One-Hit Wonders: 1970 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Shocking Blue

This song, written by Shocking Blue's guitarist Robbie van Leeuven, was later covered by Bananarama in 1986. It hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US for both Shocking Blue and Bananarama, but only managed number three in Shocking Blue's native Netherlands.

Answer: Tee Set

Like Shocking Blue, Tee Set also came from the Netherlands. "Ma Belle Amie" doesn't contain any Dutch, but it does have some French mixed in with English. It hit number five in the US in February 1970.

Answer: Jaggerz

Considering the popularity of rap music today, it may come as a surprise that "The Rapper" has nothing to do with performing music. This 1970 song's title refers to a man who seduces women with lies. "They call him the rapper"... "You know what he's after".

The lead singer, Donnie Iris, had a solo hit in 1980 with "Ah! Leah!", but missed being a three-time one-hit wonder by joining Wild Cherry after they released "Play that Funky Music" so though he sang it in concert, he did not sing it on the record.

Answer: Edison Lighthouse

Edison Lighthouse was a collection of sessions musicians, not an established touring band. Tony Macaulay, who wrote the hits "Build Me Up Buttercup", "(Last Night) I Didn't Get to Sleep at All", and "Don't Give Up on Us" for other musicians, wrote this song with Barry Mason, best known for writing "Delilah" for Tom Jones.

The lead singer Tony Burrows was a five-time one-hit wonder, singing lead on "My Baby Loves Lovin'" for White Plains, "Gimme Dat Ding" for the Pipkins, "Beach Baby" for The First Class, and "United We Stand" for the Brotherhood of Man. As a session musician, he claimed to sing background vocals on over 100 top 20 hits in the 1970s.

Answer: Norman Greenbaum

Reportedly Greenbaum was inspired to write the song after watching country gospel singers Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton sing on TV. While the lyrics are very clearly Christian in nature ("Gotta Have a Friend in Jesus"), Greenbaum actually was, and is, an Orthodox Jew. The song reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100.

Answer: The Marmalade

The Marmalade was an overnight sensation from Scotland, much in the way many groups are overnight sensations--they had many years of obscurity before they made it. They originally formed in 1961 as The Gaylords after a notorious Chicago street gang of the 1940s and 1950s.

They slowly gained a following in England in the early 1960s, then in 1966 after signing a recording contract, they decided to change their name and image, settling on The Marmalade. Four years later, they released their self-written song "Reflections of My Life", which is noted for, among other things, a "backwards" guitar solo--the solo was separately recorded, and then played back in reverse onto the record.

Answer: Mungo Jerry

The lead singer of British band Mungo Jerry, Ray Dorset, claimed he wrote the song in 15 minutes while taking a break from his job working for Timex. It is a fun, carefree song known for what is supposed to be the sound of a motorcycle driving by at the end.

In fact, the sound is a Triumph sports car revving its engine, as Mungo Jerry didn't have access to a motorcycle when they recorded the song.

Answer: Free

"All Right Now" hit number two in the UK and number four in the US.

While Free was a one-hit wonder, the people in it turned out to be more successful than the group. "All Right Now" was written by teenager Andy Fraser, who later played with John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and formed the group Sharks, and 20-year old Paul Rodgers, who later fronted Bad Company and then became the lead singer for Queen after Freddy Mercury died. Lead guitarist Paul Kossoff died young, but attracted enough attention in his short career to be named number 51 in Rolling Stone Magazine's "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time". Drummer Simon Kirke also played with Bad Company and Ringo Starr's All-Starr Band. The recording engineer, Roy Thomas Baker, became instrumental in developing Queen's sound. Not bad for a bunch of teenagers and twentysomethings in their first band.

Answer: R. Dean Taylor

One of the first great story songs of the 1970s, "Indiana Wants Me" is sung from the perspective of a man writing a final letter to his wife while on the run from the law for killing a man who insulted her. It ends with the sound effects of him in a shootout with the police.

R. Dean Taylor reportedly wrote the song after watching the movie "Bonnie and Clyde." The song hit number five on the Billboard Hot 100.

Answer: Bobby Bloom

"Montego Bay" was a hit worldwide, charting top 10 in the US, UK, Canada, and Australia. Though the song was recorded in a Calypso style and was about a town in Jamaica, Bloom and co-writer Jeff Berry were both purely American.

Bloom was a commercial jingle writer who also sang with the doo-wop group The Imaginations. One of the songs he wrote for another group, "Mony Mony" for Tommy James and the Shondells, was inspired by the bank Mutual of New York" (MONY).

Co-Writer Barry wrote several hits for other musicians, including "River Deep, Mountain High", "Do Wah Diddy Diddy", "Be My Baby", "Leader of the Pack", and "Chapel of Love".