In the age of the internet, there are so many one-hit wonders inmusic. So manysongs can easily go viral on Tik Tokand fade away within a month, quickly forgotten by the masses. However, in the age of radio, one-hit wonders were different. Bands would release a single that hit a DJ’s ear just right and soon find their song playing daily on every station in the United States. Without Spotify, SoundCloud, and Apple Music, if you weren’t spinning a record or playing a CD,everyone would tune in to the same songs on the radio.
One-hit wonders from theclassic rock eraare recognizable to generations born long after their release.Before the 2000s, a one-off hit could make huge waves in the music industryrather than a tiny splash.
One-hit wonders often go on to acquire a fervent fan base and continue to make music that connects with thousands of fans, but never quite achieve that top 40 slot they used to inhabit. It is difficult to find someone who does not recognize these songs from commercials, movies, video games, or your uncle’s backyard barbecue, but it is just as rare to find someone who knows where the artists behind them are now.
10Black Betty By Ram Jam
Released In 1977, Peaked At #18
“Black Betty” has been around long before Ram Jam got a hold of itfor their heavy rock cover. The song is most commonly credited to the legendary blues musician Lead Belly for his recording in 1939. The song may be about a woman named Betty, a way to refer to whiskey, or even a whip used by prison guards in the South.
The Ram Jam re-imagining of the songloses the heart of the original. However, it is undeniable that this version has a way of sticking in your brain. Myke Scavone’s vocals are badass, and the song’s bold sound has all the makings of a rock hit. However, the additional verses about the pin-up model, Bettie Page, written by Ram Jam’s Bill Bartlett, and the speed at which the lyrics are delivered make the song lack clarity.
It takes a work song imbued with Black history and struggle and turns it into another unintelligible rock songthat features guitar solos over the lyrical content. This is in stark contrast with the Lead Belly recording, which features only the singer’s voice and sparse clapping.
Today, Ram Jam is no more, but the legacy of their “Black Betty” lives on. The New York-based band saw very little success after the lightning in a bottle that was “Black Betty.” It seems that the failure of their album,Portrait of the Artist as a Young Ram,caused the band to split just a year after their 15 minutes of fame. Today, the band members have scattered to other endeavors: Scavone tours with The Yardbirds and The Doughboys, and guitarist Jimmy Santoro teaches music.
9Louie Louie By The Kingsmen
Released In 1963, The Most Covered Rock Song
“Louie Louie” is another classic case of a cover that garnered more success than any of their original music. The Kingsmen were not the first to cover Richard Berry’s classic ’50s rhythm and blues song, but they were the most successful.Louie Louie is one of, if not the most, covered rock ‘n’ roll songs in the world, boasting over 2,000 recordings. Many of music’s greatest legends hopped on the trend: Motörhead, Otis Redding, The Beach Boys, Blondie, The Kinks, Lou Reed, and countless others have a version of this song.
The Kingsmen version of Berry’s original songinfuses the rising rock ‘n’ roll sound into the blues of the originalwithout losing the song’s original charm. Jack Ely’s nasal and loose vocal performance sells this song, making it feel like a laid-back jam that you can turn your brain off and dance to. The Kingsmen struck the perfect balance between making a song your own without sacrificing the original’s calypso appeal.
Although The Kingsmen never found chart-topping success again, they certainly did not fade away from the public conscious.
The song’s cultural successbrought The Kingsmen as many blessings as it did curses. People could not understand what Jack Ely was singing and would often make up their own lyrics that were very explicit. This caused the FBI to launch an investigation into the raunchy song, which was very tame in reality.
Although The Kingsmen never found chart-topping success again, they certainly did not fade away from the public conscious. The band toured with The Beach Boys in 1964 and continued to work in the studio. They had many songs and albums with a place on Billboard’s top 100 charts. The group was able to tour together for decades as"Louie Louie" kept finding new life in commercials and movieslikeNational Lampoon’s Animal House. Sadly, only two members of the original “Louie Louie” lineup are still alive today: Bob Nordby and Don Gallucci.
