One hit wonders who have had lengthy and respectable careers outside the singles lists

Like...

Bobby McFerrin: Highly respected jazz musician. Not so respected as pop singer. Unless you still love "Don't Worry Be Happy", that is...

Laurie Anderson: "Oh Superman" often scores high in the list of worst songs ever. But you cannot take away from her that she has had a lengthy and highly respectable career somewhere in the landscape between pop and modern classical avante garde music.

Lena Martel: Had a long career as an easy listening singer behind her when she hit UK #1 with "One Day At a Time" in 1979. Continued her easy listening career afterwards.

patti smith had one chart hit in the u.s. ("because the night"). most people who know her music don't think of her as a one-hit wonder though.

Most (if not all) one-hit wonders have had lengthy careers outside the singles chart, if you include 'outside the whole music business' as well.

i.e. had one big hit, nothing more, then moved into production, estate agency/landlordism, became a lawyer, or even 'bought a bar in Marbella and named it after the hit'.

Granted, the "O Superman" bar in Cleethorpes closed after an initial enthusiastic run...

chumbawumba

level 42 (only known in the u.s. for "something about you," but successful elsewhere)

barry sadler

I should stress I mean musical careers. For instance, a lot of comedians have had one hit, but that doesn't mean they would apply here :)

"Oh Superman" often scores high in the list of worst songs ever.

It does? Which lists? It tied for the #1 single slot in the 1981 Pazz & Jop Critics Poll.

I was flicking through the first CD of a John Peel tribute set, looking for "Roadrunner" for the school run, when Alice heard "ah-ah-ah' and said "Hold on, could we go back there?"

.. and now she's heard the full thing, and found it very interesting.

As we all did, back in the day.

I should stress I mean musical careers. For instance, a lot of comedians have had one hit, but that doesn't mean they would apply here :)

― Geir Hongro, Wednesday, 6 May 2009 10:43 (7 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Nope, too late to limit it now.

chumbawumba

That would've been my answer too, except that the band's name is ChumbawAmba, with an "a". I'm not sure why so many people spell it "Chumbawumba". Anyway, they had had a 15+ year career as anarchist (in the political sense of the word) popsters before "Tubthumping", so it was kinda weird hearing on MTV and video game ads all of a sudden. They got a lot criticism for selling out at the time, but I think now that they're not on the charts nor on a major label anymore, they've gone back to being an anarchist cult band.

I guess this is limited to UK/US one hit wonders? There are a number of notable non-UK/US artists who had many other hits in their home country (or in other international markets) but are considered to be one-hit wonders in the UK/US -- A-Ha and Nena come to mind, for example.

The first names which come to mind, as far as the UK singles charts are concerned: John Denver and Liza Minnelli.

Herbie Hancock

Herbie's a four-hit wonder, though.

Talk Talk, at least in America.

Randy Newman.
Warren Zevon.
Loudon Wainright III.
Yello.
Yellow Magic Orchestra.

Lots of people. (Pretty sure this topic has been done before on another thread, too.)

Can

That would've been my answer too, except that the band's name is ChumbawAmba, with an "a". I'm not sure why so many people spell it "Chumbawumba".

because that way it rhymes?

a-Ha and Level 42 are NOT one-hit wonders in America. Check the stats.

two hit wonders

neither is Vanilla Ice ("Play That Funky Music" hit #4) but who gives a fuck

Steve Martin

This really wasn't hard to find:

CANONICAL artists that were secretly one hit wonders

Political bands with one pop hit

Anyway, my answer is Radiohead, since their only hit was "Paranoid Android".

Where was that a bigger hit than "Creep"?

Radiohead have definitely had a number of hits (in the UK at least)

In here at least. "Paranoid Android" was the first Radiohead song I'd ever heard on radio or MTV.

(x-post)

I guess this is limited to UK/US one hit wonders? There are a number of notable non-UK/US artists who had many other hits in their home country (or in other international markets) but are considered to be one-hit wonders in the UK/US -- A-Ha and Nena come to mind, for example.

A-ha weren't even a one hit wonder in the US, and surely not in the UK.
Goes for a lot of those others too. But, yes, Falco had numerous European hits.

Yello

Had several UK hits, although "The Race" was the only Top 10 one.

Then, added to those European acts are of course a lot of UK acts who had lenghty careers in Europe and more or less the rest of the Western world, yet only one hit in the US.

Joe "Shaddup You Face" Dolce went on to become one of the country's premier songwriters, as well as one hell of a bluesman...(at least that's what his website says)...

(and websites don't lie)

UK acts who had lenghty careers in Europe and more or less the rest of the Western world, yet only one hit in the US.

Chris Rea.
Boney M. (Except they were German.)

Tons of dance dudes - Todd Terry, Kevin Saunderson, MIKE/Push, Westbam, Mauro Picotto, Paul van Dyk, Benny Benassi, Tomcraft, Rank 1, Jam & Spoon, etc.

Also, did Jay-Z have any big hits outside the US after Hard Knock Life? Guest verses on Beyonce tunes yes, but solo?

Grateful Dead -- "Touch of Grey". Not that they don't have other popular songs, but unless I'm mistaken, this was the only bona fide big hit. Probably the only one that most people know.

A-Ha had at least 3 chart hits in Australia ("take on me"/"Train of thought"/"hunting high and low").

What about the Cocteau Twins? They only had one "hit" with "Pearly Dewdrops", right?

feist

edwin collins

Motorhead & Black Sabbath?

Pigmeat Markham: One hit single in a career lasting a half-century or so.

Chris Rea.
Boney M. (Except they were German.)

Even ABBA had no more than a handful of hits in the US, out of which only "Mama Mia" was anything close to a major hit.

Only "Dancing Queen" I mean

Depends what you mean by "major." They had 20 Hot 100 hits, 12 of which hit the top 40. Four top tens: Waterloo #6, Dancing Queen #1, Take A Chance On Me #3, The Winner Takes It All #8.

I picked up a Boney M. compilation when I was in France last week entirely because of how much you talk about them in Accidental Evolution of Rock 'n Roll, Chuck, so they better be good...

The first name that sprang to mind for me was....Jeff Beck

unless you count hits with the Yardbirds

edwin collins

^^ my immediate thought when I saw the thread title.

Maybe. But he did have a couple of major UK hits with Orange Juice. I believe "Rip It Up" even went Top 10.

#8 in '83, yeah.

4 Edwyn Collins A Girl Like You Jun 1995
32 Edwyn Collins The Magic Piper (Of Love) Aug 1997

Two hits of his own.

Sinead O'Connor.