All throughout music history, there has always been
musicians and composers, lyricists and songwriters that have dedicated their
life to doing what they love, Music. Whether is Mozart or Beethoven, Lennon or
McCartney, they have only one goal in mind, creating music.
Did they have the intention to create music to please the
masses? Who knows? The “Hit Makers” as
they can be referred to have various reasons for making the music that they
do. I don’t think any of them ever said
“wow! This is going to be an amazing piece of music!” Okay maybe they did, but sometimes when we
think something is amazing, it doesn’t always turn out to be so.
In the olden days, people didn’t have radio or MTV or iPods
to get their music from. They had to go
to concert halls or massively rich people’s parties to hear their favorite
composers. You could sit through a
concert consisting of 3 or 4 pieces and be there for hours. Try pulling that off now! The longest concert
I have ever been to lasted 3 hours and I honestly cannot tell how many songs
RUSH played, but it went by way too quickly. Why? Because they played what the
fans believed were their best works.
Mind you, every song is not a hit. What is one fan’s idea of a hit could be
another fan’s idea of a dud. I know
several people that don’t think that Tom Sawyer is a great song. Their insane, but hey, what do I know. And that’s my point, to have a hit, you don’t
have to have everyone agreeing with you, but you do have to have a mass appeal
for everyone that likes it.
My personal musical wheelhouse is 80’s music. I’m not ashamed or afraid to admit it. There were so many great, great songs written
in the 80's by sooooooo many musicians all around the world. And they were very inspiring and unique songs
too. Where can you Walk on Sunshine,
Walk 500 Miles and Walk Like an Egyptian in the same decade? The 80’s.
Some of you may be asking, “Were all of those one hit
wonders?” Probably not, but they were
hits in their own right. And lots of
people loved them. And the radios played
them endlessly, until the next hit came around and took over our minds and
became the newest “ear-worm”
The modern definition for “One Hit Wonder” comes from
Wikipedia today and says this: “A one-hit wonder is any entity
that achieves mainstream popularity, often for only one piece of work, and becomes known among the general
public solely for that momentary success.”
So now that we have our definition, let’s see which song is
the most popular One Hit Wonder of all, are you ready? Here it comes…..Straight from the horse’s
mouth, Rolling Stone Magazine polled fans and here are the Top 10 Most Popular
One Hit Wonders of All Time..
10. The Vapors-Turning Japanese
9. ? And the Mysterians-96 Tears
8. Chumbawamba-Tubthumping
7. Blind Melon – No Rain
6. The Knack – My Sharona
5. Soft Cell – Tainted Love
4. Big Country – In a Big Country
3. Norman Greenbaum – Spirit in the Sky
2. Dexy’s Midnight Runners – Come On Eileen
1. A-ha – Take On Me
The most popular One Hit Wonder of all time thrills me to no
end. And I didn’t plan it that way
either :) Take On Me is my favorite 80’s song of all time and A-ha is my
favorite 80’s band of all time :) How serendipitous! Why? Because this segues nicely into my next
comments
At last count according to Wikipedia, A-ha has 10 studio
albums, 5 live albums, 18 compilation albums, 4 video albums, 40 music videos,
4 Eps, 39 singles, and 1 audio book.
That may not seem like a lot, but over a 34 year span of their music
careers, A-ha has been busy. And
truthfully, you would think that they would have more hits than the one that
everyone knows. Well, believe it or not,
in their home country of Norway, they do :) and they are also very popular
throughout other countries in Britain and also Brazil. Somehow when you get to the United States
though, you have to prove yourself a lot harder. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn’t. But judging from our Top 10, the magic seemed
to strike in the right place at the right time
.
Did you notice that none of the songs that were chosen were
from the 21st century? I
wonder why that was. If you have the
answer, please leave it in the comment box below, I would be interested in your
thoughts.
Thank you again for reading and sharing and liking our
blog. We appreciate your support and
hope to be able to bring more fascinating music topics for you here in the
future. I will leave you with something
to listen to watch, just in case you haven’t heard it in a while. Ciao For Now ;)
