Author: Lauren Katulka

If you browse around the music channel today you’ll notice it’s all about one-hit wonders. I’ve got to admit, this list was a lot harder to compile than I first thought!

Firstly, it seems like the New Zealanders are the ones who really have the market cornered on the one-hit wonders. It seemed like just about everything I thought of was released by a Kiwi! I know most Australians seem to claim the New Zealanders as our own anyway, but I resisted the urge to add the musical stylings of Bic Runga, OMC, Mark Williams, and Dave Dobbyn and The Herbs. 

Then I started to realise Australia seems to have a lot more two-hit wonders than one-hit wonders. Did you realise The Sharp, Radio Freedom, Rat Cat, and even Scott Cain graced our charts more than once? So you won’t find them here either.

I also restricted myself to one hit wonders I actually liked. No matter how desperate I got, “Strawberry Kisses” by Nicky Webster was not going to make my list! Here’s what did.

Weddings Parties Anything released plenty of singles, and were favourites on the Australian live circuit for more than a decade, but “Fathers Day” was their only song to achieve any sort of commercial success. This beautiful track about a broken home and a father’s love for his son deservedly won Song of the Year at the 1993 ARIAs. Their follow-up single “Monday’s Experts” was another great song, but it limped into the charts at number 45.

Melbourne’s The Ferrets struck gold in 1977 with their debut single “Don’t Fall in Love.” In actual fact, this song was supposed to be the B-side. But when they decided to sing it on Countdown, Australia went wild. It rocketed to number 2 on the charts. It may be older than I am, but this song is still so much fun.

Things of Stone and Wood were another band who burst onto the charts, then disappeared just as suddenly. Lead singer Greg Arnold wrote “Happy Birthday Helen” as a present for his girlfriend. It must have worked, because he ended up marrying her.

You know, it wasn’t until I started to research this list that I discovered The Dynamic Hepnotics are Aussies. “Soul Kind of Feeling” is 1980s funk at its finest.

The Poor rocked onto the charts in 1994 with “More Wine Waiter Please.” I remember buying their album on cassette while shopping with my grandma, and carefully peeling off the explicit lyrics sticker so my family wouldn’t realise how naughty it was. Wine may not be the most rock and roll drink, but this song still stands up.

Max Merritt may be a Kiwi, but his band The Meteors were 100% homegrown. They reached number 2 in Australia and number 5 in New Zealand in 1975 with the beautiful “Slippin’ Away.” The group disbanded the following year, leaving this stunning track as their greatest legacy.

Peter Blakeley was a member of The Rockmelons before he struck out on his own in 1990. “Crying in the Chapel” was massive, reaching number 2 on the Aussie charts. Sadly, nothing else he recorded came close. I can never resist singing along to this one.

Destiny’s Child covered it in 2001, but before they were even born Australia’s own Samatha Sang had a worldwide hit with “Emotion.” The Bee Gees wrote the track, and even sang the back-up vocals for her, so it was always going to do big things. She was offered more Bee Gees songs, but was determined to make it on her own merits. She never did.

Stunning siblings Matt and Becky Thomas made “Cry” a massive hit for The Mavis’s in 1998. I can’t believe it’s been ten years either. I just love this song, and the film clip is just so pretty.

I couldn’t write a list about Australian one hit wonders without including the granddaddy of them all, “Shaddup You Face” by Joe Dolce. This song regularly makes those worst songs of all time lists, but I still love it. It’s silly, it’s fun, and old Joe even makes it easy to sing along.

Later in the day I’ll clue you in on all the other one hit wonder posts in the music channel. But until then, I’d love to know what you think about one hit wonders. Do you love or loathe the songs I’ve listed. And what did I miss?