Today’s Video: “One-hit Wonders” - ? and the Mysterians

Our focus of today’s video clip is the garage rock classic “96 Tears” by ? and the Mysterians. The group formed in 1962 and all the members are supposedly of Mexican descent. The organ-heavy sound and plaintive lyrics from frontman Question Mark, (formerly known as Rudy Martinez), helped “96 Tears” become the #1 single in October 1966.

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Previous “one-hit wonder” videos this week:

• Martika – Toy Soldiers
• Morris Albert – Feelings

Sources- myspace.com, VH1, pharoahweb.com, Wikipedia, YouTube, The Latin Americanist

Today’s Video: “One-hit Wonders” - Morris Albert

We continue our video theme this week of “one-hit wonders” with a song from Morris Albert. In 1975, the Brazilian scored a major hit with the soft-rock ballad “Feelings.” The song’s Wikipedia entry notes that it “frequently appears on lists of ‘the worst songs ever’”. In my opinion, it’s hard not to see why as it is a terribly bland and coma-inducing tune. Anyway, listen for yourself.

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“Feelings” has since been covered by numerous artists like Frank Sinatra and Shirley Bassey. Certainly the most unique cover is this one by Beaker on “The Muppet Show.”

Sources- Wikipedia, YouTube, morrisalbert.com, The Latin Americanist

Today’s Video: “One-hit Wonders” - Martika

This week’s video theme will look at Hispanic musicians that can be classified as “one-hit wonders.” These types of artists enjoyed mainstream success with a high-charting tune yet most of them were unable to sustain such success. Being a “one-hit wonder” is usually seen in a negative light, though keep in mind that such acclaimed musicians as Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Iggy Pop have only had one song break the Billboard Top 40 chart.

Today we’re showing “Toy Soldiers” from pop musician Martika. That song from the Cuban-American musician was from her eponymous 1989 album and it reached the #1 spot on the Top 40 Singles chart. In 2004, the song was sampled by rapper Eminem for his tune “Like Toy Soldiers.”