The Top 500 One Hit Wonders of the Rock Era Revisited: #370-361

 

You're no doubt hearing songs you haven't heard in years, many of them your favorites.  Let's dive into another 10!

Two talented musicians joined together for their big hit in 1980, which has the distinction of being the first video ever played on MTV:

#370:  Buggles--"Video Killed The Radio Star"

Trevor Horn (vocals, bass guitar, guitar) and Geoff Downes (keyboards) first met in 1979 but joined different groups.  Horn wanted to become a producer, but he couldn't find the right artists to work with.  As a result, he reunited with Downes and, along with Bruce Wooley, began writing music.  Downes and Horn  formed the Buggles and a demo of "Video Killed the Radio Star" was sent to Island Records, who signed them immediately.

The duo released their debut album, The Age of Plastic, in 1980.  "Video Killed the Radio Star" reached #1 in 16 countries.  Horn and Downes began work on a second album, working in a studio next to the group Yes, who had recently lost lead singer Jon Anderson and keyboardist Rick Wakeman.  Brian Lane, who was a manager of both bands, suggested that Yes invite Horn and Downes to become members.  This came to be, and Horn and Downes were part of Yes for the 1980 album Drama, but Yes broke up the following year.  Horn and Downes resumed recording the Buggles' follow-up album, Adventures in Modern Recording, which was not successful.  When Downes left to join the new group Asia, the Buggles split.  

Horn in fact realized his dream of being a successful producer, working with Paul McCartney, Cher, Tina Turner, Seal, Simple Minds, the Pet Shop Boys, Charlotte Church, ABC, Dollar, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, the Art of Noise, and with a reformed Yes for the albums 90125 and Big Generator.  Downes continues to play with Asia but he and Horn have been performing Buggles songs together since 1998 as well.

This blues giant broke through for one song that received airplay in 1987:

 

#369:  Robert Cray--"Smoking Gun"

Cray began playing guitar as a teenager and went to Denbigh High School in Newport News, Virginia.  His first ambition was to be an architect, but while studying architectural design, Robert formed the band Steakface.

Inspired by the live shows of Albert Collins, Freddie King and Muddy Waters, Cray formed his own band and began playing gigs on the West Coast.    Cray was the bassist in the house party band in the 1978 movie National Lampoon's Animal House.  After good regional success, Cray signed a contract with Mercury Records in 1982.  

It was Cray's third album, Strong Persuader, that pushed Cray into the mainstream, won him a Grammy Award, and gave him the only song, "Smoking Gun", that had wide appeal.  The single peaked at #22 in the United States.  Through the strength of "Smoking Gun", Cray began opening for major stars such as Eric Clapton.

Cray has released 16 albums and 12 singles, and has continued to do well in his genre.  In 2011, Cray was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame. 

Electronic wizardry from the #366 One-Hit Wonder:

 

#368:  Kraftwerk--"Autobahn"

This German group from Dusseldorf is one of the pioneers of electronic music.  Ralf Hutter (organ and synthesizers)) and Florian Schneider (flutes, synthesizers and electro-violin) formed the group in 1970 and have led them until Schneider's departure in 2008.  The two met while attending Robert Schumann Hochschule in the late 1960's.  

Hutter and Schneider joined a group called Organisation and released an album but the group disbanded shortly afterwards.  Hutter and Schneider worked with several musicians in recording three albums consisting of free-form experimental rock as Kraftwerk in the early 1970's.  Wolfgang Flur joined the group in 1973, and they performed as a trio on the television show Aspekte in Germany.  

This early music utilized more common instruments such as lead guitar, bass, drums, etc., but they evolved into synthesized sound, drum machines and the vocoder (a voice encoder that is used to reproduce human speech).  Kraftwerk released the album Autobahn in 1974 and for the first time, toured the United States, Canada and the U.K.  The title single "Autobahn" reached #4 in New Zealand, #11 in the U.K. and #25 in the United States.  Flur and new member Karl Bartos performed self-made electronic percussions; this lineup remained in place until the late 1980's.

Kraftwerk has released 10 albums and 24 singles in their career.  Their influence is evident in acts such as Depeche Mode, the Human League, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark and Soft Cell, to name a few.  Kraftwerk has done very well in their native Germany and in the U.K., but "Autobahn" represents their only major worldwide success.

