The Top 500 One-Hit Wonders of the Rock Era Revisited: #350-341

They came into our lives for one big song and then faded away.  But that one song was something special.

People expected great things from this artist after her debut album in 1996:

#350:  Fiona Apple--"Criminal" 

Apple got her start when she recorded a demo tape in 1994 and got it in the hands of music publicist Kathryn Schenker. Schenker in turn gave the tape to Andy Slater of Sony Records and Apple had herself a recording contract.

Apple released her debut album Tidal in 1996.  The album sold over 2.7 million copies, thanks to the single "Criminal".    

Apple won a Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance and captured the MTV Video Music Award for the video to "Criminal".  Future releases won Apple the same critical acclaim but that's different than getting people to like your music enough to buy it.  She was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album for Extraordinary Machine.  But Apple never achieved widespread success after "Criminal".

This innovative artist had fun his entire career.  And his hair was perfect.

#349:  Warren Zevon--"Werewolves Of London"

Zevon studied modern classical music at the home of Igor Stravinsky in Fresno, California. Zevon moved to New York City and began writing songs. He performed with high school friend Violet Santangelo in a duo called lyme & cybell, and spent time as a session musician and jingle composer.

Warren wrote songs for the Turtles ("Like The Seasons" and "Outside Chance"). Zevon recorded his first solo album in 1969 (Dead or Alive) but it did not sell.  In the early 70's, Zevon played keyboard for the Everly Brothers on tour.  But Warren wasn't exactly making ends meet, and he moved to Spain in 1975, where he lived and played in The Dubliner Bar near Barcelona.

Zevon moved back to Los Angeles, where he roomed with then-unknown musicians Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham.  He worked with Jackson Browne, who produced Zevon's self-titled major-label debut.  Members of Fleetwood Mac, Linda Ronstadt, the Eagles and Bonnie Raitt helped on the album, evidence of the respect he had earned inside the Los Angeles music community.

In 1978, Browne again was on hand to produce Excitable Boy for Zevon, his breakthrough album.  "Werewolves Of London" reached #21, which included Mick Fleetwood on drums and John McVie on bass.  Other than "A Certain Girl" (#57 in 1980), "Werewolves" was the only Zevon song to reach the Top 100.

Zevon has written many songs for other artists, most notably Linda Ronstadt.  Ronstadt has recorded "Poor Poor Pitiful Me", "Hasten Down The Wind", "Carmelita", "Accidentally Like A Martyr" and "Mohammed's Radio", all written by Warren.  Before his death, Zevon released 12 career albums.

This artist is among the most talented in our special:

#348:  Jude Cole--"Baby, It's Tonight"

Cole played guitar and sang background vocals for Moon Martin ("Rolene" from 1979) on three of his albums from 1979-1981 before releasing his self-titled debut album in 1987.  He got songwriting help from Bruce Springsteen among others on that album.

In 1990, Cole released his breakthrough album A View from 3rd Street.  The album contained "Baby, It's Tonight", which hit #16.  A second single, "Time For Letting Go" reached #32.  In 1992, Jude released the album Start the Car, containing the title track, which is one of The Top Unknown/Underrated Songs of the Rock Era*.  One could say the same about the album itself; it contains several tracks worthy of an accomplished songwriter.

I Don't Know Why I Act This Way in 1995 continued to reveal the depth of this artist, though he got little airplay and attention from it.

Cole sang backing vocals for Jewel on her 1998 album Spirit.  He has also worked with Styx, Peter Noone of Herman's Hermits, Del Shannon, Ted Nugent, Dave Edmunds and Patrick Simmons of the Doobie Brothers among many others. 

Cole released his final album Falling Home in 2000.  He has written the musical scores for three films with actor/director Kiefer Sutherland.  He now is the manager of the group Lifehouse and has co-written songs for them with Jason Wade.

De-evolution helped this group score their one big hit:

#347:  Devo--"Whip It"

Devo formed in 1972 with members from Kent and Akron, Ohio. Their name stands for de-evolution, an idea that instead of continuing to evolve, mankind has actually begun to recess. This fact should be obvious to anyone who has ever heard rap music.

The idea was developed by Gerald Casale and Bob Lewis in the late 1960's. Then on May 4, 1970, National Guard troops called in by President Richard Nixon shot and killed four Kent State students who were merely protesting the war in Vietnam. That tragedy has been cited many times as the impetus for forming Devo.

