One Direction might be a bigger deal in the UK, where their five albums produced four #1 singles, but they made quite a splash in the United States as well. During their four-year run, all of their albums went Platinum or multi-Platinum in the U.S., and they set a record as the first band to have their first four albums debut atop the Billboard 200.
All that success didn’t translate into a #1 hit on the Hot 100, however, despite six top ten hits.
My last One Direction selection is the third from 2015’s Made in the A.M., not just the band’s final album but their first after the departure of Zayn Malik. Malik released a successful solo album titled Mind of Mine in 2016 and placed a handful of singles on the charts.
I don’t see any drop-off without Malik — in fact, I’d call Made in the A.M. the band’s best album. Of course, I can’t tell any of these guys apart in the first place so I’m probably not the best judge.
My next One Direction song, like the last one, comes from the band’s final album, Made in the A.M. In fact, all five of this week’s selections appear on the band’s last two albums. This is a band that got better and better as they went.
‘Olivia’ is a straight-up homage to the British Invasion, with a melody and production that would have felt at home on any Beatles album.
When I asked my daughter Sophia to name her favorite One Direction song, she thought for a second and replied, ‘What a Feeling.’ I thanked her and withdrew, having decided on my Song of the Day for today, her 16th birthday.
Later she asked me why I wanted to know, and when I told her, she bristled, saying something along the lines of “Wait, that might not be the song I want to define me.”
Like yesterday’s song, today’s track comes from One Direction’s fourth album, Four. That album also features ‘Night Changes’ and ‘Steal My Girl,’ meaning it more than qualifies for my “at least three great songs” rule. I’ll have to listen to the whole thing one of these days.
I’ve been pleasantly surprised to discover that a lot of One Direction songs, at least from their later efforts, owe a debt to Fleetwood Mac. Indeed, Harry Styles covers the band in his solo concert.
Meet Me In Montauk 