Your one hit wonders

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

I was idly thinking earlier - Which artist are you generally not bothered by and yet one of their tracks always ends up on your mp3 player and you find yourself enjoying it despite yourself?

For me, I'm hardly the biggest Kylie fan ever and yet "Slow" is fantastic.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=1xSLpoQdRrU

Good video too. (Y)

[Cactus Drags]

I despise "Slow". So for this discussion are going the "artist that had one big song then completely disappeared" route, or is it more "artist that you generally can't stand, but there's that one song you just can't help but like" ?

If it's the former, then I'll go with Tommy Tutone's 867-5309, or Len's Steal My Sunshine.

The latter, probably Oasis' thingy about being idle. I'll come up with a better answer when I have full access to my music library.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Now Len's "Steal My Sunshine" is indeed fantastic. Did they DO anything else?

[Cactus Drags]

They've supposedly released over 10 singles and EPs, along with 6 albums and appeared on the Go soundtrack, but all I've ever heard is Steal My Sunshine. I didn't know that they were brother and sister until just now, nor that they formed in 1991 and used to sound like a "hip-hop Human League".

They apparently split up this past September.

[Emperor Fuckshit]

Len have put out about half a dozen albums, I think. I remembered checking their Wiki page in the summer when I was playing 'Steal My Sunshine' about fifty times a day.

EDIT: Beaten by Dragsy on this.

The only example that immediately springs to mind is 'Weird' Al Yankovic. His parody stuff is just incredibly unimaginative, trite, whimsical toss. But there's an original composition of his from the 'Poodle Hat' album (yes, 'Poodle Hat'. IT'S TEH WACKEEEE RANDUMMMMZ, FOLKS!!!!!!) called 'Hardware Store' that is just fantastic. Incredibly inventive lyrics, all-over-the-place instrumentation, very danceable (in an odd sort of way). It kind of proves that he's actually an incredible songwriter, but is presumably just content to mostly trade in half-arsed gastronomy puns and the joke that, heh heh, he's a white guy performing music that one might expect a black person to make.

EDIT AGAIN: I should probably say that it's quite possible that other Yankovic compositions are just as good; I've just never heard any. And there aren't that many of them, as far as I can tell.

Edited December 3, 2008 by Emperor Fuckshit

[MDK]

Eagle Eye Cherry

Man, I love this song. I dunno if they did any more.

[Scott McFly]

Eagle-Eye Cherry is one guy, that's his name. But you knew that right?

I'll second Kylie, but there's probably 2 or 3 of hers I like so I guess that won't count.

I suppose The Bravery would be one of mine with An Honest Mistake. What a letdown the rest of that album was.

And Orson's No Tomorrow. I love that song, it captures everything about being with something you love and not caring about the next day or even how crap everything else is around you. But everything else they've done is pretty average or just bad.

EDIT: I'm just counting acts that I've heard a lot of their stuff and only like one song rather than acts that have pretty much only had one song that anyone's heard of. That right?

Edited December 3, 2008 by Scott McFly

[ADG]

Walking In Memphis by Marc Cohn and All Star by Smash Mouth are two I can think of off the top of my head.

[MDK]

Walking In Memphis by Marc Cohn and All Star by Smash Mouth are two I can think of off the top of my head.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=QEPkPMMM_PI

[ADG]

Ah I forgot about that one. I know Marc Cohn disappeared off the face of the earth though! Even if Wiki says he released an album last year.

[Emperor Fuckshit]

Walking In Memphis by Marc Cohn and All Star by Smash Mouth are two I can think of off the top of my head.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=QEPkPMMM_PI

That was by Smashmouth? Mad. They really cornered the market on 'summer movie montage music', ey?

[MDK]

I had a couple of their albums, they were pretty good for chilling with a spliff and nintendo.

[Cactus Drags]

They basically just released the same song twelve times though, didn't they?

[MDK]

But if that one song is good, does that matter?

[Cactus Drags]

Not at all.

[arwrestling]

Chris Isaak (Wicked Games), Blue October (Razorblade), Crazytown (Butterfly), Disturbed (Down With The Sickness), Enrique Iglesias (Hero), Il Divo (ugh) (Pour que tu m'aimes encore), I dunno, a few more I guess.

[Farmer Reil]

Fuckshit, do you have Running With Scissors? There's less uninspired parody and more original composition stuff on there. I think. I only have two albums, the other being Poodle Hat, so...

Not that Weird Al is the second coming of Stephen Lynch or anything (well, er... the first coming, or something, I dunno). But he has his moments. Hardware Store, though? Isn't that just essentially a list of things in a hardware store, when it comes down to it?

As for mine... Green Day - Good Riddance. Not a big Green Day fan really, but I love that song.

Edited December 3, 2008 by Farmer Reil

[King Ellis]

Plus Smashmouth did an awesome cover of Why Can't We Be Friends?

[Evil Chase K]

Nirvana's cover of The Man Who Sold The World is, in my opinion, the only thing they ever did that is worth listening to.

[Emperor Fuckshit]

Fuckshit, do you have Running With Scissors? There's less uninspired parody and more original composition stuff on there. I think. I only have two albums, the other being Poodle Hat, so...

Not that Weird Al is the second coming of Stephen Lynch or anything (well, er... the first coming, or something, I dunno). But he has his moments. Hardware Store, though? Isn't that just essentially a list of things in a hardware store, when it comes down to it?

Ah, cheers for the tip. I'll check the album out. I'm not a huge Yankovic fan (I dismissed him due to shit like 'White and Nerdy', 'Eat it', 'My Bologna' and the 'Onion' parody 'Livin' La Vida Mocha' that just seemed too accurate for me to take him seriously again), so I'm no expert.

'Hardware Store' is SO MUCH MORE than a list of things in a hardware store. The list is just incredible for how well delivered it is. It's the kind of thing that seems really obvious and basic, but thinking about it, I don't think I could write something like that myself. The rest of the lyrics are pretty good for Yankovic too (the first verse mostly), and the bass line is nice. I like the way that machinery and tools and... stuff... are incorporated as percussion without it feeling gimmicky. And there's some nice vocal harmony work in there too. It's a pretty simple song in a lot of ways (rhythm section is all pretty basic), there are just a load of nice touches.

Oh, and to add another one to the thread generally -- Keane, 'This is the Last Time'. Yeah, I know: ditchwater-dull radio-friendly Dadrock. But it sounds like something Sunny Day Real Estate might've written if they'd gone a bit pop and tried to break into the mainstream. It'd be really good if Tim Whatshisface could sing with a bit more balls and not be so Generic FM.

There's also

by Eighth Wonder (Patsy Kensit's band), which is a fantastic pop song. They had two actual 'hits', but neither of those are much good. In a similar vein, 'Japanese Boy' by Aneka (won't bother linking, I'm sure most people know it) is ace. Don't think she had any other hits. Oh, and everyone should try to get 'The Supremes' by Bad Dream Fancy Dress. It's the only song of theirs I've ever heard. It's great, but the album ('Choirboy's Gas') is hard to find any info on.

EDIT: I have a mate in a band in Nottingham, and they have one song that sounds basically just like a Kooks B-side or something; but I get it in my head for long periods. Fuck. All the rest of their stuff is just awful. This actually converges with another potential thread: "Songs That You Recognise Have Massive, Gaping Flaws, Yet You Find Yourself Struggling to Dislike."

Edited December 3, 2008 by Emperor Fuckshit