The Top 500 One-Hit Wonders of the Rock Era Revisited: #270-261

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This veteran British musician enjoyed his big solo hit in 1979:

#270:  Ian Gomm--"Hold On" 

Gomm joined the group Unit 4 in 1962 but the group broke up by 1964.  He was a well-recognized rhythm guitarist in Brinsley Schwarz from 1970-1974.  

After the demise of Brinsley Schwarz, Gomm built his own recording studio in Wales and released his solo debut album Summer Holiday in 1978.  The following year, Epic Records released the same album retitled as Gomm with the Wind in the United States.  "Hold On" from the album reached #18.  Gomm co-wrote "Cruel to Be Kind" with Nick Lowe and opened for Dire Straits on their Sultans of Swing tour.

Gomm spent the next decade building a new studio, Mountain Sound, and writing songs.  He then turned to producing and engineering.  Gomm has released seven solo albums in his career.

This Vancouver, Canada group enjoyed their big hit in 1973:

#269:  Skylark--"Wildflower"

This group formed from one of Ronnie Hawkins' backup groups and signed with Capitol Records.  They released their self-titled debut album in 1972.  

"Wildflower" was #1 in Canada and #9 in the United States in 1973 and sold over one million copies.    Guitarist Doug Edwards co-wrote the song, which has been covered by Kenny Rogers, the O'Jays, Johnny Mathis, Aaron Neville, Color Me Badd, and others.

Skylark released three albums and two other singles before breaking up.

He may have enjoyed only one popular hit, but this artist has put out a lifetime of great work:

  

   #268:  Vangelis--"Chariots of Fire (Titles)"  

Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou began writing his own songs at the age of four and is largely a self-taught musician.  He studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Athens, Greece.  Vangelis began his professional musical career in the 1960's by founding both Forminx and Aphrodite's Child.  The former was very popular in Greece while Aphrodite's Child enjoyed success in Europe with the single "Rain and Tears". 

In the 70's, Vangelis wrote scores for several animal documentaries, including L'Apocalypse Des Animaux, La Fete sauvage and Opera sauvage.  After the student riots in 1968, Vangelis was inspired to record the album Fais que ton rêve soit plus long que la nuit (Make Your Dream Last Longer Than the Night), mixing music with news snippets and protest songs.

In 1973, Vangelis released his first official solo album, Earth, which featured ex-Aphrodite's Child guitarist Silver Koulouris and vocalist Robert Fitoussi.  After keyboardist Rick Wakeman left the group Yes, Vangelis was offered a job as his replacement.  He decided instead to move to London and sign with RCA Records.  

Vangelis began his own studio, Nemo Studios, and began recording several electronic albums, such as Heaven and Hell, Albedo 0.39, Spiral and China.  Parts of Heaven and Hell were later used as the theme to the PBS television series Cosmos by Carl Sagan. 

In 1980, Vangelis formed a musical partnership with Jon Anderson, lead singer of Yes.  The pair released several albums as Jon & Vangelis.  The following year, Vangelis wrote the score to the incredible Oscar-winning movie Chariots of Fire and released the single "Titles".  The song shot up to #1 as a multi-format hit and Vangelis captured the Academy Award for Best Original Music Score.  "Chariots of Fire" was later chosen by Apple co-founder Steve Jobs to introduce the first MacIntosh computer.

Vangelis continued work for movies, composing soundtracks for Blade Runner in 1982, Antartica in 1983 and The Bounty in 1984.  He also collaborated with Italian singer Milva on the albums Ich hab' keine Angstand Gehiminisse (I have no fear and Secrets).  In 1992, Vangelis composed the music for the movie 1492:  Conquest of Paradise, a 500th anniversary commemoration of Christopher Columbus' voyage to the New World.  Vangelis received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Score - Motion Picture.

Vangelis also wrote music for the staging of the Greek tragedy Elektra, several ballets, and music for the Euripides play, Medea.  He also scored several undersea documentaries for French ecologist and filmmaker Jacques-Yves Cousteau. 

In 2000, Vangelis composed the music for the closing ceremonies of the 2000 Sydney Summer Olympics.  He performed live and released Mythodea, an orchestra piece that was used by NASA as the theme for the Mars Odyssey mission in 2001.  In 2002, Vangelis created the Official Anthem for the 2002 FIFA World Cup.   In 2011, Vangelis was invited by Katar's Cultural Village in the state of Qatar to compose music for the opening of its world-class outdoor amphitheater.   

