Bands with only one song...

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

Hilton said this the other day about Neu! "it's just that they
only had the one song. it's a very good song, but it's still only one song."

Bloody hell, they might only have one song but it was possibly the best song in the world. Then again, by the same argument, other life-changing or genre-changing bands like the Ramones and the Sex Pistols and Suicide and the Jesus and Mary Chain only had "one song". (Yes, Tom, I know the JAMC actually had *three* songs, but for sake of argument...)

Does it matter if a band only does one thing so long as they do originally or especially well?

― kate, Wednesday, 12 February 2003 09:05 (twenty-three years ago)

You've answered your own question. No, it does not.

― Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 09:42 (twenty-three years ago)

Yes, but Hilton believes it, so other people must believe it, too. He's not THAT weird.

― kate, Wednesday, 12 February 2003 09:46 (twenty-three years ago)

It's true. Stereolab only had one good song, and it was a Neu! song! I think I'm missing the point.

― fortunate hazel (f. hazel), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 09:52 (twenty-three years ago)

No, Stereolab also had the Velvets song and the Esquivel song, so they had 3 songs.

― kate, Wednesday, 12 February 2003 09:53 (twenty-three years ago)

Sorry, I only have one joke, and it's not a very good one.

― fortunate hazel (f. hazel), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 09:54 (twenty-three years ago)

He's called Savoy Scissorhands, for fuck's sake, of course he's weird.

― Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 10:40 (twenty-three years ago)

It's not one song we're talking about, obviously, its one idea. And that one idea is absolutely fine with me as long as you have enough scope and talent to explore it properly, like most of the bands mentioned here.

What about bands who have only one GOOD idea, and when they do that it's brilliant, but when they turn their hand to anything else it's absolutely rubbish? I can't think of anyone like this at the moment, but I'm sure it'll come to me.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 10:53 (twenty-three years ago)

Radiohead!

― Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 10:55 (twenty-three years ago)

Oasis!

― Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 10:55 (twenty-three years ago)

Actually, I'm going to say Britney - brilliant when doing proper stomping Baby One More Time/Ooops.../Crazy proper pop songs, rubbish when doing anything else.

Obviously all the above ARE actually the same song, but that's beside the point.

― Matt DC (Matt DC), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 11:29 (twenty-three years ago)

Aye, I'd go with her. And I agree with you too! Fnar fnar, etcetera.

― Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 11:52 (twenty-three years ago)

i think stereolab have a whole bunch of different styles really. never understood why people thought they were all the same

no it doesnt matter if a band only has one song. and, not only that, it doesnt matter if a band only MAKES/RELEASES one song. to suggest otherwise is surely rockism?

― gareth (gareth), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 11:55 (twenty-three years ago)

Although then there's the phenomenon of bands who LITERALLY only have one song. Like the Whales, who were genius. (They played at the Simple Machines farewell bash in Washington D.C.--band gets up on stage and does this kind of fast hardcore grind for a minute or two, then the back doors slam open and a guy wearing a gigantic papier-maché whale head bursts in, butts everyone out of the way, jumps up on the stage, grabs the mic and starts going "whoooooo! whooooooo!" I.e. whalesong.)

― Douglas (Douglas), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 12:36 (twenty-three years ago)

Maurizio
Octave One
Jeff Mills on Purpose Maker

― Etienne Menu (Etienne), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 12:41 (twenty-three years ago)

Status Quo had two: the fast one and the slower, syncopated one.

― Jez (Jez), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 13:11 (twenty-three years ago)

AAAAAAAAARRRRGGGHHHH!!! VENGABOYS!
Sorry...Microdot flashback there..

― David Brown (cyberdragon), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 13:22 (twenty-three years ago)

Blue.

― Cozen (Cozen), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 13:24 (twenty-three years ago)

most bands have actually only one song or one idea. and that's usually the reason that i get bored by most bands after a while. examples: godspeed, calexico, luna. all of those i loved in the beginning. and they had something new to say in the first 1-2 records. but then it was more of the same and it went down the hill...

bands with more than one song where every release is something fucking new and exciting: yo la tengo, massive attack, giant sand.

― alex in mainhattan (alex63), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 13:45 (twenty-three years ago)

motorhead own this thread. it really does surprise me how many influential bands' songs sounded all the same. Others:

Portishead
Nirvana (maybe)
Green Day
Jamiroquai (how you spell agian?)
...errr Nightcrawlers?

― dog latin, Wednesday, 12 February 2003 14:29 (twenty-three years ago)

All jam-bands to thread!

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 15:38 (twenty-three years ago)

Can! Who simultaneously had one idea and also many ideas!

