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!"
The people that make One Hit Wonder lists on YouTube have some weird definitions of what a One Hit Wonder really is. If we focus on the word "One," there should be exactly one One Hit Wonder. That's just good math, people! But if we're focused on the word "Hit," then all bets are off, because no one really knows what constitutes a "Hit" except Casey Kasem. And he's dead. So if the One Hit Wonders have had more than one hit, I say we should give them a listen and keep reaching for the stars!
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