TORCH Book at Lunchtime: One Hit Wonders.

Book at Lunchtime welcomed Associate Professor Sarah Hill of St Peter's College to discuss her book One-Hit Wonders described by one reviewer as "a fascinating look at the cultural and personal context around one-hit wonders, this collection deftly explains why some of these songs escaped obscurity - and makes excellent cases why others might be best left in the past"
The one-hit wonder has a long and storied history in popular music, exhorting listeners to dance, to teach the world to sing in perfect harmony, to ponder mortality, to get a job, to bask in the sunshine, or just to get up and dance again. Catchy, memorable, irritating, or simply ubiquitous, one-hit wonders capture something of the mood of a time. This collection provides a series of short, sharp chapters focusing on one-hit wonders from the 1950s to the present day, with a view toward understanding both the mechanics of success and the socio-musical contexts within which such songs became hits. Some artists included here might have aspired to success but only managed one hit, while others enjoyed lengthy, if unremarkable, careers after their initial chart success. Put together, these chapters provide not only a capsule history of popular music tastes, but also ruminations on the changing nature of the music industry and the mechanics of fame.