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    #51
    Originally posted by Gangster Octopus View Post
    We must've done a One-hit-wonder thread...
    Oh yes.

    And it was/is one of the finest things ever to be available for others.

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      #52
      diggedy derek, it was the Savoy Cafe on the corner of Wandsworth Rd & Pensbury Place SW 8.They were a friendly lot, a great place for a pre-work hangover reviver. It's changed owners now but apparently still attracts women of a certain age hoping to be invited into a magic comic book.

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        #53
        That boy can sing and apparently Morten holds the record for the longest note held in a top 40 song. It's in Summer Moved On and lasts 20.2 seconds which doesn't sound a lot but in the world of vocals obviously is.

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          #54
          A decent singer should be able to manage ten seconds. Even more impressive is that it's not a low note he's hitting - the higher a note, the harder it is to sustain without unintentionally warbling.

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            #55
            I thought Bill Withers held that record?

            Originally posted by diggedy derek View Post
            Of course, the only true one hit wonder is to have a number one single and nothing, absolutely nothing, else in the singles chart. A-Ha are merely the most egregious example of a band that some people erroneously describe as a OHW.
            To illustrate just how far from being a ‘one-hit-wonder’ A-ha were, their first hit went to #2 and was still on the UK chart when its follow-up went to #1.

            But compilers of such nonsense usually live in a US-centric bubble. Dexys - who had two UK chart-toppers - are also described thus.

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              #56
              Rolling Stone’s recent ranking of OHW put A-Ha at #1 while acknowledging that they were huge in Europe.

              It’s not nonsense to call a band a OHW in that context. In fact, it’s more interesting than the true OHWs who disappear because they only have one good idea and/or the band splits up.

              Because it raises the potentially interesting question of why did they hit so big once in the US but only once, given that they kept on making excellent records? Why did they, or their label, give up? Or what changed in the public taste so quickly?

              My recollection is that MTV tried to make “The Sun Always Shines On TV” a hit and wiki said it reached 20 in the US, so I think that should count as a hit.

              But I think they ran into a real unfair anti-synth, anti-Euro backlash around 85-86 in the US which was, not coincidentally, when Live Aid happened. That was, as we’ve discussed, the revenge of the boring corporate rock dinosaurs. There was a whole bullshit story about how A-ha had never played live which is partly why they did in their second video, IIRC.

              There was a definite group of people like John Mellencamp who railed against synthesizers interviews. And that’s also when hair bands really took over.

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                #57
                Originally posted by Jah Womble View Post
                I thought Bill Withers held that record?
                Eighteen seconds.

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                  #58
                  Originally posted by Hot Pepsi View Post
                  But I think they ran into a real unfair anti-synth, anti-Euro backlash around 85-86 in the US which was, not coincidentally, when Live Aid happened.
                  Something similar-ish happened in the UK as well - there was a shift away from the earnest synthpop influenced by what little was left of new wave and New Romanticism towards stadium rock.

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                    #59
                    Originally posted by Hot Pepsi View Post
                    My recollection is that MTV tried to make “The Sun Always Shines On TV” a hit and wiki said it reached 20 in the US, so I think that should count as a hit.
                    There you go, that's another reason why I'm calling it a 'nonsense'. That record went silver in the US and was also a Top Five dance hit.

                    You can't really be a one-hit-wonder if you've had another major hit, so perhaps rags like Rolling Stone need to devise another snappy expression to describe artists that are 'largely known for one song'? (Which isn't the same thing.)

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                      #60
                      I couldn't find a more recent one but there's an article from 2011 where they come out on top, with the top 10 in full being:

                      1 A-ha
                      2 Dexy's
                      3 Norman Greenbaum
                      4 Big Country
                      5 Soft Cell
                      6 The Knack
                      7 Blind Melon
                      8 Chumbawamba
                      9 ? and the Mysterians
                      10 The Vapors

                      So make of that what you will.



                      ​​​​

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                        #61
                        Originally posted by Hot Pepsi View Post
                        Rolling Stone’s recent ranking of OHW put A-Ha at #1 while acknowledging that they were huge in Europe.

                        It’s not nonsense to call a band a OHW in that context. In fact, it’s more interesting than the true OHWs who disappear because they only have one good idea and/or the band splits up.

                        Because it raises the potentially interesting question of why did they hit so big once in the US but only once, given that they kept on making excellent records? Why did they, or their label, give up? Or what changed in the public taste so quickly?

                        My recollection is that MTV tried to make “The Sun Always Shines On TV” a hit and wiki said it reached 20 in the US, so I think that should count as a hit.

                        But I think they ran into a real unfair anti-synth, anti-Euro backlash around 85-86 in the US which was, not coincidentally, when Live Aid happened. That was, as we’ve discussed, the revenge of the boring corporate rock dinosaurs. There was a whole bullshit story about how A-ha had never played live which is partly why they did in their second video, IIRC.

