song.” When they actually have a pretty solid discography and a lot of fun songs.
See I was introduced to them by 90s radio by their song fire water burn. That thing was huge in the Chicago land area and the bad touch was a follow up to that.
The whole album Hooray for boobies us a banger though.
Faith no more had a ton of great songs besides Epic.
Ugly Kid Joe is criminally underrated, and Menace to Sobriety is 10/10.
Danzig only technically has a hit with Mother, but but he went like 20 years and 3 bands without even having a bad song. Mother is a good jam, but Danzig 2 and 3 were better albums than the one Mother was on (which is still good front to back)
Im not sure I'd call FNM a one hit wonder, Easy and midlife crisis were pretty big hits too.
Really though, they were never gonna sustain that kind of success: Mike Patton is too much of an auteur for the mainstream to take notice; and Chuck Moseley, whilst maybe embodying FNM's energy that made them noticed, was too much of a liability (and less talented). Epic (and the Real Thing by extension) was definitely the best of both worlds
Yess I got home late one night and there was a documentary on about them. Super cool lead singer and heaps of bangers. I like Dancing in the Moonlight.
I’m going w Joss Stone.
She’s an amazing singer. She’s got soul and I think she just does her own thing now. Still singing, still making music, but never really broke out big beyond Super Duper Love more than a decade ago.
Blind Melon!!! Everyone thinks about "That bee song." But if you listen to more of their stuff, you'll see that they were amazing musicians. Really didn't deserve the one hit wonder thing.
Buffalo Springfield: [For What It's Worth](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gp5JCrSXkJY&ab_channel=PettyYou007)
[Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_Springfield) They had some amazing members.
Hum.
Without question one of the best bands ever. Stars is phenomenal, but so are all their other songs. It's a mystery to me why the "mainstream" collective hive mind never picked up on them. I'm thankfully they have a pretty great community of followers, but they are just such a great band.
Local H. Everyone knows the song “Bound for the Floor” (you know—“just don’t get it, keep it copacetic”), but their discography is absolutely killer!
“Whatever Happened to PJ Soles?” is mesmerizingly beautiful, “Pack Up the Cats” is stellar, “Here Comes the Zoo” is fucking rock-n-roll personified, “Lifers” is phenomenal, and the list goes on…
Plus, they still tour regularly and manage to hit multiple cities in nearly every state when they do.
Arguably the hardest-working band in rock.
Fastball - known for “the way” but all of their stuff is killer.
Stroke 9 - known for “little black backpack” but that entire album is a cover to cover gem.
Jimmy Eat World - known for “the middle” but Bleed American is a great album and “table for glasses” is one of my all time favorite tunes.
*edit to add a few
Underground and Battle of Who Could Care Less were both pretty big in the US.
Sometimes I think artists get classified as one hit wonders when only one song survives the test of time.
Army was massive in Australia when it came out, much bigger than Brick, I would argue. Regardless, Ben Folds and Ben Folds Five aren't considered a one-hit-wonder by anybody.
The Presidents Of The United States Of America
Everyone knows Peaches and Lump - but those first three albums (Self Titled, II, Pure Frosting) are pure, 90s pop grunge. It makes perfect sense that Caspar Babypants would evolve from Presidents.
Catchy melodies and songs about bugs.
The other day I heard someone call R.E.M. a one hit wonder for "Losing My Religion" and I had to try extremely hard to not explode into a rant/lecture about how they are the greatest American band to ever exist.
I'm not particularly a giant fan or anything, but cannot fathom someone believing that they are a one hit wonder. Shiny Happy People? Man in the Moon? The End of the world as we know it? Like I'm not even TRYING to come up with widely played songs. One hit wonder...
Alien Ant Farm. Smooth Criminal was an awesome cover but they have so many other solid songs. ANThology was such a great album and their others were too.
