Top 5 - Greatest One Hit Wonder Bands
We all know the one song from that band. The earworm with that amazing hook. Those lyrics that make it so easy to sing along to. The band that shot to the top of the pops, only to never find that same success again. The dreaded One Hit Wonder. Don’t feel too bad for them because often that one hit song makes more money than most people do in a lifetime.
But, there are several bands out there that hit that Top 40 milestone just the once, but still produced a catalog of great music, you may or may not be familiar with. Here are my Top 5 One Hit Wonder Bands of all time!
5. Arlo Guthrie Born into folk royalty, Arlo only had one “hit” in his career was a cover of City of New Orleans in 1972. The son of Woody Guthrie, Arlo also is known for his Thanksgiving day anthem: Alice’s Restaurant Massacree. Guthrie has put out 30 releases including live recordings in his career and has minor hits with songs like Gypsy Davy and The Motorcycle Song. His 1976 album Amigo received a 5-star rating from Rolling Stone Magazine.
4. Devo Who hasn’t sung along to 1980’s Whip It! , the band’s only mainstream success. But, Devo, short for De-Evolution started out almost a decade earlier. There big break came in 1978 with the release of Q. Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!, on a record contract championed by none other than David Bowie. Brian Eno produced and it is a critical darling if not a ratings hit. They’ve released a total of nine albums with only one ever “making it big.”
3. The Boomtown Rats Bob Geldof’s The Boomtown Rats is a great example of a band that had hits in other parts of the world, but only made it’s mark on the American charts once, with I Don’t Like Mondays. The band itself is probably overshadowed by Geldof’s charity work with Live Aid concerts. The band put out six albums between 1977 and 1984, adding another release in 2020 with a re-formed version of the group. They’re self titled debut album reached number 18 on the UK charts and most of their early work wound up in the UK top 10.
2. Motorhead Lemmy and his, somewhat, revolving trio of bandmates put out 23 studio albums as well as 16 live albums and 16 EP’s in a career that spanned nearly 40 years! That is a lot of output for a band that recognized mostly for the hit Ace of Spades. R.I.P. Lemmy!
1. Warren Zevon Zevon will forever be known as the Werewolves of London singer. The song reached number 21 on the Billboard charts and has become a Halloween staple. Zevon put out 12 studio albums during his lifetime and most were somewhat critic darlings. He also managed a large amount of famous musician friends to record with him, including: David Gilmour, Lindsey Buckingham, Jim Keltner, R.E.M., Bruce Springsteen, Don Henley, Jackson Browne, Dwight Yokam, Jerry Garcia, Neil Young, Tom Petty, Mike Campbell, the Everly Brothers, and many others. Not too shabby!
