One hit wonder songs that were covers

[chowderhead]

I am compiling a list of songs from one-hit wonder artists that were covers of other people's songs. It is harder than I thought. I have

Nothing Compares 2 U - Sinead O'Connor
Smooth Criminal - Alien Ant Farm
Blue Monday - Orgy
Total Eclipse Of The Heart - Nicki French
Time after Time - INOJ
Forever Young - DJ Company
I Want Candy - Aaron Carter
--------------------------------------
Bittersweet Symphony (sample) - The Verve
Ice Ice Baby (sample) Vanilla Ice

Please add your one hit wonder covers.

[Rockmjd23]

Der Kommisar: After the Fire
You Keep Me Hangin' On: Kim Wilde

I doubt DHT will have another hit, so I'd put "Listen to Your Heart"
Same with DJ Sammy and "Heaven"

[Super J]

I searched amazon and couldn't find their name but some band remade boyz in the hood a few years back.

:question: (boys in the hood boyz n da hood boyz n the hood) :question:

Edit It's spelled Boyz n tha Hood according to Amazon.
In 2000, Dynamite Hack, a white indie-rock band, covered NWA's "Boyz-N-The-Hood."

[JANK]

Birthday - Underground Sunshine ca. SEpt 1969 - barely broke top 20

[Eddie W]

Mannfred Mann's Earth Band - Blinded by the Light

[DonnachaOne]

This is a tricky topic; a few of the people you've listed have had incredible careers, and your "one-hit" is simply the biggest hit in many cases.I am compiling a list of songs from one-hit wonder artists that were covers of other people's songs. It is harder than I thought. I have

Total Eclipse Of The Heart - Nicki French
Time after Time - INOJ
Forever Young - DJ Company
--------------------------------------
Please add your one hit wonder covers.These I can understand. I'll also add Dr. & The Medics' "Spirit In The Sky", Big Mountain's "Baby I Love Your Way", Shinehead's "Jamaican In New York" (A redo of Sting's "Englishman..."), Rednex's "Cotton-Eye Joe" (though they remained huge in Germany)

Nothing Compares 2 U - Sinead O'Connor
Smooth Criminal - Alien Ant Farm
Blue Monday - Orgy
I Want Candy - Aaron Carter
Bittersweet Symphony (sample) - The Verve
Ice Ice Baby (sample) Vanilla IceSinead's had a career for nearly two decades - she's had way more hits than that. Maybe "Nothing's" the only one that hit in the states (though I remember "No Man's Woman" getting a good bit of play on radio and VH1). The same year their biggest hits were released, Orgy's "Stitches" and ALien Ant Farm's "Movies" were all over the radio and TV. I'd say "Aaron's Party (Come And Get It)" was a much bigger hit than "I Want Candy". The Verve have also had an incredible career - it's just that "Symphony" was a big hit in the US. As for Vanilla Ice, "Play That Funky Music" was a big hit, too. This is why I wouldn't suggest Lou Bega's "Mambo No. 5", either.

Shouldn't a one-hit wonder be known for just that one hit, and never have another hit again? What else falls into the criteria? Would Janis Joplin be a one-hit wonder for her version of Kris Kristofferson's "Bobby McGee", her only top 40 hit? Same for Jimi Hendrix and Bob Dylan's "All Along The Watchtower"?

[K Tm S]

hmmm..
tiffany - 'i think we're alone now', or,
tiffany - 'i saw him standing there'
some guy covered david essex's 'rock on' - late 80's or so
then there was that horrible band... will to power or something like that... it was a medley of 'freebird' and 'baby i love your way', i think
wasn't 'macarena' a cover?

that's all i can think of right now... need more coffee

[DRG]

I Want Candy - Aaron Carter

You could go a step further and say
I Want Candy - Bow Wow Wow
since their version was a cover in first place

Also:
Baby I Love Your Way/Freebird - Will to Power (two covers at once!)
Tainted Love - Soft Cell (you could argue "Where Would Our Love Go" as well, but this was only ever a hit when attached to "Tainted Love" as a medley, again two covers at once)
Puttin' on the Ritz - Taco
Funkytown - Pseudo Echo
Lean On Me - Club Nouveau

[DonnachaOne]

hmmm..
tiffany - 'i think we're alone now', or,
tiffany - 'i saw him standing there'
Doesn't that negate a one-hit wonder?

[rw2516]

Mannfred Mann's Earth Band - Blinded by the Light

Manfred had HUGE hits with Do Wah Diddy Diddy and Dylan's The Mighty Quinn. Also had a hit with Springsteen's Spirit in the Night. I Came For You was on the radio alot, don't know if it was a hit.

[bigjim25]

some guy covered david essex's 'rock on' - late 80's
Rock On - Michael Damian (from The Young & The Restless)

I thought I'd go and list the singing actors with one hit and only the 1st 2 were covers:
Respect Yourself - Bruce Willis
Wild Thing - Sam Kinison

All I Need - Jack Wagner (The Bold and The Beautiful)
Heartbeat - Don Johnson (Miami Vice, Nash Bridges)
She's Like The Wind - Patrick Swayze (Dirty Dancing)
Don't Give Up On Us - David Soul (Starsky and Hutch)
Party All The Time - Eddie Murphy
Do The Bartman - Bart Simpson
Good Vibrations - Marky Mark (aka Mark Wahlberg) and the Funky Bunch
Bottle of Whiskey - John Corbett (actually his new country song, might not be more)

[Green Smurf]

Eddie Murphy had that song with Michael Jackson too. It was in the 90's

I can't think of the name, but he had two hits.

