TOP FIVE ONE-HIT WONDERS OF THE 2000s
For many people, myself included, there is an ongoing fascination with one-hit wonders, the reason for which is somewhat difficult to pin down. Is it the "what-if" factor? The here today gone tomorrow result of an often-fickle music industry and/or public? Nostalgia? Other factors? Whatever the case, I’ve decided to lean in to this fascination with a series of Top Fives pertaining specifically to one-hit wonders. This will be the first of said series, a head-first dive into the 2000s in all its glory!
Honorable Mentions
D4L-"Laffy Taffy" (2005)
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, at least when it comes to mainstream rap. Despite catching heat from Ghostface Killah, it wasn’t enough to stop the track from hitting number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in January 2006. It’s a fun if dated song that exemplifies the style of snap that, along with hyphy, would be the short-burning heirs to crunk in the mainstream (I’ll be doing a retrospective Top Five on the hyphy movement at a later date—have no fear).
New Boyz-"You’re a Jerk" (2009)
Jerking was such a great micro-trend, but like hyphy and easycore it came and went way too fast, and I thought it had so much more potential. Alas…but the classics endure!
Dynamite Hack-"Boyz-N-The Hood" (2000)
This inclusion is less about this acoustic version of the Eazy-E song, which is perfectly fine but not much more than a novelty, and more about the record it appears on in Superfast, which is an exceptional collection of power pop meets pop punk songs that I’ve been listening to continually since I was like twelve. Highly recommended.
Caviar-"Tangerine Speedo" (2000)
More power pop, this time from Caviar, who did also have a minor hit in the hilarious and very catchy "Goldmine" (sample lyrics: "She got the goldmine / I got the shaft / She’s Thomas Jefferson / I'm William Howard Taft"), but we’re not really considering minor hits that either didn’t have much of an impact or staying power for this series. "Tangerine Speedo" was their one big hit, and like "Goldmine," also mixes in humor. It has a kind of 1950s resort getaway sound to craft this underrated gem from an era that actually had quite a few of them, as we have and will see.
Lucky Boys Confusion-"Fred Astaire" (2001)
Great pop punk song off what is actually a really strong pop punk/ska punk record that has a lot of the band Sublime to it with more of an American Pie-core flavor.
TOP FIVE
5. Damien Marley-"Welcome to Jamrock" (2005)
As one of I don’t know how many of Bob Marley’s children, another Marley hitting the mainstream probably shouldn’t have come as a surprise, but this song just exploded out of seemingly-nowhere in mid-2005, becoming one of my primary summer jams that year. It’s a lyrically-unflinching look at the state of "Jamrock," musically with one foot in the 1980s mainstream heyday and "classic" sound of reggae with its Sly and Robbie riddim and the other in the (then) modern era incorporating elements of dancehall and hip-hop. Definitely still holds up.
4. Fountains of Wayne-"Stacy’s Mom" (2003)
Though the early 2000s are much more synonymous with "iPod-core" (The Strokes, etc.), power pop and power pop adjacent/-influenced bands also had their day, none more so than Fountains of Wayne with a song in "Stacy’s Mom" that has become an all-time classic known by multiple generations at this point.
3. Wheatus-"Teenage Dirtbag" (2000)
Having said that, I do slightly prefer "Teenage Dirtbag" as a power pop-adjacent song. In fact, the entirety of their self-titled 2000 debut album is really good. As with Dynamite Hack, it may be rose-colored nostalgia glasses, but I come back to it often.
2. Junior Senior-"Move Your Feet" (2002)
The Danish duo crafted this massive hit, particularly in the UK, that seems to crop up periodically in advertisements of various stripes. A little corny, yes, but undeniably catchy, particularly the chorus.
1. M.I.A.-"Paper Planes" (2007)
Few songs ever benefitted more from being featured in movie trailers nor from having gunshots and cash register sound effects in them than M.I.A.’s "Paper Planes." Maybe M.I.A. is not a "true" one-hit wonder in the way we normally think of them given her career success, but I’m not being militant with my definitions of a one-hit wonder here, so if a song has become "the song" of the artist in general perception, I think it’s fair to include it. It’s hard to look past just how huge this song was. It even spawned another hit in "Swagga Like Us" based on a sample from "Paper Planes" featuring four of the biggest rappers at the time: Jay-Z, T.I., Lil Wayne, and Kanye West. "Paper Planes" was literally everywhere at its peak—and deserved to be. The beat, based on The Clash’s "Straight to Hell," is exquisite and is indicative of the incredibly forward-looking genre fusion and experimentation she was riding for her first two albums especially. M.I.A. glides easily across the track, her almost meek-sounding vocals standing in stark and effective contrast to the subject matter, and the chorus works in a "Hard Knock Life"-esque fashion. Overall, "Paper Planes" is true genius and is one of the best songs of the era.