One-Hit Wonders
Just this past weekend, MTV did a number of special reports covering popular music over the past two and half decades. In a special episode, MTV's life was spoken about, highlighting the various shows, controversies, music and faces that have gone through their studio. Faces including Ben Stiller, Dan Cortese, Jenny McCarthy, Colin Quinn, Adam Sandler, Julie Brown, Bill Bellamy and even Bill Clinton. The special took up a great deal of Sunday's airtime, airing for at least three hours.
Preceding the special was another special episode, this of MTV's music documentary series, UltraSound. UltraSound concentrated solely on the lives of so many musical artists that have brushed our ears. VJs and reporters reflected upon the reasons behind the sudden success and declines of certain artists, many had what it took but failed to put the effort in, whilst others were just more of the same. Many different songs and their artists, all of different musical genres, were pulled out from the vault to surface once again. Here are some that MTV pointed out.
Artist - Song Title
Snow - Informer
The Presidents of the USA - Peaches
Sir Mix-A-Lot - Baby Got Back
Vanilla Ice - Ice Ice Baby
The Rembrants - I'll Be There for You
Kris Kross - Jump
Deee-Lite - Groove Is in the Heart
Haddaway - What is Love
Right Said Fred - Too Sexy
Skee-Lo - I Wish
The New Radicals - You Get What You Give
Nada Surf - Popular
These were only some of the songs picked out of hundreds and hundreds of these "One-Hit Wonders". Now what exactly am I trying to accomplish right now? Okay, I'm basically repeating all that was said in the UltraSound documentary. But what I was getting to is this. I'm going to throw out a list right now. It will be of songs and their artists that should be on the documentary. The catch is, all of these songs were produced fairly recently, let's say, in the last 2 years.
Artist - Song
Monifah - Touch It
Sixpence None the Richer - Kiss Me
Natalie Imbruglia - Torn
Lit - Zip-Lock
Lou Bega - Mambo No. 5
Enrique Iglesias - Bailamos
Tal Bachman - She's So High
Vitamin C - Smile
Eagle Eye Cherry - Save Tonight
The Lox - Money, Power & Respect
Beenie Man - Who Am I?
Militia - Burn
Lord Tariq & Peter Gunz - Deja Vu
Swing My Way - KP & Envy
Tubthumping - Chumbawumba
Come on Eileen - Save Ferris
Def Squad - Rapper's Delight
Big Punisher - Still Not a Player
Nicole - Make it Hot
All Saints - Never Ever
Kinsu - The Hop
Outkast - Rosa Parks
Okay, I hate to admit it, but I don't think that Ricky Martin falls in the "One-Hit Wonder" category. Well, besides the fact that he has been in the music industry for some ten odd years, his American debut album did have three songs on Billboard's Top 40 (Livin' La Vida Loca, The Cup of Life & She's All I Ever Had). While Livin' La Vida Loca was the only title to hit number one, the other songs did score highly among supporters and critics.
What's with some of those titles that are up there? Well, I love some of those songs myself, but honestly the artists just don't have anything left to offer. Def Squad is a good group, but the members have much stronger solo careers, and always have. Some of the songs or faces we haven't even seen in years. Chumbawumba and Natalie Imbruglia? I really like Tal Bachman's music, but beyond his hit single, he won't be able to put anything past the audiences any longer.
In music, the key to success is staying somewhere near the top. It's difficult to stay number one, because the only thing left to do from there is go down. Sir Mix-A-Lot said about his number one hit Baby Got Back, "Uh-oh...There's no number zero, that means it's downhill..." "One Hit Wonders". Some were born only for their 15 minutes of fame, others didn't apply themselves, the rest were just lucky.
RyoKazama534
CCC Lead Editor
Chrissy's Cray-Z Cite
A Division of Noisy Russian Productions
Copyright (R) 1999
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