Whilst I was in Memphis I became a reporter for The Daily Helmsman newspaper for one semester. The University print newspaper had daily editions in both digital and print formats distributed across the city.
The Daily Helmsman
The Daily Helmsman
From zero to hero… then zero again?
By Luke Chapman
Inspired by the re-incarnation of the record breaking song “Three lions”, I thought it was an apt time to look into the rise and fall of chart music. Number one chart songs contain the ability to catapult artists to stardom, and then their ability to catapult artists into the chasm of the forgotten. On the hot topic (and to some, a profane topic) of “Three lions”, the song has been setting the charts alight over the month of July for obvious reasons. Aside from the accolade of the top spot this year, the song has recently broken two notable music records. The first of which being an incredible feat, the song is the first song in the UK to reach the top spot on four separate occasions with the same line up. Albeit the song does have the natural promotion of any national football competition, this is an incredible accomplishment regardless. The second record of which… The song also achieved the biggest chart drop in UK history. After England were booted from the competition, the song dropped a whopping 96 places after being at number one. This musical masterpiece/annoyance has achieved greatness and sold an incredible amount of copies, however, the “one hit wonders” of the industry are an interesting hot button topic. With the constantly changing face of the industry, mediums like streaming are always updating the demographics of music, and the means we need to take to maintain a healthy career.
The “one hit wonder” playlist on Spotify is a heavily featured part of Spotify, and with over 350,000 subscribers, I’m not ashamed to say, it's a great listen. But it’s aspects like these which are sadly an important part of the industry, with this particular example sometimes causing offence. Earlier this year, Azealia Banks discovered her song “212” in the aforementioned playlist, her rage ensued and she pledged to remove all of her music from the platform altogether. I for one cannot vouch for Banks, or her questionable persona, however I do believe she has the right to be enraged at this. After reaching chart success, she has been working for many years on various projects and tours, so to find that her years of work after “212” have been overlooked by one of the worlds largest music companies, I can imagine is indeed painful. Streaming companies such as Spotify are a crucial part in helping songs achieve greatness, so should they be allowed to use this term to shoot down the achievements of artists. Or is the “one hit wonder” term indeed a compliment? using the term “hit” surely implies that the artist has made a great achievement, is that better than receiving no success at all?
Achieving success for one song is by no means an easy task, if it was, all musicians would be having a considerably easier time. Many artists fight and struggle for years on end for any type of recognition, and some artists achieve greatness on their first ever single. Technically, this is all supposedly dependant on our talent and the quality of our songs, but for now we’ll overshoot that statement and save it for another week. The music industry allows for those with one great song to get their name heard, and to become more of a household name. This means when a follow up single arrives, they’re handed easier pickings to achieve higher sales. This really begs the question, does this mean the following material lacks in quality if it fails? Is someone actually talented if they can only produce one high quality piece of work? If your sudden conclusion to this is no, are artists such as 4 non blondes, Fatman Scoop, Sam and the Womp, Plain white T’s just to name a few, not talented. It's also down to ones opinion as to wether an artist is a one hit wonder. Robin Thicke had an entire album named “Blurred Lines” to coincide with the single which sold over 24,000 copies in the US. Along with this he had a follow up album one year later, surely someone out there enjoyed the albums and believed his other material had warrant (Even though his follow up album is thought as one of the biggest flops of all time).
Another aspect of the one hit wonder prospect is the money, although streaming has arguably some what taken the money out of a song, a number one hit is still worth its buck. It goes without saying this could then open more doors in a multitude of other avenues. On the streaming point, although songs may be worth less money, it has meant that a focus has been placed on the monetary aspect of a live show (to be explored further in another blog). A singer who’s song achieves chart success will most likely rush out a tour in the following months. This not only extends the legacy of the singer, but also helps to further cash in on their (possibly soon to be over) success. Most artists may become sanguine around their prospects, but sadly in many cases the tour ends, along with their money making potential as an artist. It’s abhorrently obvious that I’m not saying if someone has a hit they’re destined for doom, it just happens too often in my opinion.
Unfortunately there is a notable difference between sales patterns, and the genre of an artist. I don’t believe I’m far a miss to say that a producer type role has a considerably harder time to hold their name in the spotlight, compared to a singer. As previously mentioned, a singer can have a top ten single and then play Shepherds Bush Empire weeks later (Take Jamie Lawson for example). However a DJ/producer of the same calibre (for example Philip George) would still be stuck doing a nightclub tour of the UK for a pittance. Countless names such as M22, Camelphat, Gorgon City, John Gibbons and so many more have had hit songs that most would recognise, but unlike singer/ songwriters, they don’t have the guaranteed luxury of the big London gig. Unfortunately, it's always been a fact that a name in house music is forgotten twice as quick as a name in pop music. For example, Philip George and Hozier both achieved number two singles around the same time in 2014, however I can almost guarantee if it was one of those names you remember, it would be the latter.
The phrase “one hit wonder” may have quite the affect on defining an artist, but is it down to us to take this phrase and view it in a more positive light? Any talent is a talent, and success isn’t easy to come by. Surely five minutes of fame should be envied and sought after, rather than mocked and ridiculed?
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