I know I’m biased because I grew up then, but the ’90s were full of some absolutely incredible music. With the rise and fall of the Seattle grunge scene,the unexpected mainstream success of nu-metal, and the boy band explosion, the decade saw some mind-blowing innovation that laid some of the fundamental groundwork in pop music that can still be heard today, particularly inthe diverse subgenres of alternative rock.
Yet some of the best bands of the ’90s – and certainly some of the most immediately recognizable – are also some of the most underrated or misunderstood. The decade’s hectic musical pace meant that listeners' tastes changed quickly, andmany fantastic artists were left behind in the dust of the zeitgeist’s attention deficit. So, in the interest of shining a light onsome underrated musicians who deserved more attention, here are 10 one-hit-wonder artists who deserved at least one more single near the top of theBillboardcharts.
10Silverchair
Their Only Hit: “Tomorrow” (1995)
Silverchair formed in Australia in 1994, drawing heavily from such legends of the Seattle sound as Nirvana and Soundgarden. They only ever had one hit on the USBillboardcharts – 1994’s “Tomorrow,” a mournful (and admittedly mildly formulaic) grunge wail that clawed up to the top of the Album Rock and Modern Rock Tracks charts and even as high as #28 on the Hot 100 Airplay chart. But that was it for Silverchair in the US;aside from their inclusion on a few late-90s film soundtracks likeMallratsandSpawn,the band never caught on.
The members of Silverchair were barely 15 years old when they released “Tomorrow” in 1994.
Yet, in their home country of Australia, Silverchair continued to have major success.Frogstomp, the album “Tomorrow” was rereleased on in 1995, hung on the Australian charts through the end of 1996, and the band was a frequent recipient of Australian Recording Industry Association Awards all the way through 2007. While the US may have seen Silverchair as just a bunch of young flash-in-the-pan grunge kids, their legacy in the Australian music scene shows thatthey had more to offer than American audiences were allowed to give them credit for.
9Crash Test Dummies
Their Only Hit: “Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm” (1994)
Another international group that didn’t get fair shrift on the US charts, Canadian indie-rockers Crash Test Dummies didn’t seriously chart until their 1993 single “Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm” fromGod Shuffled His Feet.This mournfully catchy mumble-folk song about isolation made its way to number 4 on the US Hot 100(and did even better in the UK and Australia) thanks to significant attention from adult alternative radio stations – and got another shot in the arm the following year when “Weird Al” Yankovic parodied it with his song “Headline News.”
But while “Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm” might have an infectiously hummable chorus, it’s far from Crash Test Dummies' best song, or even the best song onGod Shuffled His Feet. That album’s title track, as well as the single “Afternoons & Coffeespoons,” are the Dummies at their finest, both lyrically and musically. Similarly, their debut albumThe Ghosts That Haunt Meis fantastic and folksy, andgenuinely worth listening to from cover to cover.
8Beck
His Only Hit: “Loser” (1994)
It might be surprising to learn that Beck – the darling of the ’90s alt-rock weirdo scene – is technically a one-hit wonder, butdespite his prodigious musical output over the past three decades, he’s never replicated the wild success of 1994’s “Loser,” the song that had everyone saying “soy un perdedor.“Obviously, his career never particularly suffered from this detail — he’s won eight of the 22 Grammys he’s been nominated for, performed onSaturday Night Livesix times, and was even the focal guest star for a fantastic episode ofFuturama’s third season.
Beck’s ubiquity in the alternative rock world stands in fascinating contrast to his nominal lack of mainstream success, andmakes an interesting case for why “one-hit wonder” isan increasingly toothless label. Plenty of one-hit wonders are flash-in-the-pan groups that disappear after their success wanes, but Beck simply continued on innovating and creating some of the catchiest, most idiosyncratic fusion of folk and hip-hop around.
7Better Than Ezra
Their Only Hit: “Good” (1995)
Louisiana alt-rockers Better Than Ezra independently released their first album,Deluxe, in 1993; after the band caught the attention of Elektra Records thanks to some radio play, they signed with Elektra and rereleasedDeluxein February 1995, andby the end of April, the band was at the top of the charts.Deluxewas a platinum record by the end of ‘95, and their lead single “Good” had hit the top of the Modern Rock Tracks chart, and was #2 for that category inBillboard’s year-end roundup.
Unfortunately, Better Than Ezra weren’t able to repeat their success, although their second album,Friction Babyhad its lead single briefly creep into the Modern Rock top 10. Despite that lack of commercial success, the band continued to experiment with their sound, drawingincreasing amounts of influence from their Louisiana rootson later albums, resulting in songs like “Desperately Wanting,” “A Southern Thing,” and “WWOZ,” all of which are at least as catchy as — if not better than — “Good.”
6The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
Their Only Hit: “The Impression That I Get” (1997)
Few things feel as unimpeachably ’90s as ska punk, particularly the brand played by New England brass aficionados the Mighty Mighty Bosstones.Let’s Face It, the band’s fifth album and the home of hit single “The Impression That I Get,” was a serious hit in 1997, building off the band’s cameo appearance and soundtrack contributions to1995’s hit filmClueless. “The Impression That I Get” peaked at number one in the US and Canada, and was still#3 on the US Modern Rock Tracks at the end of the year.
