Nicely laid out, Daniel! What's curious (among so many things, as you described) about one-hit-wonders is we (and they) don't know they're "one of those" until their careers come to either an eventual or a screeching halt. In real time, '60s-'80s DJs, say, were just playing the song they (and/or music director....I've been both in the '70s) were told or decided to play.
In a podcast interview, yesterday, of which I was honored to be a part, I mentioned that the long-term success (like your example of RHCPeppers as availability bias above) of an artist is often linked (in the minds of the radio listeners/record buyers) as being the artists that are "good."
As in success always = high musical quality. Their thought process follows, then, that paltry record sales and/or a one-hit-wonder just may not be as "good," musically as, say, a million-selling artist. But, we all know there's so much that goes into whether a record becomes a hit (again, my focus is on '60s-'70s, maybe including early '80s)......accurate record label promo, pitching to the right radio market, whether airplay is achieved, and if so, can the next single (or album track on FM) have similar traction as the previous?
In other words, the pop'n' rock road to success is littered with hugely talented artists who just didn't happen to get the initial airplay, the subsequent repeat airplay, and thus, the retail sales afforded those records that managed to acquire heavy rotation.
Case in point: Stephen Michael Schwartz, who has written 20 articles exclusively for FRONT ROW & BACKSTAGE, creatively chronicling his '70s journey through the H-wood record biz! He recorded, at age 20, a pop/rock album on RCA Records in 1974. The couple singles RCA released from the album got no airplay, and his music didn't fit most FM AOR stations' formats.
The record-buying public might presume that Stephen must be "bad," because his record sales didn't come close to Bon Jovi's, Elton's or Billy Joel's. The industry knows Stephen, and knows he's talented. He's written songs with David Pomeranz (who's landed hit songs with Barry Manilow, including '76's "Trying to Get the Feeling"), Rock Hall of Famer, living songwriting legend, Jeff Barry, and Manilow has performed Stephen's "Merry Christmas (Wherever You Are)" several times in the '80s on TV Christmas specials. And, eventual 16-Grammy-winning songwriter/producer, David Foster, was music director for Stephen's RCA album #2 in 1975 (or, 4 songs into it before the label gave him the axe, due to lack of sales--15,000 units--of his debut)!
This is all to underscore my point: Stephen is immensely talented, and had a couple-decade run utilizing his talents with The Parachute Express, a children's music trio, who recorded for Disney Records, and played before sold-out arenas, worldwide, from the '80s thru the early 2000s. But, his initial foray into pop'n'rock netted no airplay. No "availability bias," sadly, but an impressively successful career, nevertheless!
Thanks for the article, Daniel, and for "renting" out Chris's space here for my well-meaning blather!
Great post - Am I going nuts or is the list of 2010's one-hit-wonders full of acts that worked on both rock radio and top 40 radio? (and if so, where's Gotye! hah!)
Maybe, and this would take a TON of data recalibrating, but maybe there should be a re-definition of “one hit wonder”. Looking over the song entries posted in the article, there are several names that had multiple hits in their respective generes. Wreck-n-efx did very well on the hip hop charts, Billy ray cyrus was a frequent visitor to the country charts, and foster the people and lumineers have had great alt. rock careers.
Oh those algorithms!! They also skew toward male acts in all genres, which makes it even harder for female indies to chart. ((Sigh)) Great insights. Thanks for posting!
I think one of the reasons (maybe the primary reason) that people mock one hit wonders is that there's an implicit assumption that they achieved their success through luck and not skill. If you have ten hit songs, no one can claim that you're not a talented performer/songwriter (they might not like you, but it's hard to claim you just got lucky). But there is some level of randomness with achieving a hit song, and if a performer only achieves that once, some people will assume that they never had a second hit because they lack the skill, which also implies that they probably "shouldn't" have had a hit in the first place.
Actually if you’re going to go by Wayne Jancik’s one-hit wonder definition: “an act that has won a position on [the] national, pop, Top 40 record chart just once”, then Tommy Tutone don’t qualify. In 1980 they peaked at #38 in Billboard with a song called “Angel Say No”.
"mocking a one-hit wonder" -- something indulged in by NO-hit wonders. At least they did something .What have the mockers ever done?
Anyhow, I don't see any short-term trends worth analyzing in your data. Maybe you're being fooled by randomness. I do see some long-term trends. And I think there is a factor you've only alluded to:
The degree that the "artist" is real and self-contained, as opposed to being the product of shifting teams of managers, song writers, producers, and studio musicians. In other words, was it a real group or just a name they slapped on?