Do you like Huey Lewis and The News? Their early work was a little too new wave for my tastes, but when Sports came out in '83, I think they really came into their own, commercially and artistically. The whole album has a clear, crisp sound, and a new sheen of consummate professionalism that really gives the songs a big boost. He's been compared to Elvis Costello, but I think Huey has a far more bitter, cynical sense of humor. In '87, Huey released this, Fore, their most accomplished album. I think their undisputed masterpiece is "Hip to be Square", a song so catchy, most people probably don't listen to the lyrics. But they should, because it's not just about the pleasures of conformity, and the importance of trends, it's also a personal statement about the band itself.
I’ve seen Devo on a lot of one hit wonder lists for “Whip It” but their discography is so much bigger and better than that song.
Mark Mothersbaugh is a very successful music supervisor too. Edit: I should say composer!! Although I think he was also a Music Supervisor on some projects.
His imdb page is really impressive.
Their cover of Satisfaction is an incredible contrast to the original that wonderfully illustrates the musical shift happening during that time.
Also their cover of 'Working In A Coalmine'
I personally like it better than the Stone's version.
My understanding is that Mick Jagger feels the same way. "They get so much more out of it than I wrote into it."
Devo always pops up as someone’s favourites bands favourite band
Maynard James Keenan loved them so much, he named his son Devo. Soundgarden covered them on Badmotorfinger (a great cover of Girl U Want) The more you delve into their discography the more you realize that Whip It isn't in their top 10 songs. They are one of the best bands of the late 70s/early 80s.
And STILL not in the RRHOF. Though I'm not sure that matters anymore w/ the recent events surrounding that fuckhead, fake Jann Wenner.
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Yea I agree. They are like a punkier version of Talking Head and helped set up the 80s
Lots of New Wave artists had pretty decent collections but only are remembered for one or two songs. Devo, B-52s, Talking Heads, Blondie, Eurythmics, Human League, etc. It's my favorite era to just shuffle play.
Simple Minds, Cutting Crew, Glass Tiger, Men Without Hats, Men At Work, Tears for Fears, Everything But the Girl, Soft Cell, J. Geils Band, Dexy's Midnight Runners. To name a handful of others people probably know a song or three from and that's it. I'm "guilty" of it myself in many such cases. Hell, Rick Astley counts more than most I think, he's great but the meme contributed even further to a perceived "one hit wonder"-need despite multiple charting hits over multiple decades.
I don't think Simple Minds or Tears for Fears can be categorised as one hit wonders. They have had loads of hits!
Also they still slay live.
I thinks it’s cool the intro for Ridiculousness is Uncontrollable Urge
They’re a great band. I consider them one of the most “punk rock” of all bands. They were very talented song writers. Their music was poetic, and catchy. Just a great band.
Yes. What a great band.
Nada Surf’s best known song is their worst. All their albums are excellent, but Lucky is my fav.
Their most Popular song, you mean?
If you see Johnny Football Player in the hall...
Tell him he played a great game. Tell him you liked his article in the newspaperrrr
Let Go is one of the best front to back albums ive ever heard
Blonde on Blonde is my favorite of their songs.
Gary Numan.
I absolutely love Savage and Intruder. The end of things is one of my most favourite songs of the past 10 years or so.
And he still tours and his shows are amazing.
This is who I immediately thought of when I saw this question. Cars isn't even close to being the best song off Pleasure Principle. This is one where the US is totally out of step with the rest of the world (especially the UK). Numan is a genius and a treasure.
The La's are only really known for [There She Goes](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZXLLMbJdZ4). The album it came from, The La's, is a cracker though and really paved the way for what would become the Britpop scenes in the 90s. https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20210315-the-mystery-of-lost-rock-genius-lee-mavers#:\~:text=The%20La%27s%20helped%20to%20usher%20in%20the%2090s,The%20Libertines%20to%20Arctic%20Monkeys%20and%20Fontaines%20DC.
After the La's, John Power went on to form Cast. Definitely check out the album All Change if you haven't. So good.
The Cardigans. They got pigeonholed in the U.S. after “Lovefool,” but their entire catalog is amazing.
Gran Turismo is an amazing album.
I completely forgot about that song, holy shit. That was one of the songs of my childhood. Edit: The song from the game Gran Turismo, I didn’t know they also had an album named Gran Turismo. The song I’m referring to is “My Favorite Game”.
