What do the following authors have in common: J.D. Salinger, Emily Brontë, and Oscar Wilde? They are famous for writing just one novel.
J.D. Salinger? The Catcher in the Rye. Emily Brontë? Wuthering Heights. And Oscar Wilde? The Picture of Dorian Gray. Home runs. Classics. Enduring favourites. Lasting fame. Millions of copies sold around the planet. But in each case, there were no follow-ups. They were all one and done.
J.D. Salinger became a recluse. Emily Brontë died shortly after the publication of Wuthering Heights. And Oscar Wilde stayed with writing plays. As novelists go, they are all one-hit wonders.
When it comes to music, one-hit wonders are an endless source of amusement. How can someone become internationally famous for decades when they only have one song that anyone cares about?
These are special cases where lightning is captured exactly once. And no matter how many more songs these artists wrote, they would never, ever achieve that extreme level of fame again. A single song overshadows every other effort.
Let’s apply this to the history of alt-rock. What songs and artists qualify?
It took a bunch of research, but I think I managed to crack it using a combination of statistics. And we’re now up to episode four of five in this mission: the 50 all-time biggest alt-rock one-hit wonders.
Songs heard on this show:
- Doctor and the Medics, Spirit in the Sky
- Enigma, Sadeness (Part 1)
- Edwyn Collins, A Girl Like You
- Peter Schilling, Major Tom (Coming Home)
- White Town, Your Woman
- Meredith Brooks, Bitch
- Marcy Playground, Sex and Candy
- The Caesars, Jerk It Out
- Chumbawamba, Tubthumping
- The La’s, There She Goes
Here’s Eric Wilhite’s playlist.
The Ongoing History of New Music can be heard on these stations.
- 102.1 The Edge/Toronto – Sunday night at 7pm
- Q107/Toronto – Sunday night at 9pm
- Live 88-5/Ottawa – Saturdays at 9am and Sundays at 6pm.
- 107.5 Dave-FM/Kitchener – Sunday nights at 11pm
- FM96/London – Sunday nights at 8pm
- Power 97/Winnipeg – Sunday nights at 10am and 10pm
- 107-3 The Edge/Calgary – Sundays at 10am and 10pm
- Sonic 102.9/Edmonton – Sunday at 8am and 8pm
- The Zone/Victoria – Sunday at 9am and 9pm
- The Fox/Vancouver – Sundays at 10anm and 10pm
- The Goat Network/Interior BC
- Surge 105/Halifax – Sunday at 7pm
- WAPS/WKTL The Summit/Arkon, Canton, Cleveland, Youngstown – Mon-Fri at 9pm
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