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A one-hit wonder is any entity that achieves mainstream popularity, often for only one piece of work, and becomes known among the general public solely for that momentary success. The term is most commonly used in regard to music performers with only one hit single that overshadows their other work.
- Wikipedia
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ACHY BREAKY HEART
Billy Ray Cyrus
"Achy Breaky Heart" is a song written in 1990 by Don Von Tress.
First released in 1991 by the Marcy Brothers with the title "Don't Tell My Heart", it was later recorded by American singer and actor Billy Ray Cyrus and released on his debut album, Some Gave All (1992). The song is Cyrus's debut single and signature song.
It became the first single ever to achieve triple platinum status in Australia and also 1992's best-selling single in the same country. In the United States, it became a crossover hit on pop and country radio, peaking at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and topping the Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart, becoming the first country single to be certified platinum since "Islands in the Stream" by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton in 1983.
The music video for the song led to the explosion of the line dance into the mainstream.
The song is considered by some as one of the worst songs of all time, though I like it. Steve will no doubt roll his eyes and say "Please!!'
"Weird Al" Yankovic parodied the song on his album Alapalooza as "Achy Breaky Song", in which he pleads with the DJ not to play Billy Ray Cyrus's "Achy Breaky Heart" anymore; he can tolerate ABBA, Village People, New Kids on the Block, even Slim Whitman and Yoko Ono, but he'll really go bonkers if he has to hear "Achy Breaky Heart" once more.
Video clips:
Billy Ray Cyrus:
Alvin and the Chipmunks:
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MICKEY
Tony Basil
"Mickey" is a song recorded by American singer Toni Basil for her debut studio album, Word of Mouth (1981).
This was originally recorded as "Kitty" by a group called Racey, which released it in 1979. In the original lyric, Kitty is a girl. Toni Basil changed the title from "Kitty" to "Mickey" and the gender from female to male. Basil choreographed the 1968 Monkees movie Head, but insists the song is not named after group member Micky Dolenz.
The song was criticised for having suggestive lyrics:
Hey MickeyNow when you take me by the hooves, who's ever gonna knowAnd every time you move I let a little more showThere's something you can use, so don't say no MickeySo come on and give it to me anyway you canAnyway you want to do it, I'll take it like a manBut please baby, please don't leave me in the damp Mickey
Tony Basil has denied that the lyric about taking it like a man is a reference to anal sex, stating "NO! That's ridiculous."
Basil got the idea for the video before she found the song to accompany it. The video was produced, directed, and choreographed by Basil - she was the first to do this for her own video. She had been head cheerleader at Las Vegas High School.
She made the clip before MTV went on the air, so the video was first established in the UK, where various TV shows played it and sent the song up the charts; it peaked at #2 in the UK in February 1982. In America, it took a while before MTV got the video and started playing it, but when they did, the song took off, reaching #1 for a week in December 1982.
Two years after this was released, Basil tried to follow it up with a song called "Over My Head," which stalled at #81 in the US. Her only other chart entry was "Shoppin' From A To Z," which went to #77 in the US, also in 1983.
In 2017, she launched an unsuccessful lawsuit against the makers of South Park over their use of the song in parodying Barack Obama's 2008 election win.
She also works as a choreographer, dancer, actress, and director.
Basil appeared in the movie Easy Rider - she played one of the girls in the cemetery drug scene set in New Orleans.
Video:
By the way:
Tony basil was born September 22, 1943, so she will be 81 this year. She was nearly 40 when she recorded ‘Mickey’.
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DON’T WORRY, BE HAPPY
Bobby McFerrin
Much as I like Achy Breaky Heart, I equally dislike this song.
"Don't Worry, Be Happy" is a 1988 song by Bobby McFerrin, released as the first single from his album Simple Pleasures (1988).
It was the first a cappella ie no instruments song to reach number-one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, a position it held for two weeks. McFerrin recorded it using only his body to make all the sounds. The simple message and unusual sound made it a surprise hit.
His vocal techniques include singing fluidly but with quick and considerable jumps in pitch—for example, sustaining a melody while also rapidly alternating with arpeggios and harmonies—as well as scat singing, polyphonic overtone singing, and improvisational vocal percussion.
Originally released in conjunction with the film Cocktail, the song peaked at #1, displacing "Sweet Child o' Mine" by Guns N' Roses.
The phrase "Don't Worry Be Happy" came from the Indian guru Meher Baba. In an interview with USA Weekend magazine, McFerrin explained that he saw a poster of Meher Baba with the phrase and thought it was "a pretty neat philosophy in four words."
Robin Williams appears in the video, as does the lesser-known comedian Bill Irwin. The clip, which got lots of airplay on MTV, plays up the comedic nature of the song with lots of goofy hijinks, including a scene where McFerrin plays a distraught investor ready to jump out of a window. That part was ripped from the headlines: on October 19, 1987, the Dow Jones lost 508 points, shedding 22% of its value. In the video, McFerrin is holding a newspaper that reads "Dow Plummets 508 Points."
McFerrin is very optimistic in this song, but some of the problems listed in the verses will require more than a cheerful demeanor to overcome. The person he's singing to has lost his bed, has no cash or girlfriend, and his rent is late. "Don't worry" might not be the best advice for him.
This won Grammy Awards for Best Pop Vocal Performance and Song Of The Year in 1989.
Although McFerrin had proven himself as a master jazz vocalist whose impressive pentatonic stylings allowed him to conduct a capella performances that made him sound like he was working with a full band, he didn’t become known to the masses until 1988 with “ Don’t Worry, Be Happy.” Although he was briefly a superstar, he has continued in music.
Video:
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