favorite Pazz & Jop "one-hit wonder" album, 1974-2018

90s charts are bizarre to me-- Champagne Supernova was constantly played on MTV

― We were never Breeting Borting (President Keyes), Tuesday, March 5, 2019 10:20 AM (nineteen minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

MTV totally throws off my concept of what I think of as huge hits from the '80s and '90s. There were a bunch of megapopular videos from the early days of the network that barely made a dent on Billboard.

― Gary Ornmigh, Heywood's son (Old Lunch), Tuesday, March 5, 2019 11:42 AM (eighteen minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Labels, which had never liked singles, finally saw their chance to kill them in the '90s, hence the ridiculous bump in CD sales.

"Don't Speak" and "Torn," to pick two examples, would've been #1 for weeks had they been released on cassingle or CD single.

bad girls vs. last splash

not a choice i really want to make

Would be equally interesting to vote for the worst of these.

Voted Phoenix.

bad girls vs. last splash

not a choice i really want to make

― jolene club remix (BradNelson), Tuesday, March 5, 2019 10:07 AM (thirteen minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

oh, and beauty and the beat too, christ

Some good ones on offer but B-52s without hesitation.
― Gary Ornmigh, Heywood's son (Old Lunch),

it really isn't even close.

it's like, "yeah, some really great albums. . . and one album that changed the universe."

hmmm. even with the explanation i am now regretting the phrasing in the thread title, sorry y'all. but yeah, this has zero to do with billboard/mainstream success and obv many of these acts have had long, fruitful careers long after rockcritland stopped caring so much about them.

however since i am a pedant abt billboard-related chart info i will point out that "champagne supernova" crossed over to the mainstream top 40 format's top 10 and reached number 20 on the hot 100 airplay chart (it wasn't commercially available and thus couldn't appear on the main chart), which imo is a pretty significant mainstream success

it's like, "yeah, some really great albums. . . and one album that changed the universe."

^^^ this.

Go-Gos, but, wanna throw in a shout-out to that Basehead album

that dc basehead album is not very good, i think. especially compared to the crit echo it caused.

the chris whitley one on the other hand, had something about it. very unfortunate that he died so young.

Like Whiney, I think Beauty and the Beat deserves a vote, in my case for "Can't Stop the World" and Our Lips Are Sealed" alone.

the chris whitley one on the other hand, had something about it. very unfortunate that he died so young.

― Ich bin kein Berliner (alex in mainhattan), Tuesday, March 5, 2019 1:59 PM (seven minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

otm

also dyl i don’t think the premise of the poll is confusing, i guess i just thought it was interesting that some of the entries did seem to be one-hit wonders in the usual sense while others are obv not but i’m not going to derail the thread going on about oasis or w/e

voting for the cars probably but a few of these are new to me and a few others i’d lke to revisit

Tons of good stuff on the list. Voted for The Cars. A bit surprised Candy-O wasn’t even top 40 for P&J.

liked Basehead, Amy Rigby, Cornershop, Modest Mouse

Liam probably extinguished cigarettes on half the Morning Glory voters after that poll

Modest Mouse
Air
Elastica

The Cars is a solid album that I still listen to fairly often, so that.

moon safari is still great

don't listen to much else of these anymore besides haim which seems too recent to assume it'll be a one hit

Private Dancer is a fantastic record, loaded with terrific commissioned tunes written and played on spec, immensely influential in the ensuing decade.

was thinking The Cars and The B-52's foreshadowed so much of new wave music. amazing to think those albums were made in the 70s

cornershop 4 life

I really like the idea for this poll

FORTY FIVE

haha, loved Brimful of Asha

Cars, B52s, Basehead, Air, Elastica ... I even like the Rigby.

Chris Whitley died way too young, but he did release close to a dozen more records.

my initial thought was to go with Air because by circumstance I bonded with that album more than I did the others on this list

thought at the time that like Maxinquaye and Millions Now Living Will Never Die before it, it was a new thing

Billboard data is the worst way to determine a one-hit-wonder.

The best way is "do people know more than one song"

Elastica is probably my favorite of these.

(Thanks for clarification re airplay chart vs singles charts in the 90s, dyl and Alfred.)

BOC, Go-Go's, Breeders, Elastica

Eric Clapton, Blue Oyster Cult, Garland Jeffreys seem like a completely different era from the rest of these

I must be living in a parallel universe from the one that was drastically changed by the B-52s' first album.

Considered voting for Air but eventually plumped for the mighty Rick James.

I'm most surprised that Air and Phoenix are on that list, given the very positive critical reception that 10,000 Hz Legend, The Virgin Suicides, Talkie Walkie, United, Alphabetical and It's Never Been Like That got. These did not even make the P&J top 40?

Basehead v the B-52s is a tough struggle for me

(same with Modest Mouse, so Good News made #9 but none of their other records registered at all? that looks so...random - most on this list is either a debut, 'canonical' or best selling album)

Elastica I liked a lot at the time, but a recent re-listen wasn't a happy experience (four good songs and an overall awful sound). Also recently re-listened to Cornershop, which conversely was much better than I remembered. I'm almost tempted to listen to the Foo Fighters and Oasis ones again (must also be around 20 years since I last did) to see where they fall on that axis.

I must be living in a parallel universe from the one that was drastically changed by the B-52s' first album.

How sad.

10000 HZ was a critical flop from what I remember

Modest Mouse made it because they had a hit single from that album I imagine

I'm most surprised that Air and Phoenix are on that list, given the very positive critical reception that 10,000 Hz Legend, The Virgin Suicides, Talkie Walkie, United, Alphabetical and It's Never Been Like That got. These did not even make the P&J top 40?

just checked again and it would seem not

Quick aside: that thing I mentioned yesterday where the impact of MTV sometimes totally throws my sense of an '80s/'90s hit single out of whack? I just remembered one of the more gobsmacking examples: Van Halen's megahit 'Hot for Teacher', which streaked like a rocket all the way to...#56 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Tough choice between the Go-Go's, the Breeders and Air.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

I'm most surprised that Air and Phoenix are on that list, given the very positive critical reception that 10,000 Hz Legend, The Virgin Suicides, Talkie Walkie, United, Alphabetical and It's Never Been Like That got. These did not even make the P&J top 40?

Air and Phoenix had kind of opposite trajectories. Moon Safari made a big splash but official follow-up 10,000 Hz Legend was considered a disappointing misstep, as I recall, and the reception to the rest of Air's output has generally been "oh sure, seems pleasant enough." Meanwhile, Phoenix's first few albums were well-liked within certain circles, but I think some rockist-oriented critics were confused by them -- if they paid attention to them at all. The band didn't really break through to a wide audience until Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix.

The Cars!!!!!!!

^^^

I went with Arctic Monkeys. I still play that record and, if my sixteen year old son made geeky album lists, it might very well top his as he literally wore out my CD and I had to buy another one. Which says something about it, I think.

Voted for Rick James over Oasis and Elastica. Arctic Monkeys made far better albums after their debut.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.