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February 24, 2007
The 59 Best One Hit Wonders Ever: #8-#6
8. Big Country - "In A Big Country" (1983) An 80s classic power pop tune with the additonal sonic trick of making their guitars sound like bagpipes. Funny, since their music incorporated a lot of Scottish folk elements, none of the band were Scottish by birth. The video is perhaps the only top ten video ever to feature an ATV chase. There's probably a reason for that. Nonetheless, a great song from the early 80s.
7. Dishwalla - "Counting Blue Cars" (1996) Another great song that you can't access on line due to recording company stupidity and greed. But mid-90s post-grunge has few better poster children than this meaning of life song that presupposes God as a woman and features one of the catchiest hooks of the decade. I remain surprised that Dishwalla never managed a second hit; this was as strong a first big single as anyone had in the 90s, and this band should have been bigger. Maybe it was the name? Anyway, click here if you want to hear the song, for some kid's mashup to the song since the real video's not available.
6. M - "Pop Muzik" (1979) Pre-rap? New Wave? Performance art? Whatever you call it, Englishman Robin Scott landed one of the post-disco era's most infectious singles as his alter ego/collaboration, "M." The catchy chorus and memorable bridge ("New York, London, Paris, Munich, everybody talk about: Pop Muzik") make it almost easy to overlook the idea that this is a really good song musically, and by sounding electronic and mechanized is in fact a wry comment on the disposable nature of so much pop music. Great tune - and one of the first mainstream non-performance videos.
