One Hit Wonders of the 90s (Part 17)

Hello, dear reader. I have a favour to ask you. The original post begins after all of the asterisks, if you want to skip this.

Now that the One Hit Wonders of the 90s series is over, I'm not going to be doing my weekly revisiting of all these posts (I had to do that to add the new post to the bottom). Thus, I won't be able to catch any broken picture links or deleted videos any more. Yet I want these posts to be as good as possible.

Please, if you happen upon one of these posts, or if you take a walk through a whole bunch of them, let me know if you find anything that doesn't work. You can leave a comment, or you can send me a message using that handy "Contact Me" page linked above.

Also, feel free to let me know what you think of the post or any of the videos!

Thank you.

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It's Sunday morning. Do you know what time it is? No, it's not time to retire this lame-ass joke. That's next week (maybe).

No, it's one-hit wonder time! I think I should write a song about this, a sort of opening ditty, one that will become as popular as the Rembrandts and their theme for Friends. Then I can be a one-hit wonder too! Ok, they had one other hit, but does anybody remember it? Did you know that I was lame enough to buy a Rembrandts CD just because of the Friends song? Yes, I was actually sucked in at one time.

But I got better!

Anyway, there's no theme this week. I was desperately trying to come up with a theme, but then this happened.

And it all went downhill from there.

(Please note: No animals were harmed in the creation of this blog post...though some human brains did explode, namely the writer's. The question is, did anybody notice?)

Also, no Nicholas Cage jokes this week, as I don't want to annoy his one fan here...

As usual, you can find the master list of one-hit wonders that I'm working from here. And you know what? I don't even care if you go look ahead.

Hey! I'm not THAT dumb!

Anyway, on with the show!


1) Culture Beat: "Mr. Vain" (#17)



And we enter 1994 with a bang! Or at least to a pulsing beat that gives every normal person a headache. Of course, it wouldn't be the 90s without just a touch of rap, but this one is actually cool because it's to a techno beat. How can you go wrong when you mix it with dance music?

The food budget in this video must have been outrageous. But at least they put it to good use!

This one's really got my feet tapping and the hips moving (or at least it did until I threw a hip out...OUCH!!!! Good thing blogging is such a lucrative profession). I'm not really into dance music unless I'm at a club, but this one was kind of engaging. Maybe it's because of all the previous rap crap that I just was in need of something that wasn't?

That might be it.

2) Gabrielle: "Dreams" (#26)


Gabrielle - Dreams
Uploaded by mido29. - Explore more music videos.

What a boring video! And for such an uplifting song, too. Yes, dreams can come true. I once dreamed that I'd have a low-traffic blog with a few friends reading it.

And look what happened! I have a low-traffic blog with a few friends *and* a very few non-friends reading it.

Aim high, that's what I always say.

Oh, the song? It's a pretty good one, though Gabrielle's voice begins to grate after a while. And what's with the part where she waves her hands and looks like she just messed up? Did the editors not see that, or did they think it would add a light-hearted touch to the rest of the video?

Either way, it didn't work.

3) Queen Latifah: "U.N.I.T.Y." (#23)



Queen Latifah's a one-hit wonder? She's so prevalent that I never even thought of that. Of course, she was HUGE on the R&B charts, but the definition of "Hit" is the Top 40, so she is.

While I don't like rap, this is actually quite a good song speaking against violence on women, especially in the gangster culture. Thus, it's a pretty valuable song.

And it's got a good sax, too.

(Yes, I retired that joke *long* ago)

4) Us3: "Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia)" (#9)



Coool!!!!!! (too many exclamation points?) I love the music in this song! And the song would be perfect if there just wasn't any rap in it. Everybody's familiar with the opening notes to this song, and that's what prompted the above reaction. Now I'm mellowing a bit, though, as the rap continues. *sigh*

Still, I can ignore that for the sweet music. Great horns, sax, and other instruments that my non-musical mind cannot identify. This song is giving me warm shivers in places that normally don't have warm shivers.

In my big toe! What did you think I was talking about?


5) Eternal: "Stay" (#19)



I love one of the comments on this video: "Love it! This was the day when girl bands actually WORE clothes! Miss the 90's lots!"

I do really like this song, and it's nice to see bands where the singer can actually sing. I'm not really sure about the "dancing," though. They don't do much of it, though, thankfully.

Everybody knows that *this* is real dancing.



6) Crash Test Dummies: "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" (#4)



I have always found this song extremely strange. They couldn't think of a name for the song? I've never heard of a song named after humming, but there you go. And then you listen to the words. What the hell is the point of this song? Ok, there's these three kids, and they've all got these strange problems. The third kid (whose parents take him to a church where they all thrash around, I guess) doesn't hold any poignancy whatsoever without the video, and even then it's like "so what?"

Really, it's like they wrote the song and couldn't think of an ending (or a name!) and then just said "oh well, let's just stop here and hum"

And this went to #4? Was there a major solar event in mid-1994?

Does that event also explain this?

I don't even want to know.

7) 12 Gauge: "Dunkie Butt (Please, Please, Please)" (#28)



And then 12 Gauge comes along and brings the level of discussion down even further. What is it with rappers and butts? I like a good ass as much as the next guy. But I don't break into song about it. And when I do, it's not THIS bad.

He's not too big to beg? Neither am I.

Please stop this. Please. I'm begging you.

Though I'm not ashamed to say that I watched that video all the way to the end. Kinda mesmerized.

8) Beck: "Loser" (#10)



I had no idea this song with *this* old! And I never really thought about it, but this is rap too! Wow, it's amazing how these realizations just hit you upside the face like a 2x4 or the fact that Mary Kate & Ashley are all grown up now.

And it's not even a good one, either. This is a slacker anthem, so I guess I should love it. But I don't. I'm not even successful at slacking.

That's just sad. I'm slacking off at slacking!

9) Masta Ace Incorporated: "Born to Roll" (#23)



Can I say anything I haven't already said? And do I really want to?

10) Big Mountain: "Baby, I Love Your Way" (#6)



This one's from the Reality Bites soundtrack, and it's sort of a Reggae-ized version of the old song. And it's actually quite catchy. It just doesn't seem as schmaltzy as the original did.

In fact, I think I like it even more than the original. Sort of like the Save Ferris version of "Come On Eileen"



Ahhhhh, redheads.

And that's it! We're half-way through 1994 (a year where there weren't many one-hit wonders) and things are beginning to look up. The sky is getting bluer and there's less rap involved. I know this is the first list I almost totally enjoyed for a while now. I hope you feel the same.

And if you didn't?

Well, there's always this.



Keanu Reeves, eat your heart out.



One-Hit Wonders of the 90s
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
Part 9
Part 10
Part 11
Part 12
Part 13
Part 14
Part 15
Part 16
Part 17
Part 18
Part 19
Part 20
Part 21
Part 22
Part 23
Part 24
Part 25
Part 26
Part 27
Part 28
Part 29
Part 30
Part 31
Part 32
Part 33
Part 34
Part 35
Part 36
Part 37
Part 38
Part 39
Part 40