This Canadian group wasn't in the public eye for long, but they gave us this memorable song:

  

#367:  Bells--"Stay Awhile"

The Bells (originally known as the Five Bells) formed in Montreal, Canada in 1965. South African natives Anne and Jackie Ralph were joined by Cliff Edwards, Doug Gravelle and Gordie McLeod.

The group enjoyed their first hit with "Moody Manitoba Morning" in 1969 and after shortening their name, followed that up with "Fly Little White Dove Fly", a Top 10 hit in Canada.  Pianist Frank Mills joined the Bells for a brief time from 1970 to 1971; he later would gain fame with the song "Music Box Dancer".

After Mills left, Dennis Mill became the group's pianist and Charlie Clark also joined the group as vocalist and guitarist. In 1971, the Bells released "Stay Awhile", a duet between Ralph and Edwards. The song reached #1 in Canada, #7 in the United States and #9 in Australia and sold over four million copies worldwide.  This led to appearances on The Tonight Show and The Merv Griffin Show.

The group broke up when Edwards left for a solo career.  The Bells had three Top 10 hits in their native Canada from their final album, Pisces Rising.

Up next, a group whose live act include wild satires of politics, media and consumerism:

 

#366:  She's A Beauty--Tubes

The Tubes began when two bands from Phoenix, Arizona, the Beans and the Red, White and Blues Band, both moved to San Francisco in 1969 and eventually merged. Lead singer Fee Waybill, Bill "Sputnik" Spooner (guitar and vocals), Roger Steen (Guitar), Prairie Prince on drums, Michael Cotten (synthesizer), Vince Welnick (piano) and Rick Anderson on bass formed the Tubes and that lineup remained intact for more than a decade.

The group exaggerated show business, with Waybill assuming an onstage persona of a drunk, drugged out lead singer, wearing flashing glasses and stilt-like platform shoes. They opened for Led Zeppelin in San Francisco in 1973. The group recorded their self-titled debut album in 1975. Live shows featured references to movies such as Saturday Night Fever, Dr. Strangelove and Grease, television (including Let's Make a Deal) and literature.

The Tubes were resident performers at the Winterland Ballroom and the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco, the Whisky a Go Go and Hammersmith Odeon in London.

These live shows were expensive, and after recording four unsuccessful albums, the group was short of money by 1980. A&M Records released the group prior to a fifth album, but the Tubes were able to sign with Capitol Records. Out of necessity, however, they scaled back their live performances and reinvented themselves as a rock group, joining with producer David Foster.

The group landed a spot on the Xanadu Soundtrack thanks to Foster, performing the rock portion of the cross-genre song "Dancin'" opposite a big band. The Tubes released The Completion Backward Principle in 1981 and enjoyed a Rock hit with "Talk to Ya Later". They hit the Top 40 for the first time with "Don't Want to Wait Anymore". In 1983, the Tubes released the album Outside Inside, which included their only overall success, "She's a Beauty".

In 1985, the Tubes hired Todd Rundgren to produce their sixth album, Love Bomb, but the group was dropped by Capitol just as they went on a national tour. As a result, the group found themselves half a million dollars in debt, and the act which satarized consumerism was forced to play low-budget concerts to pay it off.

Waybill left the group in 1986 and although the group went on to record 14 career albums, they were never the same.

This artist gave us one of the only foreign language #1 songs of the Rock Era:

  

#365:  Kyu Sakamoto--"Sukiyaki"  

Sakamoto developed an interest in high school in Kawasaki, Japan and played the trumpet in the school band.  He began singing and in 1958, joined the Japanese group the Drifters (not to be confused with the classic U.S. soul group of the same name).

Kyu left the group in 1958 and joined the band Danny Lida and Paradise King.  The group landed a recording contract with JVC Records and released the single "Kanashiki rokujyussai" in 1960.  Danny Lida and Paradise King was popular in their native Japan, which led to Sakamoto obtaining a solo contract with Toshiba Records.

Sakamoto enjoyed a top-selling Japanese song in 1961 with "Ue o muite aruko".  In 1963, Louis Benjamin, owner of Pye Records, visited Japan and heard the song.  Benjamin wanted to bring it back to England but because the title would be difficult for English speakers to pronounce, renamed it "Sukiyaki", which has no actual connection to the song.  

Pye Records released an instrumental version of the song by Kenny Ball and His Jazzmen, a hit in England.  But Capitol Records released Sakamoto's original Japanese version in the United States, which caught fire and reached #1 for three weeks.  The song sold over one million copies and led to a world tour for Sakamoto.  Kyu appeared on several television shows including The Steve Allen Show in 1963.

