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”.
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