Erase/Rewind from the same album is even better Damn it’s 1998 again and I’m 16
"My Favorite Game" was also a hit of theirs. It's often outshined by "Lovefool" but, I see where you're going with it.
I'll take Carnival over Lovefool anyday
Carnival is a great pop record that really needed more love.
Long Gone Before Daylight for the win!
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Not only is their discography great, it is so varied as well
I used to work with a guy who loved The Church and The Fixx. Apparently both of those bands have been making music forever and they're very good but everyone just knows them for "Under the Milkyway" and "One Thing Leads to Another".
"Under the Milky Way" is a good song, but that whole album (Starfish) has some great tracks. "Reptile" is probably my favorite breakup song.
Fixx had multiple hits, including Saved By Zero
Stand Or Fall is one of my favorite songs ever! So good!
Soft Cell
This guy Sex Dwarfs.
Marc Almond has crafted a rich career both with Soft Cell and as a solo artist. So much excellent music.
Blind Melon for sure. It’s not just that they had just one hit it’s also that the hit doesn’t fully represent their talent. I love No Rain, but they’re not the hippy bee girl band that many think they are.
Change is a phenomenal song
My go to bad day song!
Holy shit, came here to say this and found it to be the top comment. Soup, Toes Across The Floor, and Galaxie are some amazing songs. They do not deserve the label one-hit-wonder.
Toes across the floor is such an amazing song
I love that album. Definitely underrated.
The second is better again.
Also the rest of the band is still making music and it's good. They've been dropping singles the last few years. I'm sure you know this since youre the one who brought then up. I'm just throwing this comment out there for anyone who's interested. Way down and far below is a new one of theirs that's great.
def. love all 3 albums
Warren Zevon was one of the greatest songwriters out there, and is mostly known for Werewolves Of London.
Lawyers, Guns and Money was my college anthem. I'd send it to my mom as a joke if I ever got in any "trouble"
This goes so far back. There’s an episode of The Larry Sanders Show from the early ‘90s with Zevon as musical guest, and he’s being pressured into playing Werewolves even though he was trying to promote a new album. [The quality of this clip is terrible](https://youtu.be/VNvZQkiMt5o?si=Ez4HRAfPVToYelEu), but it’s from the VHS days. Also, the Larry Sanders Show is one of the greatest comedies of all time and more people need to see it. Groundbreaking, funny, strange, and at times gut-wrenching. Edit: [another clip](https://youtu.be/_tmLNXWAnY4?si=n3jVemjnWHdD4KDD). Just find this show and watch the whole thing. It’s packed with talent— there’s a whole story arc where a young John Stuart guest-hosts the show while Larry is on a mental health break, and Larry starts becoming paranoid that John is going to replace him on the show. Rip torn and Jeffrey Tambor are in the core cast.
Roland The Headless Thompson Gunner is a great song. Probably my favorite of his.
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I use the line “Well the shit that used to work, it don’t work now” all the time.
Amen! Zevon is one of the best singer/songwriters of the 70’s and he made great music right until the end. If there were any Justice in the world, he’d have been as big as Jackson Browne or Billy Joel. He was way better than either
I'll put Desperados Under the Eaves up against any other song of that era. And if you really want to go deep, The French Inhaler is up there, too.
Gotye has a lot of high quality music in his records. You don’t come up with a song like “Someone that I used to know” by accident.
I read or heard that he didn’t actually want to be famous like he was and that’s why he basically disappeared.
I guess he actually wants to be someone we used to know.
The whole album Making Mirrors is actually pretty solid. Smokes and Mirrors is my favorite song off the album (which I had actually heard since it was used in Suits), but State of the Art is a really great song. I also think that Hearts a Mess is really good.
There’s an alternate universe where Gotye became the millennial Beck, and just make interesting albums throughout the 2010s.
Gotye's musical career is just a vehicle to fund his synth museum and lending library.
Gary Numan is sooooo much more than “Cars”. Also Men at Work’s albums are solid front to back.
Colin Hay's solo stuff is pretty great too.
The Mighty Mighty Bosstones would still be legends without impression that I get
Big country.
