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Which one-hit wonders got the most mileage out of their hits?

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    Which one-hit wonders got the most mileage out of their hits?

    I'll propose Rudy Martinez (the question mark of ? and the Mysterians), who is only really known for one song (96 Tears), but seems to have been still doing gigs well into the late 2000s, having had his big hit in 1966.

    #2
    Kelly Marie is still taking bookings http://www.officialkellymarie.co.uk/bookings/4514604921

    However, if we are applying "one-hit wonder" to literally having no other Top 40 hits, she is not qualified due to two minor hit follow-ups (#21 and #22), although she is certainly "only really known for one song".
    Last edited by Satchmo Distel; 15-06-2021, 09:35.

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      #3
      Climax Blues Band - one UK hit in 1976 with Couldn't Get It Right, still touring in the UK and Europe, next gig is at the Lichfield Blues & Jazz Festival in August.
      Find out where Climax Blues Band is playing next. Check out upcoming Climax tour dates, live shows, festival appearances, gigs and concerts. Buy tickets!

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        #4
        ^Somebody's just been listening to R2? (Have to say that I don't think 'that' many people recall Climax Blues Band - it was a good tune, though.)

        Generally considered a one-hit-wonder (although he had two further minor-Top 40 entries), Carl Douglas often talks of 'one hit, but what a hit!' in interviews that rarely stray farther than Kung Fu Fighting. You can't blame him, really.

        Others? Perhaps Cornershop? Tjinder can probably dine out on Brimful of Asha for the rest of his life, despite Sleep on the Left Side making #23 the same year. (Lessons Learned from Rocky I to Rocky III also went Top 40 in 2002.)

        Laurie Anderson, M/A/R/R/S, White Town, Norman Greenbaum, Zager & Evans and Arthur Brown all come to mind.

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          #5
          Wikipedia says that Chicory Tip weren't completely a one hit wonder, but I'd guess all bar the devoted would only remember one song, and the tune is still called into service for "'oh gary/teddy" or whichever player has 2 syllables and then 3.

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            #6
            'Good Grief, Christina!'

            That refrain used to get belted out across the playground when I was at primary school. (Fair to say that it was no Son of My Father, however.)

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              #7
              Originally posted by Jah Womble View Post
              ^Somebody's just been listening to R2? (Have to say that I don't think 'that' many people recall Climax Blues Band - it was a good tune, though.)

              Generally considered a one-hit-wonder (although he had two further minor-Top 40 entries), Carl Douglas often talks of 'one hit, but what a hit!' in interviews that rarely stray farther than Kung Fu Fighting. You can't blame him, really.

              Others? Perhaps Cornershop? Tjinder can probably dine out on Brimful of Asha for the rest of his life, despite Sleep on the Left Side making #23 the same year. (Lessons Learned from Rocky I to Rocky III also went Top 40 in 2002.)

              Laurie Anderson, M/A/R/R/S, White Town, Norman Greenbaum, Zager & Evans and Arthur Brown all come to mind.
              I'll give you Carl Douglas, but I'm not sure about the others.

              Laurie Anderson's a performance artist who happened to have a hit record. I don't think she was still doing O Superman at Batley Labour Club in the mid-80s. Norman Greenbaum quit the music business not that long after Spirit in the Sky, didn't he?

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                #8
                Depends how you're defining 'mileage'. All of these artists will have been gaining royalties for their music regardless of whether they still play them live.

                In any case, I'm pretty certain that Laurie A has revived O Superman in recent years. (Perhaps not at Batley Labour Club, but then I hadn't realised that that was a condition here...)

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                  #9
                  Ralph McTell.

                  I don't know if it's true but there was a Big Train sketch about him back in the day.

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                    #10
                    Originally posted by Jah Womble View Post
                    Depends how you're defining 'mileage'. All of these artists will have been gaining royalties for their music regardless of whether they still play them live.
                    This gives me a chance to crowbar this in - I heard Bernie Marsden interviewed on the Word podcast recently where he talked about how he could live quite comfortably purely on his share of "Here I Go Again" by Whitesnake. As well as still being a rock radio staple it has proved enduring in use in soundtracks and advertising.

                    And in further mileage he released his own album of Whitesnake songs, called "Here They Go Again".

                    And on a further tangent another Word podcast had a guy who works in selecting songs for soundtracks and advertising, who said it was his idea to use Blur's "The Universal" in the British Gas adverts, which endured for many years and he was suggesting Damon Albarn owes him at least a pint for the lucrative deal that turned out to be.

