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My countdown list of one hit wonders- 1. Play That Funky Music (Wild Cherry) (2 Viewers)

Rove! said:
I love that one and Pop Muzik
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Won this guy's album (New York · London · Paris · Munich) and ABC's The Lexicon of Love at my school's fair. Knocking down milk bottles or something like that. I don't remember ever listening to another track besides "Pop Muzik".

On the other hand, we wore right through The Lexicon of Love.

 
timschochet said:
57. “Tainted Love”- Soft Cell (1981) 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcyCQLewj10

Interesting about this band: after this song, which of course was huge, came out, I can distinctly remember these guys being discussed as one of the big new British bands of the time, on the level of Culture Club, the Cure, Depeche Mode, etc. I even had a girlfriend a few years later who told me that she was in love with everything Marc Almond did and collected his albums, etc. My point is they were not regarded as one hit wonders at the time. 

And yet they never seemed to have any other songs than this one. Not that got any attention anyhow. 
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It was one of the songs that I got really sick of when it was played all of the time. But now it sounds fine.

 
timschochet said:
57. “Tainted Love”- Soft Cell (1981) 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcyCQLewj10

Interesting about this band: after this song, which of course was huge, came out, I can distinctly remember these guys being discussed as one of the big new British bands of the time, on the level of Culture Club, the Cure, Depeche Mode, etc.
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In the moment, Soft Cell was actually a much bigger act than what were then the fledging bands Culture Club or Depeche Mode. Soft Cell had five (consecutive) British Top Five singles before CC even released their debut album.

 
timschochet said:
57. “Tainted Love”- Soft Cell (1981) 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcyCQLewj10

Interesting about this band: after this song, which of course was huge, came out, I can distinctly remember these guys being discussed as one of the big new British bands of the time, on the level of Culture Club, the Cure, Depeche Mode, etc. I even had a girlfriend a few years later who told me that she was in love with everything Marc Almond did and collected his albums, etc. My point is they were not regarded as one hit wonders at the time. 

And yet they never seemed to have any other songs than this one. Not that got any attention anyhow. 
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Sex Dwarf is a decent song with a great name.

 
Doug B said:
One of these bands: has a second single that went #20 in the U.S.

The other: their 'one hit wonder' single is actually their second-highest charting single in the U.S.
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Is the other band watery?

 
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timschochet said:
57. “Tainted Love”- Soft Cell (1981) 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcyCQLewj10

Interesting about this band: after this song, which of course was huge, came out, I can distinctly remember these guys being discussed as one of the big new British bands of the time, on the level of Culture Club, the Cure, Depeche Mode, etc. I even had a girlfriend a few years later who told me that she was in love with everything Marc Almond did and collected his albums, etc. My point is they were not regarded as one hit wonders at the time. 

And yet they never seemed to have any other songs than this one. Not that got any attention anyhow. 
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Mr. Mojo said:
It was one of the songs that I got really sick of when it was played all of the time. But now it sounds fine.
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Interestingly enough, I take the opposite view.  I wasn't into pop music at this time (a little too young, was still listening to whatever my parents put on the radio), but when I hear it later in life on commercials and whatever I thought it was cool.  Now, it is in the category of never needing to hear again.  That said, it definitely belongs on this list.

 
timschochet said:
57. “Tainted Love”- Soft Cell (1981) 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcyCQLewj10

Interesting about this band: after this song, which of course was huge, came out, I can distinctly remember these guys being discussed as one of the big new British bands of the time, on the level of Culture Club, the Cure, Depeche Mode, etc. I even had a girlfriend a few years later who told me that she was in love with everything Marc Almond did and collected his albums, etc. My point is they were not regarded as one hit wonders at the time. 

And yet they never seemed to have any other songs than this one. Not that got any attention anyhow. 
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I'm submitting my official paperwork -- this should be higher.

 
Osaurus said:
Is the other band watery?
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I could be wrong on the identity of the "other" band ... but the one I'm thinking of is not watery. The "other" band I'm thinking of has one huge well-remembered song that charted high, a then-popular but now forgotten song that charted even higher, and two others that stalled in the 30s.

What's tripping me a bit is coming up with Scandinavian one-hit wonders. One IMHO is obvious (though they have a second hit, it kind of disappeared from American radio). That "other" Scandinavian OHW, though, might be trickier to identify. The "other" band I have in mind is a good guess -- only a guess, though -- based on Tim's work so far.

EDIT: OK ... after some thought, there are a few more Scandinavian OWHs then I could recall immediately. I don't expect, now, to find my "other" band on Tim's list.

 
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timschochet said:
56. “Take On Me”- A-ha (1984) 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=djV11Xbc914

I never loved this song while it was a hit. The video was always more interesting to me than the song. Later on it began to grow on me. 

It’s certainly one of THE defining songs of the 1980s and the MTV video era, no question. 
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Very true. It was a very innovative video. The video won six awards and was nominated for two others at the 1986 MTV awards.

 
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Doug B said:
One of these bands: has a second single that went #20 in the U.S.
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This would be a-ha ... though "The Sun Always Shines on TV" is largely forgotten now. I have no memory of the video at all, though I have to think MTV played it at least some?

