Have you ever had a song stuck in your head that you just can’t seem to get out? One
that you catch yourself singing or humming over and over again throughout your
day; sometimes you are not even sure why or where you heard it? (Where at times
it seems like no matter what you do, or how many other songs you hear that day,
that one particular song just will not leave your brain.) This annoying
occurrence happens to me all the time! Maybe it’s because we find a certain
song’s lyrics relatable; or could it be the catchy beat that stands out to us?
Or it may be because that song was playing nonstop on the radio that morning
while you were on your way to school. Then again you hear it the next morning,
and so on. We all know that the radio stations like to play the hot new songs
that everyone and their mother is talking about at least a million times in just
one hour. You know, the songs that seem to come out of nowhere from some artist
that no one has heard of before. But then after a while, the radio gets the
blame for overplaying it when we all start to get sick of the song. Its
popularity wears down and seems to disappear just as fast as it came up.
Suddenly the artist that we all predicted would be the next Michael Jackson
disappears as well. This is commonly referred to as a one hit
wonder.
The actual definition of a one-hit wonder is described in
The Urban Dictionary as
“a band or group that has one breakthrough hit that people remember after
usually years of making underground music.” Although the artist may try to
launch or has already launched other songs, they will fail to have any impact in
the social music world. They will quickly fade back into obscurity usually
within a month when their hit song is forgotten about by the public. They will
be back in the shadows from where they arose; just waiting for the next show
they can book. And sometimes, if they are lucky, they will get the opportunity
to appear for the occasional television talk
show.
So although some of these artists may
have put out other songs over the span of their careers, they are only
recognized for that one song that climbed the charts and became a huge success.
A perfect example of one of today’s one hit wonders would be the song “What Does
the Fox Say?” by the Norwegian comedy duo (Ylvis.)
I mean, you must basically be living under a rock if you haven’t heard this
song! This extremely catchy song was created by two young brothers Bard and
Vegard Ylvisaker who grew up in Bergen and Africa. The brothers even started off
their career on TV shows such as Full House.
In the words of Billboard “They came, they conquered… they were never heard from again.”
It is the simple fact that most one hit wonders are forgotten. A few examples of
these that you might not recall are Lean Back by Terror Squad, Bad Day by Daniel
Powter, and This is Why im Hot by Mims. However, if you were to hear any one of these
songs today, you would still probably be able to sing along or at least easily
recognize them due to their catchy lyrics.
As shocking as it might be, there are certain big artists that
are technically considered part of the one hit wonder list just because of the
definition. For example, according to 11
superstars the legend Jimi Hendrix, country
singer Garth Brooks, Weezer, and Blink 182 were all considered one hit wonder
artists. We find this hard to believe since these people
are so widely well known, but that just goes to show you that anyone can produce
a one hit wonder. Ranging from the starving artists on the streets just living
from paycheck to paycheck, to others who we would consider legends in the music
world, artists of one hit wonders are
everywhere.
that you catch yourself singing or humming over and over again throughout your
day; sometimes you are not even sure why or where you heard it? (Where at times
it seems like no matter what you do, or how many other songs you hear that day,
that one particular song just will not leave your brain.) This annoying
occurrence happens to me all the time! Maybe it’s because we find a certain
song’s lyrics relatable; or could it be the catchy beat that stands out to us?
Or it may be because that song was playing nonstop on the radio that morning
while you were on your way to school. Then again you hear it the next morning,
and so on. We all know that the radio stations like to play the hot new songs
that everyone and their mother is talking about at least a million times in just
one hour. You know, the songs that seem to come out of nowhere from some artist
that no one has heard of before. But then after a while, the radio gets the
blame for overplaying it when we all start to get sick of the song. Its
popularity wears down and seems to disappear just as fast as it came up.
Suddenly the artist that we all predicted would be the next Michael Jackson
disappears as well. This is commonly referred to as a one hit
wonder.
The actual definition of a one-hit wonder is described in
The Urban Dictionary as
“a band or group that has one breakthrough hit that people remember after
usually years of making underground music.” Although the artist may try to
launch or has already launched other songs, they will fail to have any impact in
the social music world. They will quickly fade back into obscurity usually
within a month when their hit song is forgotten about by the public. They will
be back in the shadows from where they arose; just waiting for the next show
they can book. And sometimes, if they are lucky, they will get the opportunity
to appear for the occasional television talk
show.
So although some of these artists may
have put out other songs over the span of their careers, they are only
recognized for that one song that climbed the charts and became a huge success.
A perfect example of one of today’s one hit wonders would be the song “What Does
the Fox Say?” by the Norwegian comedy duo (Ylvis.)
I mean, you must basically be living under a rock if you haven’t heard this
song! This extremely catchy song was created by two young brothers Bard and
Vegard Ylvisaker who grew up in Bergen and Africa. The brothers even started off
their career on TV shows such as Full House.
In the words of Billboard “They came, they conquered… they were never heard from again.”
It is the simple fact that most one hit wonders are forgotten. A few examples of
these that you might not recall are Lean Back by Terror Squad, Bad Day by Daniel
Powter, and This is Why im Hot by Mims. However, if you were to hear any one of these
songs today, you would still probably be able to sing along or at least easily
recognize them due to their catchy lyrics.
As shocking as it might be, there are certain big artists that
are technically considered part of the one hit wonder list just because of the
definition. For example, according to 11
superstars the legend Jimi Hendrix, country
singer Garth Brooks, Weezer, and Blink 182 were all considered one hit wonder
artists. We find this hard to believe since these people
are so widely well known, but that just goes to show you that anyone can produce
a one hit wonder. Ranging from the starving artists on the streets just living
from paycheck to paycheck, to others who we would consider legends in the music
world, artists of one hit wonders are
everywhere.
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