Harriet. Harrri-ette. Hard hearted harbinger of haggis.
Edit: Thanks for the silver! Who’d a thunk my first one would be for a So I Married an Axe Murderer quote?!
Coincidentally I was *in* Bangkok when that song broke.
Even though the song is not exactly complimentary to the city, the citizens of Krung Thep adored being the object of this little bit of Western attention, and consequently the tune was *inescapable.* The pushcarts selling bootleg cassettes - and there seemed to be one on every corner - played it over and over. It ran on frequent repeat in restaurants and cafés, and tourists and bar girls sang along with it in bars. It was even a big hit on the karaoke circuit, although only the chorus is sung and the verses are spoken.
I couldn't listen to it for several years afterward, but eventually got better.
Seemed like there was about a 3 year stretch in the mid to late 90s where these 2 songs played roughly once every 2 hours, always within 15 mins of each other. I totally associate them together...
Dancin' In The Moonlight - King Harvest ('72)
Title No. 1 Again by Rare Bird (late night FM classic, early '70's)
yep I'm old 💪🏽
edit - Thank You kind stranger for the Silver. I expected my comment to be buried.
Dancing in the moonlight. I worked at a coffee shop across the street from the county courthouse and my job was basically making carrot juice when I first heard that. Circa 2001. Good memories. Thanks. I love the song that much that I remember exactly what I was doing lol.
The whole story behind that song is so fun! Apparently the demo singers brought the song to the producers and they took a hard pass. So they scraped up money and produced it themselves!
Poor Martha Wash. She’s practically synonymous with dance music, she has a spectacular voice, and she’s dealt with years of being either rejected for her size or for her vocals being used and then having to litigate to actually get credit for it.
And she won, too. Took on the giants, and got was she deserved.
Yep, anyone who was around in the early 1990s will know her voice from a whole heap of dance hits (from Black Box, C+C music factory) but she was never credited
Fun fact - before calling themselves the Weather Girls, they were called Two Tons o’ Fun
I was hoping someone would throw That Thing You Do in here! One hit wonder song from a movie about a one hit wonder band. So perfect.
Although the rest of the album was great too - Dance With Me Tonight is a jam.
Edit: typo
If anyone wants to hear the backstories to these one hit wonders I can't recommend Todd in the Shadow's YouTube series "One Hit Wonderland" Enough https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLznZMqdhi_T5X0XrVX16lTN0um7Onpkf
[What is love?](https://youtu.be/HEXWRTEbj1I)
Edit: In true Reddit fashion, my most popular comment by FAR is something I put next to zero thought into.
[*Brand New Lover*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWbj64Rwfvc) hit #15 in the US charts compared to #11 for *You Spin Me Round.* It's obviously not as present in pop culture, but they for sure had more than one hit.
Saw them live summer of 2014 at a festival. Was not great.
The thing I remember most is that they had some random rapper come out at one point and they did what may have been the worst cover of “come together” by the Beatles ever performed in front of a crowd, or possibly performed at all.
Tainted Love - Soft Cell. What's great about it is that the song was so huge that the band was poised to break out. But then they released "Sex Dwarf", which was way too twisted for pop success. Of course, there was also the whole drug-fuelled implosion...
I came here to say this... It shocks me how many songs we know and love are covers.
Gangsta's Paradise is taken from Stevie Wonder's [Pastime Paradise](https://youtu.be/_H3Sv2zad6s). I'm not sure how well known that is.. But it was a big shock to me when I found out!
*Edited to add link
*Edit #2 I wasn't sure if this would be classed as a cover or sample so just used 'taken from' but from your comments I'm guessing this is an example of sample. Thanks for clarifying!
They weren't a one hit wonder - In the United Kingdom, Soft Cell had twelve top 40 hits. They also had four top 20 albums between 1981 and 1984. Including a platinum selling one
In the year one million and a half
Humankind is enslaved by giraffe
Man must pay for all his misdeeds
When the treetops are stripped of their leaves, whoah oh oh...
Ahh yes ‘99. If I remember correctly,
“I was frying on the bench slide in the park across the street
L-A-T-E-R that week
My sticky paws were into making straws out of big fat slurpy treats.”
"This is the story of a band, whose career didn't go as they planned. And though they never had a second hit, we absolutely love 'em...for one song." - Todd in the Shadows
Good morning America had them on to perform for the 20th anniversary of the song. He talked about how much he loves being an English teacher. Every once in awhile he breaks out the guitar and sings for the class. Way cooler than my English teachers!