The classic line-up included Mark and Bob Mothersbaugh, Gerald and Bob Casales and Alan Myers.  The group first performed at the 1973 Kent State performing arts festival.  In 1976, Devo released their first single "Mongoloid".  In 1977, Neil Young asked them to help him make his film Human Highway, which was released in 1982.  

David Bowie and Iggy Pop helped the group land a recording contract with Warner Brothers.  Devo released their first album, Q:  Are We Not Men?  A:  We Are Devo! in 1978.  Devo appeared on Don Kirshner's Rock Concert in 1979 to promote their second album, Duty Now for the Future.

In 1980, the group released the album Freedom of Choice and  Whip It" reached #14.  Devo once again performed on Kirshner's Rock Concert as well as American Bandstand.

Devo released nine career albums and 27 singles, but nothing captured the public's attention as much as "Whip It".

At #346, a veteran musician who had one big solo hit in the 70's:

#346:  Ian Matthews--"Shake It" 

Matthews grew up playing football with the English rugby team Bradford Park Avenue in Lincolnshire.  Inspired by the British music explosion in the mid-60's, he sang with several bands and moved to London in 1966.  Matthews formed a trio, the Pyramid, a surf music band.  That group recorded one song, "Summer Of Last Year" in 1967 on Deram Records.

In the Spring of 1967, Matthews joined Fairport Convention, one of the top Folk Rock groups of the time.  In 1969, Matthews recorded his debut solo album, Matthews' Southern Comfort.  Ian formed a group using the name of the album and through several different lineups the group was critically acclaimed.  Their biggest hit they had was the cover of "Woodstock", which reached #1 in the U.K., #5 in Canada and #23 in the United States.  

Afterwards, Matthews split from Southern Comfort, who went on to release three albums of their own.  Matthews then recorded two solo albums on Vertigo Records, before forming Plainsong.  Plainsong signed with Elektra Records and recorded the album In Search of Amelia Earhart in 1972.

Plainsong folded, and although Matthews continued to record, he was unable to achieve solo success.  Finally in 1978, Matthews released "Shake It" on Rockburgh Records. The song caught on, reaching #13 in the United States.  But the North American rights for his album were held by Mushroom Records, whose owner, Shelly Siegel, died, leaving the label unable to promote the album properly.

After 15 years, Matthews was still just an admired but struggling musician with out-of-print albums.  He continued to record solo releases, and in 1986 reunited briefly with Fairport Convention, which led to the 1988 album Walking a Changing Line.  In 1989, Matthews reverted to the original spelling of his first name, Iain.

This group scored a big hit in 1969, then split up a year and a half later:

#345:  Spiral Starecase--"More Today Than Yesterday"  

This group from Sacramento, California, began as the Fydallions for an Air Force talent contest .  After leaving the military, the group performed on the Las Vegas circuit and in California.  They consisted of singer/guitarist Pat Upton, Harvey Kaye on organ, Dick Lopes on saxophone, bassist Bobby Raymond and drummer Vinny Parello.

The group signed with Columbia Records, but only on the condition that they change their name.  Thus, the band was renamed after the movie The Spiral Staircase, with a deliberate misspelling.  The first two singles were regional hits before they recorded their first album.  Upton wrote "More Today Than Yesterday" while the group was working in Las Vegas, and it became the next single.  In 1969, "More Today Than Yesterday" reached #12 and sold over one million copies.  

But 18 months after the single's release, the Spiral Starecase broke up due to bad management and arguments about finances.  Upton continued to work as a session musician, notably with Ricky Nelson.  In fact, Upton played guitar for Nelson in Guntersville, Alabama in what turned out to be Nelson's final concert before a plane crash took his life later that night.

This artist had a huge Disco hit in 1978, then was unable to follow up her success when future releases were not disco songs:

#344:  Alicia Bridges--"I Love The Nightlife"  

Bridges began singing at a young age and learned to play guitar at age 10.  By age 12, she had her own radio program, The Alicia Bridges Show, broadcast every Saturday on WADA  in Shelby, North Carolina.  She occasionally sang on the program, but mostly cued up records, ran commercials and made live announcements.

