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My countdown list of one hit wonders- 1. Play That Funky Music (Wild Cherry) (1 Viewer)

timschochet said:
OK for those who are interested, here is a list of songs, many of them famous as one hit wonders, which did not make my top 100: 

Macerena 

Several reasons these were excluded. In the cases of Twisted Sister, Simple Minds, XTC, Midnight Oil, and Sinead O’Connor I felt they were all too big performers to be thought of as one hit wonders despite one time on the charts (though I really wavered on Simple Minds). Some of these songs I like but  just barely missed the cut. And others are just really really awful songs that I hope never to hear again (the previously mentioned Achy Breaky Heart,  Macerena, I’m Too Sexy, Whoomp There It Is, Who Let the Dogs Out? Break My Stride and You’re Beautiful.) 
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So still hope for Mambo Number 5?

 
Andy Dufresne said:
"Everyone's a superhero, everyone's a Captain Kirk"

The German version tells the story quite differently from the English. 

Direct German to English translation.

Do you have you some time for me,
if so I'll sing a song for you
about 99 balloons
on their way to the horizon.
Maybe you're thinking about me right now
if so I'll sing a song for you
about 99 balloons
and that such a thing comes from such a thing.

99 balloons
on their way to the horizon
People think they're UFOs from space
so a general sent up
a fighter squadron after them
Sound the alarm if it's so
but there on the horizon were
only 99 balloons.

99 fighter jets
Each one's a great warrior
Thought they were Captain Kirk
then came a lot of fireworks
the neighbors didn't understand anything
and felt like they were being provoked
so they shot at the horizon
at 99 balloons.

99 war ministers
matches and gasoline canisters
They thought they were clever people
already smelled a nice bounty
Called for war and wanted power.
Man, who would've thought
that things would someday go so far
because of 99 balloons.

99 years of war
left no room for victors.
There are no more war ministers
nor any jet fighters.
Today I'm making my rounds
see the world lying in ruins.
I found a balloon,
think of you and let it fly (away).

English version lyrics

You and I in a little toy shop
Buy a bag of balloons with the money we've got
Set them free at the break of dawn
Til one by one, they were gone
Back at base bugs in the software
Flash the message, something's out there
Floating in the summer sky
99 red balloons go by

99 red balloons
Floating in the summer sky
Panic bells it's red alert
There's something here from somewhere else
The war machine springs to life
Opens up one eager eye
Focusing it on the sky
Where 99 red balloons go by
99 Decision street
99 ministers meet
To worry, worry, super scurry
Call the troops out in a hurry
This is what we've waited for
This is it boys, this is war
The president is on the line
As 99 red balloons go by

99 knights of the air
Ride super high tech jet fighters
Everyone's a super hero
Everyone's a Captain Kirk
With orders to identify
To clarify, and classify
Scramble in the summer sky
99 red balloons go by

99 dreams I have had
In every one a red balloon
It's all over and I'm standing pretty
In this dust that was a city
If I could find a souvenir
Just to prove the world was here
And here is a red balloon
Just to prove the world was here
And here is a red balloon
I think of you, and let it go
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Yeah, see I didn’t really want to know this. But thanks. 

 
timschochet said:
OK for those who are interested, here is a list of songs, many of them famous as one hit wonders, which did not make my top 100: 

Convoy

Lunatic Fringe

Love Plus One

Disco Duck 

Electric Avenue

Relax

It’s Raining Men

Putting on the Ritz

Too Shy

Shiny Shiny

Break My Stride

Macerena 

One Night In Bangkok

We’re Not Gonna Take It

Don’t You (Forget About Me) 

The Lady In Red

Dear God

Beds Are Burning 

Nothing Compares to U

I’m Too Sexy

 Baby Got Back

Whoomp There It Is

No Rain 

Barely Breathing 

Save Tonight 

Who Let the Dogs Out? 

