McDuffRule

This Week’s One-Hit Wonder (OHW) is ‘Summer Breeze’ (#8 1973) by American duo Seals and Crofts, James Eugene ‘Jim’ Seals (80) and Darrell George ‘Dash’ Crofts (81). Active 1969-1980. From Texas, they made 13 studio albums, the best being 1973’s ‘Diamond Girl’. They had 5 top 20 hits on the US Billboard chart. Both members have long been public advocates of the Baháʼí Faith. Jim’s brother Dan was part of the duo ‘England Dan & John Ford Coley’

This Week’s One-Hit Wonder (OHW) is ‘The Monster Mash’ (#1 1973) by Bobby ‘Boris’ Pickett & The Crypt Kickers. The song was a U.S. No. 1 when originally released in 1962 and has been a Halloween favourite ever since. Pickett was an aspiring actor who sang with a band called the Cordials at night, while going to auditions during the day. One night, while performing with his band, Pickett did a monologue in imitation of horror movie actor Boris Karloff . The audience loved it, and fellow band member Lenny Capizzi encouraged Pickett to do more with the Karloff imitation. The pianist is the great Leon Russell.

This Week’s One-Hit Wonder (OHW) is ‘Chanson D’Amour’ (#4 1977) by New York award-winning Jazz vocal Group ‘The Manhattan Transfer’. An American institution, the group was founded in 1969 and is still active. There have been two editions of the Manhattan Transfer, with Tim Hauser (1941-2014) the only person to be part of both.

This Week’s One-Hit Wonder (OHW) is Star Trekkin’ by English novelty band ‘The Firm’ (#6 1987). It parodies the first television series of Star Trek and features comical voice caricatures of the original characters, provided by members of the band, a studio technician, and the wife of one of the songwriters. The song’s promotional video was created by a team of art students called The Film Garage, featuring a combination of puppetry, stop motion animation and computer-generated imagery.

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This Week’s One-Hit Wonder (OHW) is ‘Connected’ by English hip-hop/electronic dance group Stereo MCs (Adelaide #11 1993). Formed in 1985 in Nottingham by vocalist Rob Birch and disc jockey (DJ)/producer Nick Hallam. As DJs they were known as ‘Rob B’ & ‘The Head’ and as music producers were involved in the establishment of influential record label ‘Gee Street’.

This Week’s One-Hit Wonder (OHW) is ‘Incense and Peppermints’ by Los Angeles based psychedelic rock band Strawberry Alarm Clock (#17 1967). The song topped the Billboard charts in 1967. Originally the B-side to a song called ‘The Birdman of Alkatrash’. Band member Ed King would go on to greater fame as a member of the 1970s Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd.

This Week’s One-Hit Wonder (OHW) is ‘Groovejet (If This Ain’t Love)’ by Italian electronic music producer Spiller featuring vocals from British singer-songwriter Sophie Ellis-Bextor (#1 2000). The song title is taken from the name of South Beach, Miami nightclub ‘Groovejet’, where the song was first played (as an instrumental) in 1999. The song was a world-wide hit.

This Week’s One-Hit Wonder (OHW) is ‘She’s Not There’ by The Zombies (Adelaide #5 1965). The Zombies are an English rock band formed in 1960 and led by keyboardist and vocalist Rod Argent and vocalist Colin Blunstone. Rod Argent (after the first break-up of the Zombies) went on to form the band ‘Argent’ whilst Colin Blunstone has had a long and varied solo career including work with the Alan Parsons Project.

This Week’s One-Hit Wonder (OHW) is ‘Day Trip to Bangor’ by Fiddler’s Dram (#5 1980). The release was shrouded in controversy after reports that the song was actually inspired by a trip to Rhyl, another town in North Wales. It was rumoured that Bangor was chosen as the lyric due to it having an extra syllable that flowed better with the song. There were rumours of an outcry among local councillors and businesses in Rhyl about the missed opportunity for tourism which would have been generated. In Adelaide the song was parodied by radio personalities Bazz & Pilko with ‘Day Trip to Victor’ (Victor Harbor)