I think MOST great records are one hit wonders.
This preoccupation with "artistes" is totally greed/corporate/profit based.
If we all concentrated on One Hit Wonders, genuine real artistes would emerge from the massed ranks.

Lotus Eaters : First Picture of you
First Class : Beach Baby
Fiction factory : Feels like Heaven
Renaissance : Northern Lights
Piglets : Johnny Reggae ("Baby Love" was just as good)

and a personal favourite

Susan Fassbender : Twilight cafe

"Life In A Northern Town" by (errrrrrrm I forgot!)
"Spanish Stroll" Mink deville
"Je Taim`e" Jane Berkin and Serge
"lovin You Is Easy Cos you`re Beautiful"(?)

I agree JK. A great deal of that chart had people who have had amazing careers anyway like Trevor Horn, Kim Fowley or Serge Gainsbourg. So-called 'one hits' seemed pretty lucrative too - maybe better than three or four mediocre forgettable tunes?

Anyway, here's another five classics:

Eye Level - Simon Park Orchestra
Because The Night - Patti Smith
Love Is In The Air by John Paul Young
Substitute by Clout
Echo Beach - Martha and The Muffins

Martin K wrote:
"Life In A Northern Town" by (errrrrrrm I forgot!)
"Spanish Stroll" Mink deville
"Je Taim`e" Jane Berkin and Serge
"lovin You Is Easy Cos you`re Beautiful"(?)
Willy Deville is one of my all-time favourite songwriters. If you like "Spanish Stroll", check out stuff like "Just to Walk That Little Girl Home" or his version of Moon Martin's "Cadillac Walk" or hendrix' "Hey Joe". Spine-tingling stuff. Serge Gainsbourg doesn't qualify as a one-hit wonder, as he had a full and very profitable career up until he croaked. He also chalked up quite a few hits by writing for other people.

life in a northern town was dream academy

Made Number One many years after being first released. He'd given up trying to make a living in the music world - although never given up loving it. He worked in garages and even as a Church Minister before some DJ found an old copy of his record in a sale and gave it a spin. It was a hit on the dance floor, and things moved pretty fast from there.

Hank re-emerged. Recorded an LP (I have a copy - very good R&R). He released other singles, such as "Kangaroo Rock" and "Rakin 'n' Scrapin", both of which found their way into the Radio Tees Top 30, but "Jungle Rock" remains his only national top 40 hit.

Not sure what became of Hank - or of Rosemary, his wife and co-writer, but I still dig out his discs every once in a while and bop around the house. Good vibes.

I have the first LP Michael, and still play it all the time, I have a feeling Cadillac Walk was released as a follow up to Spanish Stroll, but didnt make it.
I bought Spanish Stroll, without hearing it at first, as it looked like a punk record, and was on this new fangled 12" vinyl that went round at 45 rpm! It was like
I am sure the marketing helped on that track, but it`s still a classic.
Another CBGBS band I believe.

in 1978, when I was the proud editor of a punk-fanzine,
i met Willy de Ville by chance in a burger king in cologne.

He was so nice to give me an interview ...
and then he took me aside (there were a PR-girl from Capitol and his girl friend / wife with him) and asked me if i could get some ****** for him. (i couldn't)

But the best part was: Then the two girls cornered me (they knew exactly what willy had wanted) and made me promise to give him no drugs.

The Buggles - Video Killed the radio star.

Vapors- I turning Japanese.

Dead or Alive- you spin round like a record.

JK, I always thought it would be a pretty fantastic box set that featured every single you had a hand in MAKING a hit (as a complement to your own remarkable box set). The list is endless, but White Town's "Your Woman" is one particularly dear to me, since I worked with Jyoti after it's amazing ascent up the charts.

As for one hit wonders, The Easybeats' "Friday On My Mind" should have been the start of a career to rival Shel Talmy's other successes - The Kinks and The Who. In the 1960's & 70's the sheer number of artists making singles guaranteed that some would rise to the top.

As the number of artists signed these days dwindles away, it seems that the percentages would dictate that the number of hits dwindles away as well. I've always hoped that the Internet would bring back the "Golden Age of Rock & Roll", but there's just too much music out there on sites such as myspace and no way to wade thru it...unless you visit this website!

Mine are (will change daily!)

Supernature by Cerrone
Dancing In The City by Marshall, Hain
Nowhere Girl by B Movie (not even sure if this was top 40!)
Sound Of The Suburbs by The Members
Hey Little Girl by Icehouse

Loving You was of course done by Minnie Riperton!

"Rememberance Day" by B-Movie was the top 40 hit, I think. It`s the only song of theirs I own myself.
An interesting brief period of music at that time, B-movie, were one of the bands using a monophonic synth as the fourth instrument. Another example of this is "Bulletproof Heart" by Fingerprintz.
I would stick on my list The Lilac Time`s "You`ve Gottal love", but like JK`s stuff, you can`t really count Steve Duffy, as he is now working with Robbie Williams, so he hardly vanished without trace.Prior to that he had three hits with Tin Tin.
CW McCall, "Convoy", now THAT is a genuine one hit wonder!
If you think back to the years 77 and 78, and the things that John Peel was playing, there technically would have been a lot more one hit wonders had the records simply not sold out.One of the great results was of course Althea & Donna, which Peely, picked up on the Joe Gibbs label, all the Jamaican imports sold out instantly, but in this instance, Lightning records picked it up instantly.The same happened with The Banned, "Little Girl", Harvest were right on the button with that one, the follow up flopped though.

Well Martin, the B Movie one should have been a hit!!

That brings me onto a new topic, one hit wonders that never were?

Beat Escape by Fingerprintz
Hilly Fields by Nick Nicely
Contract Of The Heart by Spelt Like This
City Of Souls by Screen 3

I'm sure I'll think of lots more after I have posted this!!

I never worked out why Fingerprintz got rid of their extremely tall original vocalist. The second time I went to see them he was handing out fliers outside, and he said to me "I`m not in it anymore.."I didnt push the point as he looked down on the top of my head!
Ok 1 hit wonders that should have been, my list top six...

1.Like Dust....The Passion Puppets
2.Are You the One?....One The Juggler
3.Something In Red....Angela Kasset
4.Where Were You...The Mekons
5. Careless Love..Swimming With sharks (mightve charted)
6. This is The Shirt..Two People (ditto)

I feel this might start a new thread...

1988 ..a little kid listing the TV he watches: "I see batman... airwolf.. dallas.. dynasty.. the A Team.. I see the A team"

Sorry means nothing to me Nathan!

Heh! Old Codger alert!

I have Karel Fiaka's first non-hit wonder called The Eyes Have It from 1980!!

Liked" the eyes have it" , hated "Matthew".

Here`s a goodie..."Driving away from Home", by It`s Immaterial.

here on my 'spare' myspace page for anyone curious:

www.myspace.com/nathanjayremixes2

track 4


Martin, "Driving away from home" is a classic, I tried to remake it last year in a house stylee. But I couldn't do it.