I've been playing a lot of SongPop lately. It's an app where you essentially name that tune from a variety of genres and categories and compete against others. One category is called "One-Hit Wonders" and the songs listed there are often from artists that I believe had multiple hits.
That's the problem with One-Hit Wonders. There really is no standard, so who's to say who's a true One-Hit Wonder? For example, if a song has to crack the Billboard Top 40 to be a hit, Jimi Hendrix is a One-Hit Wonder. Only "All Along the Watchtower" cracked the top 40. "Purple Haze", "The Wind Cries Mary", "Hey Joe" and "Fire" all failed to crack the top 40. But would anyone consider Jimi Hendrix a One-Hit Wonder? Hell no!
Is Tom Cochrane a One-Hit Wonder? He is according to SongPop, likely because only "Life is a Highway" hit the American charts. And this is the problem.... "One Hit Wonder" is far too broad a term. We can't continue to live this way.
I'm open to suggestions as we attempt to standardize this category of music. We need Nena in there, but not Weezer. That's right, Weezer only has one song that cracked the Top 40 Billboard charts. And that one song is "Beverly Hills", believe it or not.
By the way, if you play SongPop, please challenge tormike. See you on the battlefield.