― Nick Southall (Nick Southall), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 15:40 (twenty-three years ago)

Tragically Hip have 7 or 8 albums of one song.

― Mr Noodles (Mr Noodles), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 15:45 (twenty-three years ago)

Interviewer: "How do you justify releasing the same album 12 times?"

Angus Young: "What are you talking about? We've released the same album FIFTEEN times now!"

(AC/DC to thread!)

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 16:00 (twenty-three years ago)

This thread is so Derrick May.

Well, ok, he did two or three different tracks that he continuously blended into each other and then he ended releasing this rip-off double CD that was called, funnily enough, "Innovator".

Anyway i really love his classics.

― Etienne Menu (Etienne), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 16:23 (twenty-three years ago)

i kind of prefer the everything-sounds-like-everything-else approach for an LP - especially a trad 30 - 45 minute album of 10 - 15 songs.
that's what makes "is this it?" so listenable.

― Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 16:29 (twenty-three years ago)

M/A/R/R/S

― Lynskey (Lynskey), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 18:17 (twenty-three years ago)

AC/DC answer this question pretty definitively, thanks nickalicious!

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 18:31 (twenty-three years ago)

bands with more than one song where every release is something fucking new and exciting...

Mr. Bungle to this statement!

Actually, this is what keeps bringing me back to Beck rekkids (although "exciting" would be the very last word I would use to describe Sea Change).

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 18:41 (twenty-three years ago)

ELO to thread too. They have two songs, the fast one and the slow one also. Alternate each on the albums.

― Chris Barrus (xibalba), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 21:08 (twenty-three years ago)

Mudhoney:2 songs-(1) Noisey, fast garage rocker, ala Stooges or Chocolate Watch Band, and (2) Slow psychedelic groovers, ala Stooges or 13th Floor Elevators/Rocky Erickson.

― Clayton Grisso, Wednesday, 12 February 2003 21:21 (twenty-three years ago)

Godspeed You Black Emperor! own this thread...

― JP Almeida (JP Almeida), Wednesday, 12 February 2003 23:57 (twenty-three years ago)

what is this "Jesus and Mary Chain only had one song bs"? and from you Kate? I'm surprised. tsk.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 13 February 2003 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

No, the have three songs. Three very good songs, but still. Three songs.

― kate, Thursday, 13 February 2003 00:07 (twenty-three years ago)

Why are Neu! and Can supposed to only have one song each while people who always sing in the same voice with the same guitar sound are supposed to be great singer-songwriters?

Possible answer: because SONGS are things with lyrics and melodies, not textures and beats.
But if that's true, then we shouldn't be even be talking about Neu! here.

Anyway, Neu! really had 4 songs. The motorik one (Hallogallo, Isi etc), the ambient ballad (Leb Wohl, Im Glucke), the slow motorik ballad (Weissensee, Seeland etc), and the punk song (Hero, Lilac Angel)

― Keith McD (Keith McD), Thursday, 13 February 2003 00:16 (twenty-three years ago)

Do you expect a band to change styles vastly for every song?

― David Allen, Thursday, 13 February 2003 17:54 (twenty-three years ago)

three months pass...

I realise that Jonathan Richman only has one song, but I really am happy to hear it hundreds of times over under hundreds of different titles.

Tom Waits has about three or four songs, and that's why I consider him the greatest artist of our time.

― Nordicskillz (Nordicskillz), Thursday, 22 May 2003 10:16 (twenty-three years ago)

Nirvana own this thread. What a difference a shotgun suicide can make to a washed-up band's reputation.....

― russ t, Thursday, 22 May 2003 11:00 (twenty-three years ago)

ooh, you bitch!

― Nordicskillz (Nordicskillz), Thursday, 22 May 2003 13:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Russ, i have a rather emotional reaction to your post, and it's quite negative, and I'll refrain from sharing it. Just wanted to let you know I'm watching.

― Kenan Hebert (kenan), Thursday, 22 May 2003 13:05 (twenty-three years ago)

Each to his own, it's a free country.
But remember - In Utero didn't do the business at all, sold pretty poorly, until Cobain committed suicide.

Some may love them, to me, they're overrated one trick rawk and roll ponies. Sorry.

― russ t, Thursday, 22 May 2003 13:20 (twenty-three years ago)

I see Russ's point. I was never a Nirvana fan - to me, they just did that old quiet-LOUD-quiet-LOUD thing over and over in a very unadventurous way. They had more than one tune - because they ripped off more than one 80s band for those tunes.

― kate, Thursday, 22 May 2003 13:26 (twenty-three years ago)

I thought Psychocandy had more than three songs... do Thin Lizzy count?