8Spirit In The Sky By Norman Greenbaum
Released In 1969
Many one-hit wonders are must-hears at parties. They are so danceable, high energy, and infectious that they spread like wildfire. On the other hand,these one-off hits can also be more sentimental. They win over listeners with their gripping sincerity. “Spirit in the Sky” is certainly one of those emotional heavy hitters.
Don’t get it twisted,Norman Greenbaum’s song is still a rock hit. The distorted fuzz guitar riffs and celebratory gospel feel make this song about meeting your maker feel light and fun. Despite the fact that the song is centered around the joy of meeting the Christian God and Jesus in heaven, Greenbaum is Jewish.
Even though Norman Greenbaum never soared up to the top of the charts again,he is not at a loss. At first, Greenbaum had the typical one-hit wonder experience. After his song faded from people’s minds, the money faded away with it. He became a line cook in order to pay the bills, but the song would soon start making him money again. Greenbaum toldThe New York Timesthat although the song hasn’t made him wealthy, he doesn’t have to work at all living off the royalties of this undying hit.
7Mississippi Queen By Mountain
Released In 1970, Peaked At #21
If you are Gen Z, your first introduction to this song may have been in an episode ofRegular Show, when Benson attempts a food challenge, leading to a hallucination underscored by this song. Ever since seeing this episode as a child, the song has been stuck in my head.
The guitar solo that opens the song is thunderous and wailing. It crashes into Leslie West’s iconic rasp, which gives the song a real bite. According toLouder Sound, Corky Laing once had to fill time in a set due to technical issues and kept repeating “Mississippi Queen, do you know what I mean?”, punctuating the line with the song’s iconic cowbell. The line was inspired by a beautiful girl he saw his buddy hanging out with at the show.
Mountain’s first introduction to a wide audience wastheir performance at Woodstock ‘69, which paved the road forward for the upcoming “Mississippi Queen” to be as big as it was. Mountain is not a one-hit wonder that failed in the years after its big success. The album that included “Mississippi Queen,“Climbing!, and their next release,Nantucket Sleighride, sold well for the band and kept them on the road for the next two years.
However,the band would tragically break up in 1972, the chief reason being that bassist, Felix Pappalardi, was losing his hearing at their loud shows. West and Laing briefly played in therock supergroupWest, Bruce, and Laing with Jack Bruce of Cream. Mountain reformed to cash in on a tour in Japan, but broke up again the next year. Leslie West’s music career lasted until the day he died in 2020. Pappalardi died in 1983, shortly after producing his final album.
6Play That Funky Music By Wild Cherry
Released In 1976, Went Platinum In The US
“Play That Funk Music” by Wild Cherry is the type of song that makes you think, how is Wild Cherry a one-hit wonder? The groovy jam feels right at home with funky songs by household names released around the same time, like “Fame” by David Bowie and “Hot Stuff” by the Rolling Stones. The song rose in the charts, perfectly striking the musical zeitgeist of the mid 1970s.The glorious view from the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart was the group’s to admire for three triumphant weeks, but after 1976, the band would never see it again.
The iconic lyric “play that funky music white boy” came from a simple spark of inspiration. According toStereogum, while playing a gig in Philadelphia’s 2001 club, a patron asked the band “are you white boys gonna play some funky music?” Rob Parisi, the band’s frontman, felt like he struck gold when this question hit his ears.He immediately started to write “Play That Funky Music” on a notepad rightthen and there.
Today, the brains behind Wild Cherry, Parissi, has become a producer, leaving the electricity of funk.
After their huge radio hit, Wild Cherry put out three albums:Electrified Funk,I Love My Music, andOnly The Wild Survive. These albums saw mild success that slowly petered off. The first hit number 51 on the US charts, the next made it to number 83, and finally their last album never charted at all. Throughout the recording and touring of these albums,the band’s line-up went through many changes.
Bryan Basset on guitar left the band and began playing with Foghat in 1978. The bass and synth musician, Allen Wentz, left the band that same year. Of the final Wild Cherry line-up, Rob Parissi is the only remaining member of the group’s original 1970 formation. Today, the brains behind Wild Cherry, Parissi, has become a producer, leaving the electricity of funk behind for the contemplative mood of jazz.
