Back in the 1990s, VH1 and MTV issued compilation CDs with various themes. VH-1 8-TRACK FLASHBACK: THE ONE-HIT WONDERS presents a variety of “hits” by performers and groups who had their moment in the sun…and then faded away. Do you remember these songs? Any favorites? GRADE: B
TRACK LIST:
| 1 | Wild Cherry– | Play That Funky Music |
| 2 | Shocking Blue– | Venus |
| 3 | Terry Jacks– | Seasons In The Sun |
| 4 | Starland Vocal Band– | Afternoon Delight |
| 5 | Climax (6)– | Precious And Few |
| 6 | Ocean (3)– | Put Your Hand In The Hand |
| 7 | George McCrae– | Rock Your Baby |
| 8 | Mungo Jerry– | In The Summertime |
| 9 | Looking Glass– | Brandy (You’re A Fine Girl) |
| 10 | Vicki Sue Robinson– | Turn The Beat Around |
| 11 | Amii Stewart– | Knock On Wood |
| 12 | Gary Glitter– | Rock & Roll Part 2 |
| 13 | Anita Ward– | Ring My Bell |
| 14 | Alicia Bridges– | I Love The Nightlife (Disco ‘Round) |
| 15 | Thelma Houston– | Don’t Leave Me This Way |
| 16 | David Essex– | Rock On |
There is maybe a couple songs I find okay but the bulk of this disc is just plain awful. Starland Vocal Band won a Grammy for best new artist for this crap. Terry Jacks Seasons in the Sun? Looking Glass Brandy? Ugh. D-.
Steve, your analysis is correct. Some of these songs just are heard much anymore.
I know every single one of these songs—I don’t like them all, but I know them all because they were hits during my “have the radio on every single moment I’m not in school” phase. I think a case could be made that several of the artists here did have some follow-up hits, although none as big as the song that got them into this CD. My favorite song on here is “Venus,” but I also love the disco stuff (surprise!): Vicki Sue Robinson, Thelma Houston, Amii Stewart. I loathe “Seasons in the Sun” and “Afternoon Delight.” Ugh!
Deb, as I’m sure you recall “Afternoon Delight” ended up in scene in the ANCHORMAN movie.
Let me add my second (OK, third) about the odious “Seasons in the Sun” – a hideous piece of crap. I won’t say I’m a fan of “Afternoon Delight” either, but I have never really understood why people hate it that much. Jackie likes Amii Stewart’s version of “Knock on Wood” too, Deb, but to me it doesn’t hold a patch on the Eddie Floyd original. Floyd wrote it with Steve Cropper in the Lorraine Motel in Memphis during (according to Cropper) a “thunder and lightning” storm. If I had to pick one song here, I’d go with “Venus” too.
Jeff,”Seasons in the Sun” is an English-language adaptation of the 1961 song “Le Moribond” by Belgian singer-songwriter Jacques Brel with lyrics rewritten in 1963 by American singer-poet Rod McKuen, portraying a dying man’s farewell to his loved ones. It became a worldwide hit in 1974 for Canadian singer Terry Jacks and became a Christmas number one in the UK in 1999 for Westlife.
Rod McKuen. I’ve forgotten how popular his crap was at one time.
Steve, I share your distaste for Rod McKuen’s “poetry.” But, back in the day his books sold in the millions!
I recognize maybe a half dozen of these songs, and then not so well. You see, back when these songs were released I had a life.
Jerry, it was hard to escape these “hits” back in the day.
I think I remember 4-5 of these but couldn’t have told you to save my life who did them. The most familiar one is “Brandy”, which I hated. The primary question I have abut these compilations is who the hell buys these things? Maybe they just give them away.
Michael, it will probably not surprise you to learn that I have over a hundred of these compilations. PANDORA and SPOTIFY pretty much killed compilation CDs.
Another fun fact: Barry Manilow’s first song was supposed to be “Brandy” – a remake of a 1971 song co-written by Scott English. But after the success of the Looking Glass “Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl),” he wanted to avoid confusion so changed it to “Mandy.”
Jeff, I remember that Barry Manilow story. But Manilow lasted a lot longer than Looking Glass did!
The only song/group I remember clearly is of course Mungo Jerry which was played on German radio all summer long.
Re Thelma Houston I’m not so sure – maybe saw her attractive pictures somewhere …
A bit OT:
8track players were not popular in Europe – maybe not sold at all?
We had our compact cassette recorders – which was really nice. One person in our group would buy a record and the the others would copy it …
I had a recorder even in the 60s and built my own power supply for the little car I had – a Fiat 500 …
PS:
For me the 60s were better as I was a student then, while in the 70s I was hard working in IT. The only advantage:
I had enough money to buy all the records and SF books I could get.
But in the 70s I was more into things like GO with Stomu Yamashta and Steve Winwood.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDfSYwi_27s
Wolf, like you I listened to music constantly on my radio in the 1960s. I switched to vinyl albums in the 1970s and CDs in the 1980s. Now, Rock radio stations struggle to stay viable.
Which is why I have Sirius with it’s number of rock stations. Especially now they have pretty much stopped putting cd players in cars.
Steve, exactly! The Nissan Rogue I bought in 2020 is the last model Nissan made with a CD player in it. Maybe they’ll eliminate radios next and just have SIRIUS in their cars. My kids just plug their phones in and listen to their own playlists over the vehicle’s speakers.
8-track tapes were dying by the time of the newer items here, albeit were still at their height when most were released. The Shocking Blue (who like most had some other hits, if nothing as internationally successful), Mungo Jerry, and even Climax are among those I’ve enjoyed to some degree, and man, Terry Jacks’s self-pity whine (or, of course Rod McKuen’s) was almost as insufferable as the BeeGees’ “I Started a Joke”…but the Ocean and certainly the Alicia Bridges among some of the other songs were nearly as bad. I remember nearly all.
Todd, but the startling fact is all these songs were hits at the time. Tastes change over time…
Nah, there’s always a mix of decent or better music among “hits” and pap and worse. I disliked the ones I disliked at the time, and liked the ones I like at the time.
I like “Knock On Wood” but by Eddie Floyd, not this one. The rest, psh.
Rick, like you I prefer Eddie Floyd’s version of “Knock On Wood.”
I love Afternoon Delight and Venus isn’t bad! The rest range from okay to crap! Trivium: Two members of the Starland Vocal Band backed up John Denver on Take Me Home, Country Roads!
Bob, thanks for that John Denver tidbit!