Most underrated one hit wonder?

Hello. New here and was taking a look around old thread topics and such. From a quick search it seems to be a bit over a decade since the one hit wonder topic last popped up so I figure it's worth bringing it back up.
What's in your opinion the most underrated one hit wonder? What's a band that has a discography sorely in need of the love that was only given to one of their songs?

Personally I think Chumbawamba. Outside of the one song everyone knows there's piles of really great and varied music.
I always think it's quite a shame nobody seems to pay much attention to other things by them like Slap!, Pictures of Starving Children and Shhh/Jesus H Christ.

New Radicals

Can

Kind of a harder question than I'd imagine, lots of those groups have been reappraised or in the case of for example the breeders, they were a big "deal" with critics and their fanbase even tho they had only one extremely massive song on the pop culture radar. Feel like a few of those '90s groups might be good tho. Toadies? Idk

In response to Tom D: Are Can a one hit wonder? I mainly know them as a name that gets thrown around favourably a lot and the original artist of a very good cover song. I didn't know they had an actual hit. From my occasional glances they didn't seem like the type of band who'd get into the charts. Shows what I know I guess.

In response to omar: Yeah it's not the easist especially with the shifting attitudes on artists who've come and gone. That's why it's fun to think about tho :)

ok i'm gonna cheat and just scroll through the songs todd in the shadows did for "one hit wonderland" and pick the ones i know the catalogs of

butthole surfers definitely
probably biz markie
wall of voodoo although imo that's cheating, "mexican radio" wasn't actually a hit, people just remember it as one
i won't say dead or alive's catalog is worth re-evaluating but the world owes pete burns' corpse a fucking apology
not the weather girls as such but marsha wash deserves _way_ more love than she gets
billy paul followed up "me and mrs. jones" with a prog-rock epic called "war of the gods", nuff fucking said
the crazy world of arthur brown. jeez, arthur brown, there is (was?) an interesting fellow.
lorena mckennitt isn't my thing precisely but deserves to be listened to more than she is probably
yello, i'd say yello definitely
also i know this is nerdy muso shit but i do love living colour, i got tapes of some of their early shows when they were downtown nyc jazz and it's some good shit

oh and "kung fu fighting" is massively culturally appropriative and for the most part carl douglas just spent his career milking that shit for all it was worth, but "witchfinder general" is a fun listen, even if he does rhyme "witches" with "mighty fine..." ah, you know.

Can

― Maggot Bairn (Tom D.)

LOL

Flying Lizards is the first one that comes to mind

May have already been mentioned: you have to define "one-hit wonder." I had Chumbawumba's "Amnesia" on my year-end list, and checking, it made #10 in the UK and was a Top 10 hit in Canada, where I am.

With that in mind, I'll say Little Peggy March for "I Will Follow Him." She charted three or four minor hits after that, but none reached higher than #26--i.e., she's either as one-hit-wonder as Chumbawumba (which I do think is a good choice), or neither, strictly speaking, should count.

Okay...for not the first time (and not the last), I see I've totally misunderstood the point of the thread. Sorry, at work.

Living Colour didn't really feel like a 1 Hit Wonder (and they did have a 2nd top 40 hit) because they were covered as a cool live band, not a radio act.

honestly tho i think that's a good idea for a thread in itself, all the one-hit wonders pre-1963 or so get ignored and some of them are nice, today i'm thinking of miss toni fisher but maybe that's because i was just listening to the night sun album, which similarly makes a lot of use of phasing

lol Wikipedia has Carly Rae Jepson listed as a One Hit Wonder. Whatever happened to her?

I think of Yello as a two-hit wonder ('Oh Yeah' and 'The Race') but aside from that, their career is definitely worth a deeper dive, yes kate!

If being on Eurovision counts as having a hit, then Telex.

They're not underrated (by most, anyway) but Roxy Music only hit the US top 40 with "Love is the Drug" (#30.)

in the US, at least:

a-ha
Men At Work
Trio

Oh, and The La's own this thread

oh, right, "underrated", not best

Minnie Ripperton is on a lot of one-hit wonder lists and has a much deeper career catalog than that

yeah Minnie Riperton is a good call

Herbie Hancock
Talk Talk
Art of Noise

Depending on one's definition of a "hit", I think Barnes & Barnes, best known for "Fish Heads", would be a worthy contender.