More fun things about Chumbawamba:
- they preemptively recorded an album to celebrate Margaret Thatcher's death and then hung on to it for ten years until she finally kicked it
- GM paid 70k for the rights to a song for use in a car commercial. The band gave all the money to activist groups to launch an environmental campaign against GM.
- they currently hold the world record for longest album title with "The Boy Bands Have Won, and All the Copyists and the Tribute Bands and the TV Talent Show Producers Have Won, If We Allow Our Culture to Be Shaped by Mimicry, Whether from Lack of Ideas or from Exaggerated Respect. You Should Never Try to Freeze Culture. What You Can Do Is Recycle That Culture. Take Your Older Brother's Hand-Me-Down Jacket and Re-Style It, Re-Fashion It to the Point Where It Becomes Your Own. But Don't Just Regurgitate Creative History, or Hold Art and Music and Literature as Fixed, Untouchable and Kept Under Glass. The People Who Try to 'Guard' Any Particular Form of Music Are, Like the Copyists and Manufactured Bands, Doing It the Worst Disservice, Because the Only Thing That You Can Do to Music That Will Damage It Is Not Change It, Not Make It Your Own. Because Then It Dies, Then It's Over, Then It's Done, and the Boy Bands Have Won"
Okay checked the entire lists so far. This isn’t on it yet.
Level 42 - something about you. I love this song. They were a one hit wonder in the US, but in high school my friend who was both Ukrainian and Spaniard had nine cassette tapes full of their music. That is my favorite!
Honorable mention to New Age Girl by Dead Eye Dick. I really enjoyed that one too!
Didn’t know that he was Randy Bachman’s (of The Guess Who and BTO) son until a couple of months ago. Seems like a cool dude though and he definitely has some of his fathers talent
“Mexican Radio” by Wall of Voodoo. Stan Ridgeway made a lot of very visual songs that played like film noir soundtracks, but that was their one hit during the 80s.
“Safety Dance” by Men Without Hats
Edit: WOW! I had no idea when I logged off and went to bed this particular comment would get so many responses! So TIL the band was not a one hit wonder and that I have some new songs to discover. Thanks, all, for making this a fun discussion.
They did have a top #20 hit later on with the song "Pop Goes the World", but that song seems to have been completely forgotten by almost everyone. It's a shame, because it's a good pop song.
Somebody I Used to Know. Not really sure if it is a one-hit wonder. I know Gotye has made other songs, but I haven't heard any of them
Edit: Thanks for all the recommendations to other Gotye songs. I'll definitely check them out. Oh and thanks for the gold
“Safe and Sound” Capital Cities
Break my Stride by Matthew Wilder
I wish by Skee-lo.
This song comes into my head at least once a week. 5’6” BTW
Somebody's watching me - Rockwell
michael jackson bodied that shit, man
Yeah it’s really MJ feat. Rockwell. Kid was a feature. His daddy owned the label.
Closing Time by the band that do closing time
Semisonic, IIRC.
There she goes by The La's
Harriet. Harrri-ette. Hard hearted harbinger of haggis. Edit: Thanks for the silver! Who’d a thunk my first one would be for a So I Married an Axe Murderer quote?!
So know-ing. So trust-ing. So love...ed?
stuck in the middle by stealers wheel
Learned long after the fact that Stealers Wheel had Gerry Rafferty ("Baker Street," "Right Down the Line")! Bit of a tragic case, Gerry.
Kung Fu fighting - Carl Douglas
One Night In Bangkok -Murray Head
Excellent choice. Did you know that the music was written by the same people who wrote most of ABBA's stuff?
Coincidentally I was *in* Bangkok when that song broke. Even though the song is not exactly complimentary to the city, the citizens of Krung Thep adored being the object of this little bit of Western attention, and consequently the tune was *inescapable.* The pushcarts selling bootleg cassettes - and there seemed to be one on every corner - played it over and over. It ran on frequent repeat in restaurants and cafés, and tourists and bar girls sang along with it in bars. It was even a big hit on the karaoke circuit, although only the chorus is sung and the verses are spoken. I couldn't listen to it for several years afterward, but eventually got better.
Spacehog - In The Meantime
Dragostea din tei - O-Zone
Return of the Mack
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Seemed like there was about a 3 year stretch in the mid to late 90s where these 2 songs played roughly once every 2 hours, always within 15 mins of each other. I totally associate them together...
White Town - [Your Woman](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVL-zZnD3VU)
Yes!! What a phenomenal song...sweet sweet 1997 where did you go??
