Friday, February 19, 2016

5 Other Great songs by One-Hit Wonders (Part II)

5 Other Great Songs by One-Hit Wonders (Part II)

By: Brian Cotnoir

     Hello all.  Well once again I’m here to talk about something I’m particularly fond of—at least musically—One-Hit Wonders!  You know, I’ve always been intrigued by the term “One-Hit Wonder; I think in order for any band or artist to have any success they need to have some credibility and/or fan following.  Just because they didn’t maintain popularity in the mainstream doesn’t mean they don’t have any other good songs in their set list.  And now I’m back here again to bring you another edition of 5 Other Great Songs by “One-Hit Wonders”.

1.) Say it isn’t so by The Outfield

YOU KNOW THEM FOR:



Since my days in college I’ve slowly seen 1980’s English New Wave band, The Outfield, gain more and more popularity in the United States.  Of course, their biggest and most well-known hit has to be “Your Love”—a song with an opening riff so simplistic than even a talent-less hack like me could figure out how to play it on guitar in under 5 minutes—but this isn’t the only good song.  For me personally, I think The Outfield’s best track has to be “Say it isn’t so”; an awesome rock ballad about trying to find lost love again.  I’m actually surprised that this wasn’t a bigger follow up hit to “Your Love”.  I think at the very least The Outfield should have been popular in the US until the Grunge Movement went mainstream.



2.) Miserable by Lit

YOU KNOW THEM FOR:



Lit is that band that you’ve heard of that you just aren’t aware you’ve heard of.  Pretty much everyone knows them for their popular song “My Own Worst Enemy”, but they have one other song that I actually think is better.  “Miserable” is a more somber and much heavier song, and really the own reason most people know this song is because of the accompanying music video that features the band sing on top of a giant bikini-clad Pamela Anderson.  “Miserable” also features one of the best opening lyrical verses in the history of rock:

You make me cum/you make me complete/you make me completely miserable

This is a perfect song or any person whose been broken up with a person who everyone had already told them was wrong for them.  I thoroughly enjoy this song whether I’m watching it’s hilariously entertaining music video or listening to it on the radio in my car.



3.) Tsunami by Steriogram

YOU KNOW THEM FOR:



This New Zealand Punk-Pop Quartet got famous after their song was sampled for an early IPod commercial, and I know so many people who try to sing this song as fast and as well as the bands vocalist Tyson Kennedy (but I can’t be the only one that’s realized the songs opening riff is just a sped up verson of Green Day’s “Warning”).  However Steriogram has a number of other great songs such as “White Trash”, “On and On”, and “Tsunami”.



4.) Shelf in the Room by Days of the New

YOU KNOW THEM FOR:



When you’re debut single spends a (then) record 16 Weeks in the #1 spot on Billboards Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks, it’s going to be hard to follow that act up.  However, I think the bands singer/songwriter/guitarist Travis Meekes found the perfect counter track with “Shelf in the Room”.  It’s more mellow, more somber, and has some more serious lyrical content, but still rocks as hard as “Touch, Peel, and Stand”.



5.) Heavy by Collective Soul  

YOU KNOW THEM FOR:




Georgia Alt Rock band, Collective Soul had the unfortunateness of being a Post-Grunge Band when mainstream radio listeners were starting to move away from that distinctive sound.  They are known primarily for the heavy distorted rock track “Shine”, but they actually have a great number of songs that keep them playing on the 90’s Alt Rock Festival circuit with bands like Eve 6, Smashmouth, Gin Blossoms.  One of those tracks is “Heavy”.  If you played NHL 2001 back in the day on the Original Sony PlayStation you remember hearing this song playing every time you started playing the game.  It’s a great song with a fast heavy riff and is every bit as enjoyable “Shine”.

No comments:

Post a Comment