June 29, 2019 • 27 mins
The term "one-hit wonder" gets thrown around a lot, and - yes - you probably are using it correctly, but Chuck Bryant went to the trouble to really define what makes a one-hit wonder in the article this classic episode is based on. Join him and Josh as they get to the bottom of this disparaging term.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, everybody, chuck here and it's Saturday, and that means
that I am hungover. I'm just kidding. I feel like
a fresh daisy. And right now I'm going to listen
to this one again, and I think you should too.
The Stuff you Should Know select this week is called
what makes a One Hit Wonder? Super super Cool stuff
about pop culture and music. From March two, enjoy m
(00:26):
Welcome to Stuff you Should Know, a production of I
Heart Radios How Stuff Works. Hey, and welcome to the podcast.
I'm Josh Clark. There's Charles W. Chuck Bryant. Say something. Um, yeah,
I didn't even say say something funny. I just said
(00:47):
say something I know. Frozen. Yeah, it's all right, man.
That's good quality in a broadcaster to freeze up on
the air and a professional talker. Yeah, yeah, how you
doing was great? Freezing? Um? I'm good man. I'm This
is a fun, goofy little topic and we haven't done
one like that in a while. This was a fun
article written by a guy named Charles W. Bryant, the
(01:08):
writer for the site. Yeah, I will go ahead and
say one thing I was disappointed in in this article,
and I would still like to see someone tackle this
in documentary style. Maybe is the psychology of being a
one hit wonder? Oh, like what it does to your psyche? Yeah?
Is it better to have that one hit and fade
away and at least you had that? Or is it
(01:28):
better to have never? You know? I just I would
be real curious to see a series of interviews with
one hit wonders to see like how they feel about it.
You're saying, is it better to have hit and lost
than never to have hit at all? Exactly? And I
couldn't really find anything on that. So I'm sure there's
one or two who like, listen to the podcast, and
if you do, right in, let us know how it is.
(01:48):
We're interested. Loue Bega, Yeah, the very least lou Vega listens,
the fake loue Vega. So, Chuck, I wanted to commend
you for this article because you really like this is
a tough one for With how stuff works articles, we
typically take a topic that is, you know, has a
(02:09):
lot of research done on it, it's very well defined,
and then we deconstruct it. This one is like I
looked on the internet and if you type in one
hit wonder, there is like zero scholarly work done on
it for good reason. Yeah, well, I mean it's interesting
though too. Like you brought up the psychology of being
a one there shouldn't been anyone ever done a study
like that. There is nothing. It's all just lists. And
(02:30):
I actually did find one good website. It's called um
one Hit Wonder Central dot Com and they have everything
and you can play like every song they have it
by years who the one hit wonder was from like
the sixties to the two thousand's, maybe fifties. There are
some of the greatest songs to me, or some of
the one hit Wonders. And I mean that's the points,
Like you know, one hit Wonder is just something that
(02:51):
everybody liked at one time. We just didn't like whatever
else they were making, right, Um, at least as a
large collective group. Anyway, back to me commending you, Um,
you had to take something that was really amorphous that
everybody knew and we knew if you got wrong, and
whipping into shape like a definable shape, and you got
it right. I think you did a great job. So Um.
(03:15):
The first thing you pointed out was that no one
is certain of the origin of this phrase. That's right,
but we figured out that it was it first came
in print. Right, Well, that's what phrases dot org says,
and I couldn't find anything to dispute it. But a
writer there wrote the sentence in July seventy seven about
Abba instead of becoming what everyone expected a one hit wonder,
(03:37):
they soon had a string of hits behind them. And
although the website phrase dot org does say it appears
to have already been a used phrase, but this is
the first time they've seen it in print, right, and
and so, and there actually is like a definition for
one hit wonder, like there's well, a hit, I guess
you define a hit, and then it's got to be
(03:59):
on the because we're so American centric, has to be
on the billboard top and then specifically in the top
forty to be considered a hit. Right, Yeah, technically for
like when most people like there have been books written
about one hit wonders and that's usually what what they say. Okay,
so that wasn't just you or anything saying. And I
thought it was a great definition. No, it's a good definition,
(04:20):
but that's the generally held definition. But then that's where
it gets really blurry. As we're about to find out right, Well,
in many ways, I mean, yeah, you make a point
that there's a lot of one hit wonders by that definition.
Who are legendary musicians like Jimi Hendrix one hit, Janis
Joplin one hit, Garth Brooks as Chris Gaines. Yeah, that's
(04:45):
this only Billboard hit. Yeah, this is only Billboard Top
forty hit. Yeah, but he had country hits, just lived
on the country top ten. But yeah, as in the
mainstream top forty. His only hit was Chris Kayes with
the haircut and the soul patch Man. That was Yeah,
(05:05):
I don't know what the song that was even I
don't um beck Yeah, the Dead, The Dead, the White Stripes,
lou Reid, Iggy pop Divo, some like iconic bands and
musicians that have only had one hit. Um. And then
you've got artists who never had that hit but are
(05:25):
still considered one hit wonders. Because what you end up
realizing is, despite the definition of what a hit is,
a one hit wonder is something different. It's just an
artist and a song who captured something for a moment
in time. It doesn't matter if it was a top
forty hit. Right like you you say, um, Wallavoodoo's Mexican Radio. Absolutely,
(05:48):
it's not a top forty hit. No, but that's definitely
a hit. Sure in the zeitgeist did you put it? Absolutely?
Who else? I'll melt with you Modern English, the Weather Girls,
it's raining man, Like you would say, all of these
are definitely one hit wonders, and none of them had
top forty hits. Right, So, but sticking to the strict definition,
(06:09):
um that, I mean that still works too. Write like
the Penguins, Earth Angel. Yeah, in the fifties, right, Um,
in the sixties you had um Summertime Blues by Blue Cheer,
but they really spent blue on like their one there,
one thing there, one shot was covered in blue. Blue
Cheer did Summertime Blues? Green tambourine? Remember that song? No,
(06:32):
I didn't mean tambourine. It was very like psychedelic No
and the Lemon Pipers. You know. It's one of those
songs where sort of like h in the seventies, Argents,
hold your head up like everybody knows that song. But
I bet ninety nine people out of a hundred I've
never heard of the band Argent. No, they probably think, oh,
(06:53):
wasn't that The guests who or wasn't that in Joe Dirt?
