20:42Oldies Music · 1976 · One-Hit Wonders1960s One-Hit Wonders That Ruled, Then Vanished
Episode: 10 One-Hit Wonders That Ruled the 1960s Then Vanished Forever
From Sora Music Rewind · 23 min ·
About These 1960s One-Hit Wonders
The 1960s one-hit wonders on this list came from almost everywhere: a Belgian convent, a Michigan garage band, a cramped London flat, a secretary's desk in Nashville. Each reached the top of the American charts or came very close, and then the people behind it slipped out of the spotlight.
This countdown follows our episode from #10 to #1. Chart positions and dates were checked against Billboard records and other reliable sources.
The Countdown: 10 One-Hit Wonders That Ruled the 1960s
#10: Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye — Steam (1969)
The band called Steam did not exist when this record was made. It was the work of three old bandmates from Connecticut: Paul Leka, Gary DeCarlo and Dale Frashuer. They needed a quick B-side for a DeCarlo single called "Sweet Laura Lee."
They dusted off an old tune and filled it out with that famous "na na" chant. Leka played keyboards, DeCarlo sang lead, and the drums were looped from one of DeCarlo's earlier recordings. By DeCarlo's account, they finished around five in the morning.
Mercury Records liked the throwaway better and made it the A-side. It replaced the Beatles' "Come Together" at number one on December 6, 1969, and held on for two weeks. A hired touring group, none of whom had played on it, took it on the road.
Chicago White Sox fans began chanting it in 1977, and organist Nancy Faust made it a ballpark tradition. DeCarlo died in June 2017 at 75.
#9: Wipe Out — The Surfaris (1963)
The Surfaris were teenagers from Glendora, California, recording at Paul Buff's small Pal studio in Cucamonga. Their planned single was "Surfer Joe," and they wrote "Wipe Out" almost on the spot to fill the other side.
The wild laugh at the start belongs to the band's manager, Dale Smallin. The real star is drummer Ron Wilson, whose pounding solo carries the record.
In 1963 "Wipe Out" reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100, while "Surfer Joe" stalled at number 62. It returned in 1966 at number 16, and in 1987 the Fat Boys and the Beach Boys took it to number 12. Ron Wilson died in 1989 at just 44.
#8: Incense and Peppermints — Strawberry Alarm Clock (1967)
The voice on this psychedelic hit belongs to Greg Munford, a 16-year-old friend of the band. Producer Frank Slay was unhappy with the vocals, so Munford stepped up to the microphone, though he never became a member.
The music grew from an instrumental by keyboardist Mark Weitz, with a bridge from guitarist Ed King. Slay credited the song to John Carter and Tim Gilbert, and Weitz and King never received songwriting credit.
On November 25, 1967, it replaced Lulu's "To Sir With Love" at number one, and a week later the Monkees took over. The band appeared in the 1968 film Psych-Out, and its follow-up, "Tomorrow," reached number 23.
#7: Harper Valley PTA — Jeannie C. Riley (1968)
Tom T. Hall wrote this story song after singer Margie Singleton asked for something like "Ode to Billie Joe." He drew on a childhood memory from Kentucky of a mother who stood up to the local school board. In the song, a single mother scolded by the PTA answers by naming the secrets of her judges.
Jeannie C. Riley was working as a secretary for Nashville songwriter Jerry Chesnut when she recorded it. The single debuted at number 81, jumped to number 7, and reached number one on September 21, 1968. It also topped the country chart, the first single by a woman to top both, and sold more than six million copies.
Riley won a Grammy in March 1969 but never returned to the pop Top 40. It took 13 years for Dolly Parton's "9 to 5" to repeat the double. Riley, born in 1945, is 80.
#6: Dominique — The Singing Nun (1963)
Jeanine Deckers was a Dominican nun in Belgium who wrote songs for her community. Recording as Soeur Sourire, "Sister Smile," she sang this cheerful tribute to Saint Dominic, founder of her order, entirely in French.
"Dominique" reached number one on December 7, 1963, and stayed four weeks, the only Belgian single ever to top the Hot 100. President Kennedy had been killed 15 days earlier, and a gentle song suited the national mood.
Deckers left the convent in 1967, and nothing she released later caught on. She died in 1985.
#5: 96 Tears — ? and the Mysterians (1966)
This garage-rock classic came from young men in Bay City and Saginaw, Michigan, children of Mexican migrant farmers. Their singer, Rudy Martinez, went by "?" and liked to say his soul came from Mars.
Released on the tiny Pa-Go-Go label and helped by local radio, the record reached number one on October 29, 1966. That buzzing riff came from Frank Rodriguez on a Vox Continental organ. The follow-up, "I Need Somebody," reached number 22, and the band never came close again.
#4: Telstar — The Tornados (1962)
The Telstar satellite went into orbit on July 10, 1962, and soon carried the first public live television pictures across the Atlantic. London producer Joe Meek named a new tune after it and recorded it in his home studio, a flat above a leather-goods shop on Holloway Road.
Played by the Tornados, its eerie keyboard sound seemed beamed from space. It topped the British chart for five weeks, then reached number one in America on December 22, 1962, the first American number one by a British group. Their only other American chart entry stopped at number 63, and the satellite itself went silent in February 1963.
The Top 3
The final three are revealed in the episode.
Watch the countdown to find out — or tap below to read them now.
#3: Stranger on the Shore — Acker Bilk (1961)
Acker Bilk, a clarinetist from Somerset known for his bowler hat, striped waistcoat and goatee, wrote this melody for his young daughter and called it "Jenny." It was renamed when it became the theme of a BBC children's drama serial.
With his husky clarinet over a string chorale, it was Britain's biggest-selling single of 1962. On May 26, 1962, it reached number one on the Hot 100, the first British recording ever to do so. Bilk, who as a boy lost two front teeth in a school fight, died in 2014 at 85.
#2: In the Year 2525 — Zager and Evans (1969)
Nebraska songwriter Rick Evans wrote this song in 1964. Years later he and Denny Zager recorded it in Odessa, Texas, and released it on their own small Truth label. Regional airplay drew RCA, which issued it nationally in 1969.
The song leaps forward a thousand years at a time toward a gloomy, machine-run future. It spent six weeks at number one starting July 12, 1969, and Neil Armstrong walked on the moon in the middle of that run.
It also topped the British chart, but the follow-up missed the Hot 100. For years they were the only act to top charts on both sides of the Atlantic and never chart again. Evans died in 2018; Zager, now 82, builds guitars in Lincoln, Nebraska.
#1: Last Kiss — J. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers (1964)
Wayne Cochran wrote and first recorded "Last Kiss" in 1961, and it went nowhere. Three years later J. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers, from San Angelo, Texas, tried again while teenage tragedy songs filled the radio.
The story is simple: a young couple, a dark road, a crash, one survivor. The record peaked at number two on November 7, 1964. Wilson never came close again, and he died in 1991. In 1999 Pearl Jam's version also peaked at number two, 35 years later.
What Makes a 1960s One-Hit Wonder?
Not every act here had only one chart record. A few managed a smaller follow-up. What they share is one song so big it defined them, while everything after it faded.
Many of these hits were accidents. Several began as B-sides nobody expected to matter, one came from a nun singing for her sisters, and one was sung by a teenager who was not even in the band.
Why These Songs Still Matter
These records keep turning up at ballparks, on oldies stations and in movies. A chant written to fill space still echoes through stadiums, and a gentle French hymn still brings back a hushed December.
That staying power is why 1960s one-hit wonders still matter more than sixty years on. Which of these songs takes you right back, and do you remember where you first heard it?
Sources and Further Reading
Topics in This Story
Your turn...
Do you remember all 10 hits? Which one was your favorite, and which artist do you wish had enjoyed more success?
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