Occasionally, I’ll find a song on my iPod that I realize I used to listen to all the time. And then, when I try to remember what that band has done since, nothing comes to mind. The saying about fifteen minutes of fame literally applies to some people. But for them it was more like three and a half minutes, in the form of a song that topped the charts but took them no further. Here is a look at several of those one hit wonders – some that we remember all too well, and others that have been completely forgotten.

Dragonforce
“Through the Fire and the Flames”
(2006)
This is the most over-the-top song ever. Dragonforce will never top their first hit, because they rock too hard in “Through the Fire and the Flames,” even for themselves. I don’t know how the musicians managed this over-caffeinated guitar, endless double bass machine-gunning and blinding keytar (yes, only real metal has a keytar) solos without spontaneously combusting in the recording studio.

Zager and Evans
“In the Year 2525”
(1969)
This ‘60s hit presents a somber, bleak view of the future. But after listening to it, the only thing I can hope for is that music will have dramatically improved from this by 2525. The song features dramatic story-telling vocals with over-the-top strings. Maybe the reason Zager and Evans didn’t have another hit is because of their name. Together they sound not like a hit rock group, but a pair of used car salesmen, or the less reliable underdog competitors to Ben and Jerry.

Eiffel 65
“Blue (Da Ba Dee)”
(1999)
When a band has to include the meaningless sounds from the chorus in the song’s title, you can tell they’re already running out of ideas. Anyone at Garfield (if ‘12 listened to the radio when they were five) can remember turning on KISS back in the day and hearing this song over and over again. That’s not to say it never got old. To make the song less monotonous, my friends and I thought it would be funny to replace the “dab a dee dab a di” with “I’ma pee on a guy.” And sorry, T-Pain, but Eiffel 65 totally used auto-tune way before you did.

The Pipkins
“Gimme Dat Ding”
(1970)
This may really be one of the worst songs I’ve ever heard. I don’t understand how people could ever give The Pipkins any credit, even for just one song, even in 1970. The song features call-and-response lyrics at a hyped up tempo between the lead singer and a gravelly voiced guy, who sounds like he should be selling fake Oakleys in a back alley of Chicago. The bumbling tune is dissonant and irritating and the chorus, where “gimme dat, gimme, gimme, gimme dat” is repeated over 14 times, sounds like it should be the theme song for a toy truck commercial, not a Top 40 hit.

Sean Paul
No, Sean Paul doesn’t have just one hit. But he’s on this list because all his hits are exactly the same song, with the same club beat and fast, heavily Jamaican-accented rapping. I thought his accent might be disguising some clever, unique lyrics, so I looked
up the words to his song “Get Busy.” One section of that song is transcribed as “Me want fi see you get live
‘pon the riddim when me ride-And me lyrics a provide electricity-Gal nobody can tell you nuttin’-Can you done know your destiny.” Maybe before he tries to provide electricity, Mr. Paul should at first focus on just composing lyrics that make sense.

House of Pain
“Jump Around”
(1992)
Though House of Pain is more respected white rap than Marky Mark (Mark Wahlberg before he intelligently decided to become an actor instead) or the later Limp Bizkit, they still only managed one hit single. “Jump Around” has the whistling teakettle sound that makes it confusable with Cypress Hill’s “Insane in the Brain.” If you went to a Garfield dance in the early ‘90s, I’m sure you would have heard this song multiple times, and I know why. It has energy and vitality, and I sure as hell would not mind dancing to it.

Starland Vocal Band
“Afternoon Delight”
(1976)
Our generation remembers this song for the scene in Anchorman when Ron Burgundy uses it to try to explain what love is like. But for people around in the ‘70s, the song is an innocent-sounding ballad that is actually all about having sex in the afternoon. “Gonna find my baby, gonna hold her tight, gonna grab some afternoon delight. My motto’s always been; when it’s right, it’s right. Why
wait until the middle of a cold dark night?” There’s really nothing more to it. The subject matter seems strange considering that the band sounds like a country Mom and Pop group performing a church song.

Baha Men
“Who Let the Dogs Out?”
(2000)
I actually feel sorry for the Baha Men. They have produced eight records since 1992, including ones with such alluring and poetic titles as “Doong Spank” and “Holla!,” but no one can name a single song of theirs other than “Who Let the Dogs Out?” The “woofs” repeated after the title line in the chorus now get exceedingly annoying by the end of the song, but in second grade they sounded super macho and intense. Every time the song came on in gym class, I would smile and pick up my pace around the track to a slow jog.

London Bus Stop
“Kung Fu Fighting”
(1998)
Though it was originally recorded by Carl Douglas in 1974, this version is better known by the youth of today. You might think this techno-dance remix of the soul song that features the signature “Asia” riff was left back in middle school, but just the other day I heard it come on at full volume at a party. Though the song is way overplayed, once in a blue moon one can’t resist dancing and singing along to the “Huh!” and “Hah!” fighting sounds that punctuate the chorus.