Or yes, wasn't that in? Was it? Yeah? Really I
never saw that movie. What I never saw Joe Dirt?
Oh man, such a great like keep your Chin up
movie is so good. Like I really can hate David Spade,
you can hate all of that kind of comedy, but
(07:16):
that movie has such like it's got heart, it's a
cute movie. Well, I had friends. It's on Netflix streaming. Yeah,
I had friends that worked on it. And that's where
I have my Gary Busey insider story. Oh yeah, yeah,
I think I told you. You You know he was He
was supposed to play the father and if you'll notice
in the film, he does not play the father. No,
it's done by one Fred Ward. Yeah. So Gary Bucy
was on set for a day and it didn't work out.
(07:37):
He made it. Wish I could tell the whole story.
He made it into Black Sheep with Chris Farley and um,
David Spade. That. Yeah, he was like the crazy guy
who lived in a school bus in the woods. It
was the part he was born to play exactly. Please
don't come to our office, Gary. Um. All right, So
that was the fifties and that's generally when the rock
(08:00):
era in the fifties is when you people say you
can start talking about things like one hit wonders, like
not some guy who had one big band hit in
the nineteen thirties, although I'm sure they were there, you
know that's true. Uh, there's been one song that was
a one hit wonder for two bands, which is interesting.
Oh yeah, let's hear funky Town really yeah, Lips Incorporated.
(08:21):
And then I don't know if you remember Pseudo Echo.
They did a version of that in it was a
little more electric and upbeat, and that was a bona
fide top forty hit as well. Seems can't people couldn't
get enough of Funky Town. I hope whoever wrote that
like really cast in. Yeah, so the sixties all right, Now,
(08:45):
the sixties was the green tambour in seventies songs like
Spirit in the Sky by Norman Greenbaum. Yeah it's a
good song. Uh, it was an Apollo thirteen one took
over the line. I I literally wrote shutter next to that,
what like, oh you hate that song? It's pretty bad.
Brewer and Shipley and then Seasons in the Sun, great song.
(09:07):
Terry Jack's never heard of the guy no no, no
rev no re um. And you also make the point
that the seventies were lousy with disco one hit wonders.
And in our Disco episode we talked about why because
it was all producer driven rather than artists driven. Exactly.
I didn't even bother to like list any in here.
You know, it's you can just name a disco song
and there you have it. The eighties, of course, you
(09:29):
had bands like Soft Cells, Tainted Love and Oh Mickey,
You're So Fine, Tony Basil, Uh, I Want Candy by
Bow Wow Wow Kajago. Remember what song I don't remember?
Is that who? That was too shy shy? Yeah. Uh
so the eighties was lousy with it, but a lot
of those songs are great songs, and a lot of
the artists in the eighties were popular in other countries. Yeah,
(09:55):
and are known as one hit wonders here in the US.
Like I was reading an article on I think Cracked
maybe about one hit Wonders and they were saying, like,
Aha had Take on Me, which was a hit here
in the United States, but that was it. But they're
like one of the top fifty grossing bands of all
time worldwide. Yeah. Well, and Aha falls into another weird category,
(10:18):
which is a band that's known as a one hit
wonder who actually had a quieter second hit. Oh really Yeah,
they had a song called the Sun Always Shines on
TV that was like a top twenty hit. I nick, wow,
I don't remember that one. Nobody does. They're good though,
now they're awesome. Um. And then remember right said Fred
on Too Sexy huge in England, Yes, like there I'm
(10:40):
Too Sexy was actually only hit number two in England.
They had another one that hit number one, but here
in the States, I think it hit number one here.
And then that was it for right side Fred. Uh,
the same with Frankie Goes to Hollywood and uh yeah,
they were really big in Europe. And Gary Newman, Yeah
that was a good song. That song holds up car
(11:01):
go back and listen to cars. Yeah, that dude was
a good musician. Well, and he was hugely popular and
still like tours today. Yeah, so he's he's one of
those guys that's like, please don't call me a one
hit wonder. I had a long successful career. Look at
my house. You know it's a car No, I think
it's like a mansion. He lives in his car. It's
(11:21):
predel safest, he can lock all his doors. Uh Falco
and oh yeah, Nina, we're really big in German speaking countries.
Yeah yeah, I could see that. But you know, had
the ninety nine red balloons balloons and then Falco's rock
Me on My Dais. Yeah, huge hit here. It's like
(11:43):
it didn't occur to my young brain that that wasn't
from the Ama Dais soundtrack, because remember it came out
at about the same time as the movie, and um,
like I just thought it was part of the soundtrack, yeah,
the movie soundtrack. Well, the point with this, though, is
that one hit one or is sort of a sort
of a derogatory term to throw on unearnest. So a
(12:04):
lot of these people are like in America, like you jerks,
I was huge in Europe or maybe some other country
and uh yeah, who cares so much for you? One
hit the nineties crash Test Dummies, remember those dudes. Well
that was the song. Oh yeah, yeah, that's right, the Makrana,
(12:27):
even though I don't even like to count that. Um,
what about Faith No More is epic? Yeah, see that's
a band that hugely critically popular and had a big
cult following. But yeah, just the one hit the epic. Yeah,
that was the name of it, right, you want it all,
but you can't have it. That was I remember here
that song in the first time. This is the coolest
(12:49):
thing I've ever heard. Yeah, and that lead singer, what's
his name, Mike something, he's like super respected. He's been
another band like Mr. Bungle. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, it's a
big like has a big cult fall and not not
among colts, even like among people who aren't in cults.
All right, so that's music, that's an overview. Yeah. You
make a really good point in this article that, like
(13:09):
one hit wonder, that derogatory term isn't just um aimed
at people only in the music industry, although that's where
the lion's share of it is, but it shows up
in sports. You pointed out a couple of them, a
couple of instances. Yeah, well, if you have one hit
in baseball, then you've been a complete and utter failure.
