Ed Brayton is a journalist, commentator and speaker. He is the co-founder and president of 
Okay, let's do some one hit wonders, some of my favorite songs from bands that were never heard from again. The first one is Not An Addict by K's Choice. I'll post both the actual video and a good live performance of it. I've never gotten tired of this song; for some reason I find it haunting. I also think the singer is really attractive. First the live version:
Now the actual video for the song:
Here's another song I've never gotten tired of, David and David's Welcome to the Boomtown. A totally unique song.
One of the more infamous one hit wonders, Edie Brickell and the New Bohemians, What I Am. Still a great song.
Here's a great song. I used to love this band. Saga - On the Loose. Can't find the video, but here's a pretty good live clip of it:
This is one of my favorite bands. They've been big in Canada for a long time but have only really had one hit in the US and it's this one: New Orleans is Sinking. This video is not the one that went with the song, which was recorded years before the hurricane:
While I'm at it, a couple more songs from the Tragically Hip. Here's Blow at High Dough:
I'd forgotten completely about this one. The band is Moving Pictures, the song is What About Me:
God I loved this song when it came out. Had the cassette too. Big Country, In a Big Country:
Remember The Firm? This band formed after John Bonham's death and the breakup of Led Zeppelin. Jimmy Page joined with Paul Rodgers from Bad Company and they put out a great album. Here's the best song they did, All the King's Horses:
This is Beats So Lonely by Charlie Sexton. This guy was a really good guitarist and he went on to form the Arcangels with Doyle Bramhall and still plays in some great blues rock bands:
Shawn Mullins - Lullabye
Comments
I own three of the albums for the songs you mention above, Shawn Mullins, The Firm, and one of the Arcangels albums with Charlie Sexton.
I think Soul's Core, the Shawn Mullin's album that has Lullaby on it is one of the greatest albums ever produced. I bought it when Lullaby was first released around '98 and it still gets regular play. Mullins does the best cover I've ever heard of Kris Kristofferson's "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down", he owns that song like Jimi Hendrix owned Bob Dylan's "All along the Watchtower". I'm really amazed this guy wasn't able to continue producing strong material, I thought he'd be the next Tom Petty.
Sexton is a great muscian in need of material.
While I enjoyed The Firm album, I really enjoy Page and Plant working together again, not only how they reworked the old Led songs, but also their new stuff. The Firm was good stuff, but Page and Plant are magic.
Posted by: Michael Heath | July 29, 2007 10:12 AM
On The Firm, I kind of like Midnight Moonlight the best. Though, it didn't turn out to their next Stairway or Kashmir which I think they hoped it would. Yes, I know Midnight Moonlight (at least the instrumental parts) was written while Page was in Led Zeppelin and was to be called "Swan Song."
Posted by: Jon Rowe | July 29, 2007 10:31 AM
I've often wondered how many people know about the Hip south of the border; I didn't know that they'd ever had a hit, but New Orleans is Sinking is a good one.
For me, and for many other Canadians, they are an institution - my aunt, my mother, my brother, cousins, et cetera, et cetera are all fans.
Also, I have seen a different version of the K's Choice video, which seems to be a live clip with some scenes slowed down, set to the studio version. Maybe that's the Canadian version; I did see it on MuchMusic (Canada's answer to MTV).
Anyway, it's one of my favourites too, and "haunting" is a very good way to describe it.
Thanks for the post - there are lots of neat one hit wonders, and seemingly always more to discover.
Posted by: James | July 29, 2007 11:33 AM
I lived in a downstairs apartment when "What I Am" came out, and had upstairs neighbors who played that song over and over again. It still makes me cringe to hear Mrs. Paul Simon sing that song.
Posted by: Jim Lippard | July 29, 2007 1:13 PM
Big Country actually put out pretty decent albums, similarly to bands like REM. They just weren't a singles band.
I remember seeing Charlie Sexton in Austin when he was Little Charlie Sexton. That first album was way overproduced, as if they were trying to make him another Billy Idol. The same overproduction killed another first album on a major label for a big Austin favorite of that era, Joe Ely.
Shawn Mullins' stuff is all very well written, and he's had some other minor airplay. I agree on his version of "Sunday Morning Coming Down". He's a throwback storyteller.
Some others to look for:
People Who Die - Jim Carroll Band
The Future's So Bright I Gotta Wear Shades - Timbuk3
Turning Japanese - Vapors
Whisper to a Scream - Icicle Works (my vote for best one hit wonder of the 80s)
Surfing with the Alien - Joe Satriani
Come on Irene - Dexys Midnight Runners
The Road goes on forever and the Party Never Ends - Robert Earl Keen
Posted by: Science Avenger | July 29, 2007 4:41 PM
I agree completely with the comments above about Charlie Sexton. He's a really talented guy who got caught in the record companies' attempts to turn him into a star. He's gone on to do some really good work without the airplay over the last 15 years. He's a big part of the post-Stevie Ray Vaughan Texas blues rock scene. It's probably good that they failed at turning him into a pop idol.
Posted by: Ed Brayton | July 29, 2007 4:56 PM
If you like K's Choice then I think you'll like the last song on the Underworld soundtrack, "All Of This Past" sung by Sarah Bettens. I don't think an official video for this song exists but you can find several fan made videos on Youtube.
In fact, the whole Underworld soundtrack album kicks ass.
Posted by: Bruce | July 29, 2007 5:58 PM
Did the Firm ever put out a second album? I've got the first album but All the Kings Horses isn't on it.
Of course, the biggest one-hit-wonder of the 80s was Flock of Seagulls' I Ran
Posted by: David C. Brayton | July 29, 2007 6:47 PM
Ah, thank you SO SO much for the K's Choice memory!! I was quite a little groupie back in the day - to the point I bleached my hair to look like Sarah. I am such a nerd! Although "Not an Addict" was their big "hit" - if you can call it that- they recorded a lot of quality stuff. Check out that album, Paradise in Me and their follow up Coccoon Crash for some of their more rockin' stuff. The Great Subconscious Club and Almost Happy for the more mellow stuff. Awesome band...I miss them.
Posted by: deskzombie | July 29, 2007 8:30 PM
deskzombie - Page & Rogers released a second Firm album in 1986 titled "Mean Business". I don't have this album so I'm unable to comment on it, unless WorldNutDaily asks me for a review. All the King's Horses is the 3rd track on Mean Business.
Robert Plant released a version of this song this year. It's on iTunes.
Posted by: Michael Heath | July 30, 2007 12:18 AM
Calling K's Choice a one-hit wonder is a bit strange from my point of view. They were popular for many years in Belgium and The Netherlands, first as "The Choice". (They changed their name to K's Choice when another band claimed the rights to their former name.)
They split up some time ago. Sarah Bettens is now living in the USA and is still making music.
I'm not sure what her brother Gert is doing lately.
Posted by: Guy Geens | July 30, 2007 8:36 AM
"Blow at High Dough" by the Tragically Hip is also the theme song for Rick Mercer's darkly hilarious Canadian TV show, "Made In Canada" (sometimes aired in the US as "The Industry"). I made Ed watch the first four episodes a while back...
Now, if Salter Street would only release seasons 2 through 7 on DVD, things would be so much better.
Posted by: Wesley R. Elsberry | July 30, 2007 5:29 PM
That show was hilarious, better than almost anything I've seen on American television.
Posted by: Ed Brayton | July 30, 2007 6:05 PM