John Stewart: (Not That John Stewart)

Hey, it's John Stewart! The famous comedian most widely known for his long-running stint as the host of The Daily Show! His quick wit and self-deprecating style was instrumental in making the fake news more important than the real news long before "fake news" was even a thing! He's beloved by many and...wait, what's that? Not that John Stewart? There's another John Stewart. Oh, yeah, I remember that song.

"Well my buddy Ken Bass
he's a workin', fartin' gas,
and he lets 250 in an hour.
He's got rhythm in his butt
and he sounds just like a slut,
even lets 'em go in the shower.

Farting up the freeway, stinkin' up the road.
'Cause people out there really let them go.

Driving to McCammon, stinkin' up the road.
'Cause people out there really let them go.
Ewwwww, yeah!"

There's Gold in them there sunglasses!

John Stewart (no relation to John Stewart) went to #5 with the song "Gold" in 1979. In one sense, it was kind of amazing, because John Stewart looked a lot like Garry Shandling, and there's not really room enough for two people who look like Garry Shandling to make it big.

On the other hand, maybe the reason John Stewart (no relation to Stephen Colbert) had a big hit was because he had Stevie Nicks singing backup vocals. (She was kind of a big deal.) So, how does an unknown like John Stewart get a big star like Stevie Nicks to sing background vocals for him? Well, John Stewart (no relation to Martha Stewart) wasn't exactly an unknown. He spent many years in the 1960s as a folk music hero as a part (one-third, to be exact) of the Kingston Trio. (Actually, it was more like one-sixth, because he took the place of founding Kingston Trio member Dave Guard, who left the group to do other folk-singy things.) Aside from that, John Stewart (no relation to Rod Stewart) wrote the huge hit "Daydream Believer" for the Monkees!

After the success of "Gold," Stewart (no relation to Stewart Copeland) had a couple of minor hits, with "Midnight Wind," featuring more background singing from Stevie Nicks, getting to #28, and "Lost Her In the Sun" peaking at #34. I listened to a lot of radio back in 1979, but "Midnight Wind" doesn't sound the least bit familiar to me. To be honest, aside from some wailing from Stevie and an opening lyric of "Come on down, Miranda," the song doesn't really have a lot to offer. (Although, I'll admit that "Come on down, Miranda," is a helluva way to start a song!)

Instead, I'm going to focus on the song that I do vaguely remember: "Lost Her In the Sun."

Maybe he wouldn't have lost her in the sun if he was still wearing those shades.

I don't think I had heard or thought of this song for almost 40 years, but when I read the title, the chorus came back to my mind. That should count for something, shouldn't it? It's not a great song, but it's not a bad song, either.

Stewart (no relation to Howard Cosell) would go on to release well over 30 more albums before he passed away in 2008, but he never hit the charts with any of them. According to Wikipedia (no relation to Encyclopedia Brown) in his later years he grew to hate the song "Gold" and refused to sing it when he performed at concerts. Can you imagine going to a John Stewart concert and not hearing "Gold?" Or at the very least not hear him make fun of Bill O'Reilly?

Verdict: iffy. "Lost Her In the Sun" is rememberable, but not memorable.

Deep Blue Something: And I Said, "What About Another Hit Song?"

I've never seen the movie "Breakfast At Tiffany's." It was a very popular movie, A lot of people have seen it. It put Audrey Hepburn on the map. (Go ahead, look at the map. I dare you.) Of course, these days it's almost best known for Mickey Rooney's offensive portrayal of a Japanese man. (No one has ever accused Mickey Rooney of subtlety.) (Not even George Peppard.)

When the band Deep Blue Something released the song "Breakfast At Tiffany's" in the summer of 1995, it got a lot of airplay. It had some peppy guitar work; repeatable, sing-a-longable lyrics, and lots of mentions of a 34 year-old movie that most of the people singing along had heard of but never seen. It peaked at #5 on the Billboard charts.

Deep Blue Something is led by the brothers Todd Pipes and Toby Pipes. Nice pipes, Pipes!

The album the song came from, "Home," is really quite an excellent album. The title song, "Home," sets a nice, melodic mood. "Gammer Gerten's Needle" (yes, I said "Gammer Gerten's Needle!") is a nice instrumental song, the kind no one makes anymore. While "Red Light," "Done," and "Song to Make Love To," are all fast-paced rockers that are excellent to exercise to. (Although I must admit I've never tried to make love to "Song to Make Love To.")

Unfortunately, Deep Blue Something (or their record label) decided not to release any of those songs as the follow-up to "Breakfast At Tiffany's." They instead went with the unorthodox decision to release the seventh best song from the album next. "Halo" was not a hit, bubbling under the Hot 100 at #102. (It wasn't helped by the non-descript, camera-jerking, short attention span video.)

Deep Blue Something then fell into some legal and label problems, and didn't release another album in the United States until 2001, an album they titled, "Deep Blue Something." (Don't even get me started on how I feel about self-titled albums! What a waste of a chance to come up with a creative album name! A waste, I say!) To promote the inadequately-named album, the band made some appearances at alternative radio stations. That's where I heard them do an acoustic performance of their would-be next hit, "She Is." And hey, it's a fantastic song! It grabbed me on my first listen, and I ran directly to the store and bought the album. (Well, I may have stopped at Arby's first.)