France honored Vangelis a Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters in 1992.  In 1995, a minor planet (6354 Vangelis) was named after him by the International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory.  NASA conferred the Public Service Medal to Vangelis in 2003, the highest honor the space agency presents to an individual not working for the U.S. government. 

Vangelis has composed more than 52 albums of material and he is regarded by many as one of the greatest composers of electronic music of all-time.  All of his talent and work in other areas, and the respect he gets from his peers makes it all the more amazing that Vangelis had just one hit in his entire career.

Up next, an artist who always gave their fans their money's worth:

  
#267:   Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen--"Hot Rod Lincoln"

Boise, Idaho's George Frayne IV founded this group in 1967 that also included Billy C. Farlow (vocals and harmonica), John Tichy (guitar and vocals), Bill Kirchen on lead guitar, Andy Stein (saxophone and fiddle), bassist Paul "Buffalo" Bruce Barlow, drummer Lance Dickerson and stell guitarist Bobby Black.  The group mixed rock & roll, country, Western swing, rockabilly and jump blues.

After playing for years in local bars in Michigan, the core members of Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen moved to San Francisco and signed a recording contract with Paramount Records.  The group became known for its long live shows lasting well into the night.  The band released their debut album Lost in the Ozone in 1971, which included the single "Hot Rod Lincoln".  The song hit #9 in early 1972. 

Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen released 13 albums and 12 singles before disbanding in 1976.  Tichy became head of the Department of Mechanical, Aerospace and Nuclear Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York.  "Hot Rod Lincoln" was voted as a Legendary Michigan Song in 2008 and the group was inducted into the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends Hall of Fame the following year.

At #266, one of the only foreign language songs to reach #1 in the Rock Era:

   #266:  Domenico Modugno--"Volare"

At the age of 9, Domenico and his family moved to San Pietro Vernotico, Italy. Modugno attended secondary school in Lecce.  

Early on, Domenico had dreams of becoming an actor and in 1951, after his military service, he enrolled in acting school.  In 1957, his song "Lazzarella", sung by Aurelio Fierro, finished second in the Festival della Canzone Napoletana. 

Modugno acted in the comedy La Rosa di Zolfo at the Festival della Prosa in Venice in 1958.  Also that year, Modugno became the manager of Franco Franchi and Ciccio Ingrassia, helping that comedy duo get started.  Domenico also entered the Sanremo Music Festival, presenting "Nel Blue Dipinto Di Blu", which he co-wrote.  The song won the contest, and became a huge worldwide hit.  

"Nel Blue Dipinto Di Blu" reached #1 in the United States, received two Grammy Awards, and has now sold over 22 million copies.

In 1959, Modugno won the Sanremo Festival again with "Piove" and captured a third title in 1962 with "Addio..., addio..."  He acted in 44 movies and produced two.  

We turn to the country of Jamaica for the #265 One-Hit Wonder:

   #265:  Desmond Dekker--" Israelites"  

Desmond Dacres grew up in Kingston, Jamaica and attended the Alpha Boy's School.  He worked first as a tailor and then as a welder before auditioning for Derrick Morgan at Beverley Records.

Morgan helped Dekker sign a recording contract and he recorded several songs popular in his native country before changing his name to Dekker.  His fourth release, "King of Ska", was particularly popular in Jamaica and Dekker then hired four brothers, Carl, Patric, Clive and Barry to become his backing band, the Four Aces.

In 1969, Dekker released the single "Israelites", which went to #1 in the U.K. and #9 in the United States.  In the 1970's, Dekker toured and moved to the U.K., where he continued to record.  He has released 10 albums and 45 singles, but could never repeat his success of "Israelites".

This next song became a hit not because of record company foresight, but rather because, as is often the case, radio played the song the record company wasn't promoting:

   #264:  Frank Mills--"Music Box Dancer"

Mills grew up in Verdun, Quebec, Canada, and began playing piano at age three.  He studied at McGill University for five years, beginning in Engineering, switching to a Bachelor of Science program, then Arts and finally majored in the Department of Music.  