But a couple of guys have had one hit and
that one hit was a home run, which is pretty cool,
(13:31):
which is pretty interesting. Who was that? There was a
guy named um Chris Jellic whose name might recognize for
some reason. Yeah, And I don't follow the Mets or anything,
but I guess I just saw that that bit of
trivia before that he had one hit and there was
a home run. Yeah. Maybe. So there's a guy who
didn't have a hit UM named Eddie Goodell. He had
(13:53):
one plate appearance in a nineteen fifty one game for
the Yankees, and he was a little person. Oh yeah,
and they put him in against the St. Louis Browns
and he drew four consecutive um uh balls and got
a walk. Really yeah, and his jerseys in the Hall
of Fame, and it's you can't see me doing this
(14:15):
right now, I'm rubbing my face. His number was one
eight really yeah. But he was I guess you could
say a one hit sports wonder. It was kind of
a fun story until then. Yeah, but I mean that's
that was his jam. That's what he got paid for,
and that's I mean, he was aware that he was
a little person. So money off. What about the art world,
design world, there's a very famous person, Harvey Belle, who
(14:39):
has the perfect name for what he did. Why is
it the perfect name, Harvey bell It sounds like the
creator of the smiley face. Yeah, the iconic seventy smiley face.
He created that as a marketing campaign UM kind it
sounded like an internal um morale campaign for State UH
Mutual Life Assurance company UM and it took off. I
(15:02):
don't know if the company made the money or what,
but he was paid two forty bucks for it. And
he never had another artistic hit. And I looked to
see if there were any other artists who were considered
one hit wonder and I found some, but I didn't
recognize any of them. I did recognize one grant would
the painter of American Gothic. Oh, yeah, he painted that
(15:23):
and was He won all sorts of prizes, became like
this like caused celeb like all over the art world,
and the media started digging into his life and realized
that he was a middle aged bachelor who lived at
home with his mother and sister, and like wanted to
know more about that, and all of a sudden, he
like just really couldn't handle the the limelight. And it's
(15:44):
it's a pretty sad story. I think I read an
article about it on Mental flass. It was worth reading.
So he never painted again, or I don't think he
ever kind of went for the Gusto if he didn't
just stop painting altogether. I don't remember the end of
the article. Well, the art world certainly has a lot
of people famous, pre famous for a single painting, but
they may have been, you know, very revered in other
(16:04):
areas like faith no More. That's right there, the Faith
no More of the art world. I told just all
the scream this last trip to New York. Oh yeah,
and you're like, yeah, this was like I can't see
what you're I mean, like you build something like that
up in your head, see it everywhere, and then just
to see the real one. It's either going to go
one of two ways. You're gonna be underwhelmed or amazed.
(16:28):
You know, I completely agree. And that's been my uh,
it's been what's happened to me with art because you
know how I feel about art. I know how you
feel about art. I love it. Well, now we're on
the road, driving in your truck. Want to learn a
thing or two from Josh can chuck it stuff you
should know? All right? What about books? Yeah? Um, To
(17:10):
Kill a Mockingbird. Yeah, that's the one most often cited
as the one hit wonder because Harperlely wrote one book
that's um one of those rare ones where I actually
think the movie is better than the book. And I
love the book. It's one of my favorite books of
all time. And I hadn't read it in a while,
and I went back and read it, and then I
(17:30):
watched the movie shortly after. I was like, holy cow,
the movies better than the book. Yeah, Gregory Peck, I
mean yeah, talk about one of the best casting. But everybody,
like all of those actors were amazing, every single one
of them. Yeah, Yeah, that's good stuff. She wrote, um,
the one book, and she worked on a second for
a while called The Long Goodbye, but shelved it. Then
in the nineteen eighties she started another book and never
(17:52):
finished that one either. And I guess she just procrastinated.
I think she just I don't know. I don't know
if anyone has an answer why she never wrote again.
Same with the Sallenger, Yeah, Catching the Rye. That was it,
except he wrote short stories too, but I mean I
think he never published another novel. Yeah, And I will
never know. And John Kennedy tool sure, Confederacy of Dunce
(18:14):
is how often do you think about that book just
in your normal life? How I don't know. Almost never.
Maybe yeah, a couple of times a year, maybe when
it's like a movie in the works that never happens.
I was thinking about that movie or that book yesterday
and I hadn't read this article yet. Have you read it? No? Yeah,
(18:36):
it's good. It's like I think a lot of people
have these expectations because it's known as his like genius
work after this guy committed suicide, and it is really good.
But um, I don't think it's like one of the
greatest books of all time or anything. Yeah, so what
happened to him? Do you know? No? I I just
I've never read the book. I don't know much about it.
I know it's kind of like a wacky Southern Gothic
(18:57):
yea yeah, um kind of novel I lived his aunts,
I think, or something like, yeah, this crazy character in Louisiana.
It's always grabbed my attention because it's just like a
perfect title, and then the guy's name is perfect as well,
John Kennedy tool or the character his the author got you, well,
he killed himself. He was clearly now suffered some sort
(19:19):
of mental illness, and um could not get published, and
that drove him to eventually commit suicide in nineteen nine,
and his mother made it her life's work to get
it published and did so. And then his second book
was published, The Neon Bible, I think in six and
that was made into a movie. So he's not a
one hit wonder then, well, Neon Bible wasn't a huge hit.
(19:43):
But but yeah, I would say he's a one hit wonder. Um.
And you also bring up movies too, man, Yeah, and
on books again, Sylvia Plath is on here for the
Bell Jar. I kinda wish I hadn't put that in
here because she was a well known poet. That's why
I hadn't mentioned it, you know. But she did write
the one book and then would you do stick her
(20:03):
head in the oven or something. I don't know how
she killed herself. I think Virginia Wolf drowned herself, right,
Sylvia herself on herself? I think did she That sounds right?
I remember that scene in Wonder Boys where Toby McGuire
rattles off the famous celebrity suicides. It was really great.
