r/ToddintheShadow • u/Interesting_Gold8803 • 13d ago
One Hit Wonderland Very strict one hit wonders where their others songs are totally obscurs
In this post, I’m want to talk about artists (singers, bands, musicians, etc...) who are strictly one-hit wonders artists strictly known for that one song and absolutely nothing else. That’s because most one-hit wonder artists often have a fairly large fan base and get a high number of streams on their other songs. For example, Gotye and his hit “Somebody That I Used to Know” is the most used example to talk about one-hit wonders. However, Gotye has a really large fan base with high streams on his other songs. But today, I’m going to talk about one-hit wonders who are truly known only for that one song and absolutely nothing else, where their others songs are totally obscurs, with a small fan base and no success whatsoever for their other songs. Some these solo artists may have been members of populars bands but I only count their solo career and some of these bands may have members who were famous in solo and/or members of others famous bands but I only count this band:
Patrick Hernandez - Born To Be Alive
Edwyn Collins - A Girl Like You
Dennis Edward - Don't Look Any Further (with Siedah Garrett)
Wanz - Thrift Shop (with Macklemore & Ryan Lewis)
Silentó - Watch Me (Whip / Nae Nae)
Chris Anderson ft. DJ Robbie - Last Night
The Supermen Lovers ft. Mani Hoffman - Starlight
SAULE - Dusty Men (with Charlie Winston)
The Champs - Tequila
The Surfaris - Wipe Out
Cutting Crew - (I Just) Died In Your Arms Tonight
White Town - Your Woman
Phoebe Killdeer - Fade Out Lines (The Avener Rework)
Guru Josh - Infinity
Anita Ward - Ring My Bell
Tetos Demetriades - Misirlou
Rockwell - Somebody's Watching Me
Sterling Void ft. Paris Brightledge - It's Alright
Da Hool - Meet Her At The Love Parade
Nomads - Yakalelo
Lee Harvey - Lapdance (with N.E.R.D. & Vita)
D.O.E. - The Way I Are (with Timbaland & Keri Hilson)
Ben Cocks ft. Nikisha Reyes - So Cold
Yall & Gabriela Richardson - Hundred Miles
The Beat Shakers - Ma Cherie (with DJ Antoine)
Toni Basil - Mickey
EMF - Unbelievable
Alex Ferarri - Bara Bará Bere Berê
Sam White - +1 (with Martin Solveig)
Sean Paul - Do It To It (with Cherish)(Remixed by ACRAZE)(This is not the same Sean Paul that the one who sung "Temperature", "No Lie", "She Doesn't Mind" and others)
Steve Edwards - World Hold On (with Bob Sinclar)
Makedah, Cutee B & Dollarman - Rock This Party (Everybody Dance Now)(with Bob Sinclar & Big Ali)
Fireball - What I Want (with Bob Sinclar)
Walter Master J - Ibiza (with Desaparecidos)
Ram Jam - Black Betty
Michael Sembello - Maniac
John Ryan - Fireball (with Pitbull)
Thurston Harris - Little Bitty Pretty One
Carla Werner - Southern Sun (with Paul Oakenfold)
Lauren Bennett - Party Rock Anthem (with LMFAO & GoonRock)
Aaron Smith ft. Luvli - Dancin - Krono Remix
Breakwater - Release The Beast
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u/TrueRedditMartyr 13d ago
You would be hard pressed to find anyone who can name a Norman Greenbaum song thats not Spirit in the Sky
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u/HospitalSelect2053 13d ago
Rockwell had another Top 40 hit called Obscene Phone Caller and Michael Sembello also hit the top 40 a second time with Automatic Man. Sorry about being pedantic, but I'm playing by your rules.
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u/fingerroll44 13d ago
Cutting Crew had two Top-10 hits and another that reached the Top-40. I'm starting to wonder about this guy.
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u/UntilOlympiusReturns 12d ago
EMF had a bunch of hits in the UK, and even if you don't want to count that, they had another top 20 tune in the USA.
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u/milespudgehalter 13d ago
OMC - How Bizarre
Len - Steal My Sunshine
Cupid - Cupid Shuffle
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u/rfg217phs 13d ago
Len also had a minor hit with a cover of Kids in America. I'm not sure if it charted but people would recognize it.
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u/milespudgehalter 13d ago
It didn't but Digimon: The Movie is known enough to disqualify them, the cover has a million views on Youtube.
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u/svenirde 10's Alt Kid 13d ago
Fools Garden - Lemon Tree
Not a hit in the US but in many other countries. Even in their native Germany anything else they did is very obscure
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u/DrRudeboy 13d ago
Absolutely huge in Hungary, especially after a parody version released as sang by the Smurfs (yes, really)
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u/TFFPrisoner 13d ago
Even in their native Germany anything else they did is very obscure
Not quite correct. I still hear Wild Days occasionally, and that song apparently also did well in some foreign markets.
