Off the reservation

[baylink]

In another thread, tpanther775 says:

> I have to agree about "I Love You" from Climax Blues Band. I thought it needed a second chance also. It never received the exposure it should have. I remembered hearing something about the band saying they didnt really like performing that song. I guess since it skewed away from the way their music normally sounded.

My favorite examples of songs that were big hits that their performers hated because the songs simply weren't what they were about, musically, were More Than Words, by Extreme; The Flame, by Cheap Trick...

and Aerosmith's only #1 hit ever: I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing, from the Armageddon soundtrack.

Anyone else got a really good example of a one- or one-and-a-half hit wonder whose hit was musically disjoint from the rest of their ouevre?

[mga707]

Jan 16, 2013 11:03:59 GMT -5 baylink said:

In another thread, tpanther775 says:
Anyone else got a really good example of a one- or one-and-a-half hit wonder whose hit was musically disjoint from the rest of their ouevre?

They are certainly more than a "one- or one-and-a-half hit wonder", but the act that jumps to mind for me is Green Day, whose "Seinfeld"-aided acoustic song "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" has got to be their most played song of their entire multi-decade career.

[mkarns]

Jan 16, 2013 12:17:51 GMT -5 mga707 said:

Jan 16, 2013 11:03:59 GMT -5 baylink said:

In another thread, tpanther775 says:
Anyone else got a really good example of a one- or one-and-a-half hit wonder whose hit was musically disjoint from the rest of their ouevre?

They are certainly more than a "one- or one-and-a-half hit wonder", but the act that jumps to mind for me is Green Day, whose "Seinfeld"-aided acoustic song "Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" has got to be their most played song of their entire multi-decade career.

I'd think that would be "Boulevard of Broken Dreams", a #1 AT40 hit. It's also a ballad, but not an acoustic one.

Speaking of TV sitcoms, I'd note the Rembrandts' "I'll Be There For You", which of course was the "Friends" theme. While not necessarily all that different in sound from their other material, it's kind of off that the only song most of the general public knows them for is a TV sitcom theme.

Maybe also the Fugees, whose admittedly brief career as a group produced only one big hit single, "Killing Me Softly", which was a cover, albeit modeled to their sound.

The Grateful Dead (admittedly not a singles oriented act) had one such hit, "Touch of Grey", which while not radically different from their style (which varied) is, at least on record, a lot more compact and commercial than arguably one should expect from a group synonymous with extended jamming and improvising.

[baylink]

Yeah, lasvegas, but Kiss isn't really best known for Beth; personally, I classify Beth in a different category: the musical-chops-braggadocio song; the song nearly all hard rock and heavy metal bands seemed to do to prove that, in fact, they "were 'real musicians'." More Than Words fits in that category as well, of course, though Aerosmith had other examples, much earlier in their career.

As for the Rembrandts, they raise another interesing sidenote: songs which were recorded as TV themes and became big pop hits -- sometimes (as in that instance) requiring that more material be written to pad the song out to pop hit length. Joey Scarbury is probably the most notable example of that, though Mike Post did chart with one or two instrumental themes, I think. Did anyone else actually have to extend the music to release it, as the Friends theme required?

[tarobe]

Bread was basically a rock and roll band (though not heavy metal), and a few of their rock songs were hits ("Let Your Love Go" and "Mother Freedom," for example), but they are primarily known for their hit singles which were slow easy-listening ballads. In fact, I wouldn't doubt that the term "whitebread," referring to AM oriented pop, is derived from their name.

[mstgator]

Simple Minds aren't truly one-hit wonders, but their best-known recording (and lone #1 on the pop chart) "Don't You (Forget About Me)" was publicly disparaged by band leader Jim Kerr.

[baylink]

I hadn't realized that about Simple Minds, but yeah, that would be more what I had in mind.

It's the "the only thing we can hit with is what we hate" aspect that I'm going for.

[vto66]

A couple that come to my mind...
Looking Glass' "Brandy (You're A Fine Girl)"--According to what I've heard about them, they were pretty much a bar-rock-type band, while their biggest mainstream pop hit definitely leaned more toward smooth R&B/pop with its horn fills and soulful harmonies. For a while there, I could have sworn Looking Glass was a black R&B group, or at least their lead singer or singers were black.
Melanie's "Brand New Key"--Some, no doubt, may find it hard to believe that this silly little number came from the same artist who gave us the stirring, gospel-styled ballad "Lay Down (Candles in The Rain" the year before.

[woolebull]

I think Bobby McFerrin would fit into this category. He's remembered for the number 1, "Don't Worry, Be Happy", but that song is not even close in defining the music of Mr. McFerrin.

[mga707]

Jan 16, 2013 22:32:23 GMT -5 vto66 said:

A couple that come to my mind...
Looking Glass' "Brandy (You're A Fine Girl)"--According to what I've heard about them, they were pretty much a bar-rock-type band, while their biggest mainstream pop hit definitely leaned more toward smooth R&B/pop with its horn fills and soulful harmonies. For a while there, I could have sworn Looking Glass was a black R&B group, or at least their lead singer or singers were black.

Looking Glass' other Top 40 record (a year later), "Jimmy Loves Mary Ann", was very much in the "Brandy" vein. Never heard anything else by them, though, for comparison.

[jlthorpe]

Jani Lane of Warrant always seemed to complain that the song "Cherry Pie" was kind of forced on them, and that it wasn't representative of their music. I think he also complained that their record company forced changes to their album containing the song (the original title was supposedly "Uncle Tom's Cabin", but was renamed "Cherry Pie" and had the cover showing a buxom waitress). Whether this is true or not, the song kind of became their signature, and I think they were regretting it once Nirvana and grunge swept hair metal away.

What about groups whose hit was different than their typical sound, but then changed their sound to match the hit. I believe Sugar Ray's "Fly" and Goo Goo Dolls' "Name" sounded different than what they were used to putting out, but once those songs became hits, everything else those bands released sounded just like the hits.

[Jeffster]

"Kiss Me" by Sixpence None The Richer was quite different than most of their music. They too tried to capitalize on its success by releasing other songs that sounded more like "Kiss Me" even though it was quite a departure from their previous music and even most of the other songs on the 1997 album.

[jcs72]

A long time ago I listened to the "Back On The Streets" cassette by Donnie Iris from 1980, and the only song by him I knew of ("Ah! Leah!", which reached #29 on AT40, BTW) was different from the rest with its heavy rock and roll sound. I thought at the time (July 1997) that everything else sounded techno-poppy.

Of course, since then I have heard "Love Is Like A Rock" and "My Girl", both of which charted in 1982, although the former entered the Top 100 in December 1981.

[tpanther775]

"Sweet Merilee" and "Do You Compute?" were great songs also. Although both only scraped the bottom of the Hot 100 although they did chart in the U.S. Mainstream Rock Top 40. Donnie only had one other song reach the Hot 100 after "Do you Compute?" in 1985 with "Injured in the Game of Love".