The Billboard Book Of One Hit Wonders

Every artist of the rock & roll era who had only one single in the Top 40, covering songs from the 50s to the 80s.

Documents the history of rhythm and blues music by examining every song to top the Billboard R & B singles chart between 1965 and 1990 and offers inside stories from the singers, musicians, songwriters, arrangers, and producers who created the hits.

The one-hit wonder has a long and storied history in popular music, exhorting listeners to dance, to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony, to ponder mortality, to get a job, to bask in the sunshine, or just to get up and dance again. Catchy, memorable, irritating, or simply ubiquitous, one-hit wonders capture something of the mood of a time. This collection provides a series of short, sharp chapters focusing on one-hit wonders from the 1950s to the present day, with a view toward understanding both the mechanics of success and the socio-musical contexts within which such songs became hits. Some artists included here might have aspired to success but only managed one hit, while others enjoyed lengthy, if unremarkable, careers after their initial chart success. Put together, these chapters provide not only a capsule history of popular music tastes, but also ruminations on the changing nature of the music industry and the mechanics of fame.

Provides lists of hit songs by date with information on the artist, songwriter, producer, label, and offering interviews with popular artists.

The stories behind the singers and groups that hit the top 40 just once in their careers. Covering songs from the 50's to the 80's, this is a book for fans of pop music trivia. Surprisingly, a few memorable artists appear alongside the long-forgotten. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR.

When Bill Haley's song "(We're Gonna) Rock Around the Clock" hit number one on Billboard magazine's chart of best-selling single records in the US on July 9, 1955, the rock era began. For each of the 860 number one hits from July 1955, through October 1997, the author provides an interpretive history and a black-and-white photograph of the performers, and lists the writers, producers, record label and number, and the songs that filled the number 2 through 5 spots. Includes artist, title, and label indexes, and appends statistics regarding the charts. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

The ultimate book for anyone who loves pop music and one-hit wonders, 99 Red Balloons profiles and ranks all the greatest musical flashes in the pan. Each chapter spotlights a specific one-hit wonder, including sample lyrics and chart position. Controversial, informative and entertaining, this is a book that no music lover should be without.

Discusses the popular hit singles that never reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100, offering a history of each song and commenting on its significance in the history of pop music.