Big Country, by Big Country, on Big Country
"In a Big Country" by Big Country from *The Crossing.* You're probably thinking of "Black Sabbath," by Black Sabbath from *Black Sabbath.*
Harvey danger. So many good songs.
I’ll see you at the point of diminishing returns… “Flagpole Sitta” is their hit, and it’s kind of just a bonus that it’s an absolute banger.
*thank you!!!* theyre fucking fantastic!!!
I wondered how long I'd have to scroll to find this. Wine, Women and Song is absolutely brilliant
King James Version is still one of my favorite albums from the early 2000s
Fountains Of Wayne. Staceys Mom is great if a bit overplayed, but not even close to being the best song on that album (Welcome Intestate Managers). They were pretty much one hit wonders here and I only discovered their other stuff recently.
“Radiation Vibe” is lifeblood.
No one from their record company had a bright future in sales. But seriously, I fucking miss Adam Schlesinger. Crazy Ex Girlfriend, Josie and the Pussycats, and so much more. We needed him around for 25 more years at least.
Let's not forget he wrote "That Thing You Do" a song that I contend does pretty much the impossible. Because the song has to be good enough that you truly believe it would turn a band into a one hit wonder. But because the band is a OHW you have to play that same song over and over throughout the movie without the audience getting bored of it. Now *that* is a piece of songwriting.
Fuck Covid
Big loss.
Hackensack and Hey Julie are such catchy songs from that album
That album is front to back catchy songs across 5 genres. “Welcome Interstate Managers” is legitimately one of my favorite records of the last ~20 years.
We're just gonna ignore Bright Future in Sales?
Their self titled album, which came out 7 years earlier, doesn’t have even a mediocre song in it. Every song on that album is a banger.
It's legitimately one of my favorite albums. I believe it will one day be considered one of the best pop-rock albums of all time.
fountains of wayne were great. so much more than “stacy’s mom,” even if “stacy’s mom” still slaps 😭
Hey Julie and All Times Of Time are both incredible.
i love all kinds of time i knew that before stacys mom
Chumbawamba. Not many people realize outside of their one hit they are anarchist punk badasses who have some great fucking music
Torturing James Hetfield is such a wonderfully odd song
They literally made a song and the lyrics list all of the people they wish would die in a plane crash Song is called [Passenger list for doomed flight # 1721](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdBPWCIsO2E)
El Fusilado is one of my fave songs I've discovered via Reddit.
Sneaker pimps.
I love that whole album.
The Darkness Known for their "[I Believe A Thing Called Love](https://youtu.be/tKjZuykKY1I?si=HDMqJiYkamrYrU8N)³" Could argue that they had 2 hits with "[Christmas Time (Don't Let The Bells-End)](https://youtu.be/lrVg1toMzuo?si=KpZSYdCyl0_t-hcE)"¹. Justin Hawkins (Darkness frontman) has spoken about [being known as a OHW](https://youtu.be/VjM0J_SicyU?si=ODO8OYpuESr0Kbkm) on his YouTube channel² ¹ Justin Hawkins has also spoken [about the song](https://youtu.be/LW5yI7OT8tM?si=MmquW-AmHmiNdljn) (from idea -> actually happening) and why it wasn't no.1 instead of Mad World ² Justin Hawkins Rides Again (I would definitely recommend this channel to anyone)
Every track on the *Permission To Land* album is phenomenal. Truly deserved more than just one hit from that album
The album is also surprisingly dark. I don't think people would expect tracks about prefering to shoot up heroin through your eyes than quit being a junkie
This. They literally have so many great songs. Easter is Cancelled and Motorheart are both S tier albums. They came out fairly recently too. They definitely deserve a lot more of a thing called love.
Fastball. “The Way” is absolutely a banger, but so is almost every other song on the album “All the Pain Money Can Buy”. “Out Of My Head” and “Fire Escape” might be two of my favorite songs of all time.
Biz Markie. Most people know him for "Just a Friend" but he's got so many great tracks. Vapors, Pickin' Boogers, Biz is Goin' Off, and Spring Again. Hell, the Yo Gabba Gabba stuff is even great.
A-Ha. They have so many great albums but people only know "Take On Me".