You’re Beautiful 

Several reasons these were excluded. In the cases of Twisted Sister, Simple Minds, XTC, Midnight Oil, and Sinead O’Connor I felt they were all too big performers to be thought of as one hit wonders despite one time on the charts (though I really wavered on Simple Minds). Some of these songs I like but  just barely missed the cut. And others are just really really awful songs that I hope never to hear again (the previously mentioned Achy Breaky Heart,  Macerena, I’m Too Sexy, Whoomp There It Is, Who Let the Dogs Out? Break My Stride and You’re Beautiful.) 
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One Night in Bangkok is a classic.

 
Falco had 2 hits. One of them is on this list but it’s by a different artist. I like “Rock Me Amadeus” but I don’t think it’s eligible. 

 
91. “Turn the Beat Around” Vicki Sue Robinson (1976) 

This is a disco classic because Vicki Sue just slays the vocals. Killer voice, incredible range, wonderful style in the way she sings the lead. And of course the hooks are legendary. Just a great great example of the best of the early  disco era. 

 
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timschochet said:
91. “Turn the Beat Around” Vicki Sue Robinson (1976) 

This is a disco classic because Vicki Sue just slays the vocals. Killer voice, incredible range, wonderful style in the way she sings the lead. And of course the hooks are legendary. Just a great great example of the best of the early  disco era. 
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:X

 
I'm listening to it now. I always appreciate how good the bass is on some of these classic disco songs. Looking on line, I can't find any description of the musicians involved so I don't know if it is somebody famous. But the entire rhythm section is just excellent.

 
timschochet said:
91. “Turn the Beat Around” Vicki Sue Robinson (1976) 

This is a disco classic because Vicki Sue just slays the vocals. Killer voice, incredible range, wonderful style in the way she sings the lead. And of course the hooks are legendary. Just a great great example of the best of the early  disco era.  
Click to expand...
and brutal to mix as the live drummer on the recording was all over the place from 126 BPM to 130 BPM

ETA: A lot of the early disco songs were like that

 
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timschochet said:
91. “Turn the Beat Around” Vicki Sue Robinson (1976) 

This is a disco classic because Vicki Sue just slays the vocals. Killer voice, incredible range, wonderful style in the way she sings the lead. And of course the hooks are legendary. Just a great great example of the best of the early  disco era. 
Click to expand...
Kick-### record. Better than the song itself (go listen to Gloria Estefan's sterile remake). 

Tim's right for once - Robinson's vocal makes it go. This would have been way higher on my list.

This selection also makes me wonder if a similar record from around the same time by an even more impressive singer will make this countdown.

 
Penguin said:
and brutal to mix as the live drummer on the recording was all over the place from 126 BPM to 130 BPM

ETA: A lot of the early disco songs were like that
Click to expand...
Explain this to me like I'm as dumb as I really am. I think I know what you're saying, and why it happened, but I'm not sure. 

 
timschochet said:
Falco had 2 hits. One of them is on this list but it’s by a different artist. I like “Rock Me Amadeus” but I don’t think it’s eligible. 
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A cover of a Falco song? Then he has three hits, though one is largely forgotten in the US.

 
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Uruk-Hai said:
Kick-### record. Better than the song itself (go listen to Gloria Estefan's sterile remake). 

Tim's right for once - Robinson's vocal makes it go. This would have been way higher on my list.

This selection also makes me wonder if a similar record from around the same time by an even more impressive singer will make this countdown.
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Listening to this now on a pretty good system. She knocks it out of the park. Especially when she gets going in describing the instruments mid song  ("rat tat tat tat tat on the drums").

 
90. “Cars”- Gary Numan (1979) 

One of the first videos I ever saw (late night on the USA channel.) One of the first “new wave” artists I was exposed to. This is a complete synthesizer effort. Both in presentation and sound, he inspired a lot of artists that would follow. 

The song itself sounded so different then, so innovative, and of course now it sounds incredibly dated. But despite that the strength of the dance beat is still there. So I still enjoy hearing it. 

 
timschochet said:
90. “Cars”- Gary Numan (1979) 

One of the first videos I ever saw (late night on the USA channel.) One of the first “new wave” artists I was exposed to. This is a complete synthesizer effort. Both in presentation and sound, he inspired a lot of artists that would follow. 

