# one hit wonder that rule



## deprofundis (Apr 25, 2014)

I love* Thompson twins *hold me now, so catchy and the lyric bring a smile to my face...
it remenber me of happy moments i had in life so far.

Than pop use to be good in the eightie if you knew were to look...

:tiphat: this song is great for sing along in the shower


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## Dr Johnson (Jun 26, 2015)

Also by the Thompson Twins, Love On Your Side.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

One of my pet peeves: people from country X (usually USA) talking about "1 hit wonders", actually meaning 1 hit wonders in their country.

For instance, the Thompson Twins had 10 UK top40 hits, 5 of which made the top10.


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## deprofundis (Apr 25, 2014)

Thank for the info Art Rock i did not knew thompson twins were more than a one hit Wonder, perhaps i were ignorant but in canada and usa this same song would play on and on, not the others.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

No problem. It's similar to me saying as a Dutchman: what an amazing one-hit wonder Barry Manilow was. Why did he not make other hits?


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## GreenMamba (Oct 14, 2012)

Art Rock said:


> One of my pet peeves: people from country X (usually USA) talking about "1 hit wonders", actually meaning 1 hit wonders in their country.
> 
> For instance, the Thompson Twins had 10 UK top40 hits, 5 of which made the top10.


Doctor! Doctor! apparently went #11 in the US, which is a decent hit.

Checking at Wikipedia, I had to LOL at this:



> The NME called them, "1984's most instantly kitsch mass program of monosodium glutamation of the brain".


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## Guest (Nov 20, 2015)

The Thompson Twins were not a one-hit wonder in the US or anywhere else. This might qualify though:


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## Guest (Nov 20, 2015)




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## Guest (Nov 20, 2015)




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## GreenMamba (Oct 14, 2012)

I think Zager and Evans are the benchmark here, but I don't like In the Year 2525. No link, and for god's sake don't post the lyrics.

From the 80s alone, VH1's list backs up Victor Redseal's nominees. For good songs, well, I like "I'll Melt With You" and "She Blinded Me with Science" (yes!). Maybe a couple of others.

http://www.vh1.com/news/1243/100-greatest-one-hit-wonders-of-the-80s/


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## Guest (Nov 20, 2015)




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## Blancrocher (Jul 6, 2013)

OMC - How Bizarre


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## Guest (Nov 20, 2015)

I was a big fan of Thomas Dolby's "The Golden Age of Wireless" and loved every song on it--still do. So he doesn't count as a one-hot wonder for me.


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## Guest (Nov 20, 2015)

And if you're going back to the 60s then you can't beat this piece of pre-Sabbath metal from '69:


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## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

Victor Redseal said:


> I was a big fan of Thomas Dolby's "The Golden Age of Wireless" and loved every song on it--still do. So he doesn't count as a one-hot wonder for me.


Pet Shop Boys is not a one hit wonder.


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## Guest (Nov 20, 2015)

Jimi Hendrix used these guys as a backup band briefly.


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## Guest (Nov 20, 2015)

Sloe said:


> Pet Shop Boys is not a one hit wonder.


To me they are. I never cared for anything else they did.


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## Guest (Nov 20, 2015)

Victor Redseal said:


> To me they are. I never cared for anything else they did.


But your opinion has nothing to do with "one hit wonder."


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## Guest (Nov 20, 2015)

The Beatles.

I only liked Yellow Submarine.


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

I play Zager & Evans _in the Year 2525_ reasonably often. Like the lines: "pick your sons, pick your daughters too, from the bottom of a long glass tube". The whole song is creepily prescient, in a goofy sort of way, but sticks in my brain, both musically and verbally.

One of the truly great one-hit wonders is Benny Mardones' _Into the Night_. Mardones made a sort of career for decades touring smaller cities in the USA and singing the hit to adoring fans of that one great effort. "If I could fly, I'd pick you up and take you into the night, and show you a love like you've never seen, ever seen before". Love it still. My iPod is full of wonderful one-hitters; for me, they never, ever fade.


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## Guest (Nov 20, 2015)




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## Guest (Nov 20, 2015)

dogen said:


> But your opinion has nothing to do with "one hit wonder."


Except the public agrees with me because they never had another hit like West End Girls--face it.


