Best One Album Wonder Bands....

Welcome to our community

Be a part of something great, join today!

Register Log in
The Stone Roses
[video]

I don't know if they count, but Blind Melon. They had a couple albums, but only one had any popularity before Shannon Hoon died.
 
The Sex Pistols: Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols (1977)

Of course they released other albums but nothing like the first.
 
Probably the biggest one hit album wonder ever. Everyone should know why.

Milli Vanilli's - You Know It's True



[video=youtube;t0qTOkUPlGk]
 
My List:

Johnny Hates Jazz - Turn Back The Clock
Slick Rick - The Adventures Of Slick Rick
The Wallflowers - Bringing Down The Horse
The Fugees - The Score
Peter Frampton - Frampton Comes Alive!
 
chris_in_pdx said:
My List:

Johnny Hates Jazz - Turn Back The Clock
Slick Rick - The Adventures Of Slick Rick
The Wallflowers - Bringing Down The Horse
The Fugees - The Score
Peter Frampton - Frampton Comes Alive!
Click to expand...

Not sure Frampton qualifies as a "one album wonder". Sure, Frampton Comes Alive was an insanely huge selling album (is it still the best selling live album ever?), but he had one other platinum album (I'm in You) and two gold albums.

What about The Knack - Get the Knack? Yeah, they had a follow-up album, but it was rushed to market and was mainly songs that were previously recorded rejects from Get the Knack.

Of course, the number one all time one album wonders would have to be Blind Faith. The supergroup that included Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood released just one album and it reached No. 1 on the Billboard charts. They performed a single tour and broke up less than a year after forming the group.

BNM
 
Moby Grape - Moby Grape
Televsiosn - Marquee Moon
Derek and the Dominos - Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs (technically the only Derek and the Dominos album)
 
Live - Throwing Copper

I'm sure they had some sales afterward with the crap they put out, but Throwing Copper is still worth a listen today and is one of the great rock albums of the '90s.
 
Last edited:
PapaG said:
Live - Throwing Copper

I'm sure they had some sales afterward with the crap they put out, but Throwing Copper is still worth a listen today and is one of the great rock albums of the '90s.
Click to expand...

Well I was a big Live fan back in the 90's and as much as I liked the throwing copper album I actually thought Secret Samadhi was there best album. I also liked The Distance To Here album as well. I would not label them as a one album wonder band. Oh and I can't forget about Live's very first album Mental Jewelry.
 
Last edited:
hoojacks said:
MGMT
Click to expand...

They had a very disappointing followup for sure...

I loved their original intentions with their follow-up, but it really turned out to be a shit album. I saw them on the tour for their new album, and they still played mostly songs from Oracular Spectacular. That's a pretty telling sign when a band comes out with a follow-up album and plays mostly their old shit on tour, when they're just two albums deep. To put in perspective, they played one of my favorite tracks, "Indie Rokkers," which was from an old EP from before they had a legitimate record deal, yet they still left most of the tracks from their new LP off of the setlist.

I think this thread is doing an injustice to some of the great 60's acts that were one-album wonders, but bringing it into a modern context, there's probably not a bigger one-album wonder than MGMT, at least in the 2000's, just in terms of how great their debut album was and how shitty their follow-up was (although Franz Ferdinand and the Killers come close... not in terms of the commercial success of their next album, but rather how they both took steps back musically, given how strong their debut albums were compared to the rest of their future catalogues).

MGMT's frontman, Andrew VanWyngarden, is a Memphian, as is most of the touring band, so when Oracular Spectacular first came out (not even when it got popular, but when it actually first came out), there was a lot of local press coming out of Memphis about how they never expected to be famous musicians, and that if VanWyngarden had it his way, the tracks would be a lot more psychedelic. Well, they made that "great psychedelic" album, and it sucked.

I've been hearing a lot of publicity for their latest album though, so I'll reserve judgement on MGMT for now. I mean, they're just coming up on their third album...
 
Last edited:
Yea I disagree with Live being listed as well. One of my favorite bands and I think they had (have) staying power.
 
GOD said:
The Stone Roses
[video]

I don't know if they count, but Blind Melon. They had a couple albums, but only one had any popularity before Shannon Hoon died.
Click to expand...

Last night my brother came to town and we listened to the Stone Roses over a couple drinks. It felt so good, I really love that music. Woke up this morning humming some in the shower.

Good music is good
 
Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass
Barry White and the Love Unlimited Orchestra
DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince
The Cyrcle
The Human Beinz
Warren Zevon
The Amboy Dukes
 
BlazerWookee said:
DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince
Click to expand...

I don't know if I'd agree with that one. Their best selling album had "Parents Just Don't Understand," "Nightmare on My Street, etc., but probably their best and most recognizable track, "Summertime" came three years later on an album that hit #12 on the US charts and #5 on the R&B charts, at the height of the hip-hop/R&B boom.

Not to mention all of the success they had both away from music and as independent musicians (well, Will Smith at least)...

The Amboy Dukes
Click to expand...

I know a lot of people from Detroit that would argue that one. It's sort of similar to DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, in that Ted Nugent went on to be a star and churn out hits, just like Will Smith did, but even as "The Amboy Dukes," those guys had and will continue to have a cult following in Detroit. I've got uncles that still brag about seeing them in the 70's, well after Journey to the Center of the Mind.
 
Billy Rancher and the Unreal Gods

Boom Chuck Rock Now

[video=youtube;kTPsasDicKI]

[video=youtube;fUhzK2Ode_Q]
 
NOVoodoo said:
I don't know if I'd agree with that one. Their best selling album had "Parents Just Don't Understand," "Nightmare on My Street, etc., but probably their best and most recognizable track, "Summertime" came three years later on an album that hit #12 on the US charts and #5 on the R&B charts, at the height of the hip-hop/R&B boom.

Not to mention all of the success they had both away from music and as independent musicians (well, Will Smith at least)...



I know a lot of people from Detroit that would argue that one. It's sort of similar to DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, in that Ted Nugent went on to be a star and churn out hits, just like Will Smith did, but even as "The Amboy Dukes," those guys had and will continue to have a cult following in Detroit. I've got uncles that still brag about seeing them in the 70's, well after Journey to the Center of the Mind.
Click to expand...
I have never even heard of "Summertime," lol... Did the Dukes even put out a second album?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Nate Dogg
3 Doors Down coupon for new album
Replies
1
Views
790
Nate Dogg
Nate Dogg
Nate4Prez
Cake: Underrated?
Replies
5
Views
2K
Colonel Ronan
Colonel Ronan
swood
Sum 41s New Album
Replies
4
Views
530
Colonel Ronan
Colonel Ronan
Sasha
Fleet Foxes
Replies
1
Views
503
tim
tim
TradeNurkicNow
OT You should buy this album
Replies
15
Views
2K
jonnyboy
jonnyboy

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 1 (members: 0, guests: 1)
Back
Top