Where To Watch
Eight 1992 one-hit wonders that are all that and a bag of chips
These artists may not have come back on the charts, but they never left our playlists.
1992 was thirty years ago. We'll let that sink in for a minute.
The era of early internet and slap bracelets brought us such mega-stars like Nirvana, Green Day and Dr. Dre. However, we want to take a look at some of the hits from three decades ago that may not have such sticking power. When you were playing on your SNES, you may have been rocking out to one of these songs - and thought it was totally da bomb.
We're looking at the US Hot 100 chart - international charts and genre charts don't count!
1. Right Said Fred - "I'm Too Sexy"
We start our list with arguably one of the most well-known one-hit wonders ever. Even if you didn't grow up in the '90s, you probably have the song stuck in your head just from reading the title. This fun, campy song about being "so sexy it hurts" charted internationally and is still used today in tributes, parodies, and remixes - and even earned the band a cowriting credit on Taylor Swift's "Look What You Made Me Do". While they never had another chart-topper in the US, Right Said Fred has enjoyed ongoing popularity in Europe and is still creating music to this day, with their most recent studio album, Exactly!, being released in 2017.
2. Joe Public - "Live and Learn"
Joe Public was part of the new jack swing genre that gained popularity in the late '80s and early '90s. The hip-hop, dance pop and R&B fusion had everyone grooving, and nowhere was that more clear than with "Live and Learn". Their follow-up album, aptly titled Easy Come, Easy Go didn't acheive the same success.
3. House of Pain - "Jump Around"
Jump around! Jump around! Jump up, jump up, and get down! This hip-hop song is still a crowd-pleasing favorite in party playlists. Off House of Pain's self-titled first album, the music video has become a time capsule of a New York City St. Patrick's Day parade in 1992. After two more albums, the group broke up in 1996. However, they reunited 14 years later in 2010 for a reunion tour, as well as a 25th anniversary tour in 2017.
4. Tom Cochrane - "Life is a Highway"
Is there a song that's appeared on as many road trip playlists as this one? Tom Cochrane's song about cruising down the highway of life was not only a massive hit when it was first released, but a 2006 Rascal Flatts cover recorded for the Pixar movie Cars hit the top 100 again! Now that's staying power. While Cochrane never had another chart-topper as a solo artist in the US, don't feel too bad for him - he's enjoyed a long and very successful career in his home country of Canada, where he is a member of both the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and the Canadian Walk of Fame.
5. Saigon Kick - "Love Is On The Way"
You really thought we'd get through this list without a power ballad? Listening to this song now brings back the feeling of pining over a certain someone while listening to our portable CD player and drinking a Crystal Pepsi. An unlikely slow song from a glam metal band, this hit came off the band's second album and quickly became the voice of the hopeless romantics. The band broke up in the year 2000, but reunited in 2012 to play a string of concerts.
6. KWS - "Please Don't Go"
Okay, so this one was a cover of a 1979 song by KC and the Sunshine Band. However, the funky electric beats of this version had it dancing to the top of the charts over a decade after the original. KWS, named after the initials of all the band members' names, only released one studio album. They had a few more hits in the UK, where they were from, but in America, "Please Don't Go" was all we heard from them.
7. Wreckx-n-Effect - "Rump Shaker"
Another new jack swing group, this bass-heavy track is made for dancing to. While the group had more hits on the US rap charts, they never quite climbed into the top 100 like they did with "Rump Shaker". There has been speculation that M.I.A.'s 2008 mega-hit "Paper Planes" drew inspiration from the chorus of this song, but it's never been confirmed. What do you think? All I wanna do is zoom-zoom-zoom-zoom and a boom-boom...
8. Sir Mix-a-Lot - "Baby Got Back"
We had to close this list with another one-hit super-smash. In a 1992 interview, Sir Mix-a-Lot said that this song was inspired after seeing a Budweiser commercial that featured very thin models. He saw it as a way to push back for women who were harming themselves trying to live up to an unrealistic, "beanpole", model of beauty. It clearly struck a chord and to this day the song and its creator are known worldwide. It was sampled in Nicki Minaj's 2014 hit "Anaconda", Sir Mix-a-Lot appeared as himself in the acclaimed series Bojack Horseman, and in 2019 he even became a spokesperson for Cards Against Humanity.
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63 Comments
I'm not a big hip-hop guy, but both that song and his name are well known to me.
[Remembering Florence Ballard today 2/22/22]
I liked Chris, can't stand Flatts.
Not that it didn't grow on me.
Yes, I remember Drop Dead, Fred. With Rik Mayhall(sp?) of The Young Ones.
OK, just kidding.
Lighten up, kids.
Honestly, with the exception of "too sexy" I never heard any of these groups.
Musta been out of the country or something.
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