Friday, February 21, 2025

La Fin de la Semaine Essay Question: Special "I Thought Career Day Was Usually in November" Edition

From 1970, please enjoy the extremely rich Norman Greenbaum and "Canned Ham" -- the song that DIDN'T add to the fabulous sums of money he's made over the years off of "Spirit in the Sky."

"Canned Ham," of course, was the follow-up; I thought it was brilliant myself (owned a copy of the single), but apparently it lacked that certain je ne sais quoi for the rest of the record-buying public.

That said, let us attend to the weekend's business. To wit:

...and your favorite (or least favorite) post-Elvis pop/rock/folk/soul/country One-Hit Wonder solo artist or group is...???

No arbitrary rules whatsoever. In fact, if somebody (like Greenbaum) had more than one record on the radio but is still generally considered a OHW, and that's who you want to nominate -- that's cool.

I should add that no, to my surprise, I've never done this category before (something similar, yes, but not OHW's specifically). I should also add that, upon hearing "Canned Ham" again for the first time in ages, I am struck by the possibility that Erik Jacobsen (who also helmed most of the Lovin' Spoonful's stuff, and all of Chris Isaaks') may very well have been the greatest producer in the history of both rock and roll. And why isn't there a bio-pic about him yet?

Alrighty, then -- what would your choices be?

Discuss.

And have a great weekend, everybody!!!

33 comments:

  1. I quit paying attention to "the hits" years ago, so I'm sure there are many I like that I didn't know were hits, or one hits. So for conversations sake I will throw in
    Fire by The Crazy World of Arthur Brown

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  2. Judy in Disguise: John Fred
    Excerpt from A Teenage Opera (Grocer Jack): Keith West
    I Kissed A Girl: Jill Sobule (NOT Whatzername)
    In the Summertime: Mungo Jerry

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    Replies
    1. and: We'll Sing in the Sunshine: Gale Garnett

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  3. The good:
    Jean Knight - Mr. Big Stuff
    The Bobbettes – Mr. Lee
    The Big Bopper – Chantilly Lace
    Arthur Alexander – You Better Move On
    The Rivieras - California Sun
    ? and the Mysterians – 96 Tears

    The bad:
    Terry Jacks – Seasons in the Sun

    The prophetic:
    The Buggles – Video Killed the Radio Star

    - Paul in DK

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  4. Where to begin?
    Syndicate of Sound – "Little Girl"
    J.J. Jackson – "But It's Alright"
    The Music Machine – "Talk Talk"
    The Music Explosion – "Little Bit O' Soul"
    The Lemon Pipers – "Green Tambourine"
    Human Beinz – "Nobody But Me"
    Mountain – "Mississippi Queen"
    and slightly more recently,
    Del Amitri – "Roll to Me"

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. CJ - Lemon Pipers, say them in let's say a very small venue. Too funny.
      Regarding Mountain, perhaps Theme for an Imaginary Western might be considered a 2nd hit

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    2. Rob- my brother was in Lemon Pipers. They were a blues rock band a la Allmans, but got screwed in a terrible contract. They hated Green Tambourine. Lead guitarist Bill Bartlett went on to more one hit fame with RamJam and Black Betty. CJ

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    3. A - the Pipers played a small bar in Old Saybrook, CT @ '68/'69. The singer used flash cards (a la Dylan) flipping the lyrics as they performed it.
      Too funny -:eob

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  5. Rob B Mullen2/21/2025 10:25 AM

    Every Mother's Son - C'mon down to my boat...
    New Vaudeville Band - Winchester Cathedral
    Unit 4 + 2 - Concrete and Clay
    ? Mark & The Misterions - 96 Tears
    rob

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  6. In the Year 2525 - both a best AND a worst, c'mon, admit it!

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  7. Bram Tchaikovsky- Girl Of My Dreams
    The A's- A Woman's Got The Power
    Angie- Peppermint Lump
    Any Trouble- Secomd Choice
    Fischer Z- So Long

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  8. Straight Lines - New Musik
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFaA08PIUjM

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  9. 'Spirit in the Sky' is fantastic because of the synths, but this track sounds like Biff Rose. Pass.

    As for OHWs (in the USA), I'll go with...
    Mott the Hoople: All the Young Dudes
    T. Rex: Bang a Gong (Get it On)
    Lou Reed: Walk on the Wild Side
    John Miles: Highfly
    Dwight Twilley Band: I'm on Fire
    The Modern Lovers: Roadrunner (did this even chart?)

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  10. Stuck in the Middle with You - Stealers Wheel

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    Replies
    1. To be fair, they had a couple of other wonderful hits in the UK, as I mentioned last week.

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    2. Steve, I think we need to stretch the category a bit and give props to Ian Hunter - As you know he wrote Detroit Rocks and Once Bitten Twice Shy. I think you'll agree that All The Way To Memphis is pretty dang good ,,😎

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    3. Also the Ballad of Mott - thanks for letting me stretch the topic a bit

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  11. "Go Back" by Crabby Appleton

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  12. the year 2525; only. 1/2 millennium away!

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  13. make me do ( anything you want) by A Foot in Cold Water
    linda put the coffee on by Ray Materick
    gimme that ding by The Pipkins
    rs

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  14. Chumbawamba - Tubthumping
    Timbuk 3 - Futures So Bright
    The Proclaimers - ...500 miles
    The Sunrays - I live for the sun
    The Ventures with a disclaimer -
    Walk Don't Run
    Fraternity of Man - Don't Bogart That Joint My Friend 🚬
    rob

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    Replies
    1. "Walk Don't Run" -- Sorry. The Ventures had several hits....

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  15. I have a soft spot for the Blues Image, “Ride Captain Ride”. A cool song with some terrific guitar work.

    Worst…gotta be the hideous “Seasons in the Sun” by Terry Jacks.

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    Replies
    1. CT - That Blues Image song, Ride was a big hit in Maine on WBLM (the Blimp) back in the day - it seemed the band had a lot of potential - rob

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    2. Thel Rountree2/25/2025 4:50 PM

      My friend Skip Konte - who wrote and played keys on Ride Captain Ride went on to play B3 for 3 Dog Night in his "wizard" costume

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  16. Free - "All Right Now"
    Moon Zappa - "Valley Girl"
    Nervous Norvus - "Transfusion"
    Shocking Blue - "Venus"
    Iron Butterfly - "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida"
    Carl Douglas - "Kung Fu Fighting"
    Santo & Johnny - "Sleep Walk"

    and yeah, that Terry Jacks is horrible

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  17. Marshall Crenshaw - Someday Someway - The lone Top 40 hit for a talented singer-songwriter who deserved to have many more.

    Side note on "Seasons In The Sun" - Yes, the Terry Jacks' version usually finishes near the top re worsts. But I remember reading several years ago in MOJO magazine that, in the late 60s, the Beach Boys cut a version of the song. It went unreleased at the time but may have been included in one of the box sets that Capitol/Universal has put out in recent years on the group. I was wondering if anyone knows if it did come out and, if so, has anyone listened to it?

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  18. Steve (and others) - The Beach Boys' version did come out in 2021 on the 5-cd edition of the FEEL FLOWS box set, which covers the sessions for the SUNFLOWER and SURF's UP albums. I don't think it's on the other versions of that set. Conveniently now, it is also up on YouTube.

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  19. Brandy - The Looking Glass

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