                        There was a definite group of people like John Mellencamp who railed against synthesizers interviews. And that’s also when hair bands really took over.
                        "The Sun Always Shines on TV" was number 1 in the UK. "Take on Me" wasn't.

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                          #62
                          As has been established - although Take On Me certainly sold more copies.

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                            #63
                            Originally posted by Walt Flanagans Dog View Post
                            I couldn't find a more recent one but there's an article from 2011 where they come out on top, with the top 10 in full being:

                            1 A-ha
                            2 Dexy's
                            3 Norman Greenbaum
                            4 Big Country
                            5 Soft Cell
                            6 The Knack
                            7 Blind Melon
                            8 Chumbawamba
                            9 ? and the Mysterians
                            10 The Vapors

                            So make of that what you will.



                            ​​​​
                            Yeah, that's the list I saw.

                            I think "Take on Me" reached #1 whereas "The Sun Always Shines On TV" hit number 20 and nothing else got in the main top 40, even the Bond theme (which says far more about the popularity of the franchise in that era than A-Ha or that song).

                            So, even if they count as a "two hit" wonder, there's a pretty big gap between the success of those two singles in such a short time, especially considering the worldwide popularity of the band.

                            Last edited by Hot Pepsi; 04-05-2021, 19:40.

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                              #64
                              Originally posted by Jah Womble View Post
                              As has been established - although Take On Me certainly sold more copies.
                              But, didn't "The Sun" sell more copies in the USA? And it therefore would change HP's pov?

                              (From knowing that it was not a one-hit wonder? I dont mind being wrong, but I took offence at HP's remarks earlier.)

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                                #65
                                TSASOTV just about went silver in the US, whereas Take On Me had been a platinum Billboard number one - and the tenth best-selling single of 1985.

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                                  #66
                                  Just looked at this from 2008 - beaten by 0,2 % There was a long-running battle for Ultimate 80s single between Stand and Deliver and Take On Me and some people got very invested indeed as it swung between the two for weeks. Hilarious in retrospect.

                                  "The ULTIMATE 80s SINGLE POLL - which has been running here for the last two months - is now over, and from the initial 128 SONGS nominated by visitors to this site we finally have one overall WINNER...

                                  It has been an AMAZING eight weeks during which I have received loads of messages from people who have simply loved participating, THANK YOU to everyone who voted (and that is literally thousands of you!) and of course CONGRATULATIONS to A-HA who managed to beat ADAM & THE ANTS by just 0.2% in what was an incredible nail-biting battle over the final week of the poll..."



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                                    #67
                                    To be clear, there are two issues here. One is whether one's status as a one-hit-wonder should be evaluated country-by-country. I happen to think the countries that are OHW in one side of the Atlantic but multi-hit career stars on the other are more interesting than either true OHW that just flame out, so I think it makes sense to look at it that way insofar as this is a topic worth caring about at all.

                                    But whether a band was actually a OHW in a particular country is an entirely separate question. It seems that, depending on what counts as a "hit," A-Ha just don't qualify and their inclusion on these lists is just a straight up error.


                                    Speaking of UK bands that seemed to be poised to have a lot of success in the US but didn't....According to Wikipedia, Adam and the Ants never charted in the US Billboard Main Hot 100, but Adam Ant did a few years later. A&tA did make some of the subcharts like "mainstream rock" and dance. None of his albums, under either name, made the US top 40.

                                    I recall that "Goody Two Shoes" was a big deal on MTV and his whole schtick was popular among the students at Radio Park Elementary School. I can see why he didn't do much over here pre-MTV, but not why he didn't have any more hits after that.



                                    Otherwise, the only overall trend I can see in why an act might be massive in the UK but not so much in the US is that it seems like there was a deliberate and concentrated anti-New Wave effort in the US in the mid 80s. It was not entirely unlike the anti-disco backlash of the late 70s. But disco really didn't have anywhere else to go, while at least some of the New Wave/synthy bands could count as "post punk" and get some US fans through the emerging "college music" avenue in the 80s. Bands like New Order, The Cure and Depeche Mode did well with that marketing channel, for lack of a better term. They weren't as massive as they were in Europe, perhaps, but I just realized that Depeche Mode's big Rose Bowl gigs were in 1988. Two years before Violator. I have no recollection of them being on MTV or commercial radio between "People are People" and "Enjoy The Silence." Indeed, in 1988, I didn't know they were still together. But obviously, they found an audience here anyway.




                                    I'm sure we've done this before, but I can't recall if there are any examples of the the opposite situation - bands that were popular for a long while in the US but had just one or two hits in the UK or Europe.