That was a great movie. Joseph Heller with Catch twenty two. Yeah,
(20:25):
that's certainly a one hit wonder um. So yeah, movies, um,
I mean there more directors and actors that you could
even mention that had one hit, but legit super super hits,
people like Michael is it Chimino or Samino? Samino? I think,
although if it's if you're speaking in the Italian, it
would be Chimino. Uh. He did The Deer Hunter, of course,
(20:49):
one Best Picture in four other Academy Awards. Did he mal? Huh?
Did he mal? That's what they tell him when they're
like making them play Russian Roulette? Did he Yeah, except
they scream it. Yeah. Yeah, that scene was so intense.
I saw that very young, really young to be seeing
that movie in retrospect, like it made an impression on you.
Oh yeah, huge? Um. But yeah. He famously made Heaven's
(21:13):
Gate um as his follow up, which was one of
the notorious disasters along with Ishtar. Wasn't like water World
Skate Warren Baby movie too? Or is that Heaven Can Wait?
He was in Heaven Can Wait an Ishtar? So what
about Heaven's Gate? What was that about? Yeah? I think
it was a Western if I'm not mistaken. Yeah, And
(21:36):
it was just a notorious failure and a very expensive one.
And then Tomino never he made a few other movies,
but you haven't heard of many of them. He did
a year of the Dragon was like with Mickey Rourke,
which the only other like notable movie that was supposed
to be a good one. Yeah, but it was far
from a hit, you know what I'm saying. And then
my favorite, uh, Steve Gordon, one of my favorite movies
(21:59):
of all time. I have not seen it. You didn't
see Arthur. Not only have I not seen the original Arthur,
I haven't seen the remake that includes our friend Hodgeman
as a candy store manager. I believe that was terrible,
by the way, not Hodgman's bit, not Hodgement was great,
but the remake was really bad. And it was so
sad because Arthur is one of the movies that I
(22:19):
hold very very dear to me, and Steve Gordon wrote
and directed it and then died afterwards. It was the
only movie he ever made by his own hand. No.
I think he had a heart attack or something and
died young but young ish, uh. And it was just
so like it was a gut wrenching experience watching the
(22:40):
remake for me? Why did you watch it? Like? For example,
I think Red Dawn is one of my favorite movies
of all time. There's not a chance that I will
ever see the remake of Red Dawn. Well, I'm not either,
And I learned after Arthur. Yeah, so that's the one
that taught you the lesson. Yeah, I'm not gonna watch
anything that was really precious to me if they rebooted
or remake it again. Never again. It sounds like Hodgeman
(23:01):
tell you a valuable lesson. Yeah. And I like Russell Brand,
you know, and I thought, you know, they made Helen
Mirre and John Gielgood's character and was just enough of
a spin where I was like, well, that's could be interesting.
But then everything about the movie was just some new
little spin to make it different. And it was like, hey,
let's make the man a woman, Let's make the the
(23:22):
white guy, uh Puerto Rican, you know, and it was
like Louis Guzman and it was just it was bad,
so bad. Yeah. Well that's it for Arthur. Yeah. Um,
if you want to learn more about Arthur, you can
type that word in this search part. Isn't that what
this podcast is about? I forgot? Yeah, this Arthur one
(23:44):
hit wonders More, that's what it was. You should read
this article by Chuck, it's a good one. Um. You
can type one hit wonders in the search bar how
stuff works dot com and it will bring up this
article again. Uh, commendable article. Thanks Uh and I said commendable.
So it's time for word from our sponsor. Well, now
we're on the road, driving in your truck. I want
(24:06):
to learn a thing or two from Josh can chuck.
It's stuff you should know. All right, thanks, Now it's
(24:33):
time for listener mail. Josh, I'm gonna call this. Uh,
we're gonna give this guy's wife a tongue last year.
Oh jeez, what you do? You'll see dudes have been
an avid listener since shortly after its inception. I'm a
huge fan, especially enjoy listening to it while I'm stressed out.
That always a soues my nerves to hear your band.
Over the years, I've tried to convince my now wife
(24:54):
Elizabeth to listen. Unfortunately, she's always insists that you two
are stoner and that you're retty Repartee is contrived. It
is so far off. She makes me change over to
this American Life or Radio Lab great shows, which are
podcast I download to fill the time between stuff you
should know releases. I've repeatedly informed her that you guys
(25:16):
are not stoners. You've done frequent podcasts on the l
effects of drugs, and this is not uh convinced her
still listen within the When you read letters during listener
mail about couples who enjoy listening together, that's so sad.
If I'm not mistaken, one pair even became engaged during
a listener mail segment. Yeah, we don't know about that yet.
(25:36):
I'm not vouch you for that. Um. It recently struck
me that perhaps if you were to give Elizabeth a
shout out at the end of the show, she might
be impressed enough to become a fan as well. You
could say hi to Elizabeth at the end of the show,
you'd be contributing to my marital blizz. So wait a second,
way second, you realize what's going on here? For being manipulated, Yeah,
(25:57):
to to say hey to somebody who doesn't even like us,
I know, I feel like there should be some money
exchange for this. Well, no, I feel instead of saying
hi to Elizabeth, but she needs to get a tongue
lashing for these baseless accusations. Yea of us sitting around
like in a garage smoking marijuanaking a marijuana and just
(26:18):
like talking. Yeah, that's b s. That's someone who's never
listened to the show. We had banter. We might go
off on tangents and we might say like five million
times in this sentence, but we're not sitting around smoking
weed just rambling. Yeah, we're just relaxed. A lot of
work goes into the show. So Elizabeth mellow out. Dude, Yeah, seriously,
(26:40):
maybe you need to go in the garage. Not so Anyway,
this guy is a neurologist and he said the alien
hand syndrome part struck close to his heart. Awesome. And Devin,
if this doesn't do it, then Elizabeth, you can just
go listen to this American Life and Radio life. Let
her hang out with our glass. It's cool. And I'm
(27:00):
sorry for your marriage because it is clearly clearly headed
in the wrong direction. I think we had her until
just that last sence right there. No, she's great in
Churchill Partill tune in. Um, we'll find out. Let us know, Devin,
will you if you want us to say something specific
to somebody you know, Um, we very well might do
it if you ask you might. We have before um.
