LET'S DO THE TIME WARP AGAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIN!
What's happening, ladies and gentlemen, it's ya boy Ironheade, and oh man, wasn't that 90's Billboard #1's rate just a barrel of laughs? Seriously, I cannot thank everybody who voted in that enough for the sheer infectious fun that was in the atmosphere for that one, sharing their love for the songs all the way through, shading the crap out of the worse entries, and with all sorts of hilarious commentary that made it a joy to read. Thanks again to you guys, special thanks to my lovely guest hosts who picked up the slack as the second half wore on, amazing stuff. And I'm hoping to see some of you again for this one...
But what is this? Glad you asked! At one point during the conversation in the first half (1990-1994), the lovely @iheartpoptarts mentioned the idea of a rate for 90's one-hit wonders in passing. And I thought... well, after that rate is done, why not? You guys might not know this, but the idea of the one-hit wonder has always been something of a fascination for me - just the fact of someone being in the spotlight for such a brief moment in time draws my attention. I'm not quite sure what it is, but I've always been interested in what these artists did before and after their brief moment in the spotlight, and why they couldn't sustain it. You dig deep, you usually find something interesting there. Not to mention, this decade was one of the most fertile breeding grounds for one-hit wonders in musical history, and iconic ones in a lot of different styles at that, or at least so it's always seemed to me. All the ingredients are well in place for a fun trip down memory lane, in other words! But my hope is that for you guys, this rate will not just be fun, but educational: I'll be doing deep dives into the history of these one-hit wonders, doing li'l overviews of their previous and further careers, and finding out what they're up to these days. Strap in, because for some of them, you're in for a pretty wild ride.
So, what songs made the cut for the list and what didn't? Because the thing is, the term "one-hit wonder" is one with a somewhat fuzzy definition, and there aren't really any hard-and-fast rules as to what counts and what doesn't. Even if you look at which ones were the biggest chart hits, it doesn't help you out much: after all, there's songs that topped the charts and are forgotten, and others that are considered classics but peaked much lower down. So I think I had better explain my criteria. My definition of "one-hit wonder", for this rate's purposes, is any artist who had one single in the Top 40 of the Hot 100 or Radio Songs chart and no more; furthermore, the song must have been released either on album or as a single between 1 January 1990 and 31 December 1999, or peaked on the chart within those dates. (Some of these entries did not make the Top 40, but were included on the basis of iconic status or being well-known from other media.) Keep in mind, also, that for simplicity's sake, this is purely a rate of American one-hit wonders, so any of these artists having hits in other countries, or being foreign artists who were big in their own country but only crossed over to the States once, would not count against their case for inclusion. And yes, some of them are critically-acclaimed or cult-favourite artists otherwise, but if they only had one pop crossover hit, I'd still let them in (with the exception of some whose other material is just too well-known despite a lack of singles chart success). At the suggestion of @berserkboi elsewhere, I also left out anything that was in my 90's #1's rate, for the simple reason that anything I have to say about any of those songs was already said there.
Whittling down the list was a heck of a challenge, not gonna lie (thanks to @DJHazey for help with the editing!), but I eventually got it down to 70. That's a pretty good number, I think: enough to hit all the big ones that would have you guys going "Where the hell is _____?!" if they were absent, and leave room for some lesser hits that are nevertheless personal favourites, and ensure a good spread in terms of genre diversity. Obviously, I could never have included every single one-hit wonder of this decade, seeing as that would have produced a list of about 200 songs, so... yeah, some songs just got unlucky. Feel free to have a good old chat about any faves that didn't get in!
That's the fun part out of the way. Time for the obligatory edition of
Usual PJ rate rules apply. So, for those not familiar...
1) Listen to all of the songs listed in the post below, and give them each a score between 0 and 10. Decimals are OK, but should be limited to .1s and .25s (.1, .2, .25, .3, etc.)
2) You each have access to a single 11 to bestow upon your absolute fave. Use it wisely! (PS. No decimals between 10 and 11 allowed.)
3) Once you're done with your rating, PM your scores in to myself, with the songs in the order listed in the post below.
4) Commentary and/or shade, as ever, is greatly encouraged. The more the merrier, of course.
5) Rate whichever version you want of any of these songs. Album versions, single versions, video mixes - whichever you like!
6) No troll ballots please. We're all here to have a good time, a'ight?
Well, that should just about cover everything.
You now have until
SUNDAY 17 DECEMBER
to get your votes in.
