Thursday Rocks Off brought you our list of ten favorite one-hit wonders, an endearing assortment of underdogs and left-field flukes that hit our collective Top 40 sweet spot, if only for one brief shining moment. Now the real fun starts.
But for every great song that becomes a one-hit wonder, there's probably ten awful ones that have saturated the airwaves, no doubt because there's so much more bad music than good in the world. So in that respect, our writers should have had a much easier time choosing their least favorite one-and-done chartbusters. (Odd, then, that we had two repeats... oh well.) We can only hope these songs stay gone, though far too many of them have had a near-radioactive shelf life. Why, God?
REWIND:
Our 10 Favorite One-Hit Wonders
"Baby Got Back," Sir Mix-a-Lot Never has anything aged so poorly or become quite so embarrassing as dated rap hits. While there may be a certain kitschy fun to a song like "The Humpty Dance," one song has become not only completely repulsive, but stands today as a symbol of everything uncool and retch-inducing.
I'm talking about Sir Mix-a-Lot's "Baby Got Back." If I hear one more aggravating parody of this song written for a department-store commercial, I'm going to put a bullet in my brain. Hell, I'll probably do that if I hear the original song itself one more time. COREY DEITERMAN
"Bad Day," Daniel Powter I'm not going to lie: I've got a mind like a steel trap. Since I don't listen to pop radio and have lost any interest in novelty songs apart from the collected works of Ray Stevens, it's difficult for any insidious earworms to penetrate my defenses. But a few years ago, one did. Practically a genetically engineered cyborg of sad-sack lyrics and sappy piano, "Bad Day" became so ubiquitous on ESPN and Fox Sports highlights shows that I still pretty much stick to the games themselves. CHRIS GRAY
"Barbie Girl," Aqua Never in my life have I ever been more annoyed by a song than by "Barbie Girl." It's one of the most annoying pieces of recorded music anyone has ever made. I'd rather listen to a fire alarm go off while cicadas roosted in the trees above my head during an Insane Clown Posse show while screaming babies scratched a chalkboard with their tiny baby fingernails.
What is that song anyway? How did that ever make it to my ears? What producer or major-label exec said, "Yes, that's the fucking jam! Put it on the radio!" It's not music. It's trash. And who decided to put those plastic people in the video? Is that the band? JIM BRICKER
"Butterfly," Crazy Town Looking back, it's actually surprising that Crazy Town's "Butterfly" was the group's only hit. Limp Bizkit had already proved that the rap-rock formula could work, and the song's release coincided with Linkin Park's debut album, Hybrid Theory. Clearly, American youth couldn't get enough of this stuff.
But "Butterfly" and, for that matter, Crazy Town as a band didn't have any teeth. "Butterfly" was contrived, repetitive and lacking energy. But one thing is for sure: That guy's shoulder tattoos are sweeeeet. MATTHEW KEEVER
Second opinion I tried real hard to come up with a different song, but let's be honest: we should always be reminded that as a culture we let "Butterfly" by Crazy Town become the No. 1 song in the country. We let that boring, uncreative piece of tripe become the biggest song in these United States. This is our shame, and we should always be reminded of it. CORY GARCIA
"Sex and Candy," Marcy Playground The problem with one-hit wonders is that they get played incessantly, oftentimes for years. That was certainly the case with Marcy Playground's "Sex and Candy," one of the most despicable hits of the '90s. Somehow, the band achieved the perfect crossover sound with that song: it was lyrically edgy enough (SEX!!) for rock radio, yet pussy enough for adult contemporary.
The result was that it was played every hour on every radio station in town -- especially during prime clock-radio wakeup time. It makes me want to punch a snooze bar in the dick to this day. "Sex and Candy" refuses to rock and it refuses to go away. I hated it the first time I heard it, and I hate it now. I will die hating it. NATHAN SMITH
