The Best One-Hit Wonders Around

by Fergus Houghton-Connell

My article comes as a response to Tim Bustin discussing great albums earlier this month. I, on the other hand, would like to mention those bands that made it big for a week, perhaps even a month, before we forgot about them, and were sent to the history books. These bands had a Number One in the charts and that was it, I mean really it. So, let the memories of these cracking one-hit wonders be jogged.  

 

Dancing in the Moonlight – King Harvest

 
I bet half of you didn’t even know who wrote this song. I admit the good version of this song was covered by Toploader in 1999 and it did only reach number 7, but if you played this song to almost anyone I reckon they would recognise it. ‘Dancing in the Moonlight’ was almost famously played in the comedy Four Lions making it the only song most people remember of Toploader/King Harvest.

The Bad Touch – Bloodhound Gang

You might not recognise the song name, but if I say it’s the one where they discuss performing certain events that occur on the Discovery Channel, then you’ll probably know what I’m talking about. Bloodhound Gang had a few other good songs, but this one made No. 1 in seven countries.

 Teenage Dirtbag – Wheatus

 

In 2001 this song made No. 2 in the UK charts and was included in the soundtrack for the film Loser. Classic turn of the century American Rock, it epitomises the teenage High-school underage drinking era. It’s a good one for road trips.

Monster – The Automatic

Many will remember, “What’s that coming over the hill, is it a monster? Is it a monster?” It reached No. 4 in the charts and, although the Automatic had some other good songs, this is the only one that most people remember. The band released two more albums after their most famous Not accepted anywhere debut album, but, like most other bands here, they have been forgotten. 

Bitter Sweet Symphony – The Verve

Renowned for being the soundtrack for ITV’s coverage of England football, “Bitter Sweet Symphony” reached No. 2 in the charts. It’s a classic mix between rock and strings and although it’s quite hard to name any other Verve songs, this one is will surely go down as a classic one-hit wonder. 

Valerie – The Zutons

 

 

Made famous by Amy Winehouse, I prefer The Zutons’ original version. Both versions however made it to 2^nd in the charts. Admittedly the album “Tired of Hanging Around” made it to 2^nd in the album charts, but even so, “Valerie” was by far more popular than any of their other songs.  

Killing in the Name – Rage Against the Machine

 

 

“Killing in the Name” beat that X Factor finalist, who incidentally no one remembers, to No. 1 in the Christmas charts, after a Facebook group gained so much popularity that they forced a band, who hadn’t got into the charts since 1993, to come first. On a similar note, the same group made a similar campaign to get the Liberal Democrats elected in the 2010 elections.
 

So thus ends my list of one-hit wonders. There are many more out there, most of them being some sort of Rap or R&B rubbish. Either way, one-hit wonders make cracking road trip songs and next time you’re trawling through Spotify, think back to what was famous for one week back in the day.