A one-hit wonder is better than never having a hit, of course. And Alan Cross has compiled a great list of the Top 50 Alt-Rock Hits of the Last 50 Years on his radio show / podcast. His five-part series eventually became a seven-part series, with the most recent update dropping last week, as the topic resonated with his listeners.
But the artists I always feel bad for are those who release their first single, have it become a massive hit, then never have another hit again. Ouch. They think they are about to have huge careers, that their future will be hit after hit, but that does not happen.
Still, one hit is better than no hits.
| Rank | Song | Artist |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Teenage Dirtbag | Wheatus |
| 2 | You Get What You Give | New Radicals |
| 3 | Sex & Candy | Marcy Playground |
| 4 | Sadeness – Pt. 1 | Enigma |
| 5 | Unbelievable | EMF |
| 6 | In the Meantime | Spacehog |
| 7 | Send Me An Angel | Real Life |
| 8 | Flavor Of The Weak | American Hi-Fi |
| 9 | (Feels Like) Heaven | Fiction Factory |
| 10 | Flagpole Sitta | Harvey Danger |
| 11 | Obsession | Animotion |
| 12 | I Beg Your Pardon (I Never Promised You a Rose Garden) | Kon Kan |
| 13 | Falling | Julee Cruise |
| 14 | Perfect | Fairground Attraction |
| 15 | The Future’s So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades | Timbuk 3 |
| 16 | Pump up the Volume | M/A/R/R/S |
| 17 | Groove Is in the Heart | Deee-Lite |
| 18 | Swords Of A Thousand Men | Tenpole Tudor |
| 19 | Mexican Radio | Wall Of Voodoo |
| 20 | Go! | Tones On Tail |
Notably not on this list are The Vapors, because of their fear of being on this list! From Wikipedia:
The band suspected they would score a hit with “Turning Japanese”, even delaying its release to make it their second single, hoping to avoid becoming “one-hit wonders“. Nonetheless, they never matched the single’s success.
Photo by Josh Hemsley on Unsplash. (One-hit wonder was originally a baseball term.)