Enjoy!
What's happening, ladies and gentlemen, it's ya boy Ironheade, and oh man, wasn't that 90's Billboard #1's rate just a barrel of laughs? Seriously, I cannot thank everybody who voted in that enough for the sheer infectious fun that was in the atmosphere for that one, sharing their love for the songs all the way through, shading the crap out of the worse entries, and with all sorts of hilarious commentary that made it a joy to read. Thanks again to you guys, special thanks to my lovely guest hosts who picked up the slack as the second half wore on, amazing stuff. And I'm hoping to see some of you again for this one...
But what is this? Glad you asked! At one point during the conversation in the first half (1990-1994), the lovely @iheartpoptarts mentioned the idea of a rate for 90's one-hit wonders in passing. And I thought... well, after that rate is done, why not? You guys might not know this, but the idea of the one-hit wonder has always been something of a fascination for me - just the fact of someone being in the spotlight for such a brief moment in time draws my attention. I'm not quite sure what it is, but I've always been interested in what these artists did before and after their brief moment in the spotlight, and why they couldn't sustain it. You dig deep, you usually find something interesting there. Not to mention, this decade was one of the most fertile breeding grounds for one-hit wonders in musical history, and iconic ones in a lot of different styles at that, or at least so it's always seemed to me. All the ingredients are well in place for a fun trip down memory lane, in other words! But my hope is that for you guys, this rate will not just be fun, but educational: I'll be doing deep dives into the history of these one-hit wonders, doing li'l overviews of their previous and further careers, and finding out what they're up to these days. Strap in, because for some of them, you're in for a pretty wild ride.
So, what songs made the cut for the list and what didn't? Because the thing is, the term "one-hit wonder" is one with a somewhat fuzzy definition, and there aren't really any hard-and-fast rules as to what counts and what doesn't. Even if you look at which ones were the biggest chart hits, it doesn't help you out much: after all, there's songs that topped the charts and are forgotten, and others that are considered classics but peaked much lower down. So I think I had better explain my criteria. My definition of "one-hit wonder", for this rate's purposes, is any artist who had one single in the Top 40 of the Hot 100 or Radio Songs chart and no more; furthermore, the song must have been released either on album or as a single between 1 January 1990 and 31 December 1999, or peaked on the chart within those dates. (Some of these entries did not make the Top 40, but were included on the basis of iconic status or being well-known from other media.) Keep in mind, also, that for simplicity's sake, this is purely a rate of American one-hit wonders, so any of these artists having hits in other countries, or being foreign artists who were big in their own country but only crossed over to the States once, would not count against their case for inclusion. And yes, some of them are critically-acclaimed or cult-favourite artists otherwise, but if they only had one pop crossover hit, I'd still let them in (with the exception of some whose other material is just too well-known despite a lack of singles chart success). At the suggestion of @berserkboi elsewhere, I also left out anything that was in my 90's #1's rate, for the simple reason that anything I have to say about any of those songs was already said there.
Whittling down the list was a heck of a challenge, not gonna lie (thanks to @DJHazey for help with the editing!), but I eventually got it down to 70. That's a pretty good number, I think: enough to hit all the big ones that would have you guys going "Where the hell is _____?!" if they were absent, and leave room for some lesser hits that are nevertheless personal favourites, and ensure a good spread in terms of genre diversity. Obviously, I could never have included every single one-hit wonder of this decade, seeing as that would have produced a list of about 200 songs, so... yeah, some songs just got unlucky. Feel free to have a good old chat about any faves that didn't get in!
That's the fun part out of the way. Time for the obligatory edition of
Usual PJ rate rules apply. So, for those not familiar...
1) Listen to all of the songs listed in the post below, and give them each a score between 0 and 10. Decimals are OK, but should be limited to .1s and .25s (.1, .2, .25, .3, etc.)
2) You each have access to a single 11 to bestow upon your absolute fave. Use it wisely! (PS. No decimals between 10 and 11 allowed.)
3) Once you're done with your rating, PM your scores in to myself, with the songs in the order listed in the post below.
4) Commentary and/or shade, as ever, is greatly encouraged. The more the merrier, of course.
5) Rate whichever version you want of any of these songs. Album versions, single versions, video mixes - whichever you like!
6) No troll ballots please. We're all here to have a good time, a'ight?
Well, that should just about cover everything.
You now have until
SUNDAY 17 DECEMBER
to get your votes in.
Enjoy!