(27:23):
You can tweet to us at s y s K podcast.
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(27:44):
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Hey, everybody, chuck here and it's Saturday, and that means
that I am hungover. I'm just kidding. I feel like
a fresh daisy. And right now I'm going to listen
to this one again, and I think you should too.
The Stuff you Should Know select this week is called
what makes a One Hit Wonder? Super super Cool stuff
about pop culture and music. From March two, enjoy m
(00:26):
Welcome to Stuff you Should Know, a production of I
Heart Radios How Stuff Works. Hey, and welcome to the podcast.
I'm Josh Clark. There's Charles W. Chuck Bryant. Say something. Um, yeah,
I didn't even say say something funny. I just said
(00:47):
say something I know. Frozen. Yeah, it's all right, man.
That's good quality in a broadcaster to freeze up on
the air and a professional talker. Yeah, yeah, how you
doing was great? Freezing? Um? I'm good man. I'm This
is a fun, goofy little topic and we haven't done
one like that in a while. This was a fun
article written by a guy named Charles W. Bryant, the
(01:08):
writer for the site. Yeah, I will go ahead and
say one thing I was disappointed in in this article,
and I would still like to see someone tackle this
in documentary style. Maybe is the psychology of being a
one hit wonder? Oh, like what it does to your psyche? Yeah?
Is it better to have that one hit and fade
away and at least you had that? Or is it
(01:28):
better to have never? You know? I just I would
be real curious to see a series of interviews with
one hit wonders to see like how they feel about it.
You're saying, is it better to have hit and lost
than never to have hit at all? Exactly? And I
couldn't really find anything on that. So I'm sure there's
one or two who like, listen to the podcast, and
if you do, right in, let us know how it is.
(01:48):
We're interested. Loue Bega, Yeah, the very least lou Vega listens,
the fake loue Vega. So, Chuck, I wanted to commend
you for this article because you really like this is
a tough one for With how stuff works articles, we
typically take a topic that is, you know, has a
(02:09):
lot of research done on it, it's very well defined,
and then we deconstruct it. This one is like I
looked on the internet and if you type in one
hit wonder, there is like zero scholarly work done on
it for good reason. Yeah, well, I mean it's interesting
though too. Like you brought up the psychology of being
a one there shouldn't been anyone ever done a study
like that. There is nothing. It's all just lists. And
(02:30):
I actually did find one good website. It's called um
one Hit Wonder Central dot Com and they have everything
and you can play like every song they have it
by years who the one hit wonder was from like
the sixties to the two thousand's, maybe fifties. There are
some of the greatest songs to me, or some of
the one hit Wonders. And I mean that's the points,
Like you know, one hit Wonder is just something that
(02:51):
everybody liked at one time. We just didn't like whatever
else they were making, right, Um, at least as a
large collective group. Anyway, back to me commending you, Um,
you had to take something that was really amorphous that
everybody knew and we knew if you got wrong, and
whipping into shape like a definable shape, and you got
it right. I think you did a great job. So Um.
(03:15):
The first thing you pointed out was that no one
is certain of the origin of this phrase. That's right,
but we figured out that it was it first came
in print. Right, Well, that's what phrases dot org says,
and I couldn't find anything to dispute it. But a
writer there wrote the sentence in July seventy seven about
Abba instead of becoming what everyone expected a one hit wonder,
(03:37):
they soon had a string of hits behind them. And
although the website phrase dot org does say it appears
to have already been a used phrase, but this is
the first time they've seen it in print, right, and
and so, and there actually is like a definition for
one hit wonder, like there's well, a hit, I guess
you define a hit, and then it's got to be
(03:59):
on the because we're so American centric, has to be
on the billboard top and then specifically in the top
forty to be considered a hit. Right, Yeah, technically for
like when most people like there have been books written
about one hit wonders and that's usually what what they say. Okay,
so that wasn't just you or anything saying. And I
thought it was a great definition. No, it's a good definition,
(04:20):
but that's the generally held definition. But then that's where
it gets really blurry. As we're about to find out right, Well,
in many ways, I mean, yeah, you make a point
that there's a lot of one hit wonders by that definition.
Who are legendary musicians like Jimi Hendrix one hit, Janis
Joplin one hit, Garth Brooks as Chris Gaines. Yeah, that's
(04:45):
this only Billboard hit. Yeah, this is only Billboard Top
forty hit. Yeah, but he had country hits, just lived
on the country top ten. But yeah, as in the
mainstream top forty. His only hit was Chris Kayes with
the haircut and the soul patch Man. That was Yeah,
(05:05):
I don't know what the song that was even I
don't um beck Yeah, the Dead, The Dead, the White Stripes,
lou Reid, Iggy pop Divo, some like iconic bands and
musicians that have only had one hit. Um. And then
you've got artists who never had that hit but are
(05:25):
still considered one hit wonders. Because what you end up
realizing is, despite the definition of what a hit is,
a one hit wonder is something different. It's just an
artist and a song who captured something for a moment
in time. It doesn't matter if it was a top
forty hit. Right like you you say, um, Wallavoodoo's Mexican Radio. Absolutely,
(05:48):
it's not a top forty hit. No, but that's definitely
a hit. Sure in the zeitgeist did you put it? Absolutely?
Who else? I'll melt with you Modern English, the Weather Girls,
it's raining man, Like you would say, all of these
are definitely one hit wonders, and none of them had
top forty hits. Right, So, but sticking to the strict definition,
(06:09):
um that, I mean that still works too. Write like
the Penguins, Earth Angel. Yeah, in the fifties, right, Um,
in the sixties you had um Summertime Blues by Blue Cheer,
but they really spent blue on like their one there,
one thing there, one shot was covered in blue. Blue
Cheer did Summertime Blues? Green tambourine? Remember that song? No,
(06:32):
I didn't mean tambourine. It was very like psychedelic No
and the Lemon Pipers. You know. It's one of those
songs where sort of like h in the seventies, Argents,
hold your head up like everybody knows that song. But
I bet ninety nine people out of a hundred I've
never heard of the band Argent. No, they probably think, oh,
(06:53):
wasn't that The guests who or wasn't that in Joe Dirt?