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## Sloe (May 9, 2014)

Victor Redseal said:


> Except the public agrees with me because they never had another hit like West End Girls--face it.


Wether you like them or not they were one of the most popular groups from the mid eighties and through the nineties.


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## GreenMamba (Oct 14, 2012)

Victor Redseal said:


> Except the public agrees with me because they never had another hit like West End Girls--face it.


In what sense? E.g., What Have I Done to Deserve This? went #2 in both the UK and US.


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## Guest (Nov 20, 2015)

"Except the public agrees with me because they never had another hit like West End Girls--face it."

"Pet Shop Boys have sold more than 50 million records worldwide, and are listed as the most successful duo in UK music history"

Wiki.


One hit wonder?

Face it.


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## Guest (Nov 21, 2015)

GreenMamba said:


> In what sense? E.g., What Have I Done to Deserve This? went #2 in both the UK and US.


Well, in that case, Thomas Dolby is not a one-hit wonder either. "One of Our Submarines" and "Windpower" charted well. I thought we were talking a monster hit that everybody knows. When we get away from that, I doubt that most any band that released recordings on bona fide labels can be considered one-hit wonders.


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## Guest (Nov 21, 2015)

I'm sure this band was not a one-hot wonder either but I'll post it anyway.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Most assuredly, The Knack with "My Sharona."


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## Guest (Nov 21, 2015)

KenOC said:


> Most assuredly, The Knack with "My Sharona."


Well, actually, there's also "Good Girls Don't." (Really, I agree with you but since other people want to pull this stuff then so be it)


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## Guest (Nov 21, 2015)

Alright, now come on! One-hot wonder!!!


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## Guest (Nov 21, 2015)




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## Guest (Nov 21, 2015)




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## Guest (Nov 21, 2015)

Excellent tune!


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## Guest (Nov 21, 2015)




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## Guest (Nov 21, 2015)

Pilot of Scotland started off from ex-members of the Bay City Rollers--a group that had been around since the 60s. "Magic" was the first thing Alan Parsons released as a producer (he had just finished engineering "Dark Side of the Moon"). The members of Pilot went onto become regular session musicians in the Alan Parsons Project. Drummer Stuart Tosh, for example, played all the drums tracks on "I, Robot" and bassist/guitarist/vocalist Dave Paton played all the bass tracks on that same album. Keyboardist Billy Lyall did not play on that album but did play on other APP releases. He died of AIDS in 1989.


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## GreenMamba (Oct 14, 2012)

Victor Redseal said:


> Well, in that case, Thomas Dolby is not a one-hit wonder either. "One of Our Submarines" and "Windpower" charted well. I thought we were talking a monster hit that everybody knows. When we get away from that, I doubt that most any band that released recordings on bona fide labels can be considered one-hit wonders.


Maybe it isn't. I was looking at an online list. There will always be borderline cases, but when you have a second tune that goes #2 in both US and UK, you can't be a one hit wonder.


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

Here's a gem from the legendary Hanoi Rocks, "a song about a girl, and a very beautiful boy". I also like and recommend _Underwater World._


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## Belowpar (Jan 14, 2015)

Apparently this came out during the musicians union recording strike and he never got to record anything at the time. A song everyone knows surely counts as a one hit wonder?


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Strange Magic said:


> Here's a gem from the legendary Hanoi Rocks, "a song about a girl, and a very beautiful boy". I also like and recommend _Underwater World._


Hanoi Rocks were a breath of fresh air back in the days of widdly-widdly-spreeunnnngg sub-Van Halen hell. Only one of their singles broke the top 75 here in the UK - and that was a cover of CCR's Up Around The Bend. They seemed to be on the brink of making it until the death of drummer Razzle wrecked their esprit de corps.


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## DeepR (Apr 13, 2012)




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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

Like Hanoi Rocks, Arthur Lee's band Love--previously mentioned by Victor Redseal-- was also seemingly on the verge of making it. But three great albums, _Love, Da Capo,_ and _Forever Changes_ all failed to lift Love out of obscurity. Today they are best remembered for Alone Again Or, which has been covered by many other groups, and _Forever Changes_ is on many lists of greatest albums. Led Zep claimed to be big fans of Love. The Rhino CD, _The Best of Love_, offers an excellent introduction. Hard to have too much Love.