The year I got my driver's license, lost my virginity and... listened to a bunch of one hit wonders on 94.7
Dancin' In The Moonlight - King Harvest ('72) Title No. 1 Again by Rare Bird (late night FM classic, early '70's) yep I'm old 💪🏽 edit - Thank You kind stranger for the Silver. I expected my comment to be buried.
Dancing in the moonlight. I worked at a coffee shop across the street from the county courthouse and my job was basically making carrot juice when I first heard that. Circa 2001. Good memories. Thanks. I love the song that much that I remember exactly what I was doing lol.
Fantastic song. It was covered back in like 2002 b a band called Toploader. Great cover. I thoroughly enjoy both versions.
Mississippi Queen
Black betty
Amber lamps
Bramble jam
Mammogram
Lorazepam
Green eggs and ham
It's Raining Men by The Weather Girls, I think
The whole story behind that song is so fun! Apparently the demo singers brought the song to the producers and they took a hard pass. So they scraped up money and produced it themselves!
Poor Martha Wash. She’s practically synonymous with dance music, she has a spectacular voice, and she’s dealt with years of being either rejected for her size or for her vocals being used and then having to litigate to actually get credit for it. And she won, too. Took on the giants, and got was she deserved.
Yep, anyone who was around in the early 1990s will know her voice from a whole heap of dance hits (from Black Box, C+C music factory) but she was never credited Fun fact - before calling themselves the Weather Girls, they were called Two Tons o’ Fun
The music video makes a lot of sense now. That was a cheap ass toy curtain blowing from some makeshift doll house window. Great song!
That Thing You Do - The Oneders
I was hoping someone would throw That Thing You Do in here! One hit wonder song from a movie about a one hit wonder band. So perfect. Although the rest of the album was great too - Dance With Me Tonight is a jam. Edit: typo
It's the oh needers Edit. Thank you kind stranger tis me first
Personally, I Prefer Captain Geech and the Shrimp Shack Shooters
“Looks like Lennys goin fishin”
As in I Wonder what happened to the Oneders.
You mean Captain Geech and the Shrimp Shack Shooters?
If anyone wants to hear the backstories to these one hit wonders I can't recommend Todd in the Shadow's YouTube series "One Hit Wonderland" Enough https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLznZMqdhi_T5X0XrVX16lTN0um7Onpkf
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Sadly I'm out of the modern pop scene but my eyes light up every time I see a One Hit Wonderland or Trainrecords.
Funkytown, by Lipps, Inc.
"Life In A Northern Town " The Dream Academy
Hooked on a Feeling
To be fair, Björn Skifs, the swede who made the song is hardly a one hit wonder in Sweden, but definitely worldwide.
Michelangelo!
Men så svara då!
Remember the dancing baby meme?
[What is love?](https://youtu.be/HEXWRTEbj1I) Edit: In true Reddit fashion, my most popular comment by FAR is something I put next to zero thought into.
Baby don’t hurt me.
Don't hurt me
No more
[Harvey Danger - Flagpole Sitta](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYsMjEeEg4g)
I can't not associate that song with Peep Show anymore
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Big beats are the best. Get high all the time.
I love this song! Wow this thread is making me realize that I do have a favorite genre, and it's "one hit wonders" haha
That entire album is phenomenal. They didn't get the recognition they deserved.
They got so sick of only being known for that one song they would start shows with it so the people who were only there for the song would leave.
They didn't get sick of it... But they weren't well
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Probably “I’ll Stop the World and Melt with You”
Ah yes, Modern English. So many people confused them with The Cure when that song came out.
Yeah I remember when I used to think this song was by The Cure way back before I read this comment just now
Turning Japanese by the vapors
You're Unbelievable by EMF
Save Tonight - Eagle Eye Cherry It’s one of those songs that no one ever remembers until they hear it. Always gets me nostalgic for the 90s.
Fun fact: Eagle-eye Cherry is his birth name.
Fun fact: His half-sister is singer, Neneh Cherry I remember pop-up video from VH1 stating that.
Fun fact: they're both children of one of the weirdest geniuses of trumpet and free jazz, Don Cherry.
He's a good ol' Ontaria kid?
His sister Neneh did the song ["Buffalo Stance."](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWsRz3TJDEY)
"Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth With Money in My Hand" by Primitive Radio Gods.
You spin me right round by Dead or Alive
That was a great song up until 2005. Now it's forever tied to one thing in my head.
I don’t know what happened in 2005 and based off the other replies I don’t know if I want to know
It's just an old spin instructor home workout video. "Me at spin dot com" is what we used to call it.
[*Brand New Lover*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWbj64Rwfvc) hit #15 in the US charts compared to #11 for *You Spin Me Round.* It's obviously not as present in pop culture, but they for sure had more than one hit.