Or yes, wasn't that in? Was it? Yeah? Really I
never saw that movie. What I never saw Joe Dirt?
Oh man, such a great like keep your Chin up
movie is so good. Like I really can hate David Spade,
you can hate all of that kind of comedy, but
(07:16):
that movie has such like it's got heart, it's a
cute movie. Well, I had friends. It's on Netflix streaming. Yeah,
I had friends that worked on it. And that's where
I have my Gary Busey insider story. Oh yeah, yeah,
I think I told you. You You know he was He
was supposed to play the father and if you'll notice
in the film, he does not play the father. No,
it's done by one Fred Ward. Yeah. So Gary Bucy
was on set for a day and it didn't work out.
(07:37):
He made it. Wish I could tell the whole story.
He made it into Black Sheep with Chris Farley and um,
David Spade. That. Yeah, he was like the crazy guy
who lived in a school bus in the woods. It
was the part he was born to play exactly. Please
don't come to our office, Gary. Um. All right, So
that was the fifties and that's generally when the rock
(08:00):
era in the fifties is when you people say you
can start talking about things like one hit wonders, like
not some guy who had one big band hit in
the nineteen thirties, although I'm sure they were there, you
know that's true. Uh, there's been one song that was
a one hit wonder for two bands, which is interesting.
Oh yeah, let's hear funky Town really yeah, Lips Incorporated.
(08:21):
And then I don't know if you remember Pseudo Echo.
They did a version of that in it was a
little more electric and upbeat, and that was a bona
fide top forty hit as well. Seems can't people couldn't
get enough of Funky Town. I hope whoever wrote that
like really cast in. Yeah, so the sixties all right, Now,
(08:45):
the sixties was the green tambour in seventies songs like
Spirit in the Sky by Norman Greenbaum. Yeah it's a
good song. Uh, it was an Apollo thirteen one took
over the line. I I literally wrote shutter next to that,
what like, oh you hate that song? It's pretty bad.
Brewer and Shipley and then Seasons in the Sun, great song.
(09:07):
Terry Jack's never heard of the guy no no, no
rev no re um. And you also make the point
that the seventies were lousy with disco one hit wonders.
And in our Disco episode we talked about why because
it was all producer driven rather than artists driven. Exactly.
I didn't even bother to like list any in here.
You know, it's you can just name a disco song
and there you have it. The eighties, of course, you
(09:29):
had bands like Soft Cells, Tainted Love and Oh Mickey,
You're So Fine, Tony Basil, Uh, I Want Candy by
Bow Wow Wow Kajago. Remember what song I don't remember?
Is that who? That was too shy shy? Yeah. Uh
so the eighties was lousy with it, but a lot
of those songs are great songs, and a lot of
the artists in the eighties were popular in other countries. Yeah,
(09:55):
and are known as one hit wonders here in the US.
Like I was reading an article on I think Cracked
maybe about one hit Wonders and they were saying, like,
Aha had Take on Me, which was a hit here
in the United States, but that was it. But they're
like one of the top fifty grossing bands of all
time worldwide. Yeah. Well, and Aha falls into another weird category,
(10:18):
which is a band that's known as a one hit
wonder who actually had a quieter second hit. Oh really Yeah,
they had a song called the Sun Always Shines on
TV that was like a top twenty hit. I nick, wow,
I don't remember that one. Nobody does. They're good though,
now they're awesome. Um. And then remember right said Fred
on Too Sexy huge in England, Yes, like there I'm
(10:40):
Too Sexy was actually only hit number two in England.
They had another one that hit number one, but here
in the States, I think it hit number one here.
And then that was it for right side Fred. Uh,
the same with Frankie Goes to Hollywood and uh yeah,
they were really big in Europe. And Gary Newman, Yeah
that was a good song. That song holds up car
(11:01):
go back and listen to cars. Yeah, that dude was
a good musician. Well, and he was hugely popular and
still like tours today. Yeah, so he's he's one of
those guys that's like, please don't call me a one
hit wonder. I had a long successful career. Look at
my house. You know it's a car No, I think
it's like a mansion. He lives in his car. It's
(11:21):
predel safest, he can lock all his doors. Uh Falco
and oh yeah, Nina, we're really big in German speaking countries.
Yeah yeah, I could see that. But you know, had
the ninety nine red balloons balloons and then Falco's rock
Me on My Dais. Yeah, huge hit here. It's like
(11:43):
it didn't occur to my young brain that that wasn't
from the Ama Dais soundtrack, because remember it came out
at about the same time as the movie, and um,
like I just thought it was part of the soundtrack, yeah,
the movie soundtrack. Well, the point with this, though, is
that one hit one or is sort of a sort
of a derogatory term to throw on unearnest. So a
(12:04):
lot of these people are like in America, like you jerks,
I was huge in Europe or maybe some other country
and uh yeah, who cares so much for you? One
hit the nineties crash Test Dummies, remember those dudes. Well
that was the song. Oh yeah, yeah, that's right, the Makrana,
(12:27):
even though I don't even like to count that. Um,
what about Faith No More is epic? Yeah, see that's
a band that hugely critically popular and had a big
cult following. But yeah, just the one hit the epic. Yeah,
that was the name of it, right, you want it all,
but you can't have it. That was I remember here
that song in the first time. This is the coolest
(12:49):
thing I've ever heard. Yeah, and that lead singer, what's
his name, Mike something, he's like super respected. He's been
another band like Mr. Bungle. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, it's a
big like has a big cult fall and not not
among colts, even like among people who aren't in cults.
All right, so that's music, that's an overview. Yeah. You
make a really good point in this article that, like
(13:09):
one hit wonder, that derogatory term isn't just um aimed
at people only in the music industry, although that's where
the lion's share of it is, but it shows up
in sports. You pointed out a couple of them, a
couple of instances. Yeah, well, if you have one hit
in baseball, then you've been a complete and utter failure.
