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Pick: Do you consider these musicians one-hit wonders?
You know, a-ha had another Top 20 hit after "Take on Me."
There are two things that should be made clear: First, there is nothing wrong with being a one-hit wonder. Thousands of bands go through their career without ever scoring a hit. It's just a fact of the Billboard Top 100.
Secondly, many people consider the following musical acts to be one-hit wonders. You can find them listed on popular sites like this and this and this.
But we want to know what you think! Because, frankly, it often comes down to you being a fan. Somewhere, someone is a massive Carl Douglas fan who collected all his singles. We offered some arguments.
Compare your opinions to the rest!
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Vicki Lawrence had a massive pop hit with "The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia" but she is also a TV star. Do you consider Vicki a one-hit wonder?
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a-ha is mostly known for its song "Take on Me" — but "The Sun Always Shines on T.V." was also a Top 20 hit. What is a-ha?
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Twisted Sister is mostly known for its song "We're Not Gonna Take It" but is this hair-metal band a one-hit wonder?
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"For What It's Worth" was the only big hit Buffalo Springfield had. One member went on to much bigger things, obviously. So what is Buffalo Springfield?
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Devo is mostly known for "Whip It," it's lone Top 40. It's the only song people really stream heavily on Spotify. Is this cult act a one-hit wonder?
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T. Rex is mostly known for "Get It On" (you know, "Bang a gong…") but is this glam-rock pioneer more than a one-hit wonder?
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Arlo Guthrie had one charted hit, "City of New Orleans," but another song of his is played a lot at Thanksgiving. What is he?
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Stealers Wheel is mostly known for "Stuck in the Middle" — but "Star" was kind of a hit at the time, too. What are they?
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Starland Vocal Band is mostly known for "Afternoon Delight" — but the band did win the Best New Artist Grammy and got its own TV variety show. So what it is?
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Looking Glass is mostly known for "Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)" — but "Jimmy Loves Mary-Anne" barely scratched the Top 40. So…?
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Carl Douglas is mostly known for "Kung Fu Fighting." Believe it or not, his follow-up, "Dance The Kung Fu," was kind of a minor hit. Does that matter anymore?
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Pick: Do you consider these musicians one-hit wonders?
Your Result...
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Willie Nelson - Horseshoe
$19.95
Elvis - The Stare
$19.95
Sun Record Co. - Logo
$19.95
Jimi Hendrix - Woodstock
$19.95
Yes - Yessongs
$21.95
Elvis - Long Live the King
$19.95
Elvis - Mugshot
$19.95
Yes - Logo
$21.95
CBGB - Logo (Gray)
$19.95
Jimi Hendrix - Kiss the Sky
$19.95
Yes - Logo
$21.95
ZZ Top - Tres Hombres
$19.95
Elvis - TCB
$19.95
Tom Petty - Heart and Banner
$19.95
Tom Petty - Circle
$19.95
Willie Nelson - Horseshoe
$19.95
Nostalgia
51 Comments
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72% similar
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72% similar to the most popular responses
72% similar to the most popular responses
Jimmy Loves Mary-Ann by Looking Glass was a great song! Should have charted higher. Lindsay Buckingham later produced a cover of that song in the 80's by Josie Cotten.
* Looking Glass changed name to Starz and reinvented themselves as a metal-rock band but never repeated the success of Brandy. ♣
Looking Glass lead singer became King Harvest lead singer and had a hit with Dancing in the Moonlight
72%....." I'm in with in crowd".....
Devo had several songs on MTV and Working in a Coal Mine almost made it to the Top 40 (#43) and the fact that a-ha had a 2nd hit that went to #20 and that should definitely automatically disqualify them from being considered a one-hit wonder, but they usually get lumped into that category. And even though "I Wanna Rock" by Twisted Sister only made it to #68 doesn't change the fact that I heard it every bit as much as "We're Not Gonna Take It" back in the day on radio and MTV. Radio had a bad habit of avoiding some songs made popular on MTV and MTV had no choice but to ignore some big radio hits because there wasn't a video for everything. It was a strange time. I am always shocked when I find out songs that I know and love from the early '80s never made the charts. and that is often.
I always thought that "The Sun Always Shines on TV" was a much better song than "Take On Me," anyway. The only reason the latter song became so popular was the heavy video rotation on MTV, with the then-new, rather Escher-like, handwritten illustrations that kept changing as the video progressed.
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Actually, I consider Twisted Sister a NO-hit wonder, but that's just me.
I have a huge "album" in my iTunes _I_ call "One Hit Wonders". Not all of them really are -- it's just that a lot of them are the only song I liked from some groups. Others I later realized had a second song I liked, but kept them in the album for convenience.
I have a huge "album" in my iTunes _I_ call "One Hit Wonders". Not all of them really are -- it's just that a lot of them are the only song I liked from some groups. Others I later realized had a second song I liked, but kept them in the album for convenience.
81% similar
90% Similar.
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72% similar to the most popular responses. A couple were a few percentage points off. The hit songs though I really like. I have most of them on one of my 200+ Youtube play lists. Had Buffalo Springfield as so much more.
63% similar.
a-Ha was NOT a one-hit wonder. In fact, their most recent song, Foot of the Mountain, was a big hit.
That's what I'd looked at when answering most of these. I thought about hits some of the performers had outside of the U.S., such as a-ha, or groups with songs that barely got any play or recognition beyond their "one hit", such as Devo or Twisted Sister. Which is probably why I scored 54%.
The ultimate one-hit wonder has to be the artist whose only top 40 single made it to number one and stayed there for ten weeks straight.
Debbie Boone.
Debbie Boone.
36% similar. Love this. Most of the questions are argument starters and its responses are purely subjective.
Yep. Just the eye of the beholder.
Buffalo Springfield a One Hit wonder? IF that was the Case, then Neil Young should be listed as well. Who writes these questions. A lot of the other bands listed were just that, Buffalo Springfield was much more and gave more rise to different groups, CSNY, Stills-Young, Steven Stills, Neil Young, Loggins and Messina, Riche Furay.
And Poco, which was founded by Richie Furay and Jim Messina after Buffalo Springfield broke up, though neither of them was in the group when they had their biggest successes in the late '70's.
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81% similar
T-Rex was huge in England.
Huge, perhaps. But such small arms.
Also they were nominated to the R&R Hall of Fame.