One Hit Thunder

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The holiday season is here once again. To celebrate, we’re discussing the bizarre case of The Waitresses, which are a band that we’re able to discuss on One Hit Thunder because they’re a one hit wonder in two different countries for two different songs. While “Christmas Wrapping” is now considered a Christmas classic, it wasn’t well-known in the US until many years after its release. Meanwhile, “I...

Today is our 150th episode, so we had to bring the heat with an undeniable 80s jam. Spandau Ballet may have formed out of a love for the Sex Pistols, but their 1983 musical love letter “True” was inspired by the soulful sounds of Al Green and Marvin Gaye. This smooth pop classic dominated the radio airwaves for years, but we needed to know more. Can Producer Matt Kelly pronounce their name? Is “Tr...

As we near Episode 150, it's time for another Year End Countdown. Where will YOUR favorites stack up this year? Listen to find out!! If you like the show, be sure to rate, review, and subscribe. Email us at onehitthunderpodcast@gmail.com. Also, follow us on our social media: Twitter: @1hitthunderpod Instagram: onehitthunderpodcast Wanna create your own podcast? Contact us at www.weknowpodcasting.c...

This week, return guest Matt Jurcevich joins us to discuss something that’s got US feeling insane in the membrane — the fact that we can categorize legendary rap group Cypress Hill as a one hit wonder. Despite having multiple high-charting albums and decades of widespread popularity, their 1993 single “Insane in the Brain” is the only one to cross over into the Top 20 on the Billboard charts. In t...

Against all odds, a song completely sung in German floated all the way up to #2 on the Billboard charts in 1983, rising above some of the biggest artists of the 80s. Even more surprising, the danceable pop gem “99 Luftballons” was actually a protest song about a theoretical nuclear war. This week, we’re joined by Cheer Up Dusty vocalist Justin Humenik to find out if we should all pick up a few Nen...

After two decades of pursuing a music career, a 30 year old Canadian singer named Alannah Myles scored a #1 hit in 1989 with “Black Velvet”. While her success continued for years after in the Great White North, she completely fell off the Billboard charts of the United States. This week, we try to determine if the blame for her US decline should fall on the lack of promotion from her record label,...

We’ve discussed close to 150 one hit wonders on the podcast at this point, but none have had as bizarre of a series of events that led to a hit as Primitive Radio Gods. Producer Matt Kelly considers “Standing Outside A Broken Phone Booth With Money In My Hand” not only a song title that he’s sure to butcher in this episode, but also a song that he considers one of the greatest of the 90s. Does the...

Originally intended to be a theme song and nothing more, “I’ll Be There For You” gave The Rembrandts a Top 20 Billboard hit on the wings of NBC’s juggernaut of a sitcom Friends. The visual that the song provokes in everyone’s mind, however — that of a group of white twenty-something Manhattanites dancing and clapping around a fountain — soon led to the band actually apologizing for the song on MTV...

Hey Party People! One Hit Thunder back again. This week, the REAL tag team - myself and my co-host and producer Matt Kelly - jump in the ring with the massive stadium anthem “Whoomp (There It Is)”. The song never REALLY went away, but a recent resurgence thanks to an ice cream themed insurance commercial exposed this party classic to a whole new generation. Should Tag Team continue to repurpose th...

In 2010, a song by a ten-piece hippie folk pop group unexpectedly started appearing in seemingly endless amounts of movies, TV shows, and commercials. This sincere and lively tune caught the ear and heart of this week’s guest Tessa Markle, who later found herself dancing and singing along to them at an Arts Festival. The singsong love ballad leaves all of us asking what “home” really means, and if...

Phantom Planet had a modest radio hit with their single “California” in 2002. When a little TV show called The O.C. debuted and used the song as its theme song, however, it skyrocketed the band to stardom. The album The Guest was not just a favorite of this week’s guest Matt “Team Goldie” DiStefano, but it also had a permanent place in the CD rotation on early Punchline tours. When it came time fo...

