[78-L] It's One-Hit Wonder Day! (must be some 78s that qualify)

[Cary Ginell]

"The Third Man" Theme - Anton Karas.

Cary Ginell

> Date: Sun, 25 Sep 2011 18:33:28 +0100
> From: ampex354 at gmail.com
> To: 78-l at klickitat.78online.com
> Subject: Re: [78-L] It's One-Hit Wonder Day! (must be some 78s that qualify)
> 
> I can think of a one-hit wonder who didn't record a 78 but whose hit 1974
> single contained two songs which both dated from the 78 era:  Lena
> Zavaroni's 'Ma! (He's making eyes at me)' b/w 'Rock-a-bye your baby with a
> Dixie melody'; the former from 1921, the latter from 1918.
> 
> On Sun, Sep 25, 2011 at 6:14 PM, Rockined1 <rockined1 at aol.com> wrote:
> 
> >
> > the obvious one------Near You by Francis Craig on Bullet [1947]
> > Open the Door Richard- Jack McVea BLACK & WHITE  1947
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: David Lennick <dlennick at sympatico.ca>
> > To: 78L <78-L at 78online.com>
> > Sent: Sun, Sep 25, 2011 10:24 am
> > Subject: [78-L] It's One-Hit Wonder Day! (must be some 78s that qualify)
> >
> >
> > National One-Hit Wonder Day Comes Sept. 25 (VIDEO)
> > irst Posted: 9/23/11 01:07 PM ET   Updated: 9/23/11 11:28 PM ET
> > ttp://
> > www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/23/national-one-hit-day-sept-25_n_960605.html?ref=fb&src=sp&comm_ref=false
> > share this story
> > 563761Add to collections View My Collections >
> >  Collect articles and browse other HuffPost members' collections.
> > earn More > Follow   Video , Afternoon Delight , Billy Vera At This Moment
> > ,
> > isco Duck , Looking Glass Brandy (You'Re A Fine Girl) , Los Del Rio , Marc
> > ohn , National One-Hit Wonder Day , Starland Vocal Band , Tony Burrows ,
> > unkytown , Macarena , One-Hit Wonder , Steve Rosen , Weird News
> >
> > ndy Warhol said everyone gets 15 minutes of fame, but if you ask one-hit
> > onders, they'll say you're lucky to get 3 minutes and 30 seconds.
> > Before reality TV started turning ordinary folks into stars, there was no
> > aster path to the peak of celebrity -- and no more direct route back to the
> > epths of obscurity -- than being a one-hit wonder.
> > Granted, there are probably good reasons why folks like Los Del Rio, the
> > two
> > iddle-aged Spanish guys who took "Macarena" to No. 1 in 1996, never
> > followed
> > p their big hit, and the world was surely okay with making C.W. McCall's
> > 1976
> > it "Convoy" the only No. 1 song dedicated to CB radio.
> > But we come here to praise one-hit wonders, not to bury them. For every
> > ne-and-done novelty like "Disco Duck" by Rick Dees or annoyingly catchy and
> > loying tune like Charlene's 1983 smash "I've Never Been To Me," there is a
> > tone-cold classic like "Funkytown" by Lipps Inc. or "Sex And Candy" by
> > Marcy
> > layground.
> > Music writer Steve Rosen thinks all of them have a place and deserve a
> > special
> > ay: Sept. 25 to be exact, which he declared as National One-Hit Wonder Day
> > in
> > 990.
> > Rosen has a special love for those acts who came in, made their statement
> > and
> > idn't hang around -- even the embarrassing songs like the aforementioned
> > Macarena" or even "Afternoon Delight" by the Starland Vocal Band.
> > "You have to take the kitsch with the classics," he told HuffPost Weird
> > News.
> > It's interesting to hear a song like 'Disco Duck' and wonder what people
> > were
> > hinking."
> >
> > hile many people associate the phrase "one-hit wonder" with what they were
> > oing when songs like "Seasons In The Sun" by Terry Jacks (1974) or
> > Unbelievable" by EMF (1991) were big on the charts, Rosen believes their
> > eyday was the early years of rock.
> > "Back in the 1950s and 60s, independent record labels ruled rock and there
> > were
> > ll sorts of avenues where a catchy song could get played on the radio,"
> > Rosen
> > aid. "It left a lot of good music, more than we probably can catalog."
> > Rosen stopped openly promoting National One-Hit Wonder Day in 2001 after
> > the
> > /11 attacks, but the day has lived on without him.
> > "I was driving from Los Angeles to Las Vegas one time on Sept. 25 -- which
> > is
> > lso my birthday -- and I heard a disc jockey announce it was 'National
> > One-Hit
> > onder Day,'" Rosen said proudly. "So it's taken a life of its own."
> > Early on, Rosen had rules about what constitutes a true one-hit wonder.
> > "I used to be a purist," he confessed. "To me, only a band that had one
> > chart
> > it and disappeared could count as a one-hit wonder. However, I've modified
> > hat opinion. Take Looking Glass. They hit No. 1 in 1972 with 'Brandy
> > (You're A
> > ine Girl),' and while they had another hit, 'Jimmy Loves Mary Anne,' a year
> > ater, it only went to No. 33.