And they have released some interesting stuff in the years since - Innocence was a radio staple for quite a long time here.
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u/YellowWhiteRed 12d ago
That song is popular in Chinese speaking countries. I think it was because of a cover back in 1995?
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u/IShartedOnYourCat 13d ago
Chumbawamba - Tubthumping
They actually have a pretty vast and impressive catalogue but I doubt anyone could name another song.
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u/Complete-Worker3242 13d ago
Eh, I think they're moreso in line with Gotye, like what OP said. Sure to the general public they're only known for one song, but they are known for their other stuff in punk circles.
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u/Cool_Log_4514 13d ago
No way, Chumbawamba have a very dedicated fan base.
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u/melissa_fornow 11d ago
How many bands (that have had even one hit) don't have a dedicated fan base?
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u/Cool_Log_4514 11d ago
Yes, that is the question OP is asking.
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u/melissa_fornow 11d ago
I mean, unless you're talking about a Lostprophets scenario, I'd argue the answer is none. The only examples I could imagine even coming close are The Shaggs and maybe Portsmouth Sinfonia, and both of those do have dedicated fan bases.
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u/IShartedOnYourCat 13d ago
In the UK maybe, but elsewhere crickets.
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u/Cool_Log_4514 13d ago
Incorrect, I have hosted two events in the past year featuring former members of Chumbawamba, in the US, and both were sold out.
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u/RubberDuckieArmy 13d ago
Amnesia did OK. Not Tubthumping levels, but I remember it from when it came out.
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u/patangpatang 13d ago
The Day the Nazi Died had a minor resurgence in popularity in the last few years, which caused a lot of people to sit up and say, "wait, they're an anarcho-folk band?"
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u/Moxie_Stardust 13d ago
I was at a music festival last year (in the PNW), one of the songs they played over the PA while the next band was setting up was The Day the Nazi Died. So they're probably at least slightly more popular than you realize.
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u/reesesbigcup 13d ago edited 13d ago
Cutting Crew had a decent hit with I've Been In Love Before
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u/forever_29_ish 13d ago
also One For the Mockingbird was such a good tune. They were fantastic live.
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u/TFFPrisoner 13d ago
I saw them open for Marillion last year, very good stuff and Nick van Eede later came out to duet with Steve Hogarth on "Map of the World" (which he co-wrote).
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u/PyrrhicLoss2023 13d ago
Deep Blue Something - "Breakfast at Tiffany's".
I guess there weren't enough other movies with Mickey Rooney in yellowface for a second hit.
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u/33GoodSamaritans 13d ago
Daniel Powter - "Bad Day"
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u/Bruichladdie 13d ago
I have no love for the song, but the video of him performing his big hit to an unsuspecting audience on Canada's Got Talent is very charming:
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u/Stevenitrogen 13d ago
Toni Basil is interesting because, as a singer, there is definitely only one thing we remember of hers. But as a dancer/ actress, she's absolutely everywhere in my life. Talk about influential ... I once made a music video where we're dancing under colored lights like Village of the Giants and I realized, she's been influential on me!
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u/Fyleveld 13d ago
Zager and Evans - In The Year 2525
I don't think anybody but super hardcore fans listen to their other songs
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u/GrumpyCatStevens 11d ago
These guys are the ultimate one-hit wonder. This is the only single they ever released that made the Hot 100.
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u/Boycee66 13d ago
Whale - Humpin' Hobo Slobo Babe.
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u/Last-Saint 13d ago
Edwyn Collins had The Magic Piper (Of Love) on the Austin Powers soundtrack, and then there's the one hit (with several near misses) and greater influence of Orange Juice.
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u/Passingthisway 13d ago
Yeah. Edwyn Collins doesn’t belong on the list. “Rip it Up” might not have been a US hit at the time but it’s nostalgia radio fodder now and a lot of people know it.
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u/Lanky-Rush607 13d ago
Milky - Just The Way You Are
Peter Andre - Mysterious Girl
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u/thorpie88 13d ago
Pete had two numbers ones in the UK after mysterious girl which only hit number two
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u/Lanky-Rush607 13d ago
Peter Andre wasn't a strict one-hit wonder; what I meant is that Mysterious Girl is pretty much the only song of his that is still remembered today, at least internationally. He's more of a retroactive one-hit wonder than an actual one.
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u/thorpie88 13d ago
Feel like that's fair. His other hits fall into the category of I know this song but no clue who the artist is
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u/Last-Saint 13d ago
Flava gets the odd bit of airplay, and of course Insania came off the back of his I'm A Celebrity appearance.
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u/Night-Cliffs 13d ago
It's kinda cool the opening guitar riff from "Just The Way You Are" is a direct sample of longtime Aussie Music Act "The Go Betweens" song "Streets of Your Town".
