http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W92bWGKge1k
Sometimes a pop artist has such a huge and iconic hit that it defines the rest of their career. You can’t hear their name without that one big hit popping into your mind. Many of these artists disappear from sight just as quickly as they exploded on the scene. Typically we call these lucky/unfortunate folks “1-hit wonders.”
But often they only really match that name in our faulty memories.
The international pop superstar who became known as Falco was born in Austria in 1957 as Johann Holzel. He showed an aptitude for music as a small child, and was reportedly identified as having perfect pitch when he was just five years old.
He studied at the Vienna Music Conservatory in 1977, but left after just one semester claiming he wanted to “become a real musician.” After spending some time playing clubs in Berlin, he returned to Vienna calling himself “Falco.” After playing with a couple of musical groups, Falco recorded the song “Der Kommissar,” which was a huge hit in mainland Europe, but failed to chart in the U.S. Instead, a band called After the Fire produced an English language version of the song and it shot to #5 in the United States in March of 1983.
After switching his production team, Falco began including English lyrics in his songs and wrote his huge enormous giganto hit “Rock Me Amadeus” after seeing Milos Forman’s Oscar-winning Mozart biopic Amadeus. The mixture of heavy beats, Austrian rapping, and echoing male chorus added up to an unlikely #1 hit in the U.S.
And that’s it, right? He didn’t have any more hits stateside, did he?
Actually…he did. Less than two months after “Rock Me Amadeus” peaked on the charts, a second hit by Falco graced American airwaves. That song was called “Vienna Calling,” and it charted for eight weeks in the U.S., peaking at #18.
That’s a pretty high peak considering that the song has gone mostly forgotten since. It is tempting to say that “Vienna Calling” simply rode in on the coattails of its more successful predecessor, but the song is every bit as catchy and amped-up as Falco’s signature recording. Perhaps the bizarre qualities of “Rock Me Amadeus” have continued to fuel a sort of sentimental schadenfreude, resulting in its long-lasting status. I personally recall hearing “Vienna Calling” played at the neighborhood pool, but I don’t think I heard it once for more than 20 years after that.
Falco was planning a comeback in 1998 when he was involved in a motor accident with a bus and passed away from his injuries. Most pop fans will remember him for his booming pean to Mozart, but I would suggest that we all take at least one more listen to “Vienna Calling.”
More Nope, Not a One Hit Wonder
A National Hero in Austria. I’ll always remember the Simpson’s line: “Thankyou Taco, for that loving tribute to Falco”.
Fun article, And I am saddened to learn of Falco’s passing even all these years later. Man, I rocked me some Amadeus.
Is this a new feature?
I have noticed that frequently “One Hit Wonders” have multiple hits. But the follow-ups aren’t as big as the original. MC Hammer had more than one hit, but many consider him a One Hit Wonder because nothing else came close to You Can’t Touch This.
Many songs become hit singles, briefly, then once they fall off the charts are never heard from again, not even on the oldies station years later. A good example? Vanilla Ice is infamous for his #1 song from the early 90’s, Ice Ice Baby, yet nobody remembers he quickly followed that up with a cover of Play That Funky Music, which inexplicably went Top 5. Maybe it’s for the best nobody remembers it. MC Hammer, as you mentioned, had several Top 10 hits in the late 80’s/early 90’s, like Pray, Have You Seen Her, 2 Legit 2 Quit, and Addams… Read more »
I would recommend you read One Hit Wonderland by Tony Hawks (not Hawk!), who himself was a one hit wonder, as part of Morris Minor and The Majors with their hit “Stutter-rap”. It details his attempt to achieve another number 1 within a twelve month period. Quite funny.
I’m sure some of my choices for the series will be effected by my own perceptions. For example, I remember follow-up hits by both MC Hammer and Corey Hart so well, that I would anticipate that others do as well. Am I wrong about this?
You are totally right about these artists having more success than most of us could even dream of achieving, but that is part of what makes them fascinating. Our expectations on hearing their one big hit are for lots more to come…and then very little happens.
From Wikipedia’s entry on One Hit Wonders:
For the purposes of these articles, I will be defining a true “1-hit wonder” as an artist or group with a single sizable hit, but no additional top40 charters. While I will probably mention if an artist like Falco enjoys additional success overseas, I will only count songs which chart in the U.S. I will also not consider songs which hit the country or “modern” or other charts without also showing up in the main top40 chart. Though that approach does identify groups like The Grateful Dead as 1-hit wonders, I don’t think anyone really thinks of them in those… Read more »
Definitely not. I’m fuzzy on Hammer’s followups, but I, too, remember “Never Surrender” too well to call Corey Hart a one-hit wonder.
