Musical Careers Built on One Song
 

Now this is bound to cause alot of argument, so I'll try and get this as clear cut as possible.
I want to compile a list of musical artists/bands that have a long and profitable career but only have one real hit or memorable song. I dont really mean one hit wonders, because they generally drop off the radar after their 1 hit, I mean lasting celebs that are really famous, but when you ask someone (except really committed fans) to name a song of theirs, there is only one that comes up....hopefully my two examples will help out.

Chris DeBurgh - Lady In Red
Don McLean - American Pie

now i know people will say 'no, don mclean/chris deburgh have loads of other songs like.....' but the point is that the general public only know them for ONE song

hope you all understand, and lets hear your suggestions

Michael Jackson - Thriller, and Billie Jean
Madonna - Like a Virgin
Richard Marx - Right Here Waiting
Bryan Adams - (Everything I Do) I Do It For You
Whitney Houston - I Will Always Love You
Sonny and Cher - I Got You Babe
Cher - Turn Back Time
Alabama - Roll On
Aerosmith - Dude Looks Like A Lady
Beach Boys - Kokomo
Bon Jovi - You Give Love A Bad Name
Rod Stewart - Do Ya Think I'm Sexy, and Forever Young
Tears for Fears - Shout
Whitesnake - Here I Go Again


Thoes may help. ;)

I would have to say here Led Zeppelin- if you ever ask anyone what song is their fav or what songs they know from them it is always the same answer. Stairway to Heaven.

Journey - Open Arms

Faith No More - Epic

Ahh hell, I could list a few but I am still sleepy.

Coldplay - Yellow
Jimi Hendrix - Voodo Child
Guns 'n Roses - Sweet Child of Mine
Nirvana - Come as you are
Lenny Kravitz - Fly Away
Blink 182 - Whats my Name Again
Sum41 - Fat lip
Gorillaz - Clint Eastwood
MC Hammer - You Cant Touch This

Actually this doesn't work for new and current bands, because people have their albums, and know a few songs. Eg. I have the cold play album myself, so I know quite a few songs. But on the other hand, yellow is still their defining song, and the song the broke into the bigtime with.

Would have thought that Bon Jovi's "Livin' on a prayer" would have been more appropriate than "You Give Love A Bad Name"...

Funny, I would have said 'Bed of Roses'

And I'd say "It's My Life" is his main one.

Gloria Gaynor....
http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/pic...09317o98nh.jpg

This thread would look great down the corridor in Music O Rama.

Can we have it when you've finished with it?

no problem - will move it there in a while :)

The definition of popular music is such that most careers are built on one song.

nirvana - smells like teen spirit
beethoven - ode to joy
evanescence - bring me to life


lots more, too.

That's true with current mainstream artists (I use the word 'artist' loosely).

Most are entirely disposible.

I wouldn't use Led Zeppelin as an example. People may say that Stairway to Heaven is their favourite LZ song, but Whole Lotta Love is also one of the most well used Zeppelin tracks.

These lot (waste of space).

http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/pic...31252qzxhc.jpg

To think, I'm breathing the same atmosphere.:eek:

You're taking the piss, right???

wouldn't exactly call it "a long and profitable career"... ;)

(or music, for that matter)

Blur - Song 2
Pink Floyd - Another Brick In The Wall

I can't agree Raz. I'd say 'Park Life'(the album) made Blur. Boys and Girls, Park Life itself, heaps of other good tracks. Song 2 was just a continuation.

Thank god for small mercies. 3 years was quite enough!!! More than enough!!!!

I'm gonna try to follow Ethan's "general public" guidelines so don't flame me if you're a big fan of one of these bands.

Korn - Freak On A Leash
Ozzy Osbourne - Crazy Train, and Iron Man
Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit

SSJ4, I have to disagree with you about the Beach Boys. Most people probably don't remember Kokomo, but I'm sure they would remember Good Vibrations, Fun Fun Fun, Wouldn't It Be Nice, Surfin' Safari, and many others. Kokomo was their "comeback" song.

Richie Valens - La bamba

Roy Orbison's Pretty Woman

hahahaha, Just as I scrolled pass this picture guess what my next random song was on my playlist?