"She Is" was co-written by fellow one-hit wonder Matthew Wilder.

It's an excellent song, but the rest of the album is pretty pedestrian, with the exception of "Page Me Wolverine." And that was pretty much the end of Deep Blue Something.

Verdict: It's too bad Deep Blue Something is a one-hit wonder, because they definitely had songs worthy of more hits.

Henry Gross: More Than Just Songs About Dead Dogs

Henry Gross is best known for writing and singing a song about a dead dog. It wasn't even his own dog--he wrote and sang about someone else's dead dog. Sure, the fact that the dead dog belonged to Carl Wilson of the Beach Boys does make things sound a little more interesting, but it's still a song about someone else's dead dog.

Un perro de mi amigo es muerte.

"Shannon" went all the way to #6 on the Billboard charts in early 1976. People really liked it when Henry Gross sang about someone else's dead dog.

You would think "Shannon" would be the highlight of the musical career of Henry Gross. What could be better for a one-hit wonder? Well, how about that time he opened for Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock? You see, Henry Gross was a founding member of the group Sha-Na-Na. And yes, Sha-Na-Na opened for Jimi Hendrix at Woodstock.

After "Shannon," Henry Gross next biggest hit was "Springtime Mama," which went to #37 in the summer of 1976. (Maybe it would have done better if it had been released in the springtime? Just saying.)

What, exactly, is the difference between a Mama and a Momma?

It's not a bad song. With a fun piano flourish at the beginning, it's a little reminiscent of early "Cold Spring Harbor" Billy Joel. Unfortunately for Henry, singing about being horny in the spring is not as commercially viable as singing about someone else's dead dog.

Verdict: Deserving of his one-hit wonder status. (Perhaps he should have gotten himself acquainted with John Fogerty's cat.)

The Second Hits of One-Hit Wonders

It's not easy to create a hit song. (Just ask Danglecrotch, the Seminal Fluids, Buck Tucker, or Phillip Michael Thomas.)

But, even if you are able to make a popular song that shoots its way up the charts, it's still not very easy to create a second hit song. (Just ask Peter Schilling, Chumbawamba, Dexy's Midnight Runners, or Don Johnson.)

With this series of posts, I'll be attempting to take a look at some one-hit wonders to see if any of them had any other songs that might have been good enough to garner some public attention. It might be the song they released right after their hit, or it might be a song from several years later.

And, for my purposes here, I'm going to be the one to determine what constitutes a second hit. Just because a song made the charts doesn't mean it was a hit. Sure, Vanilla Ice may have made it all the way to #4 on the charts with "Play That Funky Music," but does anyone even remember his version of that song? No. Vanilla Ice had one hit, and that hit was "Ice Ice Baby."

If you take this journey with me, we might discover some very good songs. Or, we might be listening to a whole lot of derivative drivel. But maybe, just maybe, it might be interesting and/or fun.

My Response To Your Response To "It"

For over seven years, my friend Nardo and I have been pestering each other with lists of our 200 favorite songs. It's been amusing, fun, and only occasionally dangerous. When Nardo posted a write-up about his favorite song ever--an obscure ditty by a talentless hack--I thought we were finished with the odd little lists of songs. I was wrong.

Nardo recently sent me a new list of several songs. These were songs that he liked, but thought I might not be familiar with. It was a brilliant idea! I wonder who came up with it? Oh, that's right, it was me, many, many years ago, when I sent him tapes full of "The Best Songs You Ain't Never Heard."

I must admit, over the past several years I have learned (or been reacquainted with) a number of excellent songs by Nardo, including, but not limited to: Ca Plane Pour Moi by Plastic Bertrand, Foux Du FaFa by Flight of the Conchords. Be My Baby by Complex, Uncontrollable Urge by Devo, Hocus Pocus by Focus, Lunatic Fringe by Red Rider, SIM Hagar by Jerry Martin, and many, many more. So, the thought of him expanding my musical knowledge with even more fun, great and/or interesting songs has me very excited.

But, the next question became, "How do I respond to this?" The obvious answer would be to blatantly rip off Nardo's idea and list of few of the songs that I know which would most likely fit under the heading of "Best Songs You Ain't Never Heard." Songs like: One More Time by Jeff Lynne's ELO, Chemistry by Semisonic, The King Is Half-Undressed by Jellyfish, Hiroshima by Ben Folds, and/or Time of Our Life by Jeff Lynne's ELO. But, no, that's what would be expected. And the last thing I want to be is predictable. [EDITOR'S NOTE: That statement is not true. The last thing HondoJoe wants to be is a stripper working in a club that shares a parking lot with a 7-Eleven.]

So, I thought I'd change things up and go with a project I've pondered about over the years. We're all familiar with the one-hit wonders of popular music. But, have you ever wondered what the songs were that these one-hit wonders released in an attempt to have a second hit? Were they good songs that just never were able to catch on? Were they totally crappy songs that showed why the artist only had one hit? Is the reason these artists were one-hit wonders because they couldn't get another break, or because they didn't have any other songs that anyone wanted to listen to? It's an interesting question.

So, strap in and prepare yourself for: "The Second Hits of One-Hit Wonders!"