I’m closing Week One of my “second hits by one-hit wonders” theme with the first American band on the list. Los Angeles pop band The Knack debuted in 1979 with Get the Knack, an album that went double platinum in the U.S. on the strength of lead single ‘My Sharona.’
That song spent six weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, and it’s the first and likely only song most people associate with The Knack. But they did place four other songs on the Hot 100 over the next two years.
The one-hit wonders I’ve featured so far this week all had their big songs appear on their debut albums. That has to sting, achieving massive success right out of the gate and seeing that promise fade over subsequent years and albums.
Chumbawamba is a different story. The English alt-rock band formed in 1982 and released eight albums before they dropped Tubthumper, the one that made them (temporary) household names. The hit was ‘Tubthumping,’ better known as the “I get knocked down, but I get up again” song.
Why do so many one-hit wonders come from the 80s new wave scene? Is it just that there were so many of these acts recording at the same time, so individual songs had a better chance of finding success than whole bands?
It’s debatable whether Flock of Seagulls should be considered a one-hit wonder. They placed four songs on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, though only ‘I Ran (So Far Away)’ reached the top ten. And ‘I Ran (So Far Away)’ is actually the fifth highest-charting song in their native UK, suggesting it might not even be the one hit.
But from my thoroughly American perspective, they fit the bill.
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.
Meet Me In Montauk 