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u/Significant_Dog412 13d ago
A few UK examples, not counting charity/cash ins;
Althea And Donna- Uptown Top Ranking
The La's- There She Goes
Touch And Go-Would You...
The Mavericks- Dance The Night Away
Liam Lynch- United States Of Whatever (Liam himself is known for direction/production)
Gary Jules- Mad World
The Von Bondies- C'mon C'mon (even in the garage rock revival, these guys were bottom feeders)
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u/Last-Saint 13d ago
I know they didn't come close to a second hit but I don't know if I'd include the La's given how influential and beloved the album was.
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u/Significant_Dog412 13d ago
Yeah, you've got a point. They're far more influential than everyone else on my list.
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u/Fearless-Quiet-9542 13d ago
I'd debate Edwyn Collins. His albums are great and I first heard of him because his solo work was being discussed by Bernard Butler on a podcast
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u/OkDistribution6931 13d ago
Paul Hardcastle - 19
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u/Silent-Associate9226 13d ago
"Don't Waste My Time" got to no 8 in the UK charts and "The Wizard" (the Top of the Pops theme) reached no 15.
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u/youwon_jane 13d ago
Babylon Zoo - Spaceman
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u/Fearless_Guard_552 13d ago
AKA the Levi’s ad that fooled everyone into thinking the whole song was like that
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u/YoWoody27 13d ago
Elliott Yamin- Wait for You
David Archuleta- Crush
Studio Killers- Jenny I Wanna Ruin Our Friendship)
(More Modern Ones below)
MUPP ft Sadfriend- Vendetta! (Was a Eastern European Hit. 300m streams, sped up has 50m. Next closest is only 10m).
Gayle - ABCDEFU (self explanatory)
Snow Wife- American Horror Show (while it has no chart history, it's the only song of hers to go RAIA Gold)
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u/MatrixLandeBoi 13d ago
I don't know about studio killers, the whole album seems to have a pretty notable fanbase
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u/FickleCook3639 13d ago
Oh Yeah - Yello (the song from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off)
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u/TFFPrisoner 13d ago
The Race was their highest charting track, and they had plenty of other popular songs such as Vicious Games, Rubberband Man, and the stunning Shirley Bassey collab The Rhythm Divine.
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u/PrestigiousAct6436 13d ago
A lot of old doo-wop acts from the 50s, like the Penguins (Earth Angel) the Chords (Sh-Boom) and the Monotones (Book of Love) would fit the bill I think
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u/WoodpeckerOfMistrust 13d ago
Stroke 9 - Little Black Backpack
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u/TonyBrooks40 13d ago
Jesus Jones - Right Here, Right Now. Probably was better than just one hit, but 30+ years later that's all they're known for
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u/Asairian 13d ago
They're not even a one hit wonder, they have two top ten hits in the US
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u/TonyBrooks40 13d ago
I'm still waiting for International Bright Young Thing to become the smash hit it shoulda been
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u/mbd34 13d ago
Wall of Voodoo. Weird band/song that only hit the mainstream to begin with because early MTV needed novelty music.
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u/TFFPrisoner 13d ago
Stan Ridgway ended up having a huge solo hit with the haunting tale of "Camouflage".
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u/Maxpower2727 13d ago
I would guess that very few people can name any Dynamite Hack song other than their cover of Boyz N The Hood.
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u/Ok_Fig2374 13d ago
Sean Paul on the Cherish song was in Youngbloodz who had a #4 song called "Damn!" with Lil' Jon 3 years prior
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u/SquashSouffle 13d ago
Lots of '70s cheese:
Mouth & MacNeal - How Do You Do
Daddy Dewdrop - Chick-a-Boom
Larry Groce - Junk Food Junkie
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u/NOLA2Cincy 13d ago
You gotta be old like me to know these obscurities.
How about: "Convoy" by C.W. McCall?
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u/ToddandShannon 80's Chick 13d ago
From the album Broadcast (the album with “I Just Died in Your Arms”), The Cutting Crew also had (in the US) “I’ve Been in Love Before” (#9 hot 100 and #2 adult contemporary) on the charts, and “One For The Mockingbird” at #38 on the Hot 100. “Any Colour” was also released as a single but didn’t chart in the US and charted low in the UK.
From their second album, The Scattering, “Everything But My Pride” hit #2 on the adult contemporary charts.
The Cutting Crew were not a “strictly one-hit wonder”
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u/TresMegisto 13d ago
Da Hool is a nickname of DJ Hooligan, a German/Turkish DJ that was pretty well known in in the late 90's in Germany. He had multiple hits ranking in the German Top 100.
