» 1970s
Monster Mash – Bobby Boris Pickett
Halloween is one of the greatest American holidays. “Monster Mash” is one of the greatest one-hit wonders. Except it’s not. “Monster Mash” actually charted on the Billboard Top 40 two separate times in two separate years. With eleven years between the hits. The first time is 1962 when the novelty song was first released and “Monster Mash” reached #1 on the Billboard Top 40. Listeners lapped up the Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi references and the song became … Read entire article »
Oh Babe What Would You Say – Hurricane Smith
Author’s note: Let’s take a break from heavy metal one-hit wonders and take a look at this little ditty, almost forgotten now but when it was a hit, it was one of those songs that embedded itself in your ear like an annoying mosquito, and you just couldn’t get the stupid thing out of your head. The seed for this article was sown during an overnight trip I took recently, and as I pulled out … Read entire article »
New York Groove – Ace Frehley
Editor’s note: Here is another post from Jim Barton, our resident rock and metal one-hit wonder expert. Because “New York Groove” was a song from a one-off solo project and guitarist Ace Frehley was a still-active member of Kiss when he had this solo hit, I originally wasn’t going to include it, as I personally don’t count such songs as true one-hit wonders. But after some debate, we decided “New York Groove” belongs on Top One-Hit … Read entire article »
Cat Scratch Fever – Ted Nugent
When Ted Nugent finally put to rest the Amboy Dukes and their psychedelic one-hit wonder, “Journey to the Center of Your Mind,” the “Motor City Madman” became a solo artist on Epic Records. His self-titled debut album was a huge seller and featured one of his most famous songs, the 8-minute-plus “Stranglehold.” His second solo album (my personal favorite), the blistering Free-For-All featured a pre-fame Meat Loaf on some of the songs. Yes, Meat Loaf … Read entire article »
Black Betty by Ram Jam
Editor’s note: Jim Barton, our resident heavy metal expert, puts his own spin on the classic “Black Betty” by Ram Jam. Although Michael has already written about Ram Jam and Black Betty, I also wanted to include it in this survey of rock one-hit wonders and heavy metal one-hit wonders since Ram Jam’s debut album was on the fringes of metal and their second (and last) LP Portrait of the Artist as a Young Ram was … Read entire article »
Cherry Baby – Starz
Does anybody remember a song called “You Take my Breath Away” by Rex Smith, a Number 10 hit in 1979? The sappy, syrupy ballad (diabetics, get out your insulin!) was from a TV movie called Sooner or Later, which he starred in. I sure remember it: The song was nearing its peak position at the time my parents and I moved to the Hawaiian island of Kauai. At the time, music was still commonplace on … Read entire article »
The Boys are Back in Town – Thin Lizzy
A heavy metal band from Ireland with a black lead singer/bassist (the late Phil Lynott, RIP 1986), Thin Lizzy was truly unique. They are also another one of those artists that radio forgets recorded and played more than one song, in this case, “The Boys are Back in Town.” Other great songs include “Jailbreak” (at least Ariel, my pathetic bar band on Kauai thought “Jailbreak” was great when we were butchering it every night as … Read entire article »
Love Hurts – Nazareth
The Everly Brothers were one of the most popular artists of the early rock era. Simon and Garfunkel, The Beatles and even Hall and Oates were just a few artists who were heavily influenced by them. “Bye-Bye Love,” “Cathy’s Clown” and “All I Have to do Is Dream” were only a few of the Everlys’ big hits. Certainly their most famous song was “Wake Up Little Suzie” in 1957. The lyrics about a teenage couple … Read entire article »