I had initially intended to just write a single long article with several examples, but as I did some research I realized that there was such a treasure trove that a series made more sense.
I would like to see this as an ongoing series. Keep ’em coming. I already mentioned him, but how a Corey Hart write-up? I still hear Sunglasses At Night on the radio once in a while…
I can definitely cover Corey Hart soon since you requested him, though I remember “Never Surrender” way too well to have ever thought he was a 1-hit wonder myself. But I’ve got a soft spot for him, so I’ll do it.
At some point I will have to turn down some requests because I just will hate the associated music.
I can’t picture myself covering The Spice Girls, for example.
The basic problem with one-hit wonders is that it’s hard to define what makes one one. Some people might argue that The Grateful Dead is a one-hit wonder by the strictest definition. In regards to a few of the ones mentioned above (Hammer, Corey Hart) another one that falls into that category would be Fastball. In 1998-99, they were all over radio with “The Way”. From the standpoint of 15 years later, many people see them as one-hit wonders because that’s the only song of theirs most people remember. In actuality, they followed it up with a few more successful… Read more »
I may end up featuring Fastball at some point. I am working from the 8th edition of “The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits,” which lists “Out of My Head” as peaking at #20 some time in ’99.
That’s right, Grateful Dead are One Hit Wonders, aren’t they? It only took them 22 years to finally get a Top 40 single, Touch of Gray which peaked at #9 in ’87. Yet despite only being a legitimate One Hit Wonder, they toured successfully for decades before having a hit and sold over 35 Million copies of their albums over the years. One Hit Wonder occassionally doesn’t tell the entire story.
Another good example from that same era: The infamous Spice Girls. They had several hits in 1997-98 including “Say You’ll Be There”, “2 Become 1”, “Two Much” and “Spice Up Your Life”. Today, aside from maybe a few people who might remember “2 Become 1” (which still pops up from time to time on pop and adult contemporary stations) “Wannabe” is the only song most people really know. That’s most likely because it’s a song that gets stuck in one’s head regardless of whether they love it or totally detest it. That combined with the fact that the bulk of… Read more »
Interesting that you consider the Spice Girls to be virtual nonentities other than ‘Wannabe’. Because at home (and more widely) they were monster for years, and continue even now to be pretty high profile whenever one of them decides to do something publicly. We’ll gloss over the embarrassment that was the 2012 Olympics closing ceremony. And, of course, Mrs. Victoria Beckham is precisely that – married to one of the well known sportsmen in the world. Hell, even the USA have heard of David, haven’t they? So please, before writing anyone off, you might want to remember that the US… Read more »
What I was saying was that like some of the artists mentioned above, they’ve come to be erroneously seen as one-hit wonders because one song reached the level of iconic and the others have been forgotten by a significant portion of the public. Above, Hammer was mentioned. Most of the public knows “U Can’t Touch This”. Not as many know the other songs mentioned above. I know all of the ones mentioned because I was 13-14 when he was at his peak. Most people within 5 years of my age either way probably remember those. But I suspect that many… Read more »
“But the Spice Girls in general have been more or less irrelevant […] in America since 1999. [ …] They’re not one-hit wonders no. But like with Hammer, it’s easy to see why they might be thought of as such by a significant portion of the general public.” Sorry, but you can’t write off a band based on when they were famous vs. knowledge of them amongst the currently young. If validity of success were based purely on era of activity, then you could equally claim that groups such as The Beatles have no business being remembered. Which of course… Read more »
I understand what you’re trying to say here, HHGeek, but people’s erroneous perceptions are exactly what these articles will be about.
To a large degree they will be about my own erroneous perceptions…or my erroneous perceptions of other people’s erroneous perceptions…if that makes any sense at all!
🙂
Jimmy Buffett is the perfact example of someone who is PERCEIVED to be a One Hit Wonder. Everybody knows Margaritaville, it’s the song that launched not only a career but an entire cottage industry. It’s a song that launched a successful restaurant chain located throughout America, Canada, Mexico, the Carribean, and Australia; a Margarita mix and tequila; a variety of Malt beverages; a Chips and Salsa brand; Chicken Wings; footwear; men’s and women’s apparel, an outdoor furniture brand; even a planned casino! Margaritaville is arguably, from a financial standpoint, the most profitable song ever written, in that it created an… Read more »
Another thing to take into account: There are certain artists that have one-hit in one place. But elsewhere they’re sensations.