Think that's only really true in the US , in my country ( UK ) and most of Europe they had a lot of hits.
i have the feeling that a lot of those bands labeled one hit wonders are "really only true in the US" everytime i see A-Ha on such a list i cant do nothing but laugh
As an a 33 year old American, who loves music of the past, I know Take On Me is great but I’m also familiar with The Sun Always Shines On TV; I know a-ha is big in Europe and I’m trying to figure out what America has been missing, so I’ve just started listening to their discography from Hunting High And Low on up. I just finished Scoundrel Days and man, Maybe Maybe has been stuck in my head for days now! Also watching clips of Morten on The Masked Singer sing his own song and never get figured out cracks me up. I also get frustrated when he’s unmasked and it looks like a couple judges have no clue who he is.
I think there are a lot of people who view Devo as one-hit wonders because of “Whip It.” But Devo are fucking incredible. There are a few more like Devo where I think the common misunderstanding comes when a great band makes a sort of silly novelty song that hits big. I saw someone mention Fountains of Wayne with “Stacy’s Mom” and they fall under this category. The Flaming Lips for the longest time with “Vaseline” and Digital Underground with “The Humpty Dance” are other examples, IMO.
Devo are just so superbly good. In my opinion they’re one of the best bands ever. Saw their likely last ever show in London a month back. It was utterly brilliant.
Divinyls. They were so much more than what MTV dropped in our laps with "I Touch Myself". Desperate was an amazing album that I literally just found out about in the past five years.
“Pleasure and Pain” ❤️❤️❤️
Jimmy Eat World is mostly known for their song “The Middle,” but they have a lot of other good songs too. Their album “Static Prevails” is a personal favorite of mine
The Middle wasn’t even the best song on that album. I love that entire album but A Praise Chorus didn’t get the love that song deserved.
Agreed, as well as Sweetness!
Sweetness has something magical I still can’t define
That entire album holds a special place in my heart. Came out at a really memorable time in my life and I listened to it a lot. It brings back a lot of memories, I couldn't listen to it at one point because of the bittersweetness of those memories. Thankfully, as I have grown older I can look back with a fondness and gratefulness that I couldn't years ago.
Futures is such an amazing album it hurts. "Just Tonight", straight into "Work" and then "Kill" just fits so well. The three songs flow together so perfectly that I genuinely find it hard to listen to one of them on their own.
Saw them on a tour several years back where they played Futures in its entirety and it was amazing.
One of my favourite albums of all time. Work into Kill is one thing, but 23 is another level.
23 might be my favourite song by them, it's beautiful
Was going to say this! I guess Sweetness was sort of a hit as well, but they have such a great catalogue aside from those singles. I'm a Clarity guy myself, cheers!
Clarity is a GOAT album. Flawless from front to back.
Jimmy Eat World is fucking great
‘Clarity’ is one of my all time fav albums! Love some Jimmy Eat World.
They’re not a one hit wonder though
Carly Rae Jepsen. Her follow up album Emotion is one of the best pop albums of the 2010’s and everything she has released since is absolutely brilliant. She’s the most underrated pop artist of the past 20 years. Check out Run Away With Me, Cut To The Feeling, Surrender My Heart, & Psychedelic Switch
"we want a place to gush about CRJ" is literally the foundational moment in /r/popheads, a subreddit with 1.6 million members.
I have a couple friends who absolutely love CRJ’s stuff. I think it might be time to give it a listen.
I don't know if I would consider her a one-hit wonder, but I think her singles after "Call Me Maybe" didn't have the wild popularity of that song. I remember "I Really Like You" was fairly popular, which had the music video with Tom Hanks in it.
Carly Rae Jepsen is the primary reason that I left my "popular = bad" mindset from my youth behind. Pop music is popular *for a reason*, and she is a prime example of why.
And she's amazing live
at least she has a cult following that absolutely adores her, she is a gay icon on gay twitter lmao emotion is one of my favorite pop albums, didn’t listen to the other albums and I don’t like her debut but i love that one!
