Daniel Powter (and "one-hit wonders" in general...)

[Bippo]

"One-hit wonders" have always been a mystery for me, what exactly happened to these artists that ignited that once in a lifetime spark that helped them create a gigantic hit, and how come they were never able to repeat that?

Daniel Powter was always someone I kind of had in the back of my mind because of that.
"Bad Day" was a world wide hit (and even if you don't like this genre, you can't deny the fact that its melody is really special, in some way), but that was his only major hit.

Of course he's a singer songwriter and writes all of his songs by himself, but that was like his only hit.
IMO, he did have some more good songs in his debut album, and even in his next album, but still nothing scratched the surface of 'bad day'.

I saw a long time ago in wikipedia that he actually released material 5 years (!) prior to 'bad day', and was always wondering how he sounded 5 years before his breakthrough (and why the hell that album can't be found NOWHERE).

Apparently, that whole album is on youtube now, and I must say...I'm very surprised after the initial listening.

First of all, he doesn't sound AT ALL like the sound he is known for.
There's no whiny falsetto, he sings mostly in chest voice and there are no hints for the "cheesy" pop he emrbaced later.

This album sounds very magical to me, kind of melancholic and very dark at times...I really like it so far. It's not as catchy as his later songs, I woudln't even call it pop music...maybe some sort of indie/soft rock.

There's a song called "negative fashion" which apperaed in his 2nd album...with the exact same melody but the lyrics are entirely different. That's probably his method of songwriting, melody first, lyrics after. It's very intersting to see how songwriters approach their songwriting in such a way, that they actually throw away the whole lyrics and just take the melody as the most important factor.

Anyway, if someone is intersted I posted the link to the album...for me it's sounds like he went through the opposite direction most pop songwriters go through.
Usually the first albums are more high pitched in terms of vocals and more lively, then usually at their 40's they tend to write songs in lower pitch and with somewhat more "serious" tone.
Seems like he began in one direction, and for his album with bad day decided to through that away and adopted a more commerical , catchy sound.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... yICL7ZRzCn

[mumpcake]

On a related topic, I'm still baffled by how the Spin Doctors were inescapable in 1993 and totally disappeared the next year. I think I heard the radio stations play one track from their follow up album a total of one time

[wagtunes]

One hit wonders. Why? That's a question that nobody is going to be able to answer definitively. History is littered with them. In some cases, their one hit was just one of those very rare and unusual songs, like Daddy Dewdrop's "Chick A Boom." In other cases, the group or artist retired soon afterwards. Happened to Terry Jacks who had "Seasons In The Sun." He hated performing so he quit the business. In other cases, the group literally died such as Bill Chase who was killed in a plane crash.

The reasons go on and on and on. And then, there are some one hit wonders that really aren't one hit wonders. Go look up some of these one hit wonders who had a moderate hit and then had many other songs that charted but just never got much air play. The distance between the hit and the flops wasn't really that great because the hit wasn't all that big to begin with.

Then there's the group with the big hit but then their next song sounds like the hit and people are already tired of it so the next song does nothing. This is true with a lot of novelty songs. First time it's a novelty. Second time it's boring.

Listening to pop radio since 1964, I have seen it all. There is simply no answer to this question that applies to everybody.

[jacqueslacouth]

Ignored

[foosnark]

I was going to say something like that, except that I've never even heard "Despacito" so I'm really not the person to consult on popular (???) music.

[jsp1979]

Daniel Powter's "Bad Day" was used weekly on American Idol during some of it's highest rated seasons in the U.S. I think that's why that randomly got traction on U.S. radio at least.

[BertKoor]

Each OneDayFly has his/her unique story...

[Deep Purple]

'One hit wonder' needs some perspective though - in some countries an artist is considered to have only had one hit when they have a long history of hits in other countries (or sometimes in the rest of the world).

One that comes to mind is Gary Numan - he is considered to be a one hit wonder here in the US (Cars was his only hit here), yet he has had a long career in the UK, has had more than one hit in a number of countries, and to my knowledge still tours around the world to support album releases.

Probably a lot more acts fall into this category too.

[BertKoor]

Ironically, Daniel Powter's next albums were called "Under the Radar" and "Turn On the Lights".

[hma]

Something about success and expectations to repeat it maybe

[samsam]

'One hit wonder' needs some perspective though - in some countries an artist is considered to have only had one hit when they have a long history of hits in other countries (or sometimes in the rest of the world).

One that comes to mind is Gary Unman - he is considered to be a one hit wonder here in the US (Cars was his only hit here), yet he has had a long career in the UK, has had more than one hit in a number of countries, and to my knowledge still tours around the world to support album releases.

Probably a lot more acts fall into this category too.

Gary Unman is a close friend of Ian Igllan

[Deep Purple]

'One hit wonder' needs some perspective though - in some countries an artist is considered to have only had one hit when they have a long history of hits in other countries (or sometimes in the rest of the world).

One that comes to mind is Gary Unman - he is considered to be a one hit wonder here in the US (Cars was his only hit here), yet he has had a long career in the UK, has had more than one hit in a number of countries, and to my knowledge still tours around the world to support album releases.

Probably a lot more acts fall into this category too.

Gary Unman is a close friend of Ian Igllan

So you caught my uatocorrect problem...