One Hit Wonderful

### *Take what you can get.*

*One Hit Wonderful* is the second studio album by *The Dropouts,* released on October 20th, 1995. The album focuses on the band's frustration with their song *Dope Nose* getting incredibly famous, making the band a 'One Hit Wonder' despite the success of their previous album. While keeping much of the same upbeat tempos and sound that *Party Down!* had, lots of the songs have more serious and pessimistic lyrics, as they express their frustration with the music industry - easily being seen in songs like *Don't Start A Band,* and *Nothin'.* This album also introduces the band's tendency to experiment with different styles and genres, seen in songs like *The Greatest Man That Ever Lived,* which switches between many different styles within it's almost 6 minute runtime, *Why Can't We Be Friends?,* a song that sports an oldschool jazz type vibe, and finally *American Gigolo* and *Take Control* which lean into the heavy guitars that were heard on *Dope Nose.*

## The Inspiration

*One Hit Wonderful* focuses on the band's frustration with their "One Hit Wonder" status they had gained from the success of *Dope Nose.* The idea for the album was thought of near the end of their first tour, when Nick Barnett wrote the song *One Hit Wonderful*. After showing the song to his bandmates, they decided to keep going in the direction the song leaned into, ready to write a darker album poised in a negative view of the music industry.

## Production

Production of *One Hit Wonderful* began production shortly after the end of the band's commission period, where they were booking private parties and shows, early in the year of 1995. Jeremy Hunter was brought back to produce their second album, as they had all grown to trust him after his help on *Party Down!.*

The production of *One Hit Wonderful* was a bit more difficult than the production of the band's freshmen album, as they had to figure out how to express what they were trying to without being dropped or censored by their record label. Jeremy was there to make sure they didn't push to far with their songs, but they were still able to get away with quite a bit, easily seen in songs like *Don't Start A Band* and *The Kids Don't Like It.*

 For *One Hit Wonderful*, all of the original band members return - Nick Barnett, Scott Wilson, Nikki Brown, Jimmy Rodriguez, and Nathan Taylor. Despite not getting the fame and popularity they had hoped with their first album, they were all still determined to keep going and keep making music. A large portion of the songs on this album were again written by Nick, as with being the frontman of the band, he dealt with the idea and questions and comments about being a One Hit Wonder the most out of all the members. This is what lead him to write the titular song *One Hit Wonderful* in late 1994.

Nick Barnett wrote the songs *Nothin', Don't Start A Band, You Don't Know, My Imaginary Friend,* and *One Hit Wonderful* all by himself, and all based on his views and interactions with the music industry and family life now that they had gotten somewhat famous. Scott Wilson chimed in with songs of his own, wanting to try and capture the feel that *Dope Nose* had but with more serious lyrics. Scott wrote *American Gigolo, Take Control,* and *Love Explosion* all on his own, while the songs *The Greatest Man That Ever Lived, S.R., Burntd Jamb,* and *The Long Run* were once again written by the duo of Scott and Nick.

The songs *Why Can't We Be Friends?* and *The Kids Don't Like It* were originally drafted by Jeremy Hunter, who had them add some more light hearted songs to please the radio stations and the record company. Nikki Brown and Nathan Taylor both helped finish the lyrics and sound for *Why Can't We Be Friends?*, with Nathan coming up with the old school Jazz sound since they wanted to try some experimental songs, and Nikki had been pressing for a "big campfire sing along" song since they were working on *Bad First Date.* For *The Kids Don't Like It,* Nick and Jimmy both helped finish the lyrics with Jeremy. Nick wanted the lyrics to imply the same themes of the album, and Jimmy helped keep them goofier and lighter. After finishing the lyrics, they decided the song should use the upbeat ska sound they used a lot, but heavier than usual, combining different genres that they played in.

## The Road to *One Hit Wonderful*

Much like *Party Down!,* they had a small amount of singles released for their second album. They were often more focused on getting the entire album done rather than singles, which led to a small amount of singles despite the albums packed 14 song tracklist.

The first single released was the self titled *One Hit Wonderful,* fitting with it begin the first song written for the album, despite falling in the second to last spot on the tracklist. The single was released on May 15th, 1995, debuting on the *Talkie McTalkerson* show, where the band made a surprise appearance as that episode's musical guest. They opened up with *Dope Nose,* and then make a smooth transition into *One Hit Wonderful,* easily showing what the song was truly about. The single managed to get some traction as the public reacted to how the band felt about their number one song, many people saying that they should be happy with the fame they had. Despite that, the song made it onto the Top 50 Singles for the month.