But a couple of guys have had one hit and
that one hit was a home run, which is pretty cool,
(13:31):
which is pretty interesting. Who was that? There was a
guy named um Chris Jellic whose name might recognize for
some reason. Yeah, And I don't follow the Mets or anything,
but I guess I just saw that that bit of
trivia before that he had one hit and there was
a home run. Yeah. Maybe. So there's a guy who
didn't have a hit UM named Eddie Goodell. He had
(13:53):
one plate appearance in a nineteen fifty one game for
the Yankees, and he was a little person. Oh yeah,
and they put him in against the St. Louis Browns
and he drew four consecutive um uh balls and got
a walk. Really yeah, and his jerseys in the Hall
of Fame, and it's you can't see me doing this
(14:15):
right now, I'm rubbing my face. His number was one
eight really yeah. But he was I guess you could
say a one hit sports wonder. It was kind of
a fun story until then. Yeah, but I mean that's
that was his jam. That's what he got paid for,
and that's I mean, he was aware that he was
a little person. So money off. What about the art world,
design world, there's a very famous person, Harvey Belle, who
(14:39):
has the perfect name for what he did. Why is
it the perfect name, Harvey bell It sounds like the
creator of the smiley face. Yeah, the iconic seventy smiley face.
He created that as a marketing campaign UM kind it
sounded like an internal um morale campaign for State UH
Mutual Life Assurance company UM and it took off. I
(15:02):
don't know if the company made the money or what,
but he was paid two forty bucks for it. And
he never had another artistic hit. And I looked to
see if there were any other artists who were considered
one hit wonder and I found some, but I didn't
recognize any of them. I did recognize one grant would
the painter of American Gothic. Oh, yeah, he painted that
(15:23):
and was He won all sorts of prizes, became like
this like caused celeb like all over the art world,
and the media started digging into his life and realized
that he was a middle aged bachelor who lived at
home with his mother and sister, and like wanted to
know more about that, and all of a sudden, he
like just really couldn't handle the the limelight. And it's
(15:44):
it's a pretty sad story. I think I read an
article about it on Mental flass. It was worth reading.
So he never painted again, or I don't think he
ever kind of went for the Gusto if he didn't
just stop painting altogether. I don't remember the end of
the article. Well, the art world certainly has a lot
of people famous, pre famous for a single painting, but
they may have been, you know, very revered in other
(16:04):
areas like faith no More. That's right there, the Faith
no More of the art world. I told just all
the scream this last trip to New York. Oh yeah,
and you're like, yeah, this was like I can't see
what you're I mean, like you build something like that
up in your head, see it everywhere, and then just
to see the real one. It's either going to go
one of two ways. You're gonna be underwhelmed or amazed.
(16:28):
You know, I completely agree. And that's been my uh,
it's been what's happened to me with art because you
know how I feel about art. I know how you
feel about art. I love it. Well, now we're on
the road, driving in your truck. Want to learn a
thing or two from Josh can chuck it stuff you
should know? All right? What about books? Yeah? Um, To
(17:10):
Kill a Mockingbird. Yeah, that's the one most often cited
as the one hit wonder because Harperlely wrote one book
that's um one of those rare ones where I actually
think the movie is better than the book. And I
love the book. It's one of my favorite books of
all time. And I hadn't read it in a while,
and I went back and read it, and then I
(17:30):
watched the movie shortly after. I was like, holy cow,
the movies better than the book. Yeah, Gregory Peck, I
mean yeah, talk about one of the best casting. But everybody,
like all of those actors were amazing, every single one
of them. Yeah, Yeah, that's good stuff. She wrote, um,
the one book, and she worked on a second for
a while called The Long Goodbye, but shelved it. Then
in the nineteen eighties she started another book and never
(17:52):
finished that one either. And I guess she just procrastinated.
I think she just I don't know. I don't know
if anyone has an answer why she never wrote again.
Same with the Sallenger, Yeah, Catching the Rye. That was it,
except he wrote short stories too, but I mean I
think he never published another novel. Yeah, And I will
never know. And John Kennedy tool sure, Confederacy of Dunce
(18:14):
is how often do you think about that book just
in your normal life? How I don't know. Almost never.
Maybe yeah, a couple of times a year, maybe when
it's like a movie in the works that never happens.
I was thinking about that movie or that book yesterday
and I hadn't read this article yet. Have you read it? No? Yeah,
(18:36):
it's good. It's like I think a lot of people
have these expectations because it's known as his like genius
work after this guy committed suicide, and it is really good.
But um, I don't think it's like one of the
greatest books of all time or anything. Yeah, so what
happened to him? Do you know? No? I I just
I've never read the book. I don't know much about it.
I know it's kind of like a wacky Southern Gothic
(18:57):
yea yeah, um kind of novel I lived his aunts,
I think, or something like, yeah, this crazy character in Louisiana.
It's always grabbed my attention because it's just like a
perfect title, and then the guy's name is perfect as well,
John Kennedy tool or the character his the author got you, well,
he killed himself. He was clearly now suffered some sort
(19:19):
of mental illness, and um could not get published, and
that drove him to eventually commit suicide in nineteen nine,
and his mother made it her life's work to get
it published and did so. And then his second book
was published, The Neon Bible, I think in six and
that was made into a movie. So he's not a
one hit wonder then, well, Neon Bible wasn't a huge hit.
(19:43):
But but yeah, I would say he's a one hit wonder. Um.
And you also bring up movies too, man, Yeah, and
on books again, Sylvia Plath is on here for the
Bell Jar. I kinda wish I hadn't put that in
here because she was a well known poet. That's why
I hadn't mentioned it, you know. But she did write
the one book and then would you do stick her
(20:03):
head in the oven or something. I don't know how
she killed herself. I think Virginia Wolf drowned herself, right,
Sylvia herself on herself? I think did she That sounds right?
I remember that scene in Wonder Boys where Toby McGuire
rattles off the famous celebrity suicides. It was really great.
That was a great movie. Joseph Heller with Catch twenty two. Yeah,
(20:25):
that's certainly a one hit wonder um. So yeah, movies, um,
I mean there more directors and actors that you could
even mention that had one hit, but legit super super hits,
people like Michael is it Chimino or Samino? Samino? I think,
although if it's if you're speaking in the Italian, it
would be Chimino. Uh. He did The Deer Hunter, of course,
(20:49):
one Best Picture in four other Academy Awards. Did he mal? Huh?
