One Hit Thunder

It’s mind-boggling how many guests have passed on the opportunity to talk about City High’s catchy-yet-serious 1999 jam “What Would You Do?”, so Matt and I had no choice but to institute a new “Ya Snooze, Ya Lose” category of One Hit Thunder episodes and do this one ourselves. We can’t even imagine who WOULDN’T want to discuss this highly danceable song about having to do whatever it takes to feed...

Return guest Johnny Yetsconish has an impressive track record of choosing the very best sad songs to discuss on One Hit Thunder. He keeps his streak alive this week by picking “Nobody Knows” by The Tony Rich Project. This relatable R&B jam took over the airwaves in 1996, but Tony quickly faded away from the mainstream soon after. Did we figure out why, or does nobody know it but him? Stay tuned to...

Our Patreon really swung for the fences by choosing K7’s 1993 hit “Come Baby Come” as the song we’re diving into this week. Did you know that K7 was just one guy, and not the name of the group of four men who seem to be featured in every music video? Neither did we. And in this episode, we REALLY try to determine if this song is about beckoning a woman to come closer, OR if it really IS just about...

In 1993, the band Green Jellÿ had an unlikely Top 20 hit with their song “Three Little Pigs”, which was a twisted, rockin’ version of a story that we’re all familiar with from childhood. A crudely animated yet unforgettable music video helped launch this song into the stratosphere, and it has remained lodged in many of our brains for 30 years now. This week, we’re joined by Another Cheetah guitari...

Norman Sann is our guest this week, and if you haven’t checked him out on TikTok yet, you’re missing out on relatable verses with wordplay that often taps into nostalgia from our own childhoods. That being said, it’s no surprise that Norman chose Ahmad’s 1994 single “Back In The Day” to discuss this week. Should we all be diving deeper into Ahmad’s catalog, or should we just leave HIM back in the...

What better way to spiritually connect to your ancestors than by sittin’ around a fire, sippin’ on some moonshine, and listenin’ to the 1998 single “Hooch” by the band Everything? Our Patreon sure thought it sounded like a good idea, because they voted for it. But do we think “Hooch” is the sweetest thing in the world, or does it leave a bitter taste in our mouths? Stick around to find out everyth...

First time guest Scott Klopfenstein came in HOT for his debut appearance, ready to discuss quite possibly the most heartbreaking casualty of the grunge era. The lush compositions and Willy Wonka inspired look of Jellyfish lacked only one thing: timing. Had they existed a few years earlier or later, the band’s trajectory may have been unstoppable. Instead, they got washed away by a sea of flannel a...

Matthew Milligan is BACK…this time, to talk teen pop music, Radio Disney, and meta songwriting with “Potential Breakup Song” by Aly & AJ. Does taking too long to call a significant other on their birthday really deserve the vengeful song treatment? Aly & AJ MIGHT think so (hence the “potential” in the song title), but do we agree? Stay tuned to find out. If you like the show, be sure to rate, revi...

In the early 2000s, cussing was still considered shocking. Nowadays, everyone from toddlers to great-grandmas are dropping F-bombs and C-words like they aren’t even cusses. In 2004, Staten Island ho-wop singer Eamon knew that the days of having a hit song purely because of swear words were almost over, so he took a big swing and hit a homerun with “F**k It (I Don’t Want You Back)”. No matter how m...

This week’s episode was recorded live during a charity livestream on the Geekscape YouTube channel. We’re joined by Geekscape founder Jonathan London to discuss “What’s Up?” by 4 Non Blondes, a polarizing song that either has you plugging your ears or screaming along. The band’s career might have been short-lived, but lead singer Linda Perry’s songwriting career has been a beautiful party. Should...

Enjoy this bonus episode of the first 10 minutes of Chris and I's Patreon Exclusive review of the Mr. T special "Be Somebody or Be Somebody's Fool" You can hear the full episode, our weekly bonus episodes and even vote for songs that we discuss in the future episodes at Patreon.com/OHTPodcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One Hit Thunder producer Matt Kelly has brought up the band Flobots on several occasions on the show, so it was only right that an entire episode was finally dedicated to their 2008 single “Handlebars”. What lyrically starts as basically “look ma, no hands!” turns into an epic commentary on power, corruption, and militarism. Today, we’ll dive even deeper into Flobots, and we’ll decide if we jumped...

The turn of the century brought an explosion of music that combined pop sensibility with the spirit of rock. Bands like Sum 41 and Dashboard Confessional entered the mainstream and stayed there, building back catalogs of memorable songs and influencing young artists. Other groups - like this week’s artist American Hi-Fi - got lost in the shuffle. Today, we’re joined by Femme Regard co-host Tessa M...

