The Ongoing History of New Music, episode 1081: The 50 biggest all-time alt-rock one-hit wonders (20-11)

What do the following authors have in common: J.D. Salinger, Emily Brontë, and Oscar Wilde? They are famous for writing just one novel.

J.D. Salinger? The Catcher in the Rye. Emily Brontë? Wuthering Heights. And Oscar Wilde? The Picture of Dorian Gray. Home runs. Classics. Enduring favourites. Lasting fame. Millions of copies sold around the planet. But in each case, there were no follow-ups. They were all one and done.

J.D. Salinger became a recluse. Emily Brontë died shortly after the publication of Wuthering Heights. And Oscar Wilde stayed with writing plays. As novelists go, they are all one-hit wonders.

When it comes to music, one-hit wonders are an endless source of amusement. How can someone become internationally famous for decades when they only have one song that anyone cares about?

These are special cases where lightning is captured exactly once. And no matter how many more songs these artists wrote, they would never, ever achieve that extreme level of fame again. A single song overshadows every other effort.

Let’s apply this to the history of alt-rock. What songs and artists qualify?

It took a bunch of research, but I think I managed to crack it using a combination of statistics. And we’re now up to episode four of five in this mission: the 50 all-time biggest alt-rock one-hit wonders.

Songs heard on this show:

• Doctor and the Medics, Spirit in the Sky
• Enigma, Sadeness (Part 1)
• Edwyn Collins, A Girl Like You
• Peter Schilling, Major Tom (Coming Home)
• White Town, Your Woman
• Meredith Brooks, Bitch
• Marcy Playground, Sex and Candy
• The Caesars, Jerk It Out
• Chumbawamba, Tubthumping
• The La’s, There She Goes

Here’s Eric Wilhite’s playlist.

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