Nicely laid out, Daniel! What's curious (among so many things, as you described) about one-hit-wonders is we (and they) don't know they're "one of those" until their careers come to either an eventual or a screeching halt. In real time, '60s-'80s DJs, say, were just playing the song they (and/or music director....I've been both in the '70s) were told or decided to play.
In a podcast interview, yesterday, of which I was honored to be a part, I mentioned that the long-term success (like your example of RHCPeppers as availability bias above) of an artist is often linked (in the minds of the radio listeners/record buyers) as being the artists that are "good."
As in success always = high musical quality. Their thought process follows, then, that paltry record sales and/or a one-hit-wonder just may not be as "good," musically as, say, a million-selling artist. But, we all know there's so much that goes into whether a record becomes a hit (again, my focus is on '60s-'70s, maybe including early '80s)......accurate record label promo, pitching to the right radio market, whether airplay is achieved, and if so, can the next single (or album track on FM) have similar traction as the previous?
In other words, the pop'n' rock road to success is littered with hugely talented artists who just didn't happen to get the initial airplay, the subsequent repeat airplay, and thus, the retail sales afforded those records that managed to acquire heavy rotation.
Case in point: Stephen Michael Schwartz, who has written 20 articles exclusively for FRONT ROW & BACKSTAGE, creatively chronicling his '70s journey through the H-wood record biz! He recorded, at age 20, a pop/rock album on RCA Records in 1974. The couple singles RCA released from the album got no airplay, and his music didn't fit most FM AOR stations' formats.
The record-buying public might presume that Stephen must be "bad," because his record sales didn't come close to Bon Jovi's, Elton's or Billy Joel's. The industry knows Stephen, and knows he's talented. He's written songs with David Pomeranz (who's landed hit songs with Barry Manilow, including '76's "Trying to Get the Feeling"), Rock Hall of Famer, living songwriting legend, Jeff Barry, and Manilow has performed Stephen's "Merry Christmas (Wherever You Are)" several times in the '80s on TV Christmas specials. And, eventual 16-Grammy-winning songwriter/producer, David Foster, was music director for Stephen's RCA album #2 in 1975 (or, 4 songs into it before the label gave him the axe, due to lack of sales--15,000 units--of his debut)!
This is all to underscore my point: Stephen is immensely talented, and had a couple-decade run utilizing his talents with The Parachute Express, a children's music trio, who recorded for Disney Records, and played before sold-out arenas, worldwide, from the '80s thru the early 2000s. But, his initial foray into pop'n'rock netted no airplay. No "availability bias," sadly, but an impressively successful career, nevertheless!
Thanks for the article, Daniel, and for "renting" out Chris's space here for my well-meaning blather!
Whenever I hear someone put down a one hit wonder I think to myself, “I would LOVE to have one hit!”
Also, another guy from Tommy Tutone has an interesting post-band story:
https://www.npr.org/2014/06/07/319518182/what-philip-glass-and-tommy-tutone-have-in-common
Great post - Am I going nuts or is the list of 2010's one-hit-wonders full of acts that worked on both rock radio and top 40 radio? (and if so, where's Gotye! hah!)
Maybe, and this would take a TON of data recalibrating, but maybe there should be a re-definition of “one hit wonder”. Looking over the song entries posted in the article, there are several names that had multiple hits in their respective generes. Wreck-n-efx did very well on the hip hop charts, Billy ray cyrus was a frequent visitor to the country charts, and foster the people and lumineers have had great alt. rock careers.
Oh those algorithms!! They also skew toward male acts in all genres, which makes it even harder for female indies to chart. ((Sigh)) Great insights. Thanks for posting!
I think one of the reasons (maybe the primary reason) that people mock one hit wonders is that there's an implicit assumption that they achieved their success through luck and not skill. If you have ten hit songs, no one can claim that you're not a talented performer/songwriter (they might not like you, but it's hard to claim you just got lucky). But there is some level of randomness with achieving a hit song, and if a performer only achieves that once, some people will assume that they never had a second hit because they lack the skill, which also implies that they probably "shouldn't" have had a hit in the first place.
Actually if you’re going to go by Wayne Jancik’s one-hit wonder definition: “an act that has won a position on [the] national, pop, Top 40 record chart just once”, then Tommy Tutone don’t qualify. In 1980 they peaked at #38 in Billboard with a song called “Angel Say No”.
"mocking a one-hit wonder" -- something indulged in by NO-hit wonders. At least they did something .What have the mockers ever done?
Anyhow, I don't see any short-term trends worth analyzing in your data. Maybe you're being fooled by randomness. I do see some long-term trends. And I think there is a factor you've only alluded to:
The degree that the "artist" is real and self-contained, as opposed to being the product of shifting teams of managers, song writers, producers, and studio musicians. In other words, was it a real group or just a name they slapped on?