In 1977, Alicia signed with Polydor Records and released her self-titled debut album the following year.  Her single "I Love the Nightlife (Disco 'Round)", which she co-wrote, caught fire and became a #5 hit in the United States.  She received Gold records for the song in both the U.S. and Canada, and her song was also a hit in the U.K., Germany, Spain, Japan and several other European countries.  The album remained on the chart for 35 weeks and Bridges was nominated for a Grammy Award.  

Although the song was perfectly placed in the Disco Era, Bridges mostly sang Rock, Blues and love songs.  Subsequent releases more in her style did not fare well.  In 2006, Alicia founded Alicia Bridges Music Publications and she has produced three albums.  She also began to record again, releasing her second album, Say It Sister, in 2007 and her third, Faux Diva, in 2008.

In 1973, this artist emerged from the underground to enjoy his one popular song:

#343:  Lou Reed--"Walk On The Wild Side"

Reed was the guitarist, vocalist and main songwriter of the Velvet Underground, but they are more properly termed a "No Hit Wonder", so "Walk On The Wild Side" is Reed's only worldwide success.

Reed learned to play guitar from listening to the radio in Freeport, Long Island and played in several bands during high school.  His first recording was with a doo-wop group known as the Jades.  In 1960, Reed studied journalism, film directing and creative writing at Syracuse University.  He began hosting a late-night radio show on WAER and graduated from Syracuse with a B.A. in Arts and Sciences in 1964.

Reed moved to New York City and found work as a songwriter for Pickwick Records.  He had a minor hit with "The Ostrich", which poked fun at the popular dance songs of the period.  Pickwick assembled musicians, including John Cale, to help Reed promote the song.  Cale and Reed became roommates, and the two invited guitarist Sterling Morrison and drummer Maureen Tucker, two college acquaintances of Reed's, to join them in the group the Velvet Underground.  

Artist Andy Warhol became fascinated with the group and many of Reed's songs were inspired by Warhol and his associates.  But soon Warhol was fired as manager of the group and Reed also drove Cale from the group.  The band recorded several albums after that with no success. Although the Velvet Underground was a commercial failure, it had a cult following and inspired several musicians to form their own groups.  

After leaving the Velvet Underground in 1970, Reed went to work as a typist at his father's accounting firm.  In 1971, though, he signed a contract with RCA and recorded his debut solo album, backed by Steve Howe and Rick Wakeman of the group Yes.  The album included re-recorded versions of unreleased Velvet Underground songs but like albums of that group, it didn't sell either.

In 1973, Reed released Transformer, co-produced by David Bowie and Mick Ronson.  The song "Walk On The Wild Side" was a salute to the misfits, hustlers and transvestites who had surrounded Warhol.  Reed toured for the next two years before releasing the albums Berlin and Sally Can't Dance.  The live album Rock 'n' Roll Animal became his biggest-selling release.

Then in 1975, Reed recorded a bizarre double album of electronically generated audio feedback, called Metal Machine Music.  Though Reed claimed the album was a genuine artistic effort, it was returned to stores by the thousands after a few weeks.  

Reed performed at the First Farm Aid concert in 1985.  After 20 years, the Velvet Underground reformed for an album and European tour.  In his career, Reed has released 22 solo albums and 45 singles, but only one of those 45 became a hit.

 We go back to 1998 for this great one:            #342:  Inside Out--Eve 6

Eve 6 were three teenagers who played occasional shows at their high school.  A representative from the local record label Doctor Dream saw one of their shows and was impressed, eventually recommending them to a representative from RCA Records.  Don Gilmore, a producer at RCA, saw potential in the group and helped them lengthen the verses of this song and add the bridge.

"Inside Out" topped the Modern Rock chart for four weeks and made it to #28.  Even though "Here's To The Night" hit #30, the group fits our criteria as not having more than two Top 40 hits and nothing they did topped "Inside Out".

This artist scored his one big hit with his sophomore effort:

#341:  Roger Voudoris--"Get Used To It"  

Voudouris formed a band while in high school in Sacramento, California. They opened for acts such as the Doobie Brothers, Stephen Stills and John Mayall.
In 1978, he released his self-titled debut album. His second album Radio Dream in 1979 contained the single "Get Used To It", which peaked at #21 but had great success where it was played.

But that was as big as Voudouris would get. He did enjoy some popularity in Japan and Australia, but after his solo career faded, Roger returned to writing music and lyrics, including a documentary on the life of Elvis Presley.

One after another, great songs that have contributed to the enrichment of our lives.  Join Inside The Rock Era for the next segment tomorrow!