A history of popular music as told by 100 one-hit wonders (part 4) 

70. Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs –•– Stay — (Peaked: November 21, 1960 at # 1)  

"Stay" doesn’t actually stay very long, clocking in at 1:36, the shortest record to reach #1.

69. Miriam Makeba –•– Pata Pata — (Peaked: November 25, 1967 at # 12)        

Miriam Makeba fun facts: She was married to a fellow South African, trumpeter Hugh Masekela (another one-hit wonder with “Grazing in the Grass” in 1968), as well as Black Panther leader Stokely Carmichael (not at the same time).

68. The Chakachas –•– Jungle Fever — (Peaked: March 25, 1972 at # 8)

The list of songs with orgasmic moaning in the mix includes Donna Summers’ “Love to Love You,” Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin’s pornographic tour de force “Je t’amie,” Robert Plant’s heavy breathing during the “psychedelic” instrumental break on “Whole Lotta Love,” “Pillow Talk” by Sylvia (who will come up again later on this list) and "Jungle Fever" – a record you never wanted to come up on the radio if you were trapped in the car with your parents.

67. Buckner & Garcia –•– Pac-Man Fever — (Peaked: March 27, 1982 at # 9)

Underemployed and with too much time on my hands, I began to search out the bowling alleys and makeshift arcades where I might find the jolt I needed, a trip to a universe where I was the unforgiving, stalking predator. With enough quarters and a shaking hand on the throttle, there was Pac-Man. In a pinch, Ms. Pac-Man worked just as well.

66. The Fendermen –•– Mule Skinner Blues — (Peaked: July 11, 1960 at # 5) 

This song always struck me as a kind of silly novelty song, then I came across Dolly Parton’s dynamite version from 1970. Turns out to date back to the early 30s and is something of a country standard. The Fendermen (true to their name) introduced electric guitars, but it still veers awfully close to novelty record status. The lame “cha cha cha” ending doesn’t help its case.

65. Johnny Ace –•– Pledging My Love — (Peaked: March 19, 1955 at # 17)

Johnny Ace, 25, was playing around with his revolver backstage at a 1954 concert. Someone told him to be careful. Just after he claimed, “Gun’s not loaded,” it went off, the starting pistol that sent his "Pledging My Love," released posthumously, to #17 nationally and #1 on the R&B charts for 10 weeks. Billboard at the time said Ace's death "created one of the biggest demands for a record that has occurred since the death of Hank Williams just over two years ago." Paul Simon was old to enough to be affected by Ace’s death and his “The Late Great Johnny Ace” connects Ace’s death with that of two other Johns, Kennedy and Lennon. 

64. Desmond Dekker and the Aces –•– Israelites — (Peaked: June 28, 1969 at # 9)   

Despite the often-unintelligible lyrics, "The Israelties" was the first reggae song to hit the U.S. top ten. Some say the first was Millie Small’s “My Boy Lollipop,” which had more of that skip-along ska beat instead.

63. The Knickerbockers –•– Lies — (Peaked: January 22, 1966 at #20)                   

The fab "Lies" was the first, and still one of the best, Beatlesque records. Even with “We Can Work It Out” and “Day Tripper” concurrently in the U.S. top ten, the Lennon-styled vocals and guitar work (sounding more like the Who in spots), pushed “Lies” to #20. The band hailed from Bergenfield and took its name from local Knickerbocker Road, which ironically doesn’t run at all through Bergenfield. Keeping that Garden State spirit alive, a reincarnated version of the band called itself Lodi.

62. John Zacherle –•– Dinner with Drac–Part 1 — (Peaked: March 31, 1958 at #6)           

Halloween 1966: Wearing football shoulder pads and nose putty globbed over my face, I stood on a long line to meet The Cool Ghoul, Zacherle, in front of Bamberger’s at the Garden State Plaza. It must have been some sort of costumer contest, and as each kid filed past, Zach made a joke or comment. My turn. Zach asks me who I’m supposed to be. I tell him the Hunchback. Zach: “Wait till your mother sees all that bubblegum on your face.”

61. The Elvin Bishop Band –•– Fooled Around and Fell in Love — (Peaked: May 22, 1976 at #3) 

As with the Beatles’ “Something” and Wings’ “My Love,” two other love songs I always found tedious, "Fooled Around" redeems itself with an inspired guitar solo by Elvin Bishop, who at one time in the late 60s was considered one of the great white wonders of blues guitar.