Unsatisfaction – Men Without Hats
Building a little bit off my last question: who is traditionally thought of as a one-hit wonder, but actually has a bunch of great songs? A-Ha, for example, is usually thought of exclusively in terms of “Take on Me” but actually had a bunch of great albums. Same goes for Men Without Hats, who people only know through “Safety Dance” but who actually had one of the best albums of the whole 80s in Folk Of The 80’s (Part III) (seriously, go buy it).
Harvey Danger was a fantastic band with a ton of great songs. I think “Flagpole Sitta” is still probably my favorite of their’s, but it’s one of many excellent choices. Meanwhile, “Lovefool” is good, but is nowhere close to the best Cardigans song. They have like 7 albums, all of which are great. I’ve talked before about my love for Nina Persson.
In the US, I don’t think people know much about Blur apart from “Song 2” but they’re justifiably huge in other parts of the world.
Others?
Yes! The Cardigans. Their cover of “Iron Man” still kind of rules.
A few of the top of my head (you got me thinking ’80s):
– Falco is known for the awful “Rock Me Amadeus”, but his earlier minor hit “Der Kommissar” captures something interesting, even as it lifts the baseline from “Super Freak” almost note for note (and he’s got all sorts of earlier weird krautrock stuff if you dig).
– Speaking of, Rick James goes way deeper than “Super Freak,” starting with The Mynah Birds, his band with Neil Young.
-Frankie Goes to Hollywood. “Relax” was the big single, but the whole first side of “Welcome to the Pleasuredome” is a whole druggy concept record unto itself that is sort of insane when you start to ponder how Trevor Horn did it, ’cause those guys couldn’t really play and they didn’t have ProTools in those days.
– The Verve. Ashcroft’s inability to launch his own career or keep the band together is sad but they’ve got loads of great tracks. Eg, “The Drugs Don’t Work” is every bit as potent as “Bittersweet Symphony.”
– Sinead O’Conner comes up in one hit wonder lists for “Nothing Compares 2 U” which of course, doesn’t compare to anything off her first record.
Did the Sugarcubes have a hit?