Break out the cherry wine and prepare to have your brain stimulated…we’re FINALLY taking a deep dive - or should we say SKINNY DIP - into Jermaine Stewart’s hit 1986 single “We Don’t Have To Take Our Clothes Off”! Does a man REALLY want to be approached cool and romantically? Should we REALLY take our time to get to know each other slow and easily? Should we all avoid showing up at Matt Kelly’s ho...

This week, we’re joined by Horror Movie Night co-host Kyle Kuchta to discuss Orgy, an industrial nu metal band that rose to fame thanks to a questionable cover of New Order’s 1983 classic “Blue Monday”. Was Kyle right to ask his parents for an Orgy poster for Christmas, or did his middle school newspaper make the right call in simply referring to them as “the opening band” on the 1998 Family Value...

This was recorded as the Patreon bonus episode to our Sagat episode ... enjoy this episode and hear more Patreon episodes like this every Friday on Patreon.com/OHTPodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There’s a good chance that if someone mentioned the song “But It’s Alright” by J.J. Jackson, you would say “uh…how does that one go?”. The second you heard the iconic opening guitar riff, however, you’d undoubtedly say “Oh, OF COURSE I know this one!” This week, we’re joined by A.J. Santini to discuss this soulful 60s belter, and try to figure out why this big guy (285 pounds, to be exact, as made...

Being that Matthew Milligan is currently our most frequent guest, we tend to give him a little more leeway with his song choices. That being said, he chose Kid Sister and her minor 2008 hit “Pro Nails”. Prior to this episode, neither producer Matt Kelly nor myself had ever heard this song from the Chicago based artist, which is surprising because it features Kanye West during a very prolific era o...

Our Patreon supporters voted, and they made it clear…they said YOU GOTTA BE crazy if you don’t do an episode about Des’ree! Don’t worry Patreon, we’re not crazy…but we ARE bad, bold, wise, hard, tough, strong, cool, calm, together, and everything other positive self-affirmation you can imagine. But did the signature Des’ree mix of pop and soul make us want to listen as our day unfolds, or leave us...

In the early 90s, London-based producer Geoff Wilkinson was given full access to legendary jazz label Blue Note Records’ entire discography to use samples in his project Us3. The resulting album Hand On The Torch mixed modern hip-hop with classic jazz, and on the heels of the first single “Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia)”, the record quickly ascended to the top 10 on the Billboard charts. Today on the s...

This week, we dive into the band James and their somewhat raunchy 90s hit “Laid”. Return guest Tony Hartman joins us to dissect the lyrics that he sang as a kid in front of his mom, long before he knew what any of them meant. Did we uncover a deeper SECRET meaning to the words, or are they nothing more than American Pie soundtrack fodder? Stay tuned to find out if our beds are on fire for James, o...

I am most definitely a sucker for all songs that have an associated dance. I know this is an audio-only podcast, but I can say FOR SURE say that you’d all have enjoyed watching One Hit Thunder producer Matt Kelly “walk the dinosaur” when we recorded this episode. We recorded this one as another episode of our “Ya Snooze, Ya Lose” category, since we’re pushing 150 episodes and no one has chosen it...

Inspired by Eiffel 65 ... the new summer dance party jam Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the late 90s, three DJs living in Italy spent a few hours creating a club track that couldn’t even keep people on the dance floor. That would quickly change thanks to a little radio airplay, and before they knew it, “Blue” became an international hit. The song is equal parts catchy and silly, but what exactly is it about? This week, we’re joined by Eric Taft to help figure it out. Beyond produc...

Why is it that every time you turn on an episode of One Hit Thunder, you gotta listen to me do some intro where I try to be clever? Man, FUNK DAT! Just get to the episode! That’s what we’re about to do, as Matt and I dive into the career of Baltimore’s premiere grievance poet, Sagat. If you like the show, be sure to rate, review, and subscribe. Email us at onehitthunderpodcast@gmail.com. Also, fol...

My good friend and musical collaborator Paul Menotiades always brings the heat with his song choices. Paul joins the four-timer club this week, and he follows up episodes about Harvey Danger, EMF, and the Dead Milkmen with yet ANOTHER classic banger in “I Love You More Today Than Yesterday” by Spiral Starecase. This enduring love anthem appeared on the band’s one and only album before their breaku...