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                      #11
                      Originally posted by Jah Womble View Post
                      Depends how you're defining 'mileage'. All of these artists will have been gaining royalties for their music regardless of whether they still play them live.
                      Did M/A/R/R/S ever receive any royalties from that record? If anything they'd be contenders for getting the least mileage out of their hit, what with never performing or releasing another record under that name and everyone involved following it with either very low-key careers under a different name or leaving the music industry.

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                        #12
                        Chesney Hawkes and his one and only number 1. Apparently he does it more than once in his live shows then does it again for the encore.

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                          #13
                          Originally posted by Jah Womble View Post
                          Depends how you're defining 'mileage'. All of these artists will have been gaining royalties for their music regardless of whether they still play them live.
                          As in my example—still touring off the back of it.

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                            #14
                            Okay, was going by the header.

                            That bloke out of Stiltskin - 'chart-topping singer Ray Wilson', as he dubbed himself in his Edinburgh Fringe shows a few years back. As I s'pose you would.

                            (And, yes, I know that they had a second charting song, and that he was in Genesis for half an hour.)

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                              #15
                              Originally posted by Walt Flanagans Dog View Post

                              This gives me a chance to crowbar this in - I heard Bernie Marsden interviewed on the Word podcast recently where he talked about how he could live quite comfortably purely on his share of "Here I Go Again" by Whitesnake. As well as still being a rock radio staple it has proved enduring in use in soundtracks and advertising.

                              And in further mileage he released his own album of Whitesnake songs, called "Here They Go Again".

                              Ironically, the version of Here I Go Again that earns him the royalties is the one he's not performing on, once again proving that writing is where the money is at.

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                                #16
                                Originally posted by Fussbudget View Post
                                Did M/A/R/R/S ever receive any royalties from that record? If anything they'd be contenders for getting the least mileage out of their hit, what with never performing or releasing another record under that name and everyone involved following it with either very low-key careers under a different name or leaving the music industry.
                                They belatedly named the 12-inch support track (A R Kane’s Anitina) alongside PUTV to try and circumvent that very issue. They made some dough from it, not that much.

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                                  #17
                                  Originally posted by Stumpy Pepys View Post

                                  I'll give you Carl Douglas, but I'm not sure about the others.

                                  Laurie Anderson's a performance artist who happened to have a hit record. I don't think she was still doing O Superman at Batley Labour Club in the mid-80s. Norman Greenbaum quit the music business not that long after Spirit in the Sky, didn't he?
                                  Mention of Greenbaum makes one wonder how thread is to be interpreted. His song actually provided 2 x number ones with Dr & Medics being another one hit wonder even if Wikipedia gives them a number 29 with follow up Burn.

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                                    #18
                                    Originally posted by Kevin S View Post
                                    Ralph McTell.

                                    I don't know if it's true but there was a Big Train sketch about him back in the day.
                                    On subject of mileage his song also provided Anti-Nowhere League with their one hit.

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                                      #19
                                      I think McTell would still have had a long career in the folk clubs without the hit. He also had two kids' series on ITV in the 80s so is versatile.

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                                        #20
                                        Originally posted by ale View Post

                                        Mention of Greenbaum makes one wonder how thread is to be interpreted. His song actually provided 2 x number ones with Dr & Medics being another one hit wonder even if Wikipedia gives them a number 29 with follow up Burn.
                                        Just checked on Wiki and Gareth Gates also took it to the top spot with The Kumars as, I think, the Comic Relief single in 2003.

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                                          #21
                                          Strictly speaking not a hit, but the Dropkick Murphys have certainly gotten plenty of mileage out of "I'm Shipping Up to Boston", which you'll recognise from umpteen sports events:

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                                            #22
                                            .... and possibly the biggest "hit" never to make the US Top 100, as it went on to sell over 1 million digital copies.

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                                              #23
                                              Yeah, that drops along with the title a full 18 minutes into The Departed with Leo doing dips in prison. Great scene.

                                              They also did that song the Red Sox used. They did a Bruins one too. They know their audience.
                                              Last edited by Hot Pepsi; 18-06-2021, 18:04.

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                                                #24
                                                Surely the literal answer to the original question is The Proclaimers.

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                                                  #25
                                                  Originally posted by Hot Pepsi View Post
                                                  Surely the literal answer to the original question is The Proclaimers.
                                                  The One Hit Wonder Regulatory Authority will rule that out of bounds.

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