English new wave band Soft Cell is a one-hit wonder based on the success of somebody else’s song. Their ‘Tainted Love’ was written by Ed Cobb and first recorded by Gloria Jones in 1984.
Soft Cell made it a hit, though, adding a synth-pop sheen to an otherwise faithful recreation of the original.
I wonder if it bothered them that the only breakout from their debut album was also the only song they didn’t write.
I’ve always been fascinated by one-hit wonders. How can the same artists behind a song to which millions of people respond never manage to make it happen again?
Did they have just enough talent to squeeze out one good song? Or did they have tons of good material in them but, through a combination of bad luck and bad timing, never managed to find an audience for most of it?
Over the next two weeks, I’ll feature the second biggest hit of ten one-hit wonders, and see if I can unearth any gems.
The Random iTunes Fairy is looking ahead to my 50th birthday this December and serving up a track from Frank Sinatra’s 1965 album September of My Years. Sinatra released this album in August of that year, ahead of his own 50th birthday that December. A nifty coincidence.
Turning 50 in 1965 isn’t the same as turning 50 in 2022, so I like to think I’m not entering the September of my years, exactly, but more like the early July.
Often when the Random iTunes Fairy unearths a track from a decades-old album, I hit Wikipedia and discover the band responsible has released a dozen more albums in the time since.
That is not the case with today’s SOTD.
Save Ferris, a ska punk/pop band that built a decent following in the late 90s, released its sophomore album, Modified, in 1999. That’s the album featuring today’s song, and the only album of theirs I own.
Born Pink, the second album by K-pop sensation BLACKPINK, is due out next month. Its first single, ‘Pink Venom,’ dropped the day before I’m writing this and already has 115 million YouTube streams and counting.
Blackpink is the most successful female K-pop band worldwide, second only to BTS overall. The quartet formed in 2016 after years of auditions and tinkering by the YG Entertainment agency, a major label specializing in cultivating and promoting Korean pop acts. The band spent four years touring and collaborating with other artists before dropping their first album, titled The Album, in 2020.
