TOP FIVE UNLIKELIEST ONE HIT WONDERS
Here on our next one-hit wonders installment, we consider the unlikeliest artists to achieve their major flashpoint of mainstream success relative to reputation, expectation, and/or other "priors."
5. Buster Poindexter (David Johansen)
If in the 1970s you thought it was in the cards for New York Dolls frontman David Johansen to later score a massive hit with his 1987 cover of "Hot Hot Hot" as his lounge singer alter ego Buster Poindexter looking like Perez Hilton before Perez Hilton, you’d probably have gotten some looks. Indeed, it was in the cards, the fever dream of ridiculousness gaining heavy airplay and remaining a karaoke fixture to this day.
4. Los del Rio
It is an unusual career trajectory for a group to score a smash hit after over thirty years of existence, yet that is precisely what happened when this Bayside Boys Remix of the Spanish duo’s "Macarena" became an international mega-hit with its own signature dance, staying at Number One on the Billboard Hot 100 for 14 weeks between August and November 1996. You simply could not escape this song at its height; think "Party Rock Anthem" or "Call Me Maybe" for the 90s.
3. RuPaul
Given the era, that it was the height of grunge and g funk/gangsta rap, and the obscurity of RuPaul coming from the underground drag scene, it wasn’t a given Tommy Boy Records had a future superstar on their hands. Granted, musically, they didn’t, as much like Mark Wahlberg/Marky Mark, that superstardom only came after music provided the springboard. In terms of cultural influence, one could make the argument that it was through the success of Madonna and of RuPaul that a generation later the ground was fertile enough for the cosmic rise of Lady Gaga, who is a kind of artistic and cultural synthesis of the two in her import. You will also find a RuPaul cameo appearance in the extremely advanced film To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar starring one of our next inclusions.
2. (Tie) Eddie Murphy and Patrick Swayze
On the back of his hugely successful run on Saturday Night Live and ascension to superstar status with 1983’s Delirious and through roles in films like 48 Hrs., Trading Places, and Beverly Hills Cop, the comedic talent of Eddie Murphy was unquestionable. What was, though, was whether the man could sing. According to Murphy, a $100,000 bet was made with comedian Richard Pryor regarding Murphy’s vocal talent, leading to the recording of "Party All the Time" at Rick James’s home studio (James wrote and produced the track as well). In the liner notes to the full-length the single appears on, How Could It Be, Murphy wrote: "To Richard Pryor, my idol, with whom I have a $100,000 bet. No, motherfucker, I didn't forget."
Not only did Patrick Swayze star in the film Dirty Dancing, but he co-wrote and sang the single "She’s Like the Wind" from its soundtrack. Swayze had several other songs appear on soundtracks, including two on Roadhouse’s soundtrack, but none hit like "She’s Like the Wind." Although like RuPaul and Wahlberg Swayze and Murphy’s forays into music also netted a hit, unlike RuPaul and Wahlberg the musical success came after they were already established stars and wound up as more of an unusual line on their impressive respective resumés as they carried on making hits in Hollywood instead.
1. Chumbawamba
The likelihood of an anarcho-punk band living in a Leeds squat whose music appeared on a Crass Records compilation eventually competing with the likes of Aqua for chart supremacy would seem rather low, and yet, in 1997, it happened (to be fair to Aqua, although "Barbie Girl" is generally lampooned for its vapidity, in reality that vapidity is precisely what the song is lampooning—could it be that pop music in 1997 was far more subversive than anyone at the time realized?). To that point, as Adam Lewis writes:
The burgeoning rave culture was a huge influence as it spread throughout England, fuelled by illegal warehouse parties and in constant battle with the authorities. And soon after, sample culture allowed them a new way to subvert mainstream pop culture and undermine copyright law. As all of these influences collided, the group’s reputation grew, and in 1997 they were offered a contract with EMI Germany. It was an offer that, on surface value, went against everything the group had stood for — after all, they’d recorded on a compilation years earlier called “Fuck EMI”. But after fifteen years of provocation and political action, they decided to turn it into their most subversive act yet: mainstream success…Chumbawamba…briefly held the world’s attention — and they made decisive, bold use of it to champion their causes. Take the 1998 Brit Awards, for example. In one of their first major television appearances, they performed ‘Tubthumping’ against footage of British protest movements, surrounded by the red and black flags of rebellion and anarchy, and clad in jumpsuits with bold phrases like “Sold Out”, “Shift Units”, and “Label Whore”. And throughout the song, they incorporated the phrase “New Labour sold out the dockers, just like they’ll sell out the rest of us”…But the most infamous moment came later that night, when vocalist Danbert Nobacon ambushed then-deputy Prime Minister John Prescott at his table, dumping a bucket of ice cold water on his head mid-event. In the press, they were similarly controversial. Virgin stores started selling the album from behind the counter after vocalist Alice Nutter told a talk show that fans who couldn’t afford the album should steal it from chain stores. In Melody Maker she was at her most militant, seemingly advocating for violence against police. Licensing was another form of protest — the band very publicly turned down a $1.5m offer from Nike to use the song in a World Cup advert. Several years later, they would accept USD$70K from General Motors for use of another of their songs in an ad — only to immediately donate it in full to activist groups, to be used in a campaign against, you guessed it, General Motors.
To quote Christopher McDonald’s character in the film SLC Punk!: "I didn't sell out son. I bought in. Keep that in mind."