― Jrvision (visionjr), Thursday, 22 May 2003 13:52 (twenty-three years ago)

eight years pass...

I was hoping this question was more literal...

Stardust "Music Sounds Better With You"
Homie "American Girls"
Deluxx Folk Implosion "Daddy Never Understood"

― billstevejim, Wednesday, 8 June 2011 08:21 (fifteen years ago)

"But remember -In Utero didn't do the business at all, sold pretty poorly, until Cobain committed suicide"

No one remembers this because you're lying.

― billstevejim, Wednesday, 8 June 2011 08:26 (fifteen years ago)

Warm leatherette

A tear of petrol
Is in your eye
The hand brake
Penetrates your thigh
Quick - Let's make love
Before you die

On warm leatherette
Warm leatherette

Warm leatherette
Warm leatherette
Warm leatherette

Join the car crash set

― ◦ ⃝◦ ⃝◦ ⃝◦ ⃝◦ ⃝◦ ⃝◦ ⃝◦ ⃝◦ ⃝◦ ⃝◦ ⃝ (Moka), Wednesday, 8 June 2011 08:33 (fifteen years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGPhUr-T6UM

― And the piano, it sounds like a carnivore (contenderizer), Wednesday, 8 June 2011 08:36 (fifteen years ago)

"M.A.R.S." lol

― And the piano, it sounds like a carnivore (contenderizer), Wednesday, 8 June 2011 08:36 (fifteen years ago)

True thing about 'warm leatherette' it's that it was in fact the only one single released by 'the normal'.

― ◦ ⃝◦ ⃝◦ ⃝◦ ⃝◦ ⃝◦ ⃝◦ ⃝◦ ⃝◦ ⃝◦ ⃝◦ ⃝ (Moka), Wednesday, 8 June 2011 08:40 (fifteen years ago)

it was the b-side.

― Mark G, Wednesday, 8 June 2011 09:19 (fifteen years ago)

Mid-80's supergroup USA For Africa only had that one song. Man, I'd love to see those guys get back together.

― henry s, Wednesday, 8 June 2011 11:57 (fifteen years ago)

1970 England World Cup Squad – "Back Home"

see also: 1990 England World Cup Squad – "World In Motion"

etc etc

― ban this sick stunt (anagram), Wednesday, 8 June 2011 12:18 (fifteen years ago)

Surprised no-one's mentioned that heckle on Neil Young's 'Year of the Horse' live album yet...

Heckler: 'They all sound the same!'
Neil: 'It's all one song!'

― Bloody Snail, Wednesday, 8 June 2011 13:55 (fifteen years ago)

it was the b-side.

Right, I was gonna say -- "T.V.O.D." makes the Normal ineligible, I think.

― xhuxk, Wednesday, 8 June 2011 14:41 (fifteen years ago)

Also, from Wiki:

A second release as The Normal with other Mute Records act Robert Rental, Live at West Runton Pavilion, wasn't well received. A strange release, it was a one sided album (side two was left blank) of improvised electronic noises, in a plain purple dust jacket. Marat Records released the record in Germany as Daniel Miller Robert Rental Live with a black and white picture sleeve, catalogue no. Marat Rough 017.

― Mark G, Wednesday, 8 June 2011 14:49 (fifteen years ago)

Going the literal route:
Reunion - Life Is a Rock (But the Radio Rolled Me)

― MarkoP, Wednesday, 8 June 2011 14:53 (fifteen years ago)

Not counting the later sketchy releases of live/demo material, Sonic's Rendezvous Band only released the "City Slang" single with just the one song on it while they were active.

― city worker, Wednesday, 8 June 2011 15:50 (fifteen years ago)

(Ignorant Yank Mode)

T.Rex! Gary Numan! Blur!

(/Ignorant Yank Mode)

― Lee626, Wednesday, 8 June 2011 18:38 (fifteen years ago)

Slayer

― Monkey tennis? (Solrac), Monday, 20 June 2011 15:06 (fourteen years ago)

Why are Neu! and Can supposed to only have one song each while people who always sing in the same voice with the same guitar sound are supposed to be great singer-songwriters?
Possible answer: because SONGS are things with lyrics and melodies, not textures and beats.

Yeah, this seems like a complaint of people who aren't very musically inclined and actually just kind of hear surface styles.

You could extend the same thinking to whole genres ("it all sounds the same"), where the aficionados can hear subtleties and distinctions that the uninitiated can't.

― Ktulu says, I've come to hate my body (wk), Monday, 20 June 2011 18:18 (fourteen years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.