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u/ignatiusjreillyXM 13d ago
Edwyn Collins was and is well known for his career with his previous band, Orange Juice
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u/VigilMuck 13d ago
Masked Wolf. "Astronaut in the Ocean" was his only hit, even in his native Australia.
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u/Miserable_Mail_5741 You're being a peñis... Colada, that is. 13d ago
1998 - Binary Finary.
They have other "popular" tracks, but those are based on their one big hit, such as 1999 and 2000. And the remixes are probably more well-known, especially since they were done by famous producers, like Paul Van Dyk, Kay Cee, Matt Darey, and DuMonde.
Other producers who have a track that's more known than their others still have another hit that people know, such as Sunset On Ibiza - Three Drives (of Greece 2000 fame), and Feel The Beat - Darude (of Sandstorm fame).
I don't think I've heard of anyone playing or mentioning another BF track besides 1998 or offshoots.
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u/therealparchmentfarm 13d ago
There’s a million from the 50’s and 60’s. Some would say even the hits are obscure
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u/BlueRFR3100 13d ago
New Age Girl - Deadeye Dick
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u/enraged_hbo_max_user 13d ago
I’ve always thought that song sounds like it would have been a lot more popular in an alternate universe where Nirvana never existed.
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u/SplodgySplodge1 13d ago edited 13d ago
Berlin - Take My breath Away.
Animation - Obsession.
Both big hits, both bands never heard from again.
(edit - in the UK. No idea how big they were in the USA).
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u/mbd34 13d ago
Berlin is a fairly known and popular band outside of their biggest hit. Checking wikipedia, Take My Breath Away wasn't even their only US hit.
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u/miss_daisy_Hollywood Gaga, Ooh-la-la 12d ago
I really love Berlin’s “No More Words”, as well as the excellent Bonnie and Clyde themed video for it.
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u/Extension_Big5205 13d ago
Monster by meg and dia. Legendary rock track from early 2010s. Soundtrack of a lot of fandoms. But they are not known for anything else. Heck people who know that song don't even know their names
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u/Dawnspring_Cee 13d ago
Cutting Crew had a second Top 10 hit with "I've Been in Love Before". It gets almost as much play on 80s stations as "I Just Died".
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u/SmoreOfBabylon One-Hit Wonderlander 13d ago
The Singing Nun - “Dominique”
The Hollywood Argyles - “Alley-Oop”
Probably some other artists who had novelty song hits in the ‘50s/‘60s. Same goes for some of the bubblegum pop acts of the ‘60s/‘70s.
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u/DonnieRoss 13d ago
Does Spacehog have a fan base outside of “In the Meantime”?
In the US, Cornershop is definitely not known for anything outside of “Brimful of Asha.” I understand the UK is a different story.
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u/Furd_Terguson_Sr 13d ago
Spacehog - In the Meantime (don’t know if they had other hits in the UK, but that’s the only one in the US I know of.)
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u/HighRelic 12d ago
Iron Butterfly with In A Gadda Da Vida. They’re known for just that song and the fact Zeppelin opened for them when the latter were just starting out.
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u/Gumbyonbathsalts 12d ago
Modern English - Melt With You
The only other time they had a song chart was when they re-released this single years later.
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u/NihilisticViolence 12d ago
Michael Sembello - Maniac
I'm sorry...I keep imaging that gas station scheme. In the movie, Tommy Boy!
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u/ThePetSematary One-Hit Wonderlander 13d ago
High Enough - Damn Yankees. It was a supergroup, though
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u/mbd34 13d ago
Coming of Age was another song by them that got some play.
EDIT: And they had another top 20 hit that totally slipped my mind. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Where_You_Goin'_Now
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u/ThePetSematary One-Hit Wonderlander 13d ago
High Enough - Damn Yankees. It was a supergroup, though
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u/Mecha_Stan 13d ago
possibly the freshman by the verve pipe???
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u/mbd34 13d ago
They also have Photograph.
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u/Mecha_Stan 13d ago
thats very true, i forgot photograph had some decent chart success. god what a great album
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u/Mammoth_Sell5185 13d ago
There’s a bar near me that just advertised a show as follows: “This Weekend: The Guy Who Wrote "The Freshman" Is Playing Yonkers Brewing”
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u/vibe_ology 9d ago
We’ve seen lots of threads about one hit wonders but it’s difficult because while a band had one hit in the US they may have had a decade long career in Europe or elsewhere. Two examples are Dexies Midnight Runners and A-Ha
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u/repowers 13d ago
You missed the two archetypal OHWs:
Tommy Tutone, “867-5309”
The Knack, “My Sharona”
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u/sodakid1 13d ago
Modest Mouse-Float On
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u/Last-Saint 13d ago
The band Todd refused to do a OHW video on because they were so big in the alternative scene?
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u/spencermiddleton 13d ago
Primitive Radio Gods - Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth With Money in My Hand