Roxy Music singles didn't chart but they had 4 albums hit the top 50 on the Billboard USA charts (amazingly not Avalon though!)

In response to Tom D: Are Can a one hit wonder? I mainly know them as a name that gets thrown around favourably a lot and the original artist of a very good cover song. I didn't know they had an actual hit. From my occasional glances they didn't seem like the type of band who'd get into the charts. Shows what I know I guess.

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

herbie has won 14 grammies! possibly not that underrated

Oh, and The La's own this thread

― Paul Ponzi, Tuesday, 9 May 2023 16:47 (eighteen minutes ago) link

We're getting into the territory of artists only being one hit wonders in certain markets but having hits in other markets.

the la's are way overrated (at least in the uk)

I'm hard pressed to consider artists that have a lot of critical love or influence, like Can or Talk Talk as "underrated".

To me "most underrated" would be an artist that actually has surprisingly strong body of work outside of their big hit, that doesn't really get talked about it.

Yeah, it was kind of a joke because so many unlikely artists have had at least one hit single.

Herbie is underrated in the sense that he crossed-over for a bizarre strange video zeitgeist hit but that his catalog that sounds nothing like said hit has amazing breadth and is endlessly rewarding and I find many music lovers (aside from grammy voters) may underrate him as such.

xp to MarkoP

the La's suck apart from their one hit, Can made me laugh.

Speaking for myself*, I underrated Talk Talk for well over a decade due to overexposure to their first 2 albums and singles and, against better judgement, ignored their final 3 album suite due to said prejudiced opinion! I imagine there were many others who are like me (though perhaps not?).

(*Gen-X USA)

Midnight Oil?

i'd say modern english, maybe only for the album their hit came from. the first album is very art punk, but short on tunes. the third album gets a bit samey, but give after the snow a revisit; it's really lush and forward-looking for a 1982 new wave record.

Can are a funny choice because it implies that there are people out there who only know "I Want More" and have no clue how acclaimed and influential they were before

anyway tough question to answer because I think a lot of "one hit wonders" have been re-evaluated beyond their hit, so like Devo and Thomas Dolby for example seem to have good reputations even if they only had that one big moment in pop culture. certainly when I grew up everyone thought Devo was a joke but it doesn't seem that way anymore. I guess I would say Falco, who is definitely NOT a one-hit wonder if you live in Germany, but over here he kinda is, and while I don't think any of his albums are particularly great you can make a really good 80-minute compilation of the best stuff.

The La's never hit the American top 40. Sixpence None the Richer's cover did, though.

in the US, at least:

a-ha
Men At Work
Trio

― Paul Ponzi,

a-ha had "The Sun Always Shines on TV" hit the top 20, and Men at Work had two #1s and two top 5's.

I underrated Talk Talk for well over a decade due to overexposure to their first 2 albums and singles

fellow gen-x / usa person here and I never heard nor even heard of of Talk Talk until maybe 15 years ago.

Hawkwind had one top twenty hit in the UK. i don't think they've ever been popular with music critics and (aside from their cult following) basically no-one cares about them anymore, but they do have a large, interesting and varied back catalogue. so maybe them?

i'm not from around here, so i've always understood hawkwind to be a very beloved cult band with tons of lore.

(not debating their one hit wonder status; they've just always been proposed to me as a "cool band, worth checking out")

Top 20? It got to no. 3!

(and yet, i've never properly checked them out. oh dear.)

Bill Nelson? One hit single with Be-Bop Deluxe and then a lifetime of obscurity

in the uk at least i guess M|A|R|R|S count as a true one hit wonder

i'd argue that they're overrated though...

xpost to controp thread?

No idea where (or if) they fit into this thread, but the Grateful Dead released 27 singles: "Touch of Grey" in the Top 10, five that charted between #60-100 on Billboard, 21 that didn't make the Top 100. Large body of work...either underrated, overrated, or rated just right.