A prime example of that is Chumbawamba.. They were more or less an institution in Britain. In America, they’re known for Tubthumping and that’s it. They had a number of hits in Britain. But after Tubthumping ran its course, that was it for them in America.Like I noted before, the 1997-99 period was full of one-hit wonders and novelty acts.
since these articles will be about artists who many people mistakenly believe are 1-hit wonders, I will be leaning heavily on my own perceptions, which are firmly rooted in the culture of the cosmopolitan U.S. South (and a couple of years in Chicago). For that same reason, I will have to settle on one standard for identifying a hit. I will be using the U.S. Billboard top40.
“A prime example of that is Chumbawamba.. They were more or less an institution in Britain. In America, they’re known for Tubthumping and that’s it. They had a number of hits in Britain. ” Unless you’re discussing a different Britain, I have to disagree again! ‘Tubthumping’ was massive, and they got a minor level of follow up success with singles from the same album. Other than that, their mainstream profile is derived predominantly from chucking water on Prescott at the BRITS ceremony one year. Yeah, they were a sort of institution amongst the a certain section of the population, but… Read more »
A-ha is another example…….hit after hit all across Europe over the course of 20+ years,yet
here in the States that hit & classic video of Take on Me is what most folks think of! I recall a
few years back vocalist Morten Harket mentioned ’bout the way most Americans discared them after Hunting High & Low,which IMO was sorta expected!!!
I’ll be covering A-ha within the month! 🙂
Mmmm. I’m not sure you can discount Falco as a OHW because, two months after the release of one of the biggest hits of the 80’s, he released another song that made it on to the charts. At #18. I read what terms you will be using to do these write ups (“For the purposes of these articles, I will be defining a true ‘1-hit wonder’ as an artist or group with a single sizable hit, but no additional top 40 charters.”), but it seems it would be fairer to assess these by the guideline of whom actually had another… Read more »
It’s a good idea to include info on what’s going on with the subjects. I’ll try to do that.
A second top5 hit to avoid being a 1-hit wonder? That’s a little strict, don’t you think?
It would make 1-hit wonders of these artists:
Johnny Cash
ELO
Bill Haley & his Comets
Led Zeppelin
Eddie Money
Tom Petty
The Pretenders
R.E.M.
Sonny & Cher
Tupac Shakur
The Animals
…and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
I’m not even mentioning the big names it turns into no-hit wonders. 🙂
Yeah one of the big names that turns into one-hit wonders is my favorite band Pearl Jam. Like I said before, in reference to the Grateful Dead, using the strictest interpretation would make many artists one-hit wonders.
Well- the Dead were famous for being the biggest band with no hits. Touch of Grey got a lot of attention for getting them over.
Still confused that Casey Jones wasn’t a hit- hear it all the time-
Sugar Magnolia, Ship of Fools, Uncle John’s Band, One More Saturday Night, Hell in a Bucket, Box of Rain, Truckin’, Ripple, Friend of the Devil…
The Grateful Dead have a lot of well-known songs that casual fans might name instead of Touch of Grey.
This article finally brought me to leave a comment on this great side. From the U.S. perspective, Falco is just a one hit wonder. But in the german-speaking countries he was one of the biggest popstars, and since his dead, he gets adored more and more – rightfully so. He was one of that few stars, who appealed to the mass as well as to the indie scene. Falco started his career in the late 1970ies. He was a capable drummer, also, and played in the austrian band Drahdiwaberl, which mixed early punk influences and satirical performances. He started a… Read more »
Thanks for all the great info, petermaresch!
I can only write from the perspective of a citizen of the cosmopolitan American South, so it is always to get the impressions of folks from outside of that.
The catchiness of both “Der Kommissar” and “Vienna Calling” always suggested that Falco was not really a fluke musically.
I was vaguely aware that Falco was a big deal overseas. But so was David Hasslehoff.
I was an exchange student in Munich in 1986- Falco was huge.
He had a lot of talent- a shame he died so young.
You know who might be a worthy future NAOHW candidate? Eddie Murphy. I bet pretty much everybody counts him as a One Hit Wonder. Eddie Murphy was having the biggest year of his life in 1985 with the huge success of Beverly Hills Cop (it spent 14 weeks at #1 at the box office, I think that counts as a huge blockbuster), and then just because he had a song to share with the world, he informed us through music that his girl likes to Party All The Time. Huge radio hit, it was unavoidable. What can I say, Eddie… Read more »