Todd in the Shadows: One Hit Wonderland - "MMMBop" by Hanson

[JoDaNa1281]

[Fundertaker]

Yeah, that's a reupload, edited as to circumvent possible copyright strikes. He's been adding a few of those in the last few days.

[Mozenrath]

I knew about this side of them due to a friend I had in highschool being a big fan of their life beyond MmmBop. Seem like nice dudes, good for them.

[A Platypus Rave is Correct]

this is an old episode

[Ben Wyatt]

Eh, they're not really a one hit wonder as "Where's the love?" and "Weird" did decent afterwards

[Vice honcho room temperature]

He's been doing re-edits and reuploads due to copy right alot for the past few days. Good excuse to just check out old videos of his

[King Boo]

Apr 7, 2017 9:43:25 GMT -5 Ben Wyatt said:

Eh, they're not really a one hit wonder as "Where's the love?" and "Weird" did decent afterwards

I also remember "I Will Come to You" being popular as well. "MMMBop" is their biggest song, but it's not their only one at all.

[Futureraven: Beelzebruv]

Apr 7, 2017 11:20:24 GMT -5 King Boo said:

Apr 7, 2017 9:43:25 GMT -5 Ben Wyatt said:

Eh, they're not really a one hit wonder as "Where's the love?" and "Weird" did decent afterwards

I also remember "I Will Come to You" being popular as well. "MMMBop" is their biggest song, but it's not their only one at all.

Well, most one hit wonders really aren't.

But ask 99% of people, they won't know another song.

Same as guys like Vanilla Ice, Men Without Hats, The Darkness etc.

[A Platypus Rave is Correct]

he's covered people with more than one hit before.

and one hit wonder as a concept kinda moves back and forth... but ask most people about Hanson and 9 times out of 10 they'll mention MMMbop.

just like no one brings up Pop Goes The World when talking about men without hats.

[King Boo]

But... I mean... that's just factually incorrect, though. What people remember doesn't mean it was their only hit. It's kind of diminishing to call an act a one hit wonder when the reality is that more than one single charted well for them.

[Futureraven: Beelzebruv]

Depends.

Is a hit a number you reach?

Or is a hit something people know about?

I'd go with the second. If you sell a crapload and 5 years later no one remembers, to me that's not a true hit.

[King Boo]

A one hit wonder is an artist that had one song that gained any popularity - evidenced by chart placement and album sales - when it came out, then nada.

Biggest song =/= one hit wonder.

[A Platypus Rave is Correct]

Apr 7, 2017 11:25:39 GMT -5 King Boo said:

But... I mean... that's just factually incorrect, though. What people remember doesn't mean it was their only hit. It's kind of diminishing to call an act a one hit wonder when the reality is that more than one single charted well for them.

As I said One Hit Wonder is a nebulous term as the majority of people that are considered 1 hit wonders had more than 1 hit.

Billy Ray Cyrus had tons of country hits post Achy Breaky Heart, Men without Hats had Pop Goes the World.... and that's just sticking with America.

Mr. Big had "To be with you" in America... but got immensely popular in Japan.

One Hit Wonder is more a general perception not something factual.

[King Boo]

Apr 7, 2017 11:32:36 GMT -5 A Platypus Rave is Correct said:

Apr 7, 2017 11:25:39 GMT -5 King Boo said:

But... I mean... that's just factually incorrect, though. What people remember doesn't mean it was their only hit. It's kind of diminishing to call an act a one hit wonder when the reality is that more than one single charted well for them.

As I said One Hit Wonder is a nebulous term as the majority of people that are considered 1 hit wonders had more than 1 hit.

Billy Ray Cyrus had tons of country hits post Achy Breaky Heart, Men without Hats had Pop Goes the World.... and that's just sticking with America.

Mr. Big had "To be with you" in America... but got immensely popular in Japan.

Not to get all semantic, but that's not actually what a one hit wonder is, though. That's their biggest song; not their only song.

[Futureraven: Beelzebruv]

Apr 7, 2017 11:33:44 GMT -5 King Boo said:

Apr 7, 2017 11:32:36 GMT -5 A Platypus Rave is Correct said:

As I said One Hit Wonder is a nebulous term as the majority of people that are considered 1 hit wonders had more than 1 hit.

Billy Ray Cyrus had tons of country hits post Achy Breaky Heart, Men without Hats had Pop Goes the World.... and that's just sticking with America.

Mr. Big had "To be with you" in America... but got immensely popular in Japan.

Not to get all semantic, but that's not actually what a one hit wonder is, though. That's their biggest song; not their only song.

Well, that is pretty semantic lol

It's also to avoid things where he has to cover Jimi Hendrix, Lou Reed etc. as one hit wonders which is just a silly idea.

[King Boo]

Apr 7, 2017 11:39:09 GMT -5 Futureraven: Beelzebruv said:

Apr 7, 2017 11:33:44 GMT -5 King Boo said:

Not to get all semantic, but that's not actually what a one hit wonder is, though. That's their biggest song; not their only song.

Well, that is pretty semantic lol

It's also to avoid things where he has to cover Jimi Hendrix, Lou Reed etc. as one hit wonders which is just a silly idea.

I mean, it's semantic, but it has to be as the term is being used incorrectly.

If I was an artist who had more than one popular song that did well and a big audience paid for and people referred to me as a one hit wonder because one of my songs was the biggest, I'd be insulted as the minimizing of my accomplishments and talent.

So, yeah. They're not one hit wonders at all.

[Reflecto]

Apr 7, 2017 12:37:03 GMT -5 King Boo said:

I mean, it's semantic, but it has to be as the term is being used incorrectly.

If I was an artist who had more than one popular song that did well and a big audience paid for and people referred to me as a one hit wonder because one of my songs was the biggest, I'd be insulted as the minimizing of my accomplishments and talent.

So, yeah. They're not one hit wonders at all.

Moreso since you can't even use the "one album wonder" for Hanson there (which is a fair replacement for one hit wonders), since they had a couple of singles from the album right after that one that did fairly well for themselves as well.

So yeah, Hanson's more like a "relatively good band that was fairly big for a few years and ended up becoming a quite good all-round band, but since they were kids and had a stupid chorus in MMMBop, everyone decided they would be one hit wonders no matter what the real narrative became."

[Deleted]

So clearly no one in this thread watched the video then.

[Dr. T is an alien]

Apr 7, 2017 15:44:36 GMT -5 @rrnew said:

So clearly no one in this thread watched the video then.

I re-watched it. I have a fair amount of respect for Hanson based on their career after MMMBop so I remember their other hits, though I think their stuff that they made after they were no longer famous is better.

As far as the term goes, I sort of think of the band as one even though I remember them having other hits. To me, a one hit wonder is someone who is only remembered for one song. Based on that, Hanson qualifies. Under my definition, Hendrix and Lou Reed don't qualify because they are remembered for so much beyond that.

[sfvega]

Apr 7, 2017 11:30:28 GMT -5 Futureraven: Beelzebruv said:

Depends.

Is a hit a number you reach?

Or is a hit something people know about?

I'd go with the second. If you sell a crapload and 5 years later no one remembers, to me that's not a true hit.

That's kinda not the point though. It absolutely matters what it did at the time, because without taking that into account, it's not a hit. People forget TONS of songs (ESPECIALLY throw away pop, which makes up the majority of hits to begin with), that doesn't take away from the success they had. That's just revisionist history. You could say that Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up" is one of the biggest hits of the 80's since nobody can ever forget it now. But that's entirely not true.