5Come On Eileen By Dexys Midnight Runners
Released In 1982, Best British Single In 1983
This folk-pop-rock fusion is inescapable at every social gathering, especially when generations of family gather together. Recently, mega-pop starSabrina Carpenter did a cover of the ’80s classic at her tourstop in London.
You might not believe it, butthis jolly tune actually comes with its fair share of controversy. In the ’80s, Dexys Midnight Runners were plagued with inner turmoil. The two Kevins of the group, Rowland and Archer, did not see eye to eye, and Archer felt stifled by Rowland. In the end, the band wasn’t big enough for the two of them, and Archer left to join a new venture, The Blue Ox Babes, taking trombone player, Tim Paterson, with him.
Even though Archer left the band, it seems he didn’t take everything with him. When “Come On Eileen” became a huge hit in the UK and made its way across the pond to the top of the United States charts, Archer felt he had been cheated.“Come On Eileen” sounded like a song that he wrote and recorded as a demo, something he had previously shown to Rowland.While Rowland would go on to confess that he was indeed inspired by the tape, he still stood his ground on the majority of the song being original.
The band broke up a few short years after the whirlwind that was “Come On Eileen.“Rowland was losing interest in the band and seemingly trying to re-imagine their soundwith each new release. His struggle with drugs and the feeling that he couldn’t do better than the band’s albumDon’t Stand Me Downled to the fall of the group. Despite the hardships, Rowland knew he had something special in “Come On Eileen,” and kept trying to rebuild the band with a new group of musicians every few years.
In 2003, the rebirth finally stuck, and the band was recording again with two original members: Kevin Rowland and Pete Williams. Decades after their hit, the group Dexy Midnight Runners became simply Dexys in 2011. Today, the new line-up of Dexys are still making music, and Kevin Rowland is releasing a book in the summer of 2025.
4Hooked On A Feeling By Blue Swede
Released In 1973, Charted #1
“Hooked On A Feeling” is a song that is seemingly imbued with magic.This song transcends timein a way that very few songs are capable of achieving. The first version of the song was written and recorded by B.J. Thomas in 1968. The original was classic ’60s pop with a touch of the blues and soul that Black artists created and perfected before it was popularized. Only five years later, Blue Swede would find this song’s sweet spot.
The group from Sweden took the very sincere song and added a playful silliness to the sound that is a whisper of the ’80s to come.The track plays perfectly on tension and release, starting out with the a cappella “ooga-chaka” section lays the group work for how grand the band sounds. The powerful delivery of the song’s title hits you even harder with the two accented hits that precede it.
The glittering glam band only spent six years together, splitting in 1979. Before that, they had another song reach the top ten on the US charts with “Never My Love” in 1974. Bjorn Skifs went on to have a solo career as a vocalist after the dissolution of the group. He represented Sweden inEurovisiontwice in his solo career.
3Brandy (You’re A Fine Girl) By Looking Glass
Released In 1972, Charted #1
Looking Glass’ “Brandy (You’re A Fine Girl)” ranges from tranquil to explosive declarations of admiration. Elliot Lurie’s story of a sailor divided by his life’s passion and the woman of his dream still speaks to audiences today. On Tik Tok,over 10,000 videos have been made with this songthat was released four decades before the app ever launched.
Lurie wrote the song with a specific girl in mind: his school sweetheart, Randy. Although the song is not a portrait of either of their lives, remembering her allowed him to write this song about a sailor that can never settle down with the bar maid he loves.Despite what urban legends would have you believe, Brandy is not a real person who ever livedto Lurie’s knowledge.
The song made [Lurie’s] dreams of making a living playing music possible.
This dynamic pop-infused rock track shot Looking Glass up to number one on the charts, and listeners could not get enough of the track. However, this saccharine rock was not reflective of the band’s adherence to rock. The New Jersey band soared to unexpected heights whentheir hit brought them from frat houses to nationwide tours. The four young men lived the rock ‘n’ roll dreams of all of their peers in the 1970s, playing alongside and opening for huge acts: Jeff Beck, The Eagles, Emerson Lake and Palmer, and more.
For Lurie, the song made his dreams of making a living playing music possible. If you somehow feel too young to know him for his Looking Glass hit, you may know him as the writer of theLizzie McGuiretheme song. For some of his bandmates,it was just an epic side quest.