Sakamoto released three albums, but "China Nights" (Shina no Yoru)" was the best he could do at #58.  He also appeared in seven movies in his career.  A full 49 years later, Sakamoto's song remains as the only Japanese song to ever reach #1 in the United States.  A Taste of Honey remade the song in 1981 and enjoyed a Top 10 hit with it.  In 1999, Japan Post issued a stamp in honor of Sakamoto and "Sukiyaki".

This group had everyone talking in 1971 with their big hit:

    #364:  Buoys--"Timothy"  

Rupert Holmes, who later enjoyed success with songs such as "Escape" and "Him", discovered the Buoys and convinced Scepter Records to sign them to a contract.  "Timothy" was deliberately written by Holmes to get banned so as to draw attention to the group.  It was based on a theme of cannibalism.  The song was censored by some radio stations and banned by others, but despite this, reached #17 in the United States in 1971.  Executives at Scepter did not understand what the song was about until after it was released, after which they claimed that Timothy was a mule.  

Holmes also co-wrote the song "Give Up Your Guns" for the group, but it only reached #84.  He also wrote several other songs for the Buoys, but none caught on like "Timothy".

This artist took a clever song that enabled her to break out of the country market for one hit:

 

#363:  Sylvia--"Nobody" 

Sylvia first performed at a church near her hometown of Kokomo, Indiana at age three. She moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 1976 and started out as a secretary for producer Tom Collins. Sylvia kept her music aspirations alive, and signed a recording contract with RCA Records in 1979.  

Sylvia enjoyed some Country success but the large majority of people had never heard of her.  Then in 1982, she released the album Just Sylvia.  Sylvia enjoyed her only crossover success from the small but loyal Country market with "Nobody" in 1982, which reached #15 and went Gold.  

Although Sylvia continued to record until 1987, releasing eight albums and 20 singles, "Nobody" was the last major hit for her.

This innovative and versatile artist provided inspiration for dozens of acts following him:

 

#362:  Gary Numan--"Cars"  

Gary Numan utilized heavy synthesiser hooks fed through guitar effects pedals to achieve his unique sound that made him a groundbreaker in commercial electronic music.

Numan (real name Gary Webb) went to Slough Grammar School.  He owned his first guitar at age 15 and played in bands including Mean Street and the Lasers.  At the end of the 70's, Numan became the lead singer, writer and producer for Tubeway Army.  

In 1978, Numan and Tubeway Army signed with Beggars Banquet Records.  They released several singles and a self-titled debut album.  The single "Are Friends Electric?" reached #1 in Numan's native U.K. but couldn't achieve worldwide success.

Numan released a solo album (The Pleasure Principle) in 1979 that finally hit home on both sides of the Atlantic.  The album yielded "Cars", which was #1 in the U.K. and Canada and #9 in the United States.  Numan played to sold-out crowds in promotion of the album and released a concert video that is thought to be the first full-length commercial music video release.

After several electronic albums, Numan tried his hand at jazz, funk, and rhythmic pop.  Artists such as Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters and Nirvana and Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails have said they were influenced by Numan's music.  To date, Numan has released 23 albums and 47 singles, and he's enjoyed good success in Europe, but "Cars" remains his only mass appeal worldwide success.

This group rode an Animals classic to their one big hit:

 

#361:  Frijid Pink--"The House Of The Rising Sun"  

Frijid Pink began when drummer Richard Stevers, bassist Tom Harris, guitarist Gary Ray Thompson and singer Tom Beaudry joined in Detroit in 1967.  The group played gigs in the Detroit area for two years before signing with Parrot Records.  Frijid Pink's first two singles failed to chart, but in 1969, they made it with a distorted guitar version of the Animals' classic "House of the Rising Sun".  

"House of the Rising Sun" was a Top 10 song in both the United States and the U.K. and sold over one million copies.  Frijid Pink can brag that once in 1969, Led Zeppelin actually opened for them in Detroit.

Frijid Pink released their debut album in 1970 but subsequent releases were unsuccessful and they went through several lineup changes.  The group has reunited several times in various forms where audiences can hear them perform that one big hit.

As we work our way through the special, remember that it is the artists that are being ranked, not the songs.  One-Hit Wonders refers to artists.  Join us tomorrow for another edition!