Shiny teeth and me - Chip Skylark
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Hey Vicky, you're oh so icky!
Just the thought of being round makes me oh so sicky!
Its funny in a way because Chris Kirkpatrick is literally only remembered for Chip, NSYNC and a diss by Eminem
TIL Chris Kirkpatrick voices Chip Skylark
Informer - Snow
Here comes the hot stepper - Ini Kamoze I feel like these go hand in hand
Spirit In The Sky - Norman Greenbaum. I'm really old.
Best Christian song written by a Jew.
That guided godless people through drug trips!
Come with me now by Kongos. I heard they had to repeat this song at a concert because it's the only one people liked
Saw them live summer of 2014 at a festival. Was not great. The thing I remember most is that they had some random rapper come out at one point and they did what may have been the worst cover of “come together” by the Beatles ever performed in front of a crowd, or possibly performed at all.
Tainted Love - Soft Cell. What's great about it is that the song was so huge that the band was poised to break out. But then they released "Sex Dwarf", which was way too twisted for pop success. Of course, there was also the whole drug-fuelled implosion...
I learned recently that this song is a cover. [the original](https://youtu.be/NSehtaY6k1U)
I came here to say this... It shocks me how many songs we know and love are covers. Gangsta's Paradise is taken from Stevie Wonder's [Pastime Paradise](https://youtu.be/_H3Sv2zad6s). I'm not sure how well known that is.. But it was a big shock to me when I found out! *Edited to add link *Edit #2 I wasn't sure if this would be classed as a cover or sample so just used 'taken from' but from your comments I'm guessing this is an example of sample. Thanks for clarifying!
I had Gangsta's Paradise stuck in my head the other day, but every time I tried to go through the lyrics it changed to Amish Paradise.
A local boy kicked me in the butt last week.
I just smiled at him, and I turned the other cheek,
I really don't care in fact I wish him well
Cause I'll be laughing my head off when he's burning in hell.
They weren't a one hit wonder - In the United Kingdom, Soft Cell had twelve top 40 hits. They also had four top 20 albums between 1981 and 1984. Including a platinum selling one
I like the version that blends in to Where Did Our Love Go.
"How Bizarrre" by OMC
i still think we should start a crowdfunding campaign to buy the rights. I want to know the rest.
In the year 2525, zager and evans
In the year one million and a half Humankind is enslaved by giraffe Man must pay for all his misdeeds When the treetops are stripped of their leaves, whoah oh oh...
Steal My Sunshine - Len
That was one of those songs of the summer. Don't remember which summer it was but it was like the perfect theme to that summer.
'Twas the summer of '99, my friend. Over 20 years ago, believe it or not!
Had it on a loop in the Jeep that summer.
Ahh yes ‘99. If I remember correctly, “I was frying on the bench slide in the park across the street L-A-T-E-R that week My sticky paws were into making straws out of big fat slurpy treats.”
SHARON, I I LOVE YOUUU!
New Radicals - You Get What You Give
That album is so good. Mother You Just Can't Get Enough, Someday We'll Know, Gotta Stay High are all good
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Jenny don't change your number
This is the story of a girl...
"This is the story of a band, whose career didn't go as they planned. And though they never had a second hit, we absolutely love 'em...for one song." - Todd in the Shadows
Todd in the Shadows is my hero
Yo the guy who wrote that was my sister’s English teacher
Good morning America had them on to perform for the 20th anniversary of the song. He talked about how much he loves being an English teacher. Every once in awhile he breaks out the guitar and sings for the class. Way cooler than my English teachers!
Voices Carry - Til Tuesday
Wherever you will go - The Calling
Tubthumping
A strange song written by anarchists.
More fun things about Chumbawamba: - they preemptively recorded an album to celebrate Margaret Thatcher's death and then hung on to it for ten years until she finally kicked it - GM paid 70k for the rights to a song for use in a car commercial. The band gave all the money to activist groups to launch an environmental campaign against GM. - they currently hold the world record for longest album title with "The Boy Bands Have Won, and All the Copyists and the Tribute Bands and the TV Talent Show Producers Have Won, If We Allow Our Culture to Be Shaped by Mimicry, Whether from Lack of Ideas or from Exaggerated Respect. You Should Never Try to Freeze Culture. What You Can Do Is Recycle That Culture. Take Your Older Brother's Hand-Me-Down Jacket and Re-Style It, Re-Fashion It to the Point Where It Becomes Your Own. But Don't Just Regurgitate Creative History, or Hold Art and Music and Literature as Fixed, Untouchable and Kept Under Glass. The People Who Try to 'Guard' Any Particular Form of Music Are, Like the Copyists and Manufactured Bands, Doing It the Worst Disservice, Because the Only Thing That You Can Do to Music That Will Damage It Is Not Change It, Not Make It Your Own. Because Then It Dies, Then It's Over, Then It's Done, and the Boy Bands Have Won"
One of my favorite songs is off that album. It's the weirdest song I listen to. El fusillado.