[Mondo Kane]

The Braids - Bohemian Rhapsody

[Michael Corvin]

I've always considered this the kiss of death for a band. Releasing a cover song as their first release. Gives no feel for the artists talent and any appreciation for it is usually nostalgia from the original.

[zebop]

Eddie Murphy had that song with Michael Jackson too. It was in the 90's

I can't think of the name, but he had two hits.

The song was called "Whatzupwitu."

[Andalusia]

I've always considered this the kiss of death for a band. Releasing a cover song as their first release. Gives no feel for the artists talent and any appreciation for it is usually nostalgia from the original.

Though to be fair, the Kinks' very first single was a (mediocre) cover of Little Richard's "Long Tall Sally", and they did all right for themselves.

[rw2516]

Then there was Quiet Riot's cover of Slade's Cum On Feel the Noize. I need to get a keyboard with a backward Z.

[Atreus]

Save Ferris covering Come on Eileen (which itself was made Dexys Midnight Runners a one hit wonder first)

[Flynn]

Tesla: Signs

[U6C84]

Pussycat Dolls - Don't Cha
Kelly Osbourne - Papa don't Preach
Natalie Imbruglia - Torn

[Drexl]

Good Vibrations - Marky Mark (aka Mark Wahlberg) and the Funky Bunch

That was thankfully not a cover of the Beach Boys song. He also had another hit, "Wildside." It wasn't really of a cover of Lou Reed's "Walk on the Wildside," but it was similar.

How about Frente!: "Bizarre Love Triangle"?

[Mondo Kane]

Tesla: Signs

Tesla had a hit in "Love Song" prior to this.

[Alien Redrum]

Tesla had a hit in "Love Song" prior to this.

Wasn't "Up All Night" a hit for them, too?

[Drexl]

Wasn't "Up All Night" a hit for them, too?

That was Slaughter, unless Tesla had a song by the same name.

[Alien Redrum]

Duh. :lol:

[Burnt Alive]

Bobby Fuller Four - I Fought The Law

[DonnachaOne]

Pussycat Dolls - Don't Cha
Natalie Imbruglia - Torn
Who were these covers of?Save Ferris covering Come on Eileen (which itself was made Dexys Midnight Runners a one hit wonder first)
"The World Is New" was a bigger hit than that, and the same album also prodcued a hit with "Goodbye".

[Michael Corvin]

Tesla: Signs

:hscratch: Tesla had two albums with numerous radio hits under their belt before the live album, Five Man Acoustical Jam, containing Signs was released.

Mechanical Resonance:
Gettin' Better
Modern Day Cowboy
Changes

Great Radio Controversy:
Heaven's Trail (No Way Out)
Love Song
Paradise

Love Song and Modern Day Cowboy being their biggest hits. Both before Signs.

[dhmac]

What about "Mad World" as performed for the Donnie Darko soundtrack? It became a hit in this other version.

[Numanoid]

You Keep Me Hangin' On: Kim WildeKim Wilde had an earlier hit in "Kids In America" (an original song), thereby ruling her out as a one-hit wonder.

[Numanoid]

Who were these covers of?Even if those considerable assets hadn't been enough, Imbruglia also had the undeniably radio-ready pop ballad "Torn," which [Phil] Thornalley had written with the L.A. band Ednaswap. Surprisingly, Ednaswap's 1995 version failed to make a dent in the charts, but "Torn" had been a hit in Norway and Japan for Norwegian singer Trine Rein, and in Denmark by a Danish singer named Lis Sorenson.

http://yahooligans.yahoo.com/content/music/bio?id=10093

[DRG]

Who were these covers of?

As for "Don't Cha":

Tori Alamaze was a backup vocalist for the hip hop duo OutKast. When she got her big break when somebody offered her a record deal. Her first single was "Don't Cha", produced by Cee-Lo Green. It wasn't very successful, only peaking at #58 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart. But the Detroit native says the label never shot a video for her single, nor did she receive proper marketing. According to industry chatter, Tori’s version of “Don’t Cha” was intended as the label’s next big thing, but then Universal Records decided the single wasn’t the right move. Tori was subsequently dropped from the label just as her song was beginning to get some positive attention. The track was re-recorded, with a group known as The Pussycat Dolls, and included a rap verse from Busta Rhymes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tori_Alamaze

[Rocketdog2000]

What about "Mad World" as performed for the Donnie Darko soundtrack? It became a hit in this other version.


The remake was done by Gary Jules - but took almost 2 more years after Donnie Darko was released to become a hit.

[The Bus]

What about the Lemonheads - Mrs. Robinson?

Although I guess they had other songs?

[Nick Danger]

The Kingsmen - Louis Louis

[ryuryu2949]

The Braids - Bohemian Rhapsody

Wow, hadnt thought about that version in years. Interesting stuff.

[The Cow]

The Kingsmen - Louis Louis
Other than Louie, Louie

They had a top 5 with "Jolly Green Giant" and a top 20 with "Money" (both horrible, but they managed to be sorta hits)