Giving “One Hit Wonders” A Second Chance

BeatleMatt

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There are those artists that in the past may have released a song as a single that found success but many music listeners just never looked beyond that song.
Here is a thread to confess our involvement, maybe remark about the songs and the artists, and perhaps rectify what we overlooked.
Let’s return to some of those songs we found interesting or maybe even bought the single, but just never listened to the rest of the album.
These songs don’t necessarily have to have made it to number one on the charts. Merely songs that had great success and you just never bothered to listen to any of the other songs from that album.
 

BeatleMatt

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I’m going to start with Tommy Tutone; specifically Tommy Tutone 2.
I bought the single, “867-5309 Jenny” released from the album Tommy Tutones 2, in 1981 but I had never listened to anything else from that album and I do not think any other singles were released from that album.
This song had great success when it was released and many today still recognize it.
I’m listening to the album, Tommy Tutones 2 for the first time today.
 

Aero

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Good idea for a thread.

In 1990, a band called The Sundays came out with their debut album, "Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic." Their big hit song was "Here's Where The Story Ends" which hit #1 on the US Alternative charts. Even though I loved the song and the vocals of the singer, I never bought the album. Recently, Spotify played another song from that same album called, "Can't Be Sure" which I think is also pretty good. Looks like it was a minor hit in the UK but never broke here in the US. It reminded me of what a lovely voice Harriet Wheeler possesses.

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BeatleMatt

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This week's return to former glory: Peter Schilling - "Major Tom (Coming Home)".
Again I'm coincidentally only going back to 1983. This song was all over some radio stations I listened to in that time, and certain friends listened to it as well. The character seemed loosely related to Bowie's "Space Oddity" and the music was interesting. At the time, although I chose not to buy the single, I Was eager to hear on the radio.
Flash forward to the early 2000's and I remember at least once deciding to buy a compilation disc of 80's music due to the fact that "Major Tom" was one of the songs. Once I even downloaded the German version, "Major Tom (Vollig Losgelost)"
I have never listen to the album theses singles were released from until this week. I listened to the German version, Fehler im System via Spotify. Obviously the music is synthesizer driven and not entirely my taste. Oh, and I do not understand a lot of German but I wanted to give it a chance anyway.
I have a few copies of both the U.S. and German single versions in my iTunes library but I dont think I'll be including the album in my library at anytime.
 

Aero

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This week's return to former glory: Peter Schilling - "Major Tom (Coming Home)".
Again I'm coincidentally only going back to 1983. This song was all over some radio stations I listened to in that time, and certain friends listened to it as well. The character seemed loosely related to Bowie's "Space Oddity" and the music was interesting.

I heard Bowie was not at all pleased when this song came out as he thought Shilling had used his character without his consent.
 

BeatleMatt

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The Ides of March and their album Vehicle.
“Vehicle” was a pretty good song and had some success in US and UK. I just never took the time to listen to the rest of that album. Until today.
 

BeatleMatt

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Todays experiment: Nena-99 Luftballons
Both the English and German version of “99 Red Ballon’s” were very successful in the early 80’s. I did not buy any of Nena’s albums back then but many 80’s compilations since include one version or the other in the mix.
I listened to the entire English release of 99 Luftballons (1984) album for the first time today so some of the songs are sung in English while others are in German.
The songs and music will remind you of the Go Go’s at times and a little bit of Depeche Mode synth in there.
 

Nai Noswad

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Sometimes it depends on your locale, I put my size nines in it on here a few years back
Falco and Jo Jo Gunne were apparently better than their one big hit... maybe... in an Armenian goat village??
 

Aero

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Todays experiment: Nena-99 Luftballons
Both the English and German version of “99 Red Ballon’s” were very successful in the early 80’s. I did not buy any of Nena’s albums back then but many 80’s compilations since include one version or the other in the mix.
I listened to the entire English release of 99 Luftballons (1984) album for the first time today so some of the songs are sung in English while others are in German.
The songs and music will remind you of the Go Go’s at times and a little bit of Depeche Mode synth in there.

It's a funny story about that song. Nai...you might get a kick out of this. So apparently, a DJ somewhere in Los Angeles had a German guest on his show. He asked her what music was hot in Germany then, and she said her boyfriend's band. She brought along a cassette tape that was supposedly cued up to that song and started to play it. The only problem was, it was actually cued up to 99 Luft Balloons, which was also on the tape, so that was blasted over the radio instead. Listeners started calling in asking where they could buy the record and it instantly became a hit in the US.

Even funnier...the record company told them their hit was huge in the US and they should make a US version. They did, but listeners still liked the German version better and it was requested much more often than the new US version.
 

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