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## Guest (Nov 21, 2015)

GreenMamba said:


> Maybe it isn't. I was looking at an online list. There will always be borderline cases, but when you have a second tune that goes #2 in both US and UK, you can't be a one hit wonder.


That was more than borderline. "Airwaves" was another hit from that album.


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## Guest (Nov 21, 2015)

Had this vinyl. Most assuredly they had a #2 hit on some chart somewhere but nonetheless into the one-hit wonder bin they go.


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## Guest (Nov 21, 2015)

On the subject of Dutch bands, we have a slew of one-hit wonders.


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## Guest (Nov 21, 2015)

Another Dutch one-hitter. Gee, I wonder what this song's about.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

Victor Redseal said:


> I'm sure this band was not a one-hot wonder either but I'll post it anyway.


I do enjoy the simpler synth-pop and electronica of the pioneers in the field. I'd not heard of this, but it fits right in with my favorites from the genre. Evidently you and I have very similar tastes. I've liked quite a few of your suggestions.

What's scary to me is that with Youtube I can't tell which is the song title and which the band name.


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## Guest (Nov 21, 2015)

And no Dutch one-hitter collection is complete without---





Is the singer Liza Minnelli in a wig?


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

I think *Men Without Hats* is considered a one hit wonder (no need for me to post a link to "Safety Dance" I think?), but I rather like _all_ of their output. Ivan Doroschuk has an incredible knack for writing deceptively simple melodies, and the equally deceptive simple synth arrangements are just brilliant.

In a similar vein, most Americans probably only know "Whip It" from *Devo*, but the band is amazing at whatever they do.

For the record, I'm more of 70s guy than an 80s person, but I lived through all the decades from the 50s onward. There is still great music being made today. I'm not one of those "music was better in my day" guys. What you are exposed to on radio etc is always aimed at the lowest common denominator. It's just that as we get older we don't have time to dig for the gold. It's always out there though.


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## Guest (Nov 21, 2015)

Weston said:


> I do enjoy the simpler synth-pop and electronica of the pioneers in the field. I'd not heard of this, but it fits right in with my favorites from the genre. Evidently you and I have very similar tastes. I've liked quite a few of your suggestions.


Yaz formed after Vince Clarke split from Depeche Mode. This song was HUGE with the dance crowd. I'm surprised you hadn't heard it. I avoided the dance crowd like the plague and still heard it everywhere I went.


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## Guest (Nov 21, 2015)

Weston said:


> I think *Men Without Hats* is considered a one hit wonder (no need for me to post a link to "Safety Dance" I think?), but I rather like _all_ of their output. Ivan Doroschuk has an incredible knack for writing deceptively simple melodies, and the equally deceptive simple synth arrangements are just brilliant.
> 
> In a similar vein, most Americans probably only know "Whip It" from *Devo*, but they are amazing at whatever they do.
> 
> For the record, I'm more of 70s guy than an 80s person, but I lived through all the decades from the 50s onward. There is still great music being made today. I'm not one of those "music was better in my day" guys. What you are exposed to on radio etc is always aimed at the lowest common denominator. It's just that as we get older we don't have time to dig for the gold. It's always out there though.


I was going to post Men Without Hats but figured somebody was going to berate me because they had some other hit I never heard of. As for Devo, while "Whip It" was their biggie, they had hits with "Satisfaction" and "Through Being Cool." I saw them twice actually--the first time before their first album was even released (Punch & Judy Theater in Detroit). I thought they were a great band but I think most people saw them as a one-hit wonder novelty act.


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## Guest (Nov 21, 2015)

The quintessential one-hitter. Nice, little tune, though.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

^Saw them open for Jethro Tull in 73 or 74, my first ever concert. I thought they were excruciatingly loud for that type of music, but they did a good job of plugging my ears up for the main act.


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## Guest (Nov 21, 2015)

This will ruffle some feathers here, I'm sure, but here goes.


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## Guest (Nov 21, 2015)

Ok, I might be treading thin ice. This may not be a one-hitter but when I had the album in the 80s. the guys on my ship who were into hip-hop only knew this song from the album. But that's admittedly only anecdotal.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Victor Redseal said:


> The quintessential one-hitter. Nice, little tune, though.


Seven top ten hits in Canada.....


