McDuffRule

This Week’s One-Hit Wonder (OHW) is ‘Surfin’ Bird’ by The Trashmen (#3 1964). The Trashmen were a surf rock band formed in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1962. ‘Surfin’ Bird’ was part of the surf music craze that was popular from the early sixties and to a large part was centered in Australia as surfing became a popular pastime.

This Week’s One-Hit Wonder (OHW) is ‘Tainted Love’ by Soft Cell (#1 1982). ‘Tainted Love’ is a song composed by Ed Cobb, formerly of American group the Four Preps, which was originally recorded by Gloria Jones in 1964. Soft Cell are an English synth-pop duo who came to prominence in the early 1980s. The duo consisted of vocalist Marc Almond and instrumentalist David Ball.

This Week’s One-Hit Wonder (OHW) is ‘My Baby Just Cares for Me’ by Nina Simone (#12 1988).  ‘My Baby Just Cares for Me’ is a jazz standard written by Walter Donaldson with lyrics by Gus Kahn for the film version of the musical comedy Whoopee! (1930). The song became a signature tune for Eddie Cantor who sang it in the movie. A stylized version of the song by Simone recorded in 1957 was a top 10 hit in the United Kingdom after it was used in a 1987 perfume commercial. It was also featured on the soundtracks for the films Peter’s Friends (1992), Shallow Grave (1994) and Stealing Beauty (1996).

Nina Simone (1933 – 2003), was an American singer, songwriter, musician, arranger, and civil rights activist. Her music spanned a broad range of musical styles.

This Week’s One-Hit Wonder (OHW) is “I’ll be There for You” by the Rembrandts. (#4 1996).  The song was written as the theme song to the sitcom ‘Friends’ (1994-2004). REM was originally asked to allow one of their songs to be used but they turned the opportunity down. “I’ll be There for You” was subsequently composed and Warners selected the Rembrandts for the recording. In 1995 Rembrandts members expanded the song with two new verses and included this version on their third studio album.

This week’s One-Hit Wonder is ‘Movie Star’ by Harpo. Hailing from Sweden, Harpo (Jan Torsten Svensson, now 71) has had a long career in Europe. Anni-Frid Langstad of ABBA is a backing vocalist on the track.

This week’s One-Hit Wonder is ‘Cool for Cats’ by UK band Squeeze {UK Squeeze in Australia}. The song features a rare lead vocal performance from cockney-accented Squeeze lyricist Chris Difford, one of only three occasions he sang lead on a Squeeze single A-side. A #4 hit in 1979 the title phrase is a reference to the 1950s/60s UK TV series Cool for Cats, the first English series to regularly feature rock ‘n’ roll music acts.

This week’s One-Hit Wonder is ‘Tom Diner {DNA Remix}’ by Suzanne Vega. Written by Suzanne in 1981 it first featured on her album ‘Solitude Standing’ in 1987. This remix by British group DNA appeared in 1990 and was a worldwide hit. It was a one-hit wonder in Adelaide reaching #20. Nationally it was a ‘Bullet-Dodger’ {see website} as her song ‘Luka’ reached #20. Tom’s Diner is located on the corner of Broadway and 112^th street in New York City.

This week’s One-Hit Wonder is ‘Summer Rain’ by Slinkee Minx. A cover of Belinda Carlisle’s 1990 hit, Slinkee Minx’s version reached #5 in 2004 and is know to have at least 25 remixes.  A dance act from Melbourne who formed in 2001, Slinkee Minx are Annemare Failla, Michelle Palmer and Belinda Tartaglia.

This week’s One-Hit Wonder is ‘Counting the Beat’ by The Swingers. A Number 1 smash hit in 1981 the group was formed around Phil Judd, a founding member of Split Enz and Bones Hillman who went on to be an integral part of Midnight Oil until his passing last year but ‘Counting the Beat’ was a classic OHW.

This week’s One-Hit Wonder is ‘Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl)’ by Looking Glass. The group was formed in New Jersey in 1969 and was active from 1969 to 1974 and then again from 2003. ‘Brandy’ was savagely lampooned in an episode of the Simpson and used creatively in the movie ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’. A classic one-hit wonder.