This time on The Award Winning 3D RadioActivity, we are playing one-hit wonders, which is a person or act known mainly for only a single success. The term is most often used to describe music performers with only one hit single. Some are the result of novelty songs during fads. More commonly, however, these are serious-minded musicians who struggled to continue their success after their popularity waned. Because they are popular for only a brief time, their hits often have nostalgic value and are featured on era-centric compilations and soundtracks to period films. While normal in any era of pop music, most are common during reigns of entire genres that do not last for more than a few years, such as disco, new wave and grunge. Though the term is sometimes used in a derogatory manner, some fans often have a great passion for these songs and the artists who created them. Some one-hit wonder artists have embraced this following openly, while others distance themselves from their hit in an attempt to craft successful songs with different sounds, or embark on new careers as songwriters.
The VH One list of the top 100 One Hit Wonders was a good starting point for this show, however more than half of the tunes they listed didn’t meet the 3D standards. I looked at the Rolling Stone Magazine list and also consulted the Joel Whitburn book to confirm that every song on this show made it into the top 100, and that the artist did not have any others that made it over the century mark, or the bubbling under charts which are songs that did not reach the three digit area. Some of these are very popular artists had lots of success on those listings while only managing to climb to the hallowed place once. We did a lot of homework to make sure that this show would be up to temperature. Sit back and enjoy, With 29 songs and over 102 minutes of music, there is plenty of One-der to go around.
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“It’s not true I had nothing on, I had the radio on.”
— Marilyn Monroe