...

Morten Harket is a stunning vocalist technically. Capable of some of the highest non-falsetto notes of any male popular-music singer. 

 
The General said:
"Take on Me" is the quintessential one hit wonder of an entire decade.
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Well, actually...no. There are a couple of other 80s songs, coming up later, which IMO better represent the decade than “Take On Me” does. 

But in any case that’s not the point. The problem with “Take On Me”, in terms of its ranking on this list is: it’s just not that great a song. It’s a good song, fun to listen to (or else it wouldn’t be on this list at all) but you gotta understand, we have some absolute classics coming up here; songs that are far better written and produced than this. 

 
Doug B said:
This would be a-ha ... though "The Sun Always Shines on TV" is largely forgotten now. I have no memory of the video at all, though I have to think MTV played it at least some?
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I agree that "The Sun ..." doesn't get nearly as much play now, so in that respect, "Take On Me" can be seen as a OHW. I just have problems proclaiming any song a OHW if that same artist had another top 20 hit regardless of how well it is remembered. But that's just me...

 
timschochet said:
Well, actually...no. There are a couple of other 80s songs, coming up later, which IMO better represent the decade than “Take On Me” does. 

But in any case that’s not the point. The problem with “Take On Me”, in terms of its ranking on this list is: it’s just not that great a song. It’s a good song, fun to listen to (or else it wouldn’t be on this list at all) but you gotta understand, we have some absolute classics coming up here; songs that are far better written and produced than this. 
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"a couple of other" would imply this is around the 3rd best one hit of the 80's yet they are buried in the late 50's of the official rankings!!

Hoisted on your own petard.

 
The General said:
"a couple of other" would imply this is around the 3rd best one hit of the 80's yet they are buried in the late 50's of the official rankings!!

Hoisted on your own petard.
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That’s because a great song doesn’t have to be representative of anything except itself. And there are 55 greater songs on this list. 

 
55. “Sugar Sugar” -The Archies (1969) 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=h9nE2spOw_o

I really need to show my daughters, both of whom are huge Riverdale fans, this video. 

Talk about quintessential: this is probably the quintessential “bubblegum pop” song of all time. The story Don Kirshner used to tell about how he offered it to the Monkees and then it was refused is apparently not true, but it IS true that Kirshner got a bunch of session musicians to play it. The song is written by the great Jeff Barry of Phil Spector fame. 

 
timschochet said:
55. “Sugar Sugar” -The Archies (1969) 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=h9nE2spOw_o

I really need to show my daughters, both of whom are huge Riverdale fans, this video. 

Talk about quintessential: this is probably the quintessential “bubblegum pop” song of all time. The story Don Kirshner used to tell about how he offered it to the Monkees and then it was refused is apparently not true, but it IS true that Kirshner got a bunch of session musicians to play it. The song is written by the great Jeff Barry of Phil Spector fame. 
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This works.  Nice one.

 
I look at some of the great songs already listed and then 'Sugar Sugar' and wonder how it could possibly be rated higher.  Pretty good list so far, but some of the songs mentioned already are too low.  

 
jon_mx said:
I look at some of the great songs already listed and then 'Sugar Sugar' and wonder how it could possibly be rated higher.  Pretty good list so far, but some of the songs mentioned already are too low.  
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Simple formula: 60's/70's > 80's

 
timschochet said:
55. “Sugar Sugar” -The Archies (1969) 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=h9nE2spOw_o

I really need to show my daughters, both of whom are huge Riverdale fans, this video. 

Talk about quintessential: this is probably the quintessential “bubblegum pop” song of all time. The story Don Kirshner used to tell about how he offered it to the Monkees and then it was refused is apparently not true, but it IS true that Kirshner got a bunch of session musicians to play it. The song is written by the great Jeff Barry of Phil Spector fame. 
Click to expand...
It's on my Spotify playlist. Great song.

 
54. “The Lion Sleeps Tonight”- The Tokens (1961) 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_LBmUwi6mEo

Originally recorded in South Africa in the 1920s, based on an even older folk song, this was adapted by the Doo *** group the Tokens in 1961 and pop music history was made. 

Doo *** music with very few exceptions tends to sound dated to me, significant only to its time and era and lacking the timeless quality of great popular music. But this song is an exception, probably because it is such a merger of styles (30 years before Paul Simon did the same thing). There’s a quality here that still makes it worth listening to in the 21st century. It’s great music. A weem a way. 

 
timschochet said:
54. “The Lion Sleeps Tonight”- The Tokens (1961) 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_LBmUwi6mEo

Originally recorded in South Africa in the 1920s, based on an even older folk song, this was adapted by the Doo *** group the Tokens in 1961 and pop music history was made. 

Doo *** music with very few exceptions tends to sound dated to me, significant only to its time and era and lacking the timeless quality of great popular music. But this song is an exception, probably because it is such a merger of styles (30 years before Paul Simon did the same thing). There’s a quality here that still makes it worth listening to in the 21st century. It’s great music. A weem a way. 
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Robert John also covered this song in 1972.

 
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