The song itself sounded so different then, so innovative, and of course now it sounds incredibly dated. But despite that the strength of the dance beat is still there. So I still enjoy hearing it. 
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can't not be Top Ten

 
rockaction said:
I don't write this to be contentious, but maybe side with the OP - those other songs are good songs, IMHO, but they never really broke the charts. Then again, a lot of pretty good music doesn't.  

eta* They may have charted, as often as I heard them
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Sometimes the one hit wonder was so popular that stations made a point of playing their next single.  This is usually enough to make the follow-up at least chart. Rarer might be a preceding charted song that nobody remembers.

 
timschochet said:
93. “Good”- Better than Ezra (1995) 

In the mid 90s, a whole bunch of bands emerged that attempted to copy the Seattle “grunge” sound of Nirvana and Pearl Jam. Better than Ezra was one of these, even though they came from about as far from Seattle as possible within the US (the Deep South.) In 1995 they had their one big hit with “Good”. 

Despite its grunge style, this is basically a power pop song with a nice hook and that’s why it was a hit. Personally it’s one of my favorite songs of the 90s. So much so that I bought the cd at the time. But as with almost all of the performers in this countdown, this band has never been heard of again. Sadly they’ve been worse than Ezra ever since (terrible pun but I couldn’t resist!)  
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Youtube links would be great, pal.

 
89. “Maniac”- Michael Sembello (1983)

Catchy tune, but the best part is the video montage: Jennifer Beals kicking ### stretching and practicing dance moves with those cute leg warmers on. And look how fast her feet move! 

Except- it isn’t Jennifer Beals! Although she is/was in excellent shape (she’s a triathlete) apparenty she couldn’t dance that fast so they had to use body doubles. I feel so betrayed. 

But I love those 80s montages. 

 
timschochet said:
89. “Maniac”- Michael Sembello (1983)

Catchy tune, but the best part is the video montage: Jennifer Beals kicking ### stretching and practicing dance moves with those cute leg warmers on. And look how fast her feet move! 

Except- it isn’t Jennifer Beals! Although she is/was in excellent shape (she’s a triathlete) apparenty she couldn’t dance that fast so they had to use body doubles. I feel so betrayed. 

But I love those 80s montages. 
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Sembello was quite the studio guitarist before he hit with Maniac - for one,  he played on some of Stevie Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life

 
rockaction said:
Again, gently non-contentious as this is opinion-based, but I'm not going to lie. I can find hidden meaning in almost everything but not this. They're cinnabuns. Unless cinnabuns can't be inherently unsexual, there's nothing the commercial does that makes it sexual. It doesn't humanize the sexual aspect. There's not even a gaping maw. We get the Pilsbury Doughboy instead.  

So, shuke, you have a dirty, dirty mind. 

Shame room for you.  
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Watch/listen at the 0:19 mark and again at the 0:24 mark.

 
shuke said:
Watch/listen at the 0:19 mark and again at the 0:24 mark.
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I swear that made me laugh, but I'm not getting the sex thing.

:lmao:

You win. They'll use it for anything. I remember that commercial, too. Pretty crazy, just never thought it was about that thing.  

 
joffer said:
"King of New Orleans" and "Desperately Wanting" are both good songs.  you're reaching a little here on OHW status.
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You couldn't get away from "Desperately Wanting" in 1997.  I'm surprised it's not considered a hit.

 
timschochet said:
94. “Harden My Heart”- Quarterflash (1981) 

I feel less guilty about this one. The lyrics are rather simple and mundane, but the band makes the most of them. This was one of the first MTV hits I can recall- seems like it was played every 30 minutes or so. It was unusual for a lead singer to play the saxophone. 

I honestly hadn’t heard or thought of this tune for over 30 years until it showed up on the opening minutes of the very first episode of The Americans. 
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Everybody has different definitions for one hit wonder, but Find Another Fool was a top 20 song and, in my opinion was the better song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcICuFnkxe4

although the Pat Bentar knockoff-ness is apparent 

 
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