Last year, I covered the best songs between 1980-2013 and it was a blast. I got to thoroughly explore music in a way I didn’t get to before. The project ended and I planned a book. :pause: Life happened. The book is coming. But first I’m going to write a few entries.
I want to start with a question: What is a one hit wonder? It’s technically any artist who only made a dent in the charts once. That’s the easy definition. One hit wonders are seen as the great flashes in the pan that kind of succeeded and failed at the same time. The thing is, it’s usually an oversimplification. Many artists only make a dent once in a country but kill at home. Some of the most iconic US OHWs were massive at home. So the definition is vague.
What isn’t vague is this. Unless an act only recorded one song, they can’t have just that as their canon. That’s often where gems lie. So I’m looking at great sleeper songs from acts that only made big splash in the US but had great songs you might not know today. I’m looking at a nice variety of versions of the OHW too. Some are artists who had a big song and vanished. Some are iconic artists who only saw the charts once. Some are songs you’ve forgotten. One rule I set was if I’d written about a song in a year end list, it was disqualified. So These Days by Alien Ant Farm (who honestly were bigger than OHWs) and Turn Back Time by Aqua aren’t here because they were too big. I also want to stress: These aren’t always the direct followups to hits. A few trail by years. But they’re reasons to look the artists up.
I start with an artist whose hit was forgotten. Jennifer Paige belongs to the late 90s/early 2000s trend of female singers who weren’t their own voices but were sold like they were. Her hit, Crush, was a banal pop song. It’s not good. Maybe she would’ve done better had her followup been the hit.
10 Jennifer Paige- Sober. I’m a sucker for songs about recovery and this is a great song about the topic. The song uses a simple technique of third person verses and first person choruses. It creates an effect of thorough self examination leading to a true understanding of what the person is. I love how forceful the declaration is here. There’s a sense of relief and release. Paige had only a modest voice but I think that’s kind of right for this. It’s not about a forceful person. Just a good song.
A common thing you’ll see is OHWs relaunching their first song after they have a hit. I get why. Your first song is usually your heart and soul. You know it’s your best work. That’s definitely the case here. The problem is sometimes the hit is so big it poisons the well. Nobody wants one of the most hated songs of the decade as a hit. That happened here too. James Blunt deserved to be a OHW but for another song.
9 James Blunt- High. It’s weird because I hate pretty much every song he’s done but this one. It’s still great. The reason I think it’s so strong really comes down to everything being so well balanced. Blunt’s depressed quavery quality shines when used on a song about being nervous in love. He conveys insecurity so well on this track. And this is a big win for the acoustic guitar. The simple strumming is perfect here. You and Your Heart by Jack Johnson is the only other song from this era that sounds nearly as good. This is what an early morning sounds and feels like.
There is only one entry on this list outside the window of the 90s-2000s. But it’s an entry I wanted to do because it’s fun. And it actually replaces Fiona Apple who let’s face it is an album artist defined. No, we’re going way back to the early 80s, late 70s really. Fittingly, we’re looking at one of my favorites too. I love Trevor Horn’s production work. The stuff he made is immaculate and classy. When he was a lead? No. And bless him for it.
8 The Buggles- Living in the Plastic Age. I love everything about how this sounds. Video Killed the Radio Star is the hit and deservedly so but this is just as cool. A weird spacey song that’s both retro and futuristic. That was kind of how all their stuff sounded. It’s nostalgic for getting to be excited for the future. The technology age seemed like an infinite frontier and that’s what this song nails. If Video was sad about loss this feels excited about how weird things will get. Horn is no great singer but he’s exactly what this needs as a vocalist. It’s trippy and fun.
Time to do a huge corrective on a generally held misconception. Chumbawamba were not in retrospect an obvious OHW. Sure, they seemed that way as a massive anarchist collective with 10s of members. But the truth is their work was the real deal. Tubthumping is the best song of the 90s. And they definitely deserved another hit.
7 Chumbawamba- Amnesia. Most of the songs on this list I get why the followup or later song didn’t strike. I have no answer here. This is as great a party song as I can think of. The hook is one simple joke. It’s surrounded by some of the most enthusiastic music imaginable. There’s everything from great synths to a murderous use of horns. The vocals are so bright. This in no way feels like a violent shift from Tubthumping nor does it feel like the same thing again. It’s just a great bold loud anthem. I can’t put this on and not smile from ear to ear.
