What is your favorite 1 hit wonder from the 70's?


Many on Audiogon agree the 1970's was the best decade for popular music. Whether it was the quality of songwriting or the diversity of music. The decade also produced many unforgettable 1 hit wonders. My personal favorite is Afternoon Delight by Starland Vocal Band, what's yours?
dayglow

Showing 9 responses by martykl

Might be "Hallelujah" by Sweathog.
Or "Don't Walk Away Renee" by The Left Banke.
Or "Gold" by John Stewart.
Or "Venus" by Shocking Blue.
Or "The Rapper" by Jaggerz.
Or "Lay a Little Lovin' On Me" by Robin McNamara.
Or "All Right Now" by Free.
Or "Mr. Big Stuff" by Jeannie Knight
Or "All The Young Dudes" by Mott The Hoople.
Or "I Can't Stand The Rain" Ann Peebles (Willie Mitchell)

In the end, I'll go with the immortal "Kung Fu Fighting" by Karl Douglas (or......).
Bgpowell,

I think you're a bit too purist here (for my taste, anyway) in defining "one hit wonder". MTH, had several albums, but I don't think they ever charted top 40 beyond "Dudes". Post band careers (Paul Rodgers of Free) wouldn't seem relevant to me.

I believe that King Harvest released one LP, broke up, reformed, released a second LP and then went away. They had one single chart that I know of. One of their members, (the drummer Kay Wells or something like that), went on to the band Orleans. On that basis, I'm not sure that they meet your own definition, but they still qualify in my book.

Either way, "Dancing In the Moonlight" is a great call.
Donjr.

Billy, Don't Be A Hero was a #1 hit for Paper Lace in the UK. The US hit was by Bo Donaldson and the Heywoods. I don't believe that Paper Lace ever reached the top 40 with that song in the US.

Marty
I believe that Spiral Staircase charted with "More Today Than Yesterday". Great song, but late '60's IIRC.

Marty
If we can go back to 1968, "Classical Gas" by Mason Williams should be mentioned, if only for the mind-boggling, finger style guitar cover version from Tommy Emmanuel (available on YouTube).
Rockpile was such a great live band! Even when performing as a duo, Dave Edmunds and Nick Lowe (with a rhythm section) never seemed to have quite the same energy as they did when performing as Rockpile. Maybe it was just the luck of the draw, but the three Edmunds or Edmunds with Nick Lowe shows that I've seen were all very good to very, very good. The one Rockpile show was flat-out great. Oddly, IIRC, all were at the same venue - Tramps in NYC.

Too bad that the only live record I've ever heard from Rockpile (I presume it's a bootleg) has arguably the worst SQ of any recording I own. C'est last vie.
Not sure if it's already been mentioned, but I just heard:

"(Whoa,oh,oh...It's) Magic" by Pilot on XM radio, identified as 1975.

A natural for this list.
I'm not sure, but I didn't see anyone mention:

"Hooked on a Feeling" by Blue Swede. (Ooga Chaga)