Songs that pretty much ended the singer's career?

[Orrex]

This differs from a one-hit wonder in that there's no evidence that the one-hit wonder had anything else to offer. I'm talking about performers who had a great album but whose careers were snuffed due to a poor choice of first-released-single.

As an example, I'd offer Joan Osborne. I'm not a fan, and those who do like her will argue that she has a robust and successful career, but let's be honest. Other than "What if God Was One of Us," has she released a song that's had any airplay in the mainstream market? That was likely the worst song on the album, but that's the one they chose to release. Why?

Other examples?

[LynneSin]

1. We Built this City by Jefferson Whatever their mode of transportation was at the time

They haven't made anything since

[Orrex]

5. I think that was a case of mercy-euthanasia

For the good of humanity in general, they self-destructed after the release of that turd.

They still tour, I believe, but without Ms. Slick at the helm. What's the point?

[NNadir]

51. Possibly the worst rock concert I ever went to - the ticket was a "gift" from a friend,

was Jefferson Starship.

I remember it because there was nothing more depressing than Grace Slick singing "White Rabbit" for the nine billionth time in her life - clearly even she was bored by it. The other thing I remember was that it was the day of Alexander Solzhenitsyn's commencement address at Harvard where he decried Western materialism.

[last_texas_dem]

27. Actually, they managed a few big hits after that one

"Sara" and "Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now" both made #1. Which means that "Starship" actually had three #1 hits while neither Jefferson Airplane nor Jefferson Starship ever topped the singles chart. Pretty weird.

[Westegg]

32. But they will never duplicate "A Small Package of Value Will Come To You Shortly."

[last_texas_dem]

80. I agree

That track is great. After Bathing at Baxter's is a really cool album in general.

[Sock Puppet]

2. Hmmm

I'd say Meredith Brooks, who had a huge hit with this:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=fk58p1jeCCA

But she wasn't really all that...so I guess she just falls in the one hit wonder category.

[EstimatedProphet]

3. She also did Right Hand Man

That's the one that I think ended her solo career. Now she's touring with Phil Lesh.

[tigereye]

41. hey! Every song on that album is a gem....

her latest album is what ended her solo career - it was bereft of passion.

[EstimatedProphet]

47. Sorry, Right Hand Man really grated on my nerves

I like her other stuff that I've heard though.

[LisaM]

4. How about "Having My Baby"? I can't even remember the singer!

And I know I know his name.

[KamaAina]

17. Paul Anka.

Yup. The B-side might as well have been "Pushing Up Daisies".

[Art_from_Ark]

77. The B side was probably

"The Smell of Teen Spirit" :puke:

[Parche]

6. 'We Built This Tollbooth' Sung By LynneSin

What a one hit wonder...............:hide: :popcorn: :hi:

[Sock Puppet]

7. Oh - this one definitely

http://youtube.com/watch?v=eBGIQ7ZuuiU

[DarkTirade]

9. Sonava crap...

The moment I clicked I realized what that had to be. But it was too late.

[Iggo]

10. Dagnabbit.

That's the 3rd time I fell for that.

[Orrex]

16. My distrust of blind YouTube links has saved me once again!

I never click on any YouTube links when the post doesn't include at least a brief intro re: what I'm about to see.

Of course, that intro might be entirely false, but...

[TZ]

21. humph

You ARE too trusting. Anarcho-Socialist got me. With a link to what looked like a link to another DU thread but it wasn't it was a Rick Roll!!..Just goes to show you..you can't trust anybody here! A rick roll could be hiding behind any innocent link.....:scared:

[madinmaryland]

26. Hey Snyder! Back to work!! You had yesterday off, so get back to work!!

[TZ]

31. Looks whos talking!

Busy looking things up on the tubes you can plagarize?:P

[madinmaryland]

33. Like this??

http://www.hailtothedeadskins.com/

:hi:

[CreekDog]

40. I sent a rick roll to my fellow church friends

but I told them it was a demonstration of the talking Jesus doll.

am I going to hell? :yoiks:

[CreekDog]

39. I like reading the comments on that

page after page of "dammit!" and I like the ones that go, "third time today!!!"

:rofl:

[underpants]

8. Not really the song but the video-Billy Squire's "Rock me tonight"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fR0j7sModCI

He went from working ROCKER to nothing over night. Seriously he was on "I remember the...." and said that promoters called him manager WHILE THE VIDEO PREMIERED to cancell shows.