                                    Perhaps some singer-songwriter types. Like Jewel. But I'm not sure she's had anything that counts as a hit in the UK.

                                    And I suspect that country music is not more than a niche interest in the UK, but I'm not sure if any of them have had even one bonafide hit in the UK.

                                    The obvious possibility are the "jam bands" or "neo-hippy" bands of the 90s. As far as I can tell, Dave Matthews Band only reached the UK singles chart once. "The Space Between" hit #35. Then again, they never really had any super massive hits on the US Main Hot 100 either. They had a bunch of #1s on the "adult alternative" chart, but didn't hit #1 or come close on the hot 100.

                                    Their popularity, such as it is, is mostly about their big stadium gigs. They were - and to some extent still are - a massively popular live act.*

                                    Incidentally, it turns out that the Spin Doctors - the Spin Doctors - were arguably more successful outside the US than in it. I would not have guessed that.

                                    And the Connells hit #14 in the UK with '74-'75, which did not even make the alternative charts here, but a bunch of other songs of there's did.

                                    Otherwise, they're an example of a truly regional college rock band, which is a whole other topic.


                                    * Are there examples of bands in the UK or Europe that are enormous live draws but not really big "stars" on the charts?


                                    Last edited by Hot Pepsi; 06-05-2021, 21:45.

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                                      #68
                                      The changes to the Singles Chart mean that it is quite common here for a band to hit the level of arena/stadium band or decent sized festival headliner, without any singles chart 'hits' to speak of.

                                      On the earlier question, The Cure and Depeche Mode were playing to more people in the US around that time than they were (relatively) in the UK, when stadium gigs were relatively rare and before the boom in festivals. It was actually mainstream media news here when Depeche Mode played the Rose Bowl, and it was baffling to most people that they were that big (although in practice they weren't universally big across the whole country, but they didn't publicise that bit so much).

                                      ​​​​​

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                                        #69
                                        The nature of the music market here is such as that virtually no one is universally big across the whole country

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                                          #70
                                          Originally posted by ursus arctos View Post
                                          The nature of the music market here is such as that virtually no one is universally big across the whole country
                                          That's what I was getting at really, but we didn't realise that at the time. The British press (music or mainstream) was fond of declaring for example that someone was "playing a stadium tour" or "touring baseball stadiums" when what was really happening was tour of various sized venues with stadium shows in the big alternative markets of NY and LA, and avoiding large parts of the country completely.

                                          And don't get me started on bands being described by our media as "playing an arena tour in America" which, while technically true, glossed over the fact that they were the opening act for a much bigger band.

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                                            #71
                                            Or that we probably have over 200 arenas that hold 10,000 or more

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                                              #72
                                              The jam bands never did shit in the UK, and justly so.

                                              The most modern easy reference is Bush (though the album swallowed is on did go platinum) as they were basically pitched as “that British band that is huge in America”.

                                              I would think plenty hip-hop artists will qualify in the UK but a decade has passed since I had any idea about that.

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                                                #73
                                                I’ve never dropped acid so I don’t see the appeal of the jam band experience. I’m not really a concert person either. But they’re pretty harmless.

                                                I suppose Britain had other kinds of drug-oriented music.


                                                Bush were more popular here than in the UK but I wouldn’t say they were “huge.” It’s all relative, I guess. They certainly sold a lot of records but I have no idea who was buying them.

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                                                  #74
                                                  Bush, at least over here as I remember it, seemed to be predominantly seen as big in the states because our man went out with that Gwen Stefani and they were big news here for a couple of years. Their big chart song in the UK, Swallowed, came after probably getting mainstream radio play because it was the band with the singer who dates the one from No Doubt.

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                                                    #75
                                                    I think there's something in that, and also in the fact that Gavin Rossdale's vocal stylings were near-enough a facsimile of those of the recently-departed Kurt Cobain, which would've helped Bush's US-push. Even Courtney Love was moved to comment on this publicly. (There may of course have been an ulterior motive at work there...)

                                                    However, I think Bush can be described as having been 'huge' in the States - just not perhaps for all that long. (That debut album did six million copies there.)

                                                    As had been documented on here several times previously (probably by me), during the eighties there were a whole slew of British new-wave bands that did much better trade in America.

                                                    Originally posted by Hot Pepsi View Post
                                                    * Are there examples of bands in the UK or Europe that are enormous live draws but not really big "stars" on the charts?
                                                    As others are suggesting, plenty of current rock acts do well on tour but cannot get a sniff of a hit single anymore.

                                                    With the charts now so messed up and irrelevant in the UK, a better context is needed: in the early eighties - ie, when the Top 40/75 had huge relevance - UK supergroup Asia (for example) never managed anything like a proper hit single here, but would've sold out arenas left, right and centre.

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