The "Greatest One Hit Wonder" Tournament

[swampdragon]

and lots of crappy ones - there are a few in there that might be eliminated on a technicality and few to add but who cares

I will play along and picked!

[chancellor]

Submitted mine. But Evanescence should not be in. You picked their best song, but My Immortal also charted top ten off of Fallen.

[Pauly]

Evanesence can easily be chopped. Right now from 7 responses we have narrowed it to 110.

45 songs have gotten more than one vote (44 if you toss Evanescence). The fun part (?) will be voting again for all the ones who got one vote to fill the final spots.

1 Devo - Whip It (1980) 6
2 ? and the Mysterians - 96 Tears (1966) 4
3 Sugarhill Gang - Rapper's Delight (1979) 4
4 Wild Cherry – Play That Funky Music (1976) 4
5 Big Country - In a Big Country (1985) 3
6 Blind Melon - No Rain (1992) 3
7 BoDeans - Closer to Free (1996) 3
8 Deep Blue Something - Breakfast at Tiffanys (1995) 3
9 Dexys Midnight Runners - Come on Eileen (1982) 3
10 Dobie Gray - Drift Away (1973) 3
11 Four Non-Blondes - Whats Up (1993) 3
12 House of Pain, Jump Around (1990) 3
13 John Parr - St Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion) (1985) 3
14 Katrina & the Waves - Walking on Sunshine (1985) 3
15 Looking Glass - Brandy (You're a Fine Girl) (1972) 3
16 Quiet Riot - Cum on Feel the Noize (1983) 3
17 Stealers Wheel - Stuck in the Middle with You (1973) 3
18 The Buggles - Video Killed the Radio Star (1979) 3
19 The Troggs - Wild Thing (1966) 3
20 When in Rome - The Promise (1988) 3
21 Blue Swede - Hooked on a Feeling (1974) 2
22 Brewer & Shipley - One Toke Over the Line (1970) 2
23 Carl Douglas - Kung Fu Fighting (1974) 2
24 David Essex - Rock On (1973) 2
25 Dee Lite - Groove is in the Heart (1990) 2
26 Eddy Grant – Electric Avenue (1982) 2
27 Evanescence - Bring Me to Life (2003) 2
28 Faith No More - Epic (1990) 2
29 Five Man Electrical Band - Signs (1970) 2
30 Fountains of Wayne - Stacy's Mom (2003) 2
31 Kim Wilde - Kids in America (1981) 2
32 Little Feat - Dixie Chicken (1973) 2
33 Madness - Our House (1983) 2
34 Men Without Hats - Safety Dance (1983) 2
35 Modern English - Melt With You (1982) 2
36 Mountain - Mississippi Queen (1970) 2
37 Norman Greenbaum - Spirit in the Sky (1970) 2
38 Ozark Mountain Daredevils - Jackie Blue (1975) 2
39 Patrick Hernandez - Born to Be Alive (1979) 2
40 Rupert Holmes - Escape (The Pina Colada Song) (1979) 2
41 Spirit - I Got a Line on You (1968) 2
42 The Archies - Sugar, Sugar (1969) 2
43 The Trashmen - Surfin Bird (1963) 2
44 The Verve - Bittersweet Symphony (1997) 2
45 Tommy Tutone - 867-5309/Jenny (1981) 2


And yes, I was the one who didnt vote for that god awful song Whip it.

[DMT]

Shouldn't be that hard, just follow same procedure but limit next round to 10-15

[revo]

Evanesence can easily be chopped. Right now from 7 responses we have narrowed it to 110.

45 songs have gotten more than one vote (44 if you toss Evanescence). The fun part (?) will be voting again for all the ones who got one vote to fill the final spots.

1 Devo - Whip It (1980) 6
2 ? and the Mysterians - 96 Tears (1966) 4
3 Sugarhill Gang - Rapper's Delight (1979) 4
4 Wild Cherry – Play That Funky Music (1976) 4
5 Big Country - In a Big Country (1985) 3
6 Blind Melon - No Rain (1992) 3
7 BoDeans - Closer to Free (1996) 3
8 Deep Blue Something - Breakfast at Tiffanys (1995) 3
9 Dexys Midnight Runners - Come on Eileen (1982) 3
10 Dobie Gray - Drift Away (1973) 3
11 Four Non-Blondes - Whats Up (1993) 3
12 House of Pain, Jump Around (1990) 3
13 John Parr - St Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion) (1985) 3
14 Katrina & the Waves - Walking on Sunshine (1985) 3
15 Looking Glass - Brandy (You're a Fine Girl) (1972) 3
16 Quiet Riot - Cum on Feel the Noize (1983) 3
17 Stealers Wheel - Stuck in the Middle with You (1973) 3
18 The Buggles - Video Killed the Radio Star (1979) 3
19 The Troggs - Wild Thing (1966) 3
20 When in Rome - The Promise (1988) 3
21 Blue Swede - Hooked on a Feeling (1974) 2
22 Brewer & Shipley - One Toke Over the Line (1970) 2
23 Carl Douglas - Kung Fu Fighting (1974) 2
24 David Essex - Rock On (1973) 2
25 Dee Lite - Groove is in the Heart (1990) 2
26 Eddy Grant – Electric Avenue (1982) 2
27 Evanescence - Bring Me to Life (2003) 2
28 Faith No More - Epic (1990) 2
29 Five Man Electrical Band - Signs (1970) 2
30 Fountains of Wayne - Stacy's Mom (2003) 2
31 Kim Wilde - Kids in America (1981) 2
32 Little Feat - Dixie Chicken (1973) 2
33 Madness - Our House (1983) 2
34 Men Without Hats - Safety Dance (1983) 2
35 Modern English - Melt With You (1982) 2
36 Mountain - Mississippi Queen (1970) 2
37 Norman Greenbaum - Spirit in the Sky (1970) 2
38 Ozark Mountain Daredevils - Jackie Blue (1975) 2
39 Patrick Hernandez - Born to Be Alive (1979) 2
40 Rupert Holmes - Escape (The Pina Colada Song) (1979) 2
41 Spirit - I Got a Line on You (1968) 2
42 The Archies - Sugar, Sugar (1969) 2
43 The Trashmen - Surfin Bird (1963) 2
44 The Verve - Bittersweet Symphony (1997) 2
45 Tommy Tutone - 867-5309/Jenny (1981) 2