Check out the moves just after the 2:00 mark

[DS1]

11. yep

I'd expect to see Samantha Fox dressed up like that, not a guitar-guy.


came here to post that

[Iggo]

13. I believe the word is "prancing."

And yeah, the Flashdance outfit didn't help.

Hey, DS1...I got a stomp box named after you...heheheh.:headbang:

[underpants]

18. Strike two

first you bring up Mimi Rogers

now Smantha Fox

I'm planning on getting up from this desk AT SOME POINT today there buddy!! :grr:

[J-Lo Biafra]

22. Bingo!

He even acknowledged that it finished his career. Being upstaged by a little band called Def Leppard didn't help, either.

[darkstar]

48. On those moves...like Jerry Lewis or something...

[harmonicon]

50. wow, that was special

thanks for sharing that

[Frank Cannon]

81. Damn! You beat me to it.

Even Billy Squire freely admits that this video destroyed his promising career.

[Iggo]

12. More Than Words -- Extreme.

Worst song on the album (totally non-representative of their sound or talent), yet it got mondo air play. Same thing almost happened to Radiohead.

[musette_sf]

49. gee, i thought

that Extreme's loud public posturing for some forced-birth organization was what destroyed their career.

http://www.rockforlife.org/

[Iggo]

67. Gross!

[musette_sf]

68. i actually sort of liked Extreme

until i found out they were forced-birth advocates and god-botherer types.

prolly why that Extreme dude lasted in Van Halen for about 10 seconds.

[Iggo]

69. I had never heard that 'til now.

Thanks for the info.

[kwassa]

14. Rod Stewart goes disco ..... "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy"

actually his biggest seller, killed his credibility as a rocker.

[Westegg]

34. PERFECT example, kwassa....

...That was the one that did it. Yep. Exactly. From the Faces and Jeff Beck Group and his early, potent solo stuff to that song? Forget about it. That was the stone-cold dead end of Rod in terms of his rock cred. And it didn't have to be that way! He was still relatively young and vital at that point. Unlike Starship's "We Built This City," which was just the pathetic final note to a band that had ceased to be relevant years before that.

[kwassa]

15. Rod Stewart goes disco ..... "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy"

actually his biggest seller, killed his credibility as a rocker.

[Fran Kubelik]

19. Imani Coppola

1997. Really brilliant songwriter/singer, but this cute little song kind of pigeonholed her.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oLJrbt8NSc

[GoddessOfGuinness]

64. I dunno...

Granted, I'm not into the pop scene; but someone posted this YouTube recently...my introduction to Coppola's music. I thought it was pretty cool; so I found myself listening to other YouTube videos of her stuff. I like most of what I've heard.

[Fran Kubelik]

65. You're right.

I love her, from Legend of A Cowgirl on til Black & White. I think my ulterior motive in posting that link was to get more people to realize how cool Imani is. :)

She has a side project coming out later this year with her band Little Jackie. It's sooooooo good.

[meegbear]

20. "Big Bang Baby" - STP and "Radio GaGa" - Queen ...

In the case of Stone Temple Pilots, this song knocked them right out. They still released some great stuff on that release and after, but this killed them.

For Queen, they lost American airplay, but they were still big everywhere else. Considering they were always 'contemporary' with their style, it was stupid for US stations to stop playing them. They released great stuff up to the end.

I like both songs personally.

[mulsh]

23. "I'm in You" Peter Frampton

hard to follow Frampton Comes Alive with anything by why oh why something as lame as I'm In You?

http://youtube.com/watch?v=QGLKY7WbOFk

[J-Lo Biafra]

24. Sinead O'Conner's cover of 'War."

[SacredCow]

29. That's GOT to be the best answer....

I remember seeing that live, and remarking that she just ended her career...

[SteppingRazor]

25. I got a good video answer for this:

The video for 80s guitar god Billy Squier's "Rock Me Tonite" destroyed his career in one amazingly craptacular moment:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fR0j7sModCI

[annonymous]

84. That video looks like a bad Flashdance imitation.

The pink guitar didn't help either.

[mitchum]

28. Georgia Satellites "Keep Your Hands To Yourself"...

really great rockandroll band from the Stones/Faces school, but this radio hit unfortunately got them tagged as a "yee haw!" novelty act

[SoxFan]

30. Anyone mentioned this little gem?

http://youtube.com/watch?v=5FvyGydc8no

[Westegg]

35. That's, uh... Wow. I'm speechless.

[SoxFan]

36. Hillrolled

[Westegg]

43. Er, uh... what you say...

...You know what it needs, though? More cowbell. There, I've found my voice again.