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## Blancrocher (Jul 6, 2013)

Boomtown Rats - Tell Me Why (I Don't Like Mondays)


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## Guest (Nov 21, 2015)

Art Rock said:


> Seven top ten hits in Canada.....


*DAMN YOU!!!!!*

Speaking of Canada, remember this one?






I know Nick Gilder is singing and he had another hit with "Hot Child in the City" but that was a solo act.


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## Guest (Nov 21, 2015)

Another great Canadian one-hitter. I know, I know--they had 2 trillion consecutive #1 hits in the Yukon Territory some of which were heard as far away as the Klondike but they're a one-hit wonder to me.


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## Guest (Nov 21, 2015)




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## Guest (Nov 21, 2015)

The other one-hitter with "Yellow" in the title. This song was noteworthy because Don Grady played drums and he was known as Robbie Douglas on "My Three Sons." Great tune really.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Strange Magic said:


> Like Hanoi Rocks, Arthur Lee's band Love--previously mentioned by Victor Redseal-- was also seemingly on the verge of making it. But three great albums, _Love, Da Capo,_ and _Forever Changes_ all failed to lift Love out of obscurity. Today they are best remembered for Alone Again Or, which has been covered by many other groups, and _Forever Changes_ is on many lists of greatest albums. Led Zep claimed to be big fans of Love. The Rhino CD, _The Best of Love_, offers an excellent introduction. Hard to have too much Love.


Love made some great music but were notoriously blasé when it came to the tiresome necessities of roadwork - in the first three years of their existence (i.e. their peak) they hardly ever set foot outside of LA. Great as the album was, it's still a mystery to me as to how Forever Changes got into the Top 30 album chart in the UK bearing in mind the band's low profile. Even Michael Caine was seen brandishing a copy.


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

Herewith a fine video of Benny Mardones at the beginning of his decades-long career of singing _Into the Night_. He is introduced by Chevy Chase and Wolfman Jack. I watched a 2011 clip of him, still singing it, hands trembling perhaps with a degenerative condition, clutching the mike. Always a great song, though.


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## starthrower (Dec 11, 2010)

Art Rock said:


> No problem. It's similar to me saying as a Dutchman: what an amazing one-hit wonder Barry Manilow was. Why did he not make other hits?


Consider yourself fortunate for less exposure to Barry Manilow.


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## Fat Bob (Sep 25, 2015)

Blancrocher said:


> Boomtown Rats - Tell Me Why (I Don't Like Mondays)


The Rats were certainly not one hit wonders in the UK - but I don't think Norman Greenbaum had more hits than this:


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

^
^

Brings back a few hazy childhood memories of spring/summer 1970 - this song, a great holiday in Devon, McCartney announcing he was leaving the Beatles, the death of Jimi Hendrix, being bought a black and white football with the names of the 1970 World Cup nations stamped over it and missing my sister's wedding due to me getting mumps.


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## Guest (Nov 28, 2015)

One-hitter?


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## Blancrocher (Jul 6, 2013)

Edwyn Collins - Never Met a Girl Like You Before


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## MagneticGhost (Apr 7, 2013)

Here are a few (apologies if they had several hits in your country. But in the UK these are definite One Hit Wonders. 

Nena - 99 Red Balloons
Freiheit - Keeping the Dream Alive
FR David - Words
Dead or Alive - Spin Me Round (Like a Record)


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

*O Zone*; _Dragostea din tei _
Big one number one in Holland 2004


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

MagneticGhost said:


> Here are a few (apologies if they had several hits in your country. But in the UK these are definite One Hit Wonders.
> 
> Nena - 99 Red Balloons
> Freiheit - Keeping the Dream Alive
> ...


In the UK, Dead or alive had seven top40 hits, three of which just outside the top 10.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

One of my favourite no.1s, the band being the brainchild of Pete Townshend (who played bass here). TN issued three other singles but only one scraped the lower reaches of the top 50 in the UK. Other than that, their one and only album ('Hollywood Dream') is a semi-forgotten curio.


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## Guest (Dec 1, 2015)

elgars ghost said:


> One of my favourite no.1s, the band being the brainchild of Pete Townshend (who played bass here). TN issued three other singles but only one scraped the lower reaches of the top 50 in the UK. Other than that, their one and only album ('Hollywood Dream') is a semi-forgotten curio.