> > "So, no, the letter of the law says they weren't one-hit wonders, but the
> > pirit of the law says they were because no one is calling a radio station
> > sking to hear 'Jimmy Loves Mary Anne.' People don't remember the follow-up
> > it, they remember the impact of the first song," said Rosen.
> > Former Looking Glass leader Elliot Lurie, who wrote and sang "Brandy,"
> > nderstands why he gets lumped into the one-hit wonder box, but has this
> > hilosophy: "One is better than none."
> > "If you know the technical definition of a one-hit wonder, we don't
> > qualify,
> > ut 'Brandy' just keeps coming back. I don't take offense to the term.
> > 'Brandy'
> > till has an impact and it worked. All the parts came together. If I knew
> > how
> > o do it again, I would," Lurie said.
> > By the same token, Rosen doesn't consider the Grateful Dead or Jimi Hendrix
> > to
> > e one-hit wonders, even though they had only one song each that hit the top
> > 40
> > harts.
> > And then there are those musicians who have recorded more than one one-hit
> > onder. For instance, British singer Tony Burrows sang lead on five early
> > 1970s
> > op classics: Edison Lighthouse's "Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes),"
> > White
> > lains' "My Baby Loves Lovin'," The Pipkins' novelty song "Gimme Dat Ding,"
> > The
> > irst Class' "Beach Baby" and The Brotherhood of Man's "United We Stand."
> > Billy Vera is one artist who gets lumped into the one-hit wonder category
> > ecause his 1986 No. 1 hit "At This Moment" looms so large in his career.
> > In truth, Vera had four top 40 hits in the 1960s and 1970s before "At This
> > oment" was played on the popular sitcom "Family Ties" and hit it big. But
> > he
> > oesn't mind being miscategorized as a one-hit wonder.
> > "It doesn't bother me. Every time it gets used -- even on a one-hit wonder
> > pecial on VH-1 -- I make money," said Vera, who is able to look bemusedly
> > at
> > he one-hit wonder tag because he's had a long, varied career that has
> > included
> > riting hits for Dolly Parton, leading the house band on George Lopez's
> > ecently canceled talk show and producing reissue albums of his favorite
> > bands.
> > Vera also doesn't think having just one hit is a bad thing.
> > "A lot of people only have one great hit in them," Vera said. "I suspect
> > many
> > f those one-hits were huge, and there is nothing harder to follow than a
> > big
> > it because expectations are so high. Sometimes, the follow-up is just a
> > ewrite of that big hit."
> > Steven Greenberg is another musician who knows the elusive joy of having
> > that
> > ne big moment. In 1980, he was the mastermind behind Lipps Inc., which gave
> > he world one of the all-time great one-shots with "Funkytown," a dance hit
> > hat is still played regularly all over the world.
> > "I don't mind having that one hit," he said. "I call it 'one-hit
> > wonderful.'"
> > Greenberg won't discuss how much money he's earned from the song, except to
> > say
> > t's allowed him "some creative freedom." For instance, he was able to
> > produce
> > nd direct a 1998 documentary called "Funkytown," which followed the careers
> > of
> > ive bands from his home town of Minneapolis.
> > "[The song] is a nice calling card with a certain segment of the
> > population,"
> > reenberg acknowledged. "Everyone has a positive response to it. It opens
> > oors."
> > Pop culture historian Brent Mann worked in radio during the 1980s, a
> > fertile
> > eriod for one-hit wonders like Thomas Dolby, Dexys Midnight Runners and
> > even
> > ump N' The Saddle's Three Stooges-themed novelty "The Curly Shuffle."
> > "Every time I played a one-hit wonder, the phones would ring," said Mann,
> > uthor of the 2003 book "99 Red Balloons And 100 Other All-Time Great
> > One-Hit
> > onders."
> > Although Mann is a lifelong lover of one-hit wonders and considers Marc
> > Cohn's
> > 991 hit "Walking In Memphis" to be the pinnacle, he is pessimistic about
> > the
> > uture of this unique part of pop culture history.
> > "If a radio station can break a song, it gives hope to indie labels, but
> > the
> > ormula for ranking has changed," he said. "Now a song can be a hit, but
> > never
> > e played on radio -- like Selena Gomez. She gets tons of downloads, but you
> > on't hear her on the radio."
> > So if one-hit wonders are a dying breed, Mann believes they should be
> > enjoyed
> > nd celebrated -- especially on Sept. 25.
> > "I say go to YouTube -- it's now the world's largest jukebox -- and plug in
> > homas Dolby's 'She Blinded Me With Science,' Katrina and the Waves'
> > 'Walking
> > n Sunshine' and even Rick Dees' 'Disco Duck,' and just enjoy."
> >
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