I’m stretching a bit. See I feel like this artist was more of a one album wonder. She had a few songs off it to play the radio. But OHWs are defined heavily by what’s remembered. See A Flock of Seagulls who had an iconic followup song but still count. So it is here. You remember the girl on the piano driving through town. Not this song.
6 Vanessa Carlton- Ordinary Day. This lacks the mind numbing piano hook of A Thousand Miles but it replaces it with an earthy sensuality. Vanessa Carlton suffered the same fate of Carly Rae Jepsen (not on this list because her followups are well known) in that she’s a very seductive artist linked to a childish hit. This song is so evocative in the way it describes a day with an intoxicating person. It’s so flowing and potent in its vibe. Carlton has a fantastic voice and she uses it well. She really gives the song that sense of something deeply felt. It’s a memory.
Top 5. And it’s a solid top 5. I start by looking at the inverse of what usually happens. A band breaks through with a light song but their other stuff is dark. We are far from that here. This band broke through with a cold, dark song about a relationship that ended in suicide. This song is about feeling refreshed. And it deserves love.
5 The Verve Pipe- Never Let You Down. I honestly think this is far better than the overhyped The Freshmen. That song was all edge and never felt real. This is pure life and it feels authentic. It’s nothing new. Someone is trying not to get carried away but is deeply in love. Okay. That’s still a sweet sentiment the song crushes. It’s honestly played. The song sounds light too. Not enough songs sparkle like this. That the lead singer, Brian Vander Ark, could convincingly sing about causing someone to off themselves yet nail this gives this edge.
There is nothing worse than when a great band has a novelty hit. It tars them as the “x” band when they were more. So it is with Fountains of Wayne. They were an important, interesting band that yes often dabbled in humor as shown in their frankly ghastly hit Stacy’s Mom. But they were more than the MILF band. They had other jokes. And this one stung.
4 Fountains of Wayne- Someone to Love. This is a joke song but it’s one with a punchline so lethal it breaks you. And there’s a real point to this song. It’s about two lonely people who would traditionally be the subjects of a meet cute in a movie. They’re not. And when you get to that one lacerating line, you get why they’re not. It tears into selfish rotten people. The line “you’re not the only one who’s lonely” could read as either a reminder someone else is out there or in this case a reminder other people have problems. It’s so good. Sounds great too.
This entire piece was inspired by the joke that Gotye truly became somebody that we used to know after that song. The thing is that’s on purpose. Wouter De Backer decided to take a long hiatus in 2014. He went behind the scenes. And he’s never recorded another studio album. Some people look at fame and decide it’s not for them. The guy chose to leave. He definitely had another great song in him.
3 Gotye- Eyes Wide Open. I think this song should’ve been huge and I truly think it was just that his hit was so overwhelming. This song is a deeply political song, looking at climate change from a future perspective and stressing we knew how to fix it and chose not to. That’s evil. Yet we do it every day. The funny thing is the song doesn’t s-hit wonderound nihilistic. It’s almost a joke. It’s effective for how callous it is. “We walked the plank with our eyes wide open” is spot on. Gotye: so much better than a joke.
Do you remember the song Days Go By? It was a techno hit. Really cold. Really distant. The song was about someone who had lost someone and missed them though. I remember that after it came out I heard a great acoustic version that sounded like a cover. Nope. By the same band. Completely different song. Raw. Alive. Not a shock when I heard their next song.
2 Dirty Vegas- Simple Things. I’m a mark for “what happened” songs. This is is such a simple one. The singer is tormented trying to figure out what went wrong. And there’s no easy answer. They think the simple things were what they needed. But were they? There’s no good answer here. Singer Steve Smith sells agonized frustration in his soul. This should’ve been a hit.
And we reach the top with technically a no-hit wonder because bizarrely her hit wasn’t a single technically and never charted. Natalie Imbruglia was more than Torn but it would’ve been enough if she was just Torn. That’s a rare classic. Yet…I prefer her next song. It’s honestly my favorite non-hit single from a OHW yet somehow missed my 1998 list. I can correct.
1 Natalie Imbruglia- Wishing I Was There. Jokes wear well on me. This is about a failing relationship but it’s so light and funny. It works. It works hard because Imbruglia, an actress, plays it to the hilt. She actually was a cowriter on this and I suspect a lot of the lyrics are hers because it feels personal. She has killer delivery here and it’s just funny. It sounds great too. The production shines. I will note that in looking this up, I see that it actually was kind of a hit here. Why do I think not? Probably because Torn topped the airplay charts for 11 weeks while this only hit 25. It’s still a better song. Deserves better.
Those are my picks. What are yours?
A Flickering Life 