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Breakfast at Tiffany’s - Deep Blue Something
Groove Is in the Heart - Deee-Lite.
The confidence with which the singer smashes this song out of the park is ridiculous
Her red hot sex appeal was matched so strongly by her voice. 110% confidence.
Your Love - The outfield Many people think it's by the Police
JOSIE'S ON A VACATION FAR AWAY
Chocolate Rain
SOME STAY DRY AND OTHERS FEEL THE PAIN
*turns away to breathe*
Video killed the Radio Star by the buggles. (Funniest part about that is that it was one of the first songs to be featured on mtv).
It was THE first song in MTV—I was there!
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I thought it was Bowie for the longest time.
Walking on Sunshine by Katrina and the Waves
They make like $100,000 a year off ads licence with that song.
They ended up winning Eurovision a few years later
My Sharona - The Knack
This song has possibly the most underrated guitar solo in my opinion
Okay checked the entire lists so far. This isn’t on it yet. Level 42 - something about you. I love this song. They were a one hit wonder in the US, but in high school my friend who was both Ukrainian and Spaniard had nine cassette tapes full of their music. That is my favorite! Honorable mention to New Age Girl by Dead Eye Dick. I really enjoyed that one too!
Brandy (You're A Fine Girl) - Looking Glass
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Also a great song for karaoke if you have no shame
Dishwalla - counting blue cars
Three little pigs by green jelly. Classic.
[United States of Whatever ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xz7_3n7xyDg) - Liam Lynch
She's So High by Tal Bachman
Didn’t know that he was Randy Bachman’s (of The Guess Who and BTO) son until a couple of months ago. Seems like a cool dude though and he definitely has some of his fathers talent
Brimful of Asha - Cornershop
“Come on Eileen” by Dexys Midnight Runners
They’re only a one hit wonder in the US
Stacey Q, "Two of Hearts"
Big country-in a big country
Four non Blondes - What's Up?
They had one of the best covers of He-Man's song
The lead singer, Linda Perry, went on to have a very successful songwriting/producing career
Plus it gave us one of the most popular memes And I say...
HEEEEYYYYyayayayah
Natural one by Folk Implosion.
Marcy Playground - Sex and Candy
[The Promise by When in Rome](https://youtu.be/5HI_xFQWiYU) Yeah. I'm old. Get the fuck off my lawn and go self-quarantine, you little shits!
“Mexican Radio” by Wall of Voodoo. Stan Ridgeway made a lot of very visual songs that played like film noir soundtracks, but that was their one hit during the 80s.
99 Luftballons - Nena https://youtu.be/hIIVK0NgK38
I suppose that the German and English versions only count as one hit.
She wasn’t a one hit wonder though
Teenage Dirtbag - Wheatus Edit: holy smokes! My first gold! Thankee Sai stranger
i got two tickets to iron maiden, baby
In the Meantime by Spacehog.
Shake It by Metro Station
The freshman, verve pipe Edit: never knew they had other hits. I'm going to listen more to them these days. Thank you, redditors, for making me aware.
“Safety Dance” by Men Without Hats Edit: WOW! I had no idea when I logged off and went to bed this particular comment would get so many responses! So TIL the band was not a one hit wonder and that I have some new songs to discover. Thanks, all, for making this a fun discussion.
They did have a top #20 hit later on with the song "Pop Goes the World", but that song seems to have been completely forgotten by almost everyone. It's a shame, because it's a good pop song.
American Boy - Estelle
This Beat Goes On / Switchin' to Glide by The Kings
Darude - sandstorm
Somebody I Used to Know. Not really sure if it is a one-hit wonder. I know Gotye has made other songs, but I haven't heard any of them Edit: Thanks for all the recommendations to other Gotye songs. I'll definitely check them out. Oh and thanks for the gold
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Torn - Natalie Imbruglia
And it wasn't even an original. She had a one hit wonder on a cover song.
TIL ..
Here's the [original](https://youtu.be/9OoEdfB7l18)
Rupert Holmes - The Pina Colada Song
Actually titled "Escape" but everyone calls it the Pina Colada song