Northern Star - Melanie C

:D

<3 <3 Spice Girls :D

"random" song, my arse..... ;)

shhh, don't tell them that ;)

The Xerxes Marching Band - On The Right Wings of Eagles

I play the marimba in that band.

Not sure you could say he had a continuing career, it couldn't have lasted for more than a few months. He was set for the big time but died in the same plane crash that killed Buddy Holly and the Big Bopper.

Norman Greenbaum - Spirit In The Sky

UJ

Eagles - Hotel California

orbital - the box

not really mainstream, but big in the electronic biz

edit: by the way, should this not be in music-o-rama?

Metallica - Enter Sandman

This mainly applies to people that aren't fans of Metallica, as this is the only one that's most recognizable that comes up...

I don't know about that, Shenlong. I think Metallica may be a little more well known than that. I remember back in 1995, the only radio station I listened to was a pop station, and they played Metallica. It wasn't a station that you would expect to play Metallica - the very next year, they were playing the Spice Girls.

Enter Sandman pushed Metallica from cool to mainstream.
The beginning of their end.

Alright, I just had to post something about that. You have to be smoking some SERIOUS reefer to EVER think that Aerosmith had built their 30+ year career on ONE song. Considering that Dude Looks Like A Lady was released in the early 90's when they have been going strong since the 70's, that's kind of a skewed statement. And since you haven't seen Aerosmith on "Where are they Know?" and the fact that they have been recently inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame, they have hardly built their career on 'Dude Looks Like A Lady'.

Notice how I say "aren't fans", as if you ask a non-Metallica fan to name one of their songs, they'll most likly name "Enter Sandman", as it's about the only one most widley known to the mainstream (Aside from St. Anger, but meh)...

Chev - Well, I never liked Load or Reload, but Hero of the Day and King Nothing were two good songs off the Load album (Or perhaps the only ones), and I Disappear, which was off the MI2 soundtrack, was pretty good too... :)

I think their greatest stuff was on S&M and I used to be one of their best fans.

I still am a big fan, but whatever...

Judas Priest - Breaking The Law

Ok...So maybe not very many people have heard the song, but I'm sure the chorus made it's appearance many times on Beavis & Butthead... ;)

I'm still a big fan of Metallica's stuff although rather than being a run of the mill fan who likes the pre-Black album stuff, I like the pre-St. Anger stuff.
I think St. Anger is crap. It sounds too much like an attempt to recapture their old madness but failing badly.

Judas Priest - Got Another Thing Coming
THAT is the song I think made that band especially with the advent of MTV. It was an immensely popular video and captured the power that is Judas Priest.

I dunno...I kinda liked St. Anger, especially since I've started to grow a likening to Some Kind Of Monster and The Unnamed Feeling off the album, but that's me again... :)

Weezer - Hash Pipe

ok heres the deal on metallica. once cliff was gone. that was it. over. almost all of their good stuff was on kill'em all, lightning, puppets, and justice. sandman is a pathetic excuse for a metal song. and the entire black album is metal toned down so that the general public will be able to handle it. Load/reload. don't even get me started. what a LOAD of crap! the only song i remotely liked off that is the memory remains. S&M. give me a break. and St. Anger was the worst garbage i have ever heard. not one guitar solo, just low as hell riffs. they're turning into nu metal. and its really sad. considering the amazing talent these guys possess i hate seeing what has happened to them. R.I.P. Cliff

O yea and the reason everyone knows sandman is because its played at sports stadiums. for instance at Yankee stadium when mariano rivera comes on. UGH. sorry for the rant. i'm more than willing to discuss this further.

I rammed hot nails through kill em all. That album sucked donkey dork.

Elvis Costello: Alison, Radio
The Wallflowers: One Headlight
Third eye Blind: Semi-Charmed Life
Incubus: Stellar, Pardon Me (which sucks because the really good shit was before Make Yourself
Rancid: ruby Soho
Foo Fighters: Monkey Wrench, Big Me ( the video with Footos
Metallica: Unforgiven, Enter Sandman. Like it or not, the black album is the one everybody knows, and those were singles of that album.

It's amazing how many Metallica fans hate Metallica. ;)