[meegbear]

37. Gotta ruin a lounge thread with a politics ...

douchebag.

[SoxFan]

38. Go back to the Olive Garden, grumpy

[Systematic Chaos]

66. ROFLMAO SWEET!!

Over 5000 ratings and it's solidly, totally, COMPLETELY 1-star.

Oh, and comments have been disabled. Drat!

:hurts:

[XemaSab]

74. I don't think I've ever said this outside of GDP

but F*** YOU! x(

[PittPoliSci]

75. Squares!

I'm not saying that all Hillary supporters are squares, but ONLY a square could make that video.

And square is the perfect word to describe what i witnessed.

[Fox Mulder]

78. That's worse than being RickRoll'd.

x(

[annonymous]

83. That is the cheesiest thing I've ever seen

The one star rating is well deserved. Hillary Clinton should demand its removal from Youtube.

[CreekDog]

42. What was Michael Bolton's first song?

Oh, and Kenny G.?

...should have ended their careers.

[Javaman]

44. William Shatners "Rocketman". nt

[philosophie_en_rose]

45. Nimoy's Ballad of Bilbo Baggins

[LSdemocrat]

46. This may be too soon, but I think "Wind It Up" killed Gwen Stefani's chances of superstardom

Yes I know she's still selling albums, but the success of her first album had caused her to receive rather significant media attention. A second successful album launch could have launched her into true Madonna-in-the-1980's style superstardom. Then the audio trainwreck known as "Wind It Up" was released as the debut track from her second album. I can't help but think that had she just debuted with "The Sweet Escape" things might have turned out differently.

[harmonicon]

52. I love "Wind It Up"

it's so completely fucking crazy.... I remember when I first heard it, I couldn't believe something so completely insane was going to be a hit single.

[Orrex]

53. She has a bunch of songs that make me want to destroy my radio. And all radios.

One's mileage may vary, but for every passable song of hers that gets airtime, it seems that two real stinkers get played even more.

[Skittles]

70. was she the one that did "It's My Life" in that hideous little-girl voice?

:puke:

[Orrex]

72. Yes, alas

Ranks among the worst of bad cover versions IMO.

[racaulk]

54. "Crazy Cool" by Paula Abdul

Her first two albums were OK, but her third album SUCKED. This was the second single from that album...and it was pretty much the end of her career in music.

Or at least it should have been... :eyes:

[Orrex]

55. What about Vibeology?

[racaulk]

56. "Why, it's the study of the chemistry between you...and me."

:rofl:

That album was OK, but Vibeology was her second album. At least it was good enough for the record company to finance a third album from Paula...which was just AWFUL!!!

And when I said it should have been her last foray into music, that was a dig at her current stint on American Idol. Talk about awful! :puke:

[Orrex]

57. Second, third. I can't keep them straight

I forcibly removed the section of my brain that housed Paula Abdul information after the thousandth repetition of the phrase "promise of a new day" in the song of the same name!

[racaulk]

58. And you're probably better off for it! I wish I could forget!

I can hear that "Promise of a New Day" song in my head now. Thanks for the earworm, by the way! :P

[Orrex]

59. Does that song have any other lyrics?

I seem to remember something about an eagle and maybe tides.

Other than that, it's all a vertically-attenuated blur.

[racaulk]

60. I'm ashamed that I can recall this from memory...

The song starts like this...

Eagle's calling and he's calling your name
Tides are turning bringing winds of change
Why do I feel this way
The promise of a new day

As through time the earth moves under my feet
One step closer to make love complete
What has the final say
The promise of a new day

Again, that's totally from memory. I'm going to hang my head in shame now...

[Orrex]

61. I'm putting you on Ignore. Forever.

You're dead to me.

[racaulk]

62. .

:rofl:

Seriously I wish I could forget. I just can't!

[GoddessOfGuinness]

63. Poppy Bush-"Read My Lips...No New Taxes"

[x-g.o.p.er]

71. Mr Roboto, by Styx

The group was finished after that debacle.

[enigmatic]

76. I'd pick that one, too

Great choice..

[UrbScotty]

73. "Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran" by Johnny Maverick

[Lasher]

79. Milly Vanilly, 'Girl you Know it's True'

Except it wasn't.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

82. Sheb Wooley's "Flying Purple People Eater"

Did he have any big hits after that blockbuster?

:rofl: