\n<\/p>\n
After previously picking our Big 4 one-hit wonders for the ’70s<\/a> and ’80s<\/a>, we’re turning our attention to the 1990s.<\/p>\n This was an era that delivered the alternative revolution, spearheaded by grunge. But most of the artists who harnessed the “Seattle sound” fell into one of two categories: multiple hit success stories (Nirvana<\/a>, Pearl Jam<\/a>, Soundgarden<\/a>, etc) or no-hit wonders. As such, the ’90s biggest one-hit wonders arrived with the new wave of acts that came after<\/em> grunge in the mid-to-late part of the decade.<\/p>\n This post-grunge era saw an assortment of styles, including Britpop, the return of ska and a rise in singer-songwriters. “Pepper” by Butthole Surfers, “The Impression That I Get” by Mighty Mighty Bosstones and Semisonic’s “Closing Time” are just some of the notable tracks that didn’t quite make our list.<\/p>\n So who are the Big 4 of ’90s One-Hit Wonders? Read below to find out.<\/p>\n English rock group the Verve scored a massive worldwide hit in 1997 with \u201cBitter Sweet Symphony” \u2013 not that they had anything to show for it. The song infamously sampled an instrumental version of the Rolling Stones<\/a> song “The Last Time.” The Verve got permission from Decca records to use the sample, but not the owner of the song\u2019s publishing rights \u2013 former Rolling Stones\u2019 manager, Allen Klein. Here\u2019s where the legal battles begin.<\/p>\n Klein demanded that he receive 100% of the publishing rights – meaning anytime \u201cBitter Sweet Symphony was used in a TV show, film or commercial, he\u2019d pocket the profits. With no other alternative, the Verve agreed. Frontman Richard Ashcroft received only a $1,000 payment despite having written the song\u2019s famous lyrics.<\/p>\n Speaking of lyrics, Ashcroft crafted \u201cBitter Sweet Symphony around themes of disillusionment, greed and the pitfalls of fame.<\/p>\n \u201cIt’s just that sense of how it’s very difficult to be an artistic person in a business like this,\u201d he explained to Songfacts<\/em><\/a> in 2018. \u201cPeople have been sold a lottery dream in life that money solves everyone’s problems, and then suddenly you’re looking at people and you’re thinking: “I know they need X but if I give X then that relationship that should have died years ago is going to carry on and spoil.” It opens up a myriad of things that you would never normally be thinking about, responsibilities on a new level.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBitter Sweet Symphony\u201d reached the Top 10 in 11 different countries and peaked at No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100. While the Verve enjoyed further success in the U.K., they never\u00a0found commercial success again in America.<\/p>\n For years, Ashcroft insisted the dispute over \u201cBitter Sweet Symphony\u201d\u2019s publishing cost him millions of dollars. In 2019, the song rights were fully returned to him.<\/p>\n Most listeners have no idea that Chumbawumba \u2013 the British rock group behind \u201cTubthumping\u201d \u2013 was actually a staunchly political band (\u201ctubthumper\u201d is a slang word for politician). While most of their other songs challenged the government, this 1997 smash hit was purely a party song.<\/p>\n With lyrics about drinking a laundry list of booze, the track became a pub anthem that the world embraced. \u201cTubthumping\u201d reached the Top 10 in 18 different countries, as fans around the globe sang along to the famous chorus: \u201cI get knocked down \/ But I get up again \/ You’re never gonna keep me down.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n For the next few years, \u201cTubthumping\u201d was everywhere, but what\u2019s even more impressive is the song\u2019s staying power. It\u2019s been in a long list of TV shows, including Dawson\u2019s Creek<\/em>, Malcolm in the Middle,<\/em> How I Met Your Mother<\/em>, Scream Queens<\/em> and Family Guy<\/em>. It was even performed by Matt Damon (playing Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh) in a 2026 Saturday Night Live<\/em><\/a> sketch.<\/p>\n \u201cI still really like Tubthumping,\u201d guitarist Boff Whalley admitted to The Guardian<\/em><\/a>. \u201cI don\u2019t feel embarrassed by it at all. I know some bands who hate their songs being popular, but I just think, \u2018Get off your high horse!\u2019 The whole point of art is to have an audience.\u201d<\/p>\n New Radials are a fascinating case study of \u201890s one-hit-wonderdom. The band was actually the project of one man, singer-songwriter Gregg Alexander, who, by the mid-\u201990s, had already been signed and dropped from several major labels. The rocker was disheartened by the music industry\u2019s obsession with fads, so much so that he wrote a whole song about staying true to yourself. Naturally, it became an unexpected hit.<\/p>\n Recorded with a makeshift band that he dubbed the New Radicals, \u201cYou Get What You Give\u201d reached No. 1 on the Alternative chart and landed in the Billboard Top 40. “I enjoy watching it climb up the chart,” the singer remarked to Billboard<\/em> magazine in 1998. “I’m ready to be carted around like a piece of meat. You have to cut a deal with the machine and be thrown to the wolves.”<\/p>\n That deal wouldn\u2019t last long. Tired of music industry politics and disillusioned with his sudden fame, Alexander abruptly disbanded New Radicals in 1999.<\/p>\n The legacy of \u201cYou Get What You Give\u201d has long exceeded the band that created it. The song has been featured in such films as Click<\/em> and Surf\u2019s Up<\/em>, as well as the TV shows Daria<\/em>, Community<\/em> and Pam & Tommy<\/em>. In 2021, Alexander reunited New Radicals and performed at the presidential inauguration of Joe Biden. Then, in 2026, the group released its first new music in 28 years \u2013 so there\u2019s still a chance they\u2019ll get to hit number 2.<\/p>\n It surely was a dream for New York\u2019s Marcy Playground when the duo shot to fame thanks to their 1997 single \u201cSex and Candy.\u201d The song\u2019s originas could be traced back close to a decade, as singer John Wozniak recalled to Songfacts<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cI was dating a girl and she was going to Bryn Mawr College and it’s where my dad teaches. And I was probably 17 or something like that and she was like 18,\u201d he explained. \u201cBut we were in her dorm room, and her roommate came in and she saw us there, and she was like, ‘Oh, it smells like sex and candy in here.’ And I always remembered that. And that was back in the late ’80s.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAnd then when I was writing the song and I was coming up with all these weird disco-era references that I was making up, ‘platform double suede’ and all that business,\u201d he continued. \u201cI was like, ‘hey, let’s just throw in that phrase that’s been sticking in my head for the last five years or whatever.’ So I wrote that song in ’92, ’93, somewhere around there. And it didn’t really come out until ’97. That song had been at least in my consciousness since the late ’80s.\u201d<\/p>\n With a captivating lilt and intoxicating lyrics, \u201cSex and Candy\u201d became a global success. The song set a then-record by spending 15 weeks at No. 1 on the alternative chart and peaked at No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100. Even back in 1998, Wozniak was keenly aware of his band\u2019s precipitous position.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t want to be thought of as the new Milli Vanilli,\u201d he admitted at the time<\/a>, alluding to one of the \u201890s ost infamous one-hit wonders. \u201cIt\u2019s not about hits, it\u2019s about traveling and playing your songs and living your life. Hits last a few months, but life is forever.\u201d<\/p>\n Indeed, Marcy Playground never scored another hit, but it has remained a steadily touring band since their commercial heights.<\/p>\n Any discussion of the Top 100 ’90s Rock Albums will have to include some grunge, and this one is no different.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Gallery Credit: UCR Staff<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nThe Verve, ‘Bitter Sweet Symphony’<\/h3>\n
Chumbawumba, ‘Tubthumping’<\/h3>\n
New Radicals, ‘You Get What You Give’<\/h3>\n
Marcy Playground, ‘Sex and Candy’<\/h3>\n
Top 100 ’90s Rock Albums<\/h2>\n