The second single released was *Don't Start A Band,* released on July 4th, 1995. Debuted at a live show at a small fourth of July Festival, they announced the name of the album along with it - something that soon became a tradition for the second singles released by the band. Many people had a negative reaction to the song, many of those who had dreams of becoming rock stars thought the song was rude and in poor taste, saying that they weren't appreciating the fame they had gotten from their first album. However, the single made it clear that the album's tone would be very different than *Party Down!* and the hardcore following the band had gotten loved the song, and the harder ska punk sound it had with it. Many fans also sent cards and letters into the band, requesting that they don't break up, even though they had made no hints that they would be.

The final single for the album was *Why Can't We Be Friends?,* pushed for by Jeremy Hunter who wanted one single to please the record company and radio stations, it was the most corporate friendly song on the album, while digging a bit deeper showed the song was about the band wondering why the rest of their songs other than *Dope Nose* weren't good enough for the public. The band originally wanted *Nothin'* to be the last single, but agreed with Jeremy in fear of being dropped by their record label. The single was released on November 8th, 1995 - the only single not debuted live, but rather with a music video like *Dope Nose* had. The music video was basically what Nikki had described the song to be, a big sing along between the band members, sitting on the stairs up to a New York apartment building, playing with makeshift instruments on a hot day in the summer. The single was praised for it's new sound, and many liked the sing along aspect of it. It became very successful, but not to the degree of *Dope Nose.*

## Reception

*One Hit Wonderful* was released on October 20th, 1995, exactly one year after the release of *Party Down!* further expressing the subject matter of the new album. According to Nathan Taylor, "We planned to release *One Hit Wonderful* the same day as *Party Down!* in an effort to show that the problems expressed in this album are all about the follow up to our first one. We also wanted people to go 'Oh it's been one year since *Party Down!* I should listen to it again, oh wait there's a new album??"

The reaction to *One Hit Wonderful* was a mixed bag, as many fans from the first album didn't like the pessimistic tone the new one had in comparison to *Party Down!* while many critics praised the bravery of the band to make a record that was so critical of the music industry. While the general response was mixed in the middle, the album itself was a financial success, allowing the band to keep making music and to go on a second tour, that was much like their first tour but stretched further across the US, making stops in many states and cities they hadn't before. This tour was named *Fifteen Minutes of Fame* after the line "Fourteen minutes and fifty nine seconds until our fifteen minutes of fame" from the song *One Hit Wonderful.*

## Tracklist

1. *The Greatest Man That Ever Lived -* Written by Nick Barnett and Scott Wilson
2. *American Gigolo -* Written by Scott Wilson
3. *Nothin' -* Written by Nick Barnett
4. *Don't Start A Band -* Written by Nick Barnett
5. *Take Control -* Written by Scott Wilson
6. *The Kids Don't Like It -* Written by Jeremy Hunter, Nick Barnett, and Jimmy Rodriguez
7. *You Don't Know -* Written by Nick Barnett
8. *My Imaginary Friend -* Written by Nick Barnett
9. *Why Can't We Be Friends? -* Written by Jeremy Hunter, Nikki Brown, and Nathan Taylor
10. *S.R.* - Written by Nick Barnett and Scott Wilson
11. *Burntd Jamb -* Written by Nick Barnett and Scott Wilson
12. *Love Explosion -* Written by Scott Wilson
13. *One Hit Wonderful -* Written by Nick Barnett
14. *The Long Run -* Written by Nick Barnett and Scott Wilson

## Fun Facts

- The reason the album has a 14 song tracklist is thanks to the songs that were added by Jeremy Hunter to please the record label, as well as being unable to decide which songs out of the 14 to cut. Since the album was already speaking out against the music industry, they decided to go forward with the 14 songs, even though it was unusual for an album.

- *The Long Run* was the last song to be written for the album, as Scott tried to help Nick see a more positive view on the situation they were in, as Nick was said to have the worst view on the whole thing.

- *The Greatest Man That Ever Lived* was largely written as an experiment, to see how it would sound to switch between different styles of music during one song. To make sure it wasn't too jarring the styles aren't too far apart and all use the same instruments and sounds, giving the song a sense of unity. The lyrics are about how Nick thought he should feel about *Dope Nose* and the fame that came with the song.

- *Don't Start A Band*  was written during a meeting about merchandise and record sales that Nick was bored in. Most of the lyrics are based on real events that happened to Nick, but he said he'd never name the names of people he was referencing in the lyrics.

- *My Imaginary Friend* was another song Nick wrote about a specific person, he says it's about someone he considered a childhood friend who tried to use Nick for his fame and money, and then left Nick after he refused to be used like that. He also refuses to name who it was.

- *S.R.* is about the band *Suburban Rhythm,* who Nick and Scott cite as one of their biggest inspirations even before they had written *Cheer Up!* The song is about them trying to figure out what caused the band to break up when it seemed like everything was going well for them - and also as a reflection on their own band.

- The album cover is a photo from the *Party Your House Down Tour,* when Jimmy Rodriguez had passed out after a show in the green room, with his glasses left on the ground. It was edited to include the album title later on.