Did he mal? That's what they tell him when they're
like making them play Russian Roulette? Did he Yeah, except
they scream it. Yeah. Yeah, that scene was so intense.
I saw that very young, really young to be seeing
that movie in retrospect, like it made an impression on you.
Oh yeah, huge? Um. But yeah. He famously made Heaven's
(21:13):
Gate um as his follow up, which was one of
the notorious disasters along with Ishtar. Wasn't like water World
Skate Warren Baby movie too? Or is that Heaven Can Wait?
He was in Heaven Can Wait an Ishtar? So what
about Heaven's Gate? What was that about? Yeah? I think
it was a Western if I'm not mistaken. Yeah, And
(21:36):
it was just a notorious failure and a very expensive one.
And then Tomino never he made a few other movies,
but you haven't heard of many of them. He did
a year of the Dragon was like with Mickey Rourke,
which the only other like notable movie that was supposed
to be a good one. Yeah, but it was far
from a hit, you know what I'm saying. And then
my favorite, uh, Steve Gordon, one of my favorite movies
(21:59):
of all time. I have not seen it. You didn't
see Arthur. Not only have I not seen the original Arthur,
I haven't seen the remake that includes our friend Hodgeman
as a candy store manager. I believe that was terrible,
by the way, not Hodgman's bit, not Hodgement was great,
but the remake was really bad. And it was so
sad because Arthur is one of the movies that I
(22:19):
hold very very dear to me, and Steve Gordon wrote
and directed it and then died afterwards. It was the
only movie he ever made by his own hand. No.
I think he had a heart attack or something and
died young but young ish, uh. And it was just
so like it was a gut wrenching experience watching the
(22:40):
remake for me? Why did you watch it? Like? For example,
I think Red Dawn is one of my favorite movies
of all time. There's not a chance that I will
ever see the remake of Red Dawn. Well, I'm not either,
And I learned after Arthur. Yeah, so that's the one
that taught you the lesson. Yeah, I'm not gonna watch
anything that was really precious to me if they rebooted
or remake it again. Never again. It sounds like Hodgeman
(23:01):
tell you a valuable lesson. Yeah. And I like Russell Brand,
you know, and I thought, you know, they made Helen
Mirre and John Gielgood's character and was just enough of
a spin where I was like, well, that's could be interesting.
But then everything about the movie was just some new
little spin to make it different. And it was like, hey,
let's make the man a woman, Let's make the the
(23:22):
white guy, uh Puerto Rican, you know, and it was
like Louis Guzman and it was just it was bad,
so bad. Yeah. Well that's it for Arthur. Yeah. Um,
if you want to learn more about Arthur, you can
type that word in this search part. Isn't that what
this podcast is about? I forgot? Yeah, this Arthur one
(23:44):
hit wonders More, that's what it was. You should read
this article by Chuck, it's a good one. Um. You
can type one hit wonders in the search bar how
stuff works dot com and it will bring up this
article again. Uh, commendable article. Thanks Uh and I said commendable.
So it's time for word from our sponsor. Well, now
we're on the road, driving in your truck. I want
(24:06):
to learn a thing or two from Josh can chuck.
It's stuff you should know. All right, thanks, Now it's
(24:33):
time for listener mail. Josh, I'm gonna call this. Uh,
we're gonna give this guy's wife a tongue last year.
Oh jeez, what you do? You'll see dudes have been
an avid listener since shortly after its inception. I'm a
huge fan, especially enjoy listening to it while I'm stressed out.
That always a soues my nerves to hear your band.
Over the years, I've tried to convince my now wife
(24:54):
Elizabeth to listen. Unfortunately, she's always insists that you two
are stoner and that you're retty Repartee is contrived. It
is so far off. She makes me change over to
this American Life or Radio Lab great shows, which are
podcast I download to fill the time between stuff you
should know releases. I've repeatedly informed her that you guys
(25:16):
are not stoners. You've done frequent podcasts on the l
effects of drugs, and this is not uh convinced her
still listen within the When you read letters during listener
mail about couples who enjoy listening together, that's so sad.
If I'm not mistaken, one pair even became engaged during
a listener mail segment. Yeah, we don't know about that yet.
(25:36):
I'm not vouch you for that. Um. It recently struck
me that perhaps if you were to give Elizabeth a
shout out at the end of the show, she might
be impressed enough to become a fan as well. You
could say hi to Elizabeth at the end of the show,
you'd be contributing to my marital blizz. So wait a second,
way second, you realize what's going on here? For being manipulated, Yeah,
(25:57):
to to say hey to somebody who doesn't even like us,
I know, I feel like there should be some money
exchange for this. Well, no, I feel instead of saying
hi to Elizabeth, but she needs to get a tongue
lashing for these baseless accusations. Yea of us sitting around
like in a garage smoking marijuanaking a marijuana and just
(26:18):
like talking. Yeah, that's b s. That's someone who's never
listened to the show. We had banter. We might go
off on tangents and we might say like five million
times in this sentence, but we're not sitting around smoking
weed just rambling. Yeah, we're just relaxed. A lot of
work goes into the show. So Elizabeth mellow out. Dude, Yeah, seriously,
(26:40):
maybe you need to go in the garage. Not so Anyway,
this guy is a neurologist and he said the alien
hand syndrome part struck close to his heart. Awesome. And Devin,
if this doesn't do it, then Elizabeth, you can just
go listen to this American Life and Radio life. Let
her hang out with our glass. It's cool. And I'm
(27:00):
sorry for your marriage because it is clearly clearly headed
in the wrong direction. I think we had her until
just that last sence right there. No, she's great in
Churchill Partill tune in. Um, we'll find out. Let us know, Devin,
will you if you want us to say something specific
to somebody you know, Um, we very well might do
it if you ask you might. We have before um.
(27:23):
You can tweet to us at s y s K podcast.
You can join us on Facebook dot com so list
Stuff you Should Know. You can send us an email
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(27:44):
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Dateline NBC
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Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.