This week, we’re joined by my good friend Joey Ritter to discuss Martika, a Kids Incorporated success story who scored a #1 hit with her heavy single “Toy Soldiers”. The song serves as a vague cautionary tale about the dangers of cocaine addiction, but it’s hard to interpret how Martika herself factors into the equation. Is she the voice of reason, or was she at any point the voice encouraging a f...

Today, we are joined by WYEP DJ Joey Spehar to discuss a band that feels crazy to call a one hit wonder - The Grateful Dead. Not even a legitimate Deadhead like Joey can deny, however, that 1987’s “Touch of Grey” was the iconic band’s only charting hit. Like a Ken Kesey house party, this episode is fun, educational, and maybe a little weird. Will Joey convince us all to rush out and get a dancing...

The song “How Bizarre” from New Zealand’s OMC was first released in 1995, but it wasn’t until 1997 that it made its mark on the US Billboard charts. This hard-to-classify hit tends to be very polarizing among listeners. The strange mashup of musical styles, the unique vocal delivery, and the incomplete lyrical story leaves some listeners delighted and other listeners downright annoyed. This week,...

We would do LOTS of cool things if we were rich. One of those things would be to give the whole world a free subscription to the One Hit Thunder Patreon. Unfortunately, we’re not able to do that yet, but we DID let our Patreon supporters vote on which song they wanted to hear us discuss. They chose Calloway’s “I Wanna Be Rich”, which SOMEHOW producer Matt Kelly had never heard before. We discuss i...

Matt has a new podcast with frequent guest Matthew Milligan (Wheatus) all about the history of Weird Al. The show is called Weird Al-Gorithm and it's available anywhere you listen to podcasts. Enjoy a 10 minute sneak peek of the episode and subscribe to hear the rest!!!! Find out more at https://one-hit-thunder.pinecast.co This podcast is powered by Pinecast. Try Pinecast for free, forever, no cre...

BBMak had it all…good looks, great harmonies, relatable lyrics, and a smash hit single with “Back Here”. Despite the trio’s massive success in 1999, they broke up shortly after the release of their second album a few years later. It took them over 15 years to finally reunite, but did the world miss them, want them, need them so? We’re joined once again by comedian and Between Awesome and Disaster...

Pogoing to new wave music in clubs is a god-given right, and no one knows this better than Men Without Hats frontman Ivan Doroschuck. He got his revenge on the bouncers that tried to keep his feet on the ground by writing “The Safety Dance”, a song that truly defined the mood of the early 80s. Was it the infectious melodies and massive synths that took the song to great heights, or could it POSSIB...

Our Patreon members voted, and they decided to give us the task of deciding whether Kreayshawn’s viral hit “Gucci Gucci” is unlistenable garbage or a low-key masterpiece that challenges materialism and brand worship. Stay tuned to find out where we landed on this 2011 single that really rides the line between thunder and blunder. If you like the show, be sure to rate, review, and subscribe. Email...

In 1996, the Christian Slater rom-com Bed of Roses was released. While it was a disappointment at the box office, it helped launch Jann Arden's 1994 single “Insensitive” onto the US Billboard charts. While Jann is a massive star in Canada, this was her only success in the States. Today, we’re joined by 91 Donkey Lane's Robert Bacon, who shares why this song is the ultimate karaoke jam, and togethe...

Have you ever had a bad day? Sure, we all have. Has Daniel Powter’s 2005 hit “Bad Day” ever made that day better, or has it only served to make it that much worse? This week, we’re joined by rapper Lex the Lexicon Artist to answer this question and help us decide if this Canadian singer-songwriter deserved a few more good days on the Billboard charts. Don't Miss Lex's Live Show When She Comes To Y...

Craig Mack’s “Flava In Ya Ear” was the first single released by Bad Boy Records in 1994. Despite the track’s success, his album was overshadowed by the massive hype behind labelmate Notorious B.I.G.’s debut record which was released only 7 days later. Mack was left in the shadows, but his story only gets crazier from there. We are joined by podcaster, rapper, and hip-hop fanatic Wordburglar to dis...

Wheatus bassist Matthew Milligan makes his third appearance on the show this week. Instead of going the usual route of discussing an artist he loves, he changed it up by choosing a band that he was unsure about. The Vines were once considered “the saviors of rock n’ roll” by some publications, but in a strange turn of events, at least one of these outlets later apologized for the delivering the cr...