And yes, I was the one who didnt vote for that god awful song Whip it.

Maybe the easiest way to do this is just whittle down the votes. So next round, The top 64 move ahead, and you only vote for 20 now. Then the top 32 move ahead, and you vote for 10. Then 16, and you vote for 5. And so on and so on.

Is there a way to enforce the # of votes made?

[Erik]

I voted. So weird to see artists that had long careers like Nick Lowe and Devo on the list. You've got to definite "one hit wonder" somehow but that's always felt strange to me.

[Pauly]

Maybe the easiest way to do this is just whittle down the votes. So next round, The top 64 move ahead, and you only vote for 20 now. Then the top 32 move ahead, and you vote for 10. Then 16, and you vote for 5. And so on and so on.

Is there a way to enforce the # of votes made?

Cant enforce anything...this isnt the best platform in the world. That said, i figure we have a second round of voting for all songs that got one vote. Everyone chooses no more than 5 and we can fill out the bracket of 64. Then you do the h2h like in the past.

Personally a few of those one-vote songs were right on the cutline for me...or I simply missed them while scrolling

[revo]

Cant enforce anything...this isnt the best platform in the world. That said, i figure we have a second round of voting for all songs that got one vote. Everyone chooses no more than 5 and we can fill out the bracket of 64. Then you do the h2h like in the past.

Personally a few of those one-vote songs were right on the cutline for me...or I simply missed them while scrolling

It's a lot of work to do the HTHs. I think I like the gradual cutdowns like I mentioned.

[revo]

I voted. So weird to see artists that had long careers like Nick Lowe and Devo on the list. You've got to definite "one hit wonder" somehow but that's always felt strange to me.

I did, in the first post. I was surprised to see that Devo only had one big hit, but I'm certainly not opposed to removing them (or Nick Lowe).

Nick Lowe had 4 US songs to chart, and only "Cruel to Be Kind" advanced higher than #77 (the other two didn't crack the Top 100).

Devo's next biggest hit was "Working in the Coal Mine" which got as high as #43 in 1981.

I suppose both would fall into the 'Jimmy Buffett' category of artists -- long careers, extremely respected, yet only one big hit.

I agree that they don't really meet the true definition of "one hit wonders" like I was referring to -- artists that had a monster song but really never achieved success again.

[Pauly]

It's a lot of work to do the HTHs. I think I like the gradual cutdowns like I mentioned.

I think the h2h are awesome

[swampdragon]

I think the h2h are awesome

I agree with Pauly but he needs to be willing to set it up

otherwise it is REVO style

Let people know the next step once it is done! and maybe we can get a few others to play along too

[DMT]

Yep, H2H is a better format, plus it leads to more people participating. We're gonna have to go old school peer pressure on this one Ed.

H2H!

H2H!

H2H!

[Pauly]

I set up the narrow down process. I didnt know i was committed for the duration now

[Erik]

I did, in the first post. I was surprised to see that Devo only had one big hit, but I'm certainly not opposed to removing them (or Nick Lowe).

Nick Lowe had 4 US songs to chart, and only "Cruel to Be Kind" advanced higher than #77 (the other two didn't crack the Top 100).

Devo's next biggest hit was "Working in the Coal Mine" which got as high as #43 in 1981.

I suppose both would fall into the 'Jimmy Buffett' category of artists -- long careers, extremely respected, yet only one big hit.

I agree that they don't really meet the true definition of "one hit wonders" like I was referring to -- artists that had a monster song but really never achieved success again.

I'm not talking about numbers, I'm talking about the overall body of work. When I think "one hit wonder," I think of an act who had one hit and then no one other than their die-hard fans ever heard from them again. I don't think of acts who had numerous successful albums even if they didn't produce more than one top 40 single.

[Steve 2.0]

Sanford/Townsend Band - Smoke from a Distant Fire (1977) Please!