Drummer Jeff Grob returned to the college where the band met, Rutgers, and studied to become a landscaping architect. Piano player Larry Gonsky brought his musical talents to the classroom, where he finds joy teaching the musicians of the future. Nearly twenty years after their once in a lifetime success, songwriter and bass player, Peter Sweval, passed away in 1990.
2Layla By Derek & The Dominoes
Released In 1971, Rolling Stone’s 27th Greatest Song Of All Time
When Derek & The Dominoes put out their song “Layla,” they could not have known just how many people would be named after the song in the years to come. This song hasone of the most iconic riffs in all of rock music. Although the song’s primary lick can become repetitive, I never get tired of hearing the triumphant tune ring out under Eric Clapton’s rugged, powerful vocals.
“Layla” was written aboutthe infamous love triangle that pitted George Harrison and Eric Clapton against each other. Clapton was in love with Harrison’s wife, Pattie Boyd. It may seem strange at first, as Pattie and Layla are not remotely similar names, so how did he come to this name?Clapton personally identified with the story of Layla and Majun, an epic poem about a poet who fell in love with a woman but could not be with her because she was forced to marry another man by her father.
This band has a star-studded lineup, so how did they become a one-hit wonder? The band wasintentionally created to fly under the radar. Eric Clapton could have put his name from and center and sold-out tours with his new all-star band, but he wanted to keep the project humble. The group was also short-lived, only performing and recording together for a year before the fires of personal tensions and hardships fanned by the influence of substance use burned the band to the ground.
Eric Clapton is considered a foundational artist in rock guitar. Many would put him high on their list of the greatest guitar players of all time. Clapton’s music career has been decorated with countless successful ventures: Yardbirds, Cream, Blind Faith, and his solo work, to name a few. Bobby Whitlock, who plays the iconic piano section of “Layla,” continued to put his incredible talent to use in his solo work and studio sessions for record labels. Duane Allman was none other than the leader of the Allman Brothers Band.
Drummer and “Layla” co-writer, Jim Gordon, is now known for tragically murdering his mother while struggling with undiagnosed schizophrenia in 1983. Guitarist, Dave Mason, is known as a founding member of Traffic, but after Derek & the Dominoes, he had a short ’90s stint with Fleetwood Mac. Bass player, Carl Radle, continued to work as a session musician and played with the band Colours after his time with Clapton.
Released In 1972, Peaked At #13
Mentions of sexual assault/rape.
“Dancing in the Moonlight” contains an electric piano line that is so impressive and pleasing that it almost certainly inspired a generation of musicians to start tickling the ivories. King Harvest’s hit isthe definition of a laid-back, easy-listening song. From summer mix tapes to the modern summer playlist, this song is the soundtrack to a summer with the windows rolled down and staying up into the early hours of the morning.
Sherman Kelly wrote “Dancing in the Moonlight” after what is likelythe most harrowing experience of his life(The Vinyl Dialogues). Kelly and a group of his friends decided to rent a yacht to take a luxurious trip to St. Croix, but Kelly was unable to find his sea legs. Due to intense seasickness, he got off the ship with his girlfriend and tried to stay in a hotel, but the pair were turned down at every door. Ultimately, they decided they could just hang out on the beach for the night until the morning.
In the night, the couple were attacked by a group of men that brutally beat them, and his girlfriend was raped. The pair stumbled to a hospital with the little bit of consciousness they regained, and their chances of survival felt grim. After surviving such a terrifying experience, Kelly found respite in writing the lyrics of “Dancing in the Moonlight,” in which he imagined a night and a world where his experience on the beach had been sun-kissed and beautiful.
King Harvest broke up in 1976 and the members went their separate ways. Wells Kelly, Sherman’s brother, reconnected with former bandmates from his first band, Boffalongo, to form a new band called Orleans. Sherman Kelly stopped working in music after the death of his brother, Wells. He returned to one of his passions before King Harvest, psychology, becoming a psychotherapist. The singer of “Dancing in the Moonlight,” Dave ‘Doc’ Robinson, also played in Orleans and a band called Celebration after his time in King Harvest.