Yet all of that success never took the Bosstones anywhere, except a quick stop-over at Sesame Street for the 1998 TV specialElmopalooza, to which they contributed a musical number. ButLet’s Face It’s followup, 2000’sPay Attention, failed to live up to its name’s call to action, andno single since has charted at all. Yet, the Bosstone’s early catalog is full of some phenomenal third-wave ska hits, like “Toxic Toast” off of 1994’sQuestion the Answers, or 1991’sWhere’d You Go?EP, which features a phenomenal cover of Aerosmith’s “Sweet Emotion.”
5Chumbawamba
Their Only Hit: “Tubthumping” (1997)
In the ’90s, some songs were utterly inescapable, and Chumbawamba’s “Tubthumping” was one of them. It hit number six on theBillboardHot 100 (and number one on the Adult Top 40, Mainstream Top 40, and Modern Rock Tracks charts), and was number one in Australia, Canada, Ireland, Italy, and New Zealand, and has seen use in films, commercials, sports events, and political rallies ever since. Yetthe song stands in odd contrast to the rest of the band’s 30-year career.
From their founding in ‘82, Chumbawamba were a staunchly anarcho-punk band, with much of their early work focusing on lampooning the hypocrisy that was rampant in British politics and social movements at the time. They also experimented with folk music, like on 1988’sEnglish Rebel Songs 1381-1914, and alsowent for Metallica’s throat with “Torturing James Hetfield"in 2010. At either extreme of their career, Chumbawamba had tight, catchy lyrics with poignant messages that, while maybe not always in tune with mainstream tastes,deserved more attention from those with the ears to appreciate their sound.
4Eve 6
Their Only Hit: “Inside Out” (1998)
Eve 6 is still absolutely relevant to the modern alternative rock scene — in no small part thanks to frontman Max Collins being one of the funniest people on Bluesky. Yet all the way back in the 90s, and even still today, Eve 6 as a band was known for only one thing: beingthe band behind that “heart in a blender” song. That song, “Inside Out,” was only one of the multiple quality alt-rock bangers on the band’s self-titled 1998 debut.
While Eve 6 did have decent success with “Here’s to the Night,” a 2001 single off their second albumHorrorscope, that only made it up to number 33 on theBillboardAlternative Airplay chart, which isa far cry from the four non-consecutive weeks “Inside Out” sat on the top of the same chart. Yet non-single songs from bothHorrorscopeandEve 6were both fantastic, with a kind of brilliant lyricism rarely seen on the poppier end of the alt-rock spectrum
3Fiona Apple
Her Only Hit: “Criminal” (1997)
It’s criminal that"Criminal” is the only song Fiona Apple has ever gotten onto theBillboardHot 100(and doubly so that it only peaked at number 21 there). “Criminal” is an incredible song – easily the best off ofTidal, her debut album – but in the nearly 30 years since its release, Apple has continued to produce album after album of phenomenal baroque pop hits.
Fascinatingly, all five of Apple’s studio albums have reached the top 20 of theBillboard200, which implies that the issue is thatApple’s music has complexities that are best appreciated through listening to albums as a wholeinstead of being something radio-friendly. Yet the success of “Criminal,” and of other artists since with equally baroque musical styles such as Florence Welch, means there’s absolutely an audience out there, even if it’s just more burnt out millennial theatre kids like me.
2Harvey Danger
Their Only Hit: “Flagpole Sitta” (1998)
“Flagpole Sitta,” with its nearly nonsensical lyrics, upbeat pop-punk swing, and generally implied condemnation of social norms, is a truly iconic ’90s hit, and yet Harvey Danger never got the chance to follow it up and build any momentum as a band. Followup albumKing James Versionhad some small success in 2000 with its lead single, “Sad Sweetheart of the Rodeo,” a fantastically absurd ditty that had everything going for it that “Flagpole Sitta” did, but thanksto bungling by the record label, the album was a critical failure.
Harvey Danger only released one more album, 2005’sLittle by Little…, which was made available for sale but also released for free by the band on their website, in part likely as a cynical response toKing James’ flop. Yet all three of those albums, although far from perfect, are stuffed to the brim with brilliant songwriting, cutting lyrics with a surprisingly literary bent, and unquestionably catchy riffs. At the very least,Where Have All The Merrymakers Gone?in its entiretyshould be required listening for anyone wanting to better understand the best things about the ’90s.
1Lit
Their Only Hit: “My Own Worst Enemy” (1999)
Orange County pop-punks Lit had one of the most iconic songs of 1999;“My Own Worst Enemy,” with its unmistakable intro riff, spent five months at the top of theBillboardHot 100, and defined the sound of the summerthat year (at least, if you listened to alternative radio or lived in any remotely urbanized part of California). There was no way any band could follow up on that kind of organic success, sadly, and Lit never climbed half so high in the charts again, forever leaving them one ofpop-punk’s greatest one-hit wonders.
However, Lit’s legacy proves the band had more than one hit in them.A Place in the Sun, the album “My Own Worst Enemy” was on, wasa foundational album in the evolution of pop-punk and its successor genresin the 2000s and beyond; it not only influenced Lit’s labelmates Eve 6 and their 2000 albumHorrorscope, but also later bands like the All-American Rejects. While neither ofA Place in the Sun’s other singles made much of a splash critically, Lit’s contributions to the evolution of music are undeniable.