I think I beat you to this a page or two ago.


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## Blancrocher (Jul 6, 2013)

Bronski Beat - Smalltown Boy


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

When Vanilla Fudge out-Supremed the Supremes.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Victor Redseal said:


> I think I beat you to this a page or two ago.


My apologies - still, better twice than not at all.


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## Dr Johnson (Jun 26, 2015)

Victor Redseal said:


> Had this vinyl. Most assuredly they had a #2 hit on some chart somewhere but nonetheless into the one-hit wonder bin they go.


Sylvia from Focus 3 went to number 4 in the UK.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

Speaking of one hit wonders, or maybe half-a-hit in some cases, I remember a song from the very early 1970s, possibly late 60s, a kind of folk rock thing. The lyrics were simply "Colorado -- Colorado - Bye, buppa, pie, buppa pie" or something like that. repeated over and over. That may sound tedious but it was a nice song. I've never found it. Don't know who performed it or what it was called. I'm betting it's called "Colorado" though for some reason.

(Watch it turn out to have already been posted here. Well, I'm at work on break, but can't listen to the vids.)


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## Guest (Dec 16, 2015)

Weston, I remember hearing a folky thing about Colorado around '71 or '72? But i don't know if it came out then or might have been a couple of years old. It was kind of haunting in a way and i liked it a lot. I heard it on WABX twice but never could learn who it was. ABX started off as an underground station but were transitioning to classic rock around this time but you still heard a lot of little known stuff so I was never sure if that was a mainstream artist or not. I really liked the song and wanted to buy it but I still have no idea who it was. And I don't know if we are talking about the same song but I do remember some nonsense syllables accompanying a mentioning of Colorado in the refrain. I've tried to find it on the web but I have had no luck.


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## Strange Magic (Sep 14, 2015)

It may conceivably be possible that the "Colorado" song referred to is John Denver's _Rocky Mountain High_, released 1972. Or then again maybe that's too obvious....


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## Guest (Dec 17, 2015)

No, it was not "Rocky Mountain High" but the first time I heard that it made me think about that other song so I think this song came out earlier and maybe it could be some little known John Denver song but I doubt it.


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## Agricola (Dec 3, 2015)

Could it be this one Colorado by Danny Holien


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## Metairie Road (Apr 30, 2014)

*George McCrae -- Rock Your Baby* 





*Ken Boothe - Everything I Own*





*Typically Tropical - Barbados* 





Lot's of 'One Hit' novelty songs in the 1970's, but most of them had Jonathan King's fingerprints on them.

Best Wishes
Metairie Road


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

George Mccrae scored 7 top40 hits in the UK......


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## Guest (Dec 18, 2015)

Agricola said:


> Could it be this one Colorado by Danny Holien


I think that's the one! I didn't think so at first but now I think that's it. Thanks! I must have listened to a million songs about Colorado trying to find this one. One gem I discovered was Townes Van Zandt's "Colorado Girl" from 1969. What a lovely song!


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## Guest (Dec 18, 2015)

I don't think Townes Van Zandt is a one-hitter but this song is so lovely it deserves to be heard. Unusually melodic for a blues.


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## Rach Man (Aug 2, 2016)

Here's one of my all-time favorite one-hit-wonder songs.
It's a live version of _Smoke From A Distant Fire - Sanford Townsend Band_


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## Rach Man (Aug 2, 2016)

I saw Henry Gross live once. He was the back-up band for, the life of me, I can't remember. But when he sang his one-hit-wonder _Shannon_, he apologized to the crowd and said that he had to play it. For the rest of his performance, he rocked.


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## Rach Man (Aug 2, 2016)

One more post, OK?

I don't know if this was a big hit, but it was a hit, and Chi Coltrane really rocked the song _Thunder & Lightning_.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Again, USA one hit wonder. She had a #1 hit in the Netherlands with _Go like Elijah_, and another top40 success here with _You were my friend_.


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## Room2201974 (Jan 23, 2018)

Wow my fellow TC'ers just wow! 89 posts and no one mentions the *ultimate* one hit "wonder!"






"A hit record is like stew. All the ingredients have to come together just right. Otherwise, its just soup." ~ Phil Horace


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## philoctetes (Jun 15, 2017)

Dancing in the Moonlight, should be on Guardians mix tape


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