While in college, Mills played songs for his fellow students.  In the late 1960's, Mills became a member of the Bells, but left the group in 1971 prior to their smash hit "Stay Awhile".  Mills was the pianist for CBC-TV and recorded his debut solo album Seven Of My Songs.  The track "Love Me, Love Me Love" was a minor hit (#46) in the United States and reached #8 on the Easy Listening chart. 

In 1974, Mills released an album that contained "Music Box Dancer", but the song was not a hit.  When Frank re-signed with Polydor Records in 1978, the label released a new song as a single with "Music Box Dancer" on the B-side.  The single was sent to Easy Listening stations in Canada, but a copy was sent by mistake to CFRA-AM, a popular music station in Ottawa.  

The program director at CFRA couldn't figure out why the song on the A-side had been sent to him, so he played the B-side to see if the single had been marked by mistake.  He liked "Music Box Dancer" and added the song to his station's playlist.  It became a Canadian hit and the album went gold in Canada.  This prompted Polydor to release both the album and single in the United States.

WNGE-TV in Nashville, Tennessee began playing the song over the closing credits of the newscast.  DJ's in Nashville quickly began playing the song and it took off.  "Music Box Dancer" reached #3 in 1979 and both the single and album went gold in the U.S.

Mills never matched the success of "Music Box Dancer", however.  His follow-up release, "Peter Piper", peaked at #48.  The latter release did reach the Top 10 on the segmented Adult Contemporary chart and won Mills Juno Awards for Composer of the Year and Instrumental Artist of the Year.

This surfing standard has endured through the years:

  
#263: Surfaris--"Wipe Out"   

This group, consisting of lead singer and drummer Ron Wilson, lead guitarist Jim Fuller, rhythm guitarist Bob Berryhill and bassist Pat Connolly formed in Glendora, California in 1962.  

Wilson's energetic drum solo helped make "Wipe Out" one of The Top 100 Instrumentals of the Rock Era*.  The song is also known for a cracking sound and a maniacal laugh followed by the only two words of the song "Wipe Out!", added by manager Dale Smallin.  

The song, written by the four members of the group, made it to #2 and sold over one million copies.  The Surfaris released several other surfing-related songs such as "Surfer Joe" and "Point Panic", then disbanded in 1966.  

This group came out of nowhere for a #1 smash in 1980:

#262:  Lipps Inc.--"Funkytown"  

Steven Greenberg, who wrote and produced all of Lipps Inc.'s music, formed the group in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  Greenberg also played several instruments for Lipps Inc., which also included lead singer and saxophonist Cynthia Johnson.  A revolving ensemble of session musicians comprised the rest of the group.

Lipps Inc. released their debut album Mouth to Mouth in 1980.  The second single, "Funkytown" rose to #1 and spent four weeks at the top in the United States, was #2 in the U.K. and a hit around the world.  The song went over two million in sales.  

The next best the group could do, however, was "Rock It", which only reached #64.  Lipps Inc. released five albums and 15 singles in their career and did manage some other minor dance hits such as "How Long", a remake of the Ace hit from 1975.

 There are California artists galore in our special and here's one of them at #261:

#261: Dishwalla--"Counting Blue Cars"

This alternative rock group started in Santa Barbara, California.  Bassist Scott Alexander and lead guitarist Rodney Browning have been the most constant members of Dishwalla.  Lead singer, guitarist and keyboard player J.R. Richards and drummer George Pendergrast were also original members.  Dishwalla recorded "It's Going to Take Some Time" on the Carpenters tribute album If I Were a Carpenter in 1994. 

In 1996, Dishwalla recorded the album Pet Your Friends and a single from the album, "Counting Blue Cars" began picking up airplay.  The song rose to #15 and picked up a Billboard Award for Best Rock Song and ASCAP Awards for Rock Track of the Year in both 1996 and 1997.  It was a #1 Modern Rock and #2 Mainstream Rock song.

But their follow-up album And You Think You Know What Life's About failed to generate interest.  Since then, Dishwalla has landed several songs on movie soundtrack albums and television shows such as The OC and Smallville have used their songs.  The group continued to have moderate success on segmented charts with "Charlie Brown's Parents", "Give" and "Once in a While".

Glad you could join us for these 10 great One-Hit Wonders!  Join us tomorrow exclusively on Inside The Rock Era!