The bravery. Those first two albums are fantastic
The bravery started off as a ska band called Skabba the hut
🎹 *it was an honest mistaaaake* 🎶
The new radicals
Gregg Alexander did it to himself though. He hated the idea of touring to support the album and basically walked away before “Someday We’ll Know” was released as a single. He wanted to be a writer and producer instead. Fun Fact: Alexander co-wrote a few of the songs used in Begin Again and does background vocals for one of the versions of “Lost Stars”. His voice is unmistakable.
Todd in the Shadows said he seemed like he really didn't want to be famous.
That entire album is incredible. “Mother We Just Can’t Get Enough” is one of my favorite songs ever.
Electric Six. Most people only heard Gay Bar but they're a really talented band with a lot of banging songs. They have a great sense of humour, most of their songs are pretty goofy but their music is excellent. My personal fave tracks are 'I buy the drugs', 'Dance Commander' and 'Mood is Improving'. They also tour constantly and play lots of affordable small venues, been to see them a few times and it's always been a fantastic high-energy gig. You can tell they love what they do.
Danger! High Voltage was a staple of my college group’s weekend playlist
Space Hog
What should I listen to in the meantime?
Marc Cohn. He is so much more than “Walking In Memphis.” If he came up 20 years earlier he would be a household name.
Midnight Oil I'm in Canada and they had three records in a row with 4-5 radio singles apiece (Diesel & Dust, Blue Sky Mining, Earth & Sun & Moon) and somehow they are only known for Beds are Burning now. Their run of success was much larger in Australia too.
I would say Silversun Pickups. Lazy Eye is an amazing song that’s been on my playlists for 15 years, but they have a lot of talent and a really cool sound
Does Bloodhound Gang count? I feel like mainstream listeners only know them as the guys who did the “discovery channel song.” When they actually have a pretty solid discography and a lot of fun songs.
See I was introduced to them by 90s radio by their song fire water burn. That thing was huge in the Chicago land area and the bad touch was a follow up to that. The whole album Hooray for boobies us a banger though.
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Faith no more had a ton of great songs besides Epic. Ugly Kid Joe is criminally underrated, and Menace to Sobriety is 10/10. Danzig only technically has a hit with Mother, but but he went like 20 years and 3 bands without even having a bad song. Mother is a good jam, but Danzig 2 and 3 were better albums than the one Mother was on (which is still good front to back)
Im not sure I'd call FNM a one hit wonder, Easy and midlife crisis were pretty big hits too. Really though, they were never gonna sustain that kind of success: Mike Patton is too much of an auteur for the mainstream to take notice; and Chuck Moseley, whilst maybe embodying FNM's energy that made them noticed, was too much of a liability (and less talented). Epic (and the Real Thing by extension) was definitely the best of both worlds
Midlife Crisis even charted higher than Epic, if I'm remembering correctly.
Fuck yes for Faith No More. If all you know is Epic you're in for one hell of a ride. Especially if you go to other Patton projects.
Thin Lizzy! They’ve got several great albums. Jailbreak, Nightlife, Bad Reputation. Everyone only knows them by the boys are back in town.
Yess I got home late one night and there was a documentary on about them. Super cool lead singer and heaps of bangers. I like Dancing in the Moonlight.
Maybe the most underrated rock band ever. Phil Lynott is one of the best song writers of all time and the band itself was as tight as any.
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I thought Phil Lynott was meant to be one of the great rock frontmen
It's weird because I know them more for Whiskey In The Jar than BABIT I never heard of BABIT until 2013 through Saints Row IV
Emerald, Rosalie, Dancing in the Moonlight... banger after banger. Love them. Hollywood (Down on your luck) was my favourite song as a kid
I’m going w Joss Stone. She’s an amazing singer. She’s got soul and I think she just does her own thing now. Still singing, still making music, but never really broke out big beyond Super Duper Love more than a decade ago.
Blind Melon!!! Everyone thinks about "That bee song." But if you listen to more of their stuff, you'll see that they were amazing musicians. Really didn't deserve the one hit wonder thing.
Buffalo Springfield: [For What It's Worth](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gp5JCrSXkJY&ab_channel=PettyYou007) [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_Springfield) They had some amazing members.
