The 90s were an absolute gold mine for one hit wonders. Coming out of the 80s, The music industry was at an apex. Money was flowing, every genre was thriving in their respective fields, and there was an abundance of good music to match. It's rare to get a near perfect intersection like this, usually something somewhere tends to suffer greatly. Maybe it's the fact that the cold war wasn't looming over everyone's minds or maybe it's the prospect of the end of the millennium that thrilled people so much. Regardless, it seemed like anyone could prosper in the 90s and the one hit wonders that popped in for a brief spell are proof of it.
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But here's the thing: there are some songs that only work within the scope of the 90s. Records like "Tubthumping" or "Closing Time" or any of the various novelty songs at the time can only be correlated with the decade itself. They pull a magic trick of transporting you to a better, simpler time that awaken specific memories. But you can't exactly divorce these one hit wonders from their time period. "What is Love" can only be distinctly associated with the dance craze in the 90s. I will be cobbling together the best flashes in the pan that still blast out of our speakers three decades later.
Four of The Best One Hit Wonders of The '90s That Still Work Today
Mark Morrison- "Return of the Mack"
I feel comfortable declaring this as THE best one hit wonder of the 90s. Hell, it's one of the best songs of the 90s period. No song truly captures the catharsis of spite quite like Mark Morrison. "Return of the Mack" sees him shrug off a broken heart, the lies and all the "nasty things" she did. It's an idealized portrait of how we wish to get over heartaches, bursting through the door and on the prowl for the next hookup. Romance is left at the door with "Return of the Mack."
Len- "Steal My Sunshine"
One of the main appeals of a great one hit wonder is just how dumb and carefree they can be. No song quite captures that empty headed serenity quite like Len on "Steal My Sunshine." It's the breeze through our hair, the sand in our feet, the brews in our hands, and hot people all around us. There's no room here to overthink. It works as perfect contrast to the starkness of the lyrics. Marc and Sharon head the song by lamenting the string of bad luck they face. It doesn't seem like anything is going right for them. But the one hit wonder gets its juice by reminding us that if we preserve our "sunshine," we'll always be fine. It's not for others to steal. Surprisingly saccharine for a seemingly air-headed pop song.
Adina Howard- "Freak Like Me"
Adina Howard's one hit wonder still has a massively understated impact on music today. Let's be honest: there are a ton of prudes in modern society. It has taken forever for people to finally feel comfortable in their sexual identity and appetite. It's a normal, necessary fact of life that people need to hook up. Maybe it's to relieve the tension, maybe it's for pure pleasure. Regardless, people need to be adults and realize that consensual sex is a great thing.
"Freak Like Me" idealizes the 90s through a g-funk lens. That styling in hip-hop usually saw guys do most of the sexual endeavors where women were something to conquer. Here, Adina Howard flips the trope and emphasizes that women can indulge the same way. It's the kind of sensual liberty you can hear in a lot of music today, marking "Freak Like Me" one of the most important one hit wonders of all time.
New Radicals- "You Get What You Give"
Pop rock has never sounded this perfect. The New Radicals had no business being one hit wonders at all. They didn't quite fit the typical mold of what a hit sounded like in 1998-99. Max Martin maximalism through Britney Spears and the Backstreet Boys were taking root at the time. TLC, Ricky Martin, Cher's Believe, that's the state of pop music. On a rock end, it's a lot sillier like Smashmouth's "All Star" or a soft love song like "Kiss Me" by Sixpence None the Richer. Something like "You Get What You Give" had no business ushering in the new millennium.
But the New Radicals' one hit wonder perfectly encapsulates the fire and desire of teenagers and young adults. "Wake up, kids, we got the dreamers disease," frontman Gregg Alexander belts out at the beginning. It's an outcry to every person still grasping onto their dreams and fighting to keep it alive. It may seem like nothing is working, the bank account looks slimmer and slimmer, and there's not light at the end of the tunnel. But in the face of media brain rot and elitists preying on us, the New Radicals risk cliche and dare us to persevere. All it takes is the courage to keep going. It may be a one hit wonder but that's the kind of message that lasts for an eternity.