"one hit wonder" is a funny term, whenever you say it people know exactly what you mean but when you actually try to come up with a definition you wind up with criteria that would actually not include Aqua or Thomas Dolby but WOULD include Hendrix, Radiohead, and Zappa. so I guess it's whatever your heart tells you.

Regarding Herbie Hancock I'd add that, besides his unexpected pop crossover "Rockit", Headhunters is as close to a hit as any jazz album could hope to be.

One-off side projects like M|A|R|R|S and Stardust are technically one hit wonders, but do they really count?

Colourbox and AR Kane did not trouble the charts at all.
Daft Punk, otoh, had some hits.

I like Deeply Dippy. The parent album is good too. I know this will not be a popular opinion.

"What's the name of Right Said Fred's only UK number one single?" is a classic pub quiz question.

I guess a group that "scored six number-one hits on the U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart" is maybe not a one hit wonder exactly, but I feel like most, including myself til some months ago, are unaware that Deee-Lite put out some pretty wild shit, in addition to that one song with the funny video everybody knows

Then you have artists with so many guest features that they don't feel at all like one hit wonders: Charlie XCX only had one proper hit Boom Clap of her own, but had guest spots on Fancy, I Love It, Dirty Sexy Money and Out Out.

Chris Farlowe, okthxbye

growing up with the guiness book of british hit singles, I've always thought this is the One True List of one hit wonders

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_one-hit_wonders_on_the_UK_Singles_Chart

has anyone made a US list following the same insanely strict criteria?

^ Rui Da Silva did spring to mind but I take a more generous definition (something like one Top 40 hit, nothing else in the Top 75)

I’ll rep for the Ting Tings. “That’s Not My Name” is a true banger and the parent album is great. Other records solid too.

I'll also rep for Kid Cudi, who is much more than just that Crookers remix of Day N Nite

Zager and Evans

As of 2019, the duo remains the only act to have a chart-topping hit on both sides of the Atlantic and never have another chart single in Billboard or the UK.

I've got their album - I would struggle to describe it as underrated tbh.

Meat Puppets

I did once do a bit of a trawl through the lieutenant pigeon / stavely makepiece back-catalogue, seem to remember it being 'interesting' rather than actively good, though iirc the first stavely makepiece single was quite nice

re:Rui Da Silva - Touch Me definitely. A classic in some quarters, at least.

XXpost I haven’t heard anything other than 2525, just pointing out an interesting stat.

My definition of one-hit wonder (at least UK) is probably one top 20 hit, nothing else top 40. Under these rules I once came up with this CD-R track list of 80s one-hit wonders - I accept one or two of these (15, 17) definitely aren't for most people, but any of these bar the well-loved 7, 8 an 19 could probably qualify.

1. Swansway - Soul Train
2. Monsoon - Ever So Lonely
3. It's Immaterial - Driving Away from Home (Jim's Tune)
4. Sly Fox - Let's Go All the Way
5. Hollywood Beyond - What's the Colour of Money?
6. Oran 'Juice' Jones - The Rain
7. A Guy Called Gerald - Voodoo Ray
8. Steve 'Silk' Hurley - Jack Your Body
9. Pigbag - Papa's Got a Brand New Pigbag
10. Bardo - One Step Further
11. Trio - Da Da Da
12. Sly & Robbie - Boops (Here We Go)
13. Hithouse - Jack to the Sound of the Underground
14. Jack 'n' Chill - The Jack That House Built
15. Reynolds Girls - I'd Rather Jack
16. The Real Roxanne feat. Howie Tee - Bang Zoom! (Let's Go-Go)
17. Toy Dolls - Nellie the Elephant
18. Mobiles - Drowning in Berlin
19. Laurie Anderson - O Superman

^ is worth pointing out that S&R had Night Nurse in the 90s too but I don't think I cared enough when I compiled that.

Swansway and Mobiles other records are pretty rubbish iirc. I love Its Immaterial but they're definitely just good not great. Monsoon/Sheila Chandra is a good shout though!