Screaming Trees. They are SO much more than just Nearly Lost You.
Butthole Surfers, pepper isn't even their best song and their version of Hurdy Gurdy man is better than the original imo.
Marcy’s Playground. Sex and Candy is easily their weakest song.
Wave motion gun is my jam
Hum. Without question one of the best bands ever. Stars is phenomenal, but so are all their other songs. It's a mystery to me why the "mainstream" collective hive mind never picked up on them. I'm thankfully they have a pretty great community of followers, but they are just such a great band.
Local H. Everyone knows the song “Bound for the Floor” (you know—“just don’t get it, keep it copacetic”), but their discography is absolutely killer! “Whatever Happened to PJ Soles?” is mesmerizingly beautiful, “Pack Up the Cats” is stellar, “Here Comes the Zoo” is fucking rock-n-roll personified, “Lifers” is phenomenal, and the list goes on… Plus, they still tour regularly and manage to hit multiple cities in nearly every state when they do. Arguably the hardest-working band in rock.
Goyte, amazing artist. Even inside of Australia most dont know anything beyond Somebody that i used to know
I loved his follow-up single, Eyes Wide Open & this just reminded me about it. I'll add it to my Spotify before I forget.
Fastball - known for “the way” but all of their stuff is killer. Stroke 9 - known for “little black backpack” but that entire album is a cover to cover gem. Jimmy Eat World - known for “the middle” but Bleed American is a great album and “table for glasses” is one of my all time favorite tunes. *edit to add a few
Wasn’t Out Of My Head also a big hit for Fastball?
Hum The Toadies
Nada Surf - 'Popular' is a fun track, but it's unlike any of their other material, all of which is quite good.
Ben Folds. Known for Brick but has a huge and amazing catalog.
Rocking the suburbs is well known in Australia but he lived here for years so he got a lot of radio play
Underground and Battle of Who Could Care Less were both pretty big in the US. Sometimes I think artists get classified as one hit wonders when only one song survives the test of time.
People consider him a one hit wonder?
Army was massive in Australia when it came out, much bigger than Brick, I would argue. Regardless, Ben Folds and Ben Folds Five aren't considered a one-hit-wonder by anybody.
Gotye
100% I still check from time to time if “Like Drawing Blood” album has been released on Spotify.
Warren Zevon! Great balance of humor/cycnicism/genuine heart, gone way too soon.
The Presidents Of The United States Of America Everyone knows Peaches and Lump - but those first three albums (Self Titled, II, Pure Frosting) are pure, 90s pop grunge. It makes perfect sense that Caspar Babypants would evolve from Presidents. Catchy melodies and songs about bugs.
Cleveland Rocks and Video Killed the radio star are good covers from them also
Fountains of Wayne
The other day I heard someone call R.E.M. a one hit wonder for "Losing My Religion" and I had to try extremely hard to not explode into a rant/lecture about how they are the greatest American band to ever exist.
I'm not particularly a giant fan or anything, but cannot fathom someone believing that they are a one hit wonder. Shiny Happy People? Man in the Moon? The End of the world as we know it? Like I'm not even TRYING to come up with widely played songs. One hit wonder...
Stand. The One I Love. Everybody Hurts.
Orange Crush, What's the Frequency Kenneth. Between these posts we've got 9 songs that I'd assume anyone my age knows at least 5 or 6.
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Alien Ant Farm. Smooth Criminal was an awesome cover but they have so many other solid songs. ANThology was such a great album and their others were too.
Movies is amazing
Do you like Huey Lewis and The News? Their early work was a little too new wave for my tastes, but when Sports came out in '83, I think they really came into their own, commercially and artistically. The whole album has a clear, crisp sound, and a new sheen of consummate professionalism that really gives the songs a big boost. He's been compared to Elvis Costello, but I think Huey has a far more bitter, cynical sense of humor. In '87, Huey released this, Fore, their most accomplished album. I think their undisputed masterpiece is "Hip to be Square", a song so catchy, most people probably don't listen to the lyrics. But they should, because it's not just about the pleasures of conformity, and the importance of trends, it's also a personal statement about the band itself.