Thursday, July 19, 2007

From the Spin City Archives: One-Hit Wonder Edition

Until I return to the airwaves on July 28th, here is another playlist from my pre-blogging days. On this show (which aired on 4/15/06), I mainly focused on some of the one-hit wonders of the 70s and 80s.

What exactly constitutes a one-hit wonder is open for debate. In this case, I chose artists who only had 1 Top 40 single on the Billboard Pop charts. As a side note, two of the one-hit wonders listed below had hits as a part of separate entities. They are Sylvia (she was 1/2 of Mickey & Sylvia of "Love Is Strange" fame). The other is Shirley Goodman of Shirley & Company. She was the female member of the duo Shirley & Lee (who had the hits "Let the Good Times Roll" and "I Feel Good").

4 pm hour

Supersonic- J.J. Fad
Major Tom- Peter Schilling
Romeo's Tune- Steve Forbert
Leaving Me- The Independents
Undercover Angel- Alan O'Day
Angel In Your Arms- Hot
Whirly Girl- Oxo
Perfect Way- Scritti Politti
I'm So Excited- The Pointer Sisters (played as a tribute to June Pointer, who had died earlier that week)
Magic- Pilot
Heaven On the 7th Floor- Paul Nicholas
The Rain- Oran "Juice" Jones
Pillow Talk- Sylvia
TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia)- MFSB

5 pm hour

Too Shy- Kajagoogoo
Hot Child In the City- Nick Gilder
It Takes Two- Rob Base & DJ EZ Rock
Why Can't We Live Together- Timmy Thomas
Lay A Little Lovin' On Me- Robin McNamara
Shame, Shame, Shame- Shirley & Company
Round & Round- Ratt

The Guilty Pleasure of the Week: Eres Tu- Mocedades

Funkytown- Lipps Inc.
Pop Muzik- M
General Hospitale- The Afternoon Delights
Breakin'... There's No Stoppin' Us- Ollie & Jerry
19- Paul Hardcastle

6 pm hour

Whisper To A Scream (Birds Fly)- Icicle Works
The Future's So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades- Timbuk 3
Knock On Wood- Amii Stewart
Love Jones- Brighter Side of Darkness
Yeah, Yeah, Yeah- Judson Spence
Come On Eileen- Dexy's Midnight Runners
Black Betty- Ram Jam
Got To Be Real- Cheryl Lynn
I Got My Mind Made Up- Instant Funk
Thunder & Lightning- Chi Coltrane
Double Dutch Bus- Frankie Smith
Turning Japanese- The Vapors
Armed & Extremely Dangerous- First Choice

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great list! I loved Come On Eileen - I think Dexy's Midnight Wonders are just about the best one-hit wonders ever.

Anonymous said...

Hey Malcolm,

Did you know that Sade covered the Timmy Thomas hit "Why Can't We Live Together" on her freshman album "Diamond Life"?

Anonymous said...

Wait a minute!!! Are you calling Cheryl Lynn a "one hit wonder"??? I only have about five albums and one CD that she released. What's the criteria?

Taj said...

pjazzypar, I was thinking the same thing because I know that Encore was #1 at some point.

But he is referring to the Billboard Pop Charts and her other hits were charted on the Billboard R&B/Hip Hop charts if I'm not mistaken. So that could be it.

Another great list Malcolm!

Anonymous said...

Thanks Taj,

Got it!

Malcolm said...

Hi Pjazzy: It's funny, because when I was typing up the one hit wonder post, I was thinking about Sade's version of "Why Can't We Live Together".

Taj was right on the money about my reasoning for including "Got To Be Real". A few months after this show, I altered the criteria that I used for one-hit wonders. From then on, I didn't include artists that had hits on other charts (Cheryl Lynn, The S.O.S. Band, etc.). I also don't include people like Janis Joplin and The Grateful Dead. Although they both only had one Top 40 hit, it wasn't like they were never heard from again.

Unknown said...

I've got a soft spot for Ollie and Jerry's "Breakin'... There's No Stoppin' Us" it's such an oddly nice song.

Shirley and Company's "Shame, Shame, Shame" is a favorite too. I have the 45, it's in horrible shape but I'll never throw it away.

Malcolm said...

Hi Jason,

"Breakin'..." is one of those hits that you rarely hear anymore. I'm trying to remember if I saw "Breakin'" or "Breakin'2-Electric Boogaloo". They are probably interchangeable.

"Shame, Shame, Shame" is a song that I never get tired of hearing. It was a really pleasant surprise to find the clip on You Tube. As I play the guitar opening it in my head, I wonder if it influenced George Michael to come up with "Faith".

 
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