TOP FIVE ONE-HIT WONDERS OF THE 1990s
Full transparency: this, our final installment in the One-Hit Wonders Series, will also be my longest. Normally I try to be somewhat restrained with my Honorable Mentions, but I just couldn’t help myself this time, much of it from having so many good options, much of it from the fact that I’m a 90s kid! So sit back, relax, and enjoy our final look back at one-hit wonderland!
Honorable Mentions
Lit-"My Own Worst Enemy" (1999)
Granted they did have other songs that got some airplay, but as a reminder as I laid everything out beginning with Caviar in my 2000s installment, "I won’t note every instance in this series where this is the case in the interests of readability and space, but I'll articulate it here as my modus operandi—we’re not considering minor hits that didn’t make much of an impact and/or hits that might’ve at the time performed well but didn’t have any real staying power relative to 'the hit' seen from the vantage point of today as disqualifiers for inclusion on these lists." "My Own Worst Enemy" was the real smash hit of theirs and is the one everyone remembers. Whereas Caviar’s "Tangerine Speedo" is a fun, quirky song that’s endured more as a cult classic, "My Own Worst Enemy," though, is not just an iconic rock song from this era but has become timeless, and I still hear it played quite often. The whole album containing "My Own Worst Enemy," A Place in the Sun, is actually excellent, first-rate ear candy rock with a healthy dose of American Pie-core. Highly recommended.
Next-"Too Close" (1997)
Lyrically, the song is preposterous, and on humor alone might warrant inclusion, but it’s actually a really good example of this kind of Blackstreet-esque post-g funk R&B.
Skee Lo-"I Wish" (1995)
Corny but innocent fun, a breezy, self-aware tune that stood in stark contrast to the predominant gangsta rap of the day. Not everything has to be dark and edgy.
Marvelous 3-"Freak of the Week" (1998)
Huge, arena-level chorus, that is totally unsurprising when you learn that Butch Walker was in Marvelous 3. I’ll let his Wikipedia explain:
Many of the songs that he co-wrote or produced have been hits for other artists, including SR-71, Avril Lavigne, Sevendust, Injected, The Donnas, Hot Hot Heat, American Hi-Fi, Default, Gob, Midtown, Puffy AmiYumi, Pink, Katy Perry, Pete Yorn, Quietdrive, Green Day, Adam Lambert, Rob Thomas of Matchbox 20, Rayland Baxter, Kevin Griffin of Better Than Ezra, Train, The Wallflowers, Jewel, The All-American Rejects, The Academy Is..., The Cab, Saosin, Never Shout Never, Weezer, New Politics, Fall Out Boy, The Struts, Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness, August is Falling, Matt Nathanson, and Elizabeth Cook.
So yeah, totally unsurprising from a man who clearly has "it." Similar to our Bonnie McKee inclusion from the 2010s installment.
Len-"Steal My Sunshine" (1999)
Another breezy summertime jam, this time from the Canadian brother-sister duo. It’s a fun, PG-rated song that really exemplifies the vibe of the era along with groups like LFO (of "Summer Girls" fame) on one end of the American Pie-core spectrum and Blink-182 (less PG and more rooted in punk) on the other.
Lord Tariq and Peter Gunz-"Deja Vu" (1998)
Love the video, love the Bronx swagger, and the beat is great. The intro sample from Jerry Rivera’s "Amores Como El Nuestro" would later gain massive worldwide exposure through Shakira’s sampling of it on "Hips Don't Lie" with Wyclef Jean, but it always reminds me of this song instead.
Haddaway-"What Is Love" (1993)
You could make a credible argument that this is the quintessential 90s dance track. While the "Eurodisco enigma" (as Jason Ankeny describes him) Haddaway did have a smattering of other minor hits internationally, other than "What Is Love’s" follow-up "Life"—which did quite well internationally at the time—this was it for the American audience (and as I reiterate below, being American and having lived most of my life in America, this is primarily the lens through which I’ve viewed these songs and artists). Alas for Haddaway, "Life" (known as "Life (Everybody Needs Somebody to Love)" in the US) and subsequent releases couldn’t match the colossal heights of this track nor its longevity in our cultural memories, but how many artists can even say they were able to break through with such a globally-known and -successful hit in the first place? Part of its enduring popularity can also be credited to the "Roxbury Guys" Saturday Night Live sketches featuring Will Ferrell and Chris Kattan, which ultimately spawned the 1998 film A Night at the Roxbury and its frequent appearance in 2000s memes, not unlike Rick Astley’s "Never Gonna Give You Up" and "Rickrolling."
TOP FIVE
5. Marc Cohn-"Walking In Memphis" (1991)
This is one of those songs, like The Divinyls’ "I Touch Myself" (which I also considered for this list) that exists "out of time," meaning it doesn’t feel like it belongs in any decade, it just sort of always was…and probably always will be.
4. The Verve-"Bittersweet Symphony" (1997)
One of the best rock songs of the 90s, full-stop. Great lyrics and gorgeous "baroque strings worthy of Pachelbel [intertwined] with sedated vocals and shimmering guitar lines" (to quote Jon Wiederhorn in Rolling Stone Issue 771) define a "Bittersweet Symphony" that stacks up with Oasis songs like "Wonderwall" and "Champagne Supernova" as definitive 90s Britpop and as a timeless classic.
As a side note: the Four Year Strong cover of this song is so sick.
3. Deep Blue Something-"Breakfast at Tiffany’s" (1993)
This song is nostalgia overload for me, and therefore it comes in at the three spot. I was five when this song came out, and it’s the first song—along with Technotronic’s "Pump Up the Jam," which as a child I was convinced was Michael Jackson—that I can remember liking that wasn’t explicitly for children. I still do think it’s a very good song in its own right, personal context notwithstanding. Just a very catchy rock song.
2. Montell Jordan-"This Is How We Do It" (1995)
Still gets people hype to this day—it’s pretty much ubiquitous on any party or wedding playlist and for good reason. It’s a "California Love"-tier dancefloor-filler with a great beat and Montell’s vocals suit the track perfectly. It’s s-tier West Coast pool party playlist material.
1. Mark Morrison-"Return of the Mack" (1996)
First off: this is my favorite song, not from this list, but of all time, full stop. Morrison’s inclusion here could be hotly-contested from the perspective of a British reader, as Morrison was the first artist in British pop history to have five songs appear in the Top 10 of the UK Singles Chart from a debut album, but it is "Return of the Mack" that has stood the test of time. Through the British lens, it’s a similar conversation to the one in our 1980s installment when discussing Rick Astley. From an American perspective, which, though I did live in the UK for several years, is the lens through which I’ve largely viewed these songs unless otherwise noted, it’s pretty easy: this is the only song of Morrison’s that, for all intents and purposes, made any kind of impact. S-tier beat with Morrison’s distinctive vocals, "Return of the Mack" takes the vibe and essence of "This Is How We Do It" and ups the ante with a Morrison betrayed by his lover "back up in the game…letting all the people know that [he’s] back to rock the show" (the lyrics always reminded me of this scene from Entourage, perhaps in part because the song was featured in one episode). The C&J Extended Mix (see below) is truly where it’s at, with the introduction building up to the beat hitting and with its longer R&B version of the "Chelsea Smile" interlude.