A history of popular music, as told by 100 one-hit wonders (the top ten) 

 

10. Shirley Bassey –•– Goldfinger — (Peaked: March 27, 1965 at # 8)                    

Dr. No and From Russia With Love were relatively low-key affairs, with little in the way of special effects, explosions and gimmicks. With Goldfinger, however, the producers delivered the over-the-top formula that has fueled the franchise ever since – the Aston Martin, Oddjob and his bowler hat, Bond handcuffed to a ticking nuclear device as a private army attacked Fort Knox. Shirley Bassey’s glass-shattering vocals, coupled with George Martin’s bombastic arrangement, were perfect for the new Bond. If singing over the racy opening titles in a Bond movie is some sort of career milestone, Bassey is the clear leader, having also delivered the themes to Diamonds Are Forever (1971) and Moonraker (1979). 

9. Mungo Jerry –•– In the Summertime — (Peaked: September 12, 1971 at # 3)

There aren’t many songs that celebrate July and August like "In The Summertime" – “when the weather is high.” I always heard it as “hot,” but “high” is what gets sung and it’s a much better fit – high pressure, the corn as high as an elephant’s eye. More than a decade before the “human beatbox” concept, the “ch-ch-ch-uh” sets the rhythm like the summer night drone of the cicadas, Unlike the Beach Boys’ “All Summer Long” or Sly’s “Hot Fun in the Summertime,” this always seemed like a much more adult view of summer – drinking, driving fast and having “women on your mind.” 

8. MARRS –•– Pump Up the Volume — (Peaked: February 20, 1988 at # 13) 

7. Manu Dibango –•– Soul Makossa — (Peaked: July 28, 1973 at # 35)                     

Two records that seemed to drop to Earth from somewhere in space. "Pump Up The Volume" supposedly samples more than two dozen records, although I can only identify two. The song still holds up pretty well after more than 30 years. The James Brown goes to Africa sound of "Soul Makossa" was an underground dance club hit for months before radio stations got hold of it. Sung/rapped by Cameroon musician Manu Dibango in his native language; he also blows a mean saxophone.  

6. Napoleon XIV –•– They’re Coming to Take Me Away — (Peaked: August 13, 1966 at # 3)

For a song withdrawn from New York City radio after only a few weeks, "They're Coming To Take Me Away" left a major impression on us kids. Banned by WABC and WMCA in response to complaints from mental health organizations and rarely, if ever, heard on the radio since, the song (and its unsettling B-side of the song played backwards) quickly faded into the annals of childhood myth, like the disappearance of Chinese Cherry Funny Face drink mix; the abrupt, mid-season replacement of Joseph Kearns, the original Mr. Wilson on Dennis the Menace, following his sudden death; and any of a dozen Soupy Sales sketches that everybody was aware of, but nobody ever seemed to actually see (like when he told everyone to take the green paper out of their father’s wallets and mail it to him). “They’re Coming to Take Me Away” was #1 for one week on the Cashbox chart which was based on sales; Billboard surveys figured sales and airplay. 

5. Barry McGuire –•– Eve of Destruction — (Peaked: September 25, 1965 at # 1)             

You could argue that the summer of 1965 was when rock music began to truly transcend 16 Magazine and American Bandstand. Bob Dylan’s “Like A Rolling Stone,” and to a lesser extent the Byrds’ and Turtles’ covers of his “Mr. Tambourine Man” and “It Ain’t Me Babe,” felt different and “relevant,” which was probably how Newsweek described what was then being called “folk rock.” "Eve of Destruction" was a bleak and raspy-voiced reading of newspaper headlines that knocked the Beatles’ “Help” (another folk-rocky tune) out of the #1 spot. The song was written by 19-year old PF Sloan, an unsung hero of rock who also wrote the Turtles’ "You Baby," Herman’s Hermits’ “A Must to Avoid" and Johnny Rivers’ "Secret Agent Man,” on which he plays the instantly recognizable guitar riff. Sloan also came up with and played the memorable acoustic guitar introduction to the Mamas and the Papas’ “California Dreamin’.” 

4. The Jaynetts –•– Sally Go ‘Round the Roses — (Peaked: September 28, 1963 at # 2)  

I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that "Sally Go Round the Roses" was the mothership that “Ode to Billy Joe” and “Society’s Child” beamed down from four years later. “Sally” and “Billy Joe” share lyrics that hint at a mystery, an unrevealed secret. “Society’s Child” has the same girl group sound as “Sally,” based around keyboards. At a time when most records were being made in a single afternoon, the recording sessions for “Sally Go “Round the Roses” took more than a week and ran up costs of $60,000, at the time an exorbitant amount for a single track. It stayed at #2 for two weeks, blocked from the top by Bobby Vinton’s sappy “Blue Velvet.” 

3. Richard Harris –•– MacArthur Park — (Peaked: June 22, 1968 at # 2)               

Conventional wisdom claimed pop music was about brevity and a single timing in at anything more than three minutes would never get played on the radio (longer songs equals fewer commercials plus less ad revenue). “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling” ran for nearly four minutes. Phil Spector refused to cut it shorter, so he solved the problem by having the time of the record printed on the label as 3:05. Radio was hesitant about “Like A Rolling Stone,” which clocked in at nearly six minutes – some stations played only the first two verses, then faded the record down. MacArthur Park" arrived at 7:21, but never seems to drag as the song works through several movements. (“Hey Jude,” released that same year, ran ten seconds shorter). After Richard Harris performed a couple of musical numbers in Camelot, he got the singing bug and looked to record a pop album. Jim Webb auditioned a couple of songs for him, including the ambitious “MacArthur Park,” which felt more like a suite than a pop song. The ham in Harris no doubt sensed the theatricality of the lyrics and recognized his ability to chew them up. He wound up recording an underrated album of original baroque Webb material, with “MacArthur Park” its centerpiece. 

2. Carl Douglas –•– Kung Fu Fighting — (Peaked: December 7, 1974 at # 1)         

Thank you to my parents for meeting when they did, allowing me to grow up with The Man From UNCLE, the original Marvel Comics universe, the Beatles and Sean Connery as James Bond. Born a few years later and my childhood memories might be of the Six Million Dollar Man, Roger Moore as 007, KISS and the kung fu craze. The story is that Carl Douglas, journeyman R&B artist, booked a recording session and, with 20 minutes or so of time left, knocked out "Kung Fu Fighting" as the B-side of his next single. With kung fu flicks imported from Hong Kong opening weekly in the US and Bruce Lee about to become an international star, curious deejays flipped the single over and found a soundtrack to accompany the fad. Douglas tried to keep it going, but his next single, “Do the Kung Fu,” was a left jab that caught only air. 

1. Norman Greenbaum –•– Spirit in the Sky — (Peaked: April 18, 1970 at # 3)   

On paper, this shouldn’t have worked: an electric boogie about Jesus sung by a guy with a name like an Allan Sherman punchline. While it sold two million copies, Norman Greenbaum (his real name) couldn’t sustain the momentum and pretty much disappeared. Fittingly for a song about the afterlife, "Spirit in the Sky" has been used in enough films, television shows and commercials that Greenbaum has led a comfortable life off its royalties. When one song can support you for the rest of your life, it truly is a one-hit wonder.