I love Swansway's other stuff too but agreed on Mobiles seemingly not being up to much otherwise.

the crazy world of arthur brown album is excellent

well side a is excellent anyway

He got up to nice things with Kingdom Come too. Crazy World are playing Bristol later this year and I'm thinking on going.

Seems to me like the late 80's / early 90's were this mess of fluke artists whose albums truly were no good at all.

I blame the cassingle.

still never heard a single other song by White Town and yet I kind of expected to see them mentioned here⁹

My fingers are full of hesitation here, because I know this one might be controversial, for the reason I give: Baccara's "Yes Sir, I Can Boogie". Yes everyone knows it's a great tune, great production, performance, but I don't think the lyrics get enough credit, and I've long thought they are describing a client and escort rendezvous, in a very subtle and clever way, from the escort's pov. I feel like the singing feeds into that impression too, though I couldn't say why. Anyway, "Yes Sir, I Can Boogie".

13. Hithouse - Jack to the Sound of the Underground
Hithouse (Peter Slaghuis) also produced Downtown '88 which was a UK top 10 hit, but he definitely qualifies as underrated - one of the first house producers in Europe.

still never heard a single other song by White Town and yet I kind of expected to see them mentioned here⁹

― rincton monkspoon (NickB)

I thought about it, actually - the other stuff I know is p good indiepop and quite different from 'Your Woman', but imo it's not something that is so criminally underrated that you really *must* check it out, unless you love indiepop, I guess?

A few more

Brian Protheroe
Peter Skellern (okay, a two-hit wonder)
David Dundas

Massive fan of the first two, and Dundas' album is great as well (plus he is an ident soundtrack godhead and that matters to me)

My above CD-R actually includes one artist (Reynolds Girls) who only other did one song IIRC so they'd have be crossed off as well.

I just saw one elsewhere - Minnie Riperton.

"Loving You" is not even her best song, it was just memorable because the 70s was like that.

Actually, a lot of R & B and especially disco from the seventies probably fits this bill.

Zager and Evans

As of 2019, the duo remains the only act to have a chart-topping hit on both sides of the Atlantic and never have another chart single in Billboard or the UK.

Wait 502 years, you're going to hearing their stuff everywhere.

Flipping to the back pages of ilx to read the note to NickB’s post

Xxpost Riperton was already fighting cancer a year after Loving You was released. I imagine she would have charted more songs.

In 502 years we will have no teeth or eyes so I think the song will be redundant.

You don't need teeth or eyes to dig on Zager and Evans!

I'll also rep for Kid Cudi, who is much more than just that Crookers remix of Day N Nite

Cudi has had several other top 40 hits, including a #1, and has seventeen non-Day N Nite platinum certifications across singles, albums, and Kanye feat.s -- he's pretty safely out of the category.

was just listening to the first toni basil album, i'm sure you lot know this already but it's a lot cooler and weirder than most people would imagine. what's her follow-up like?

This is a great question. I'm thinking Laurie Anderson although I'm not sure she's underrated

Lou Reed was also a one hit wonder btw (in the US at least)

“In the Year 2525” is one of those songs that popular taste says is one of the worst records ever but which is actually amazing. “Macarthur Park” is another one in that category.

I'd just like to clarify that, despite having both teeth and eyes, I do not dig on Zager and Evans.

T/S Zager or Evans

Also the Aztec Camera/Roddy Frame discography is pretty phenomenal, despite the one very modest hit?

There are a number of new wave bands in the vein of Toni Basil that probably have depth in their catalog.

Not exactly a hit, since it only charted on the US Mainstream Rock Chart, but Todd Snider's discography is a lot better than "Talkin' Seattle Grunge Rock Blues" would indicate.

Ummmmmmm Robin Thicke?

Go on then: The Only Ones

I absolutely will not: one week at #57 already wouldn't count as a hit. When that one week comes fourteen years after release, as a double-A-side with a song by another band that had been to #43 a decade earlier and to #18 six years earlier, now as a promotion for a compilation album, you are clutching an entire bushel of straws.