The Ben Maynard Program
"Tell Your Story". Everyone has a story. Not just the famous. This is a guest driven program but when we are "guest free", It's just YOU and ME! I love music and we will talk a lot about it. Enjoy the ride!
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The Ben Maynard Program
EP. 103 "FRIDAY NIGHT LIVE!"....The One-Hit Wonder Time Machine
Ever wondered about the untold stories behind those songs that dominated the airwaves for just a fleeting moment? Friday Night Live takes you on a musical journey through decades of one-hit wonders, revealing the surprising connections and career trajectories that followed these brief moments of fame.
After catching up on recent events (including a nostalgic alumni gathering that kept the conversation flowing until midnight), I dive into what makes certain albums true masterpieces from start to finish. Boston's groundbreaking debut—engineered by MIT graduate Tom Scholz in his basement with custom-built equipment—stands as a testament to musical innovation, having sold 16 million copies despite never receiving a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nomination. Similarly, The Cars' first album packed nine tracks with six becoming certified hits, essentially creating a greatest hits collection on their first try.
The heart of our musical exploration celebrates one-hit wonders across the decades, but with a twist—uncovering how these seemingly isolated successes connect to the broader musical landscape. Did you know Shocking Blue's "Venus" found new life with Bananarama? Or that Jim Peterick of The Ides of March ("Vehicle") later formed Survivor and co-wrote "Eye of the Tiger"? From Free morphing into Bad Company after "All Right Now" to David Bowie penning "All the Young Dudes" for Mott the Hoople, these connections paint a richer picture of music history.
Some artists labeled as one-hit wonders actually had multiple chart successes—Don McLean followed "American Pie" with a hit cover of Roy Orbison's "Crying," while The Knack and Donnie Iris continued their success beyond their signature songs. Even Jim Steinman, Meat Loaf's primary songwriter, created nearly identical-sounding hits for Air Supply, Bonnie Tyler, and Barry Manilow all in 1983.
The Melort Challenge returns tonight—call in with music trivia that stumps me, and I'll take a shot of the worst-tasting liquor ever created as punishment. Join me next Saturday for a special live interview with Sheriff Chad Bianco, who's running for governor of California. Your questions and comments will be welcome during the stream!#tellyourstory #familymatters #thebenmaynardprogram #musiccommentary #musicstories #onehitwonders
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Hey, what is going on, people? How are you this evening? Welcome into the Ben Maynor program. Thanks for being here. Um, I know it's been a couple of weeks, right? Well, if you saw my uh video, I'm just hang on, I'm just fixing a couple of things right here. Yeah, just getting some stuff ready for the show tonight. I can't do it until we start recording, anyways. So listen, welcome in. It has been a couple of weeks. Yes, I'm aware of that. Um, and I'll I'll get into what uh why we skipped last week in just a minute. Um yeah. But first, a little bit of housekeeping to take care of, okay? How's that sound? As you know, this program is available wherever you get your podcasts. Just search the Ben Maynard program. Boom, it's right there. And subscribe to it, okay? The reason why I need you to subscribe is anytime a new episode drops, you'll get notification, okay? Uh, let's see. Secondly, if you can't resist some of this right here, and I know you can't because you're watching tonight and it's Friday night live. That means you're watching here on YouTube. Uh, so if you're doing so, thank you. But a couple things you have to do for me first. One, you have to subscribe to the channel, okay? Subscribe to the channel, and then hit the notification bell. All right. When you hit that notification bell, you check all or something like that. Then you get, again, notifications every time a new episode drops. All right. Then you have to give me a thumbs up, okay? I don't know, it has something to do with the algorithm, whatever. I don't care. Just give me a thumbs up. And then you have to leave a comment. I love your comments and I reply to all your comments. So just you got to do that for me, all right? Then uh let's see. Uh, last but not least, you got to follow me on Instagram, simply Ben Maynard program, all one word, or you can follow me on TikTok, the Ben Maynard program is the handle there. Okay. So there you go. Plenty of ways to take in this show for your dancing and listening pleasure. And with that, look, let's just get right into it. It's Friday Night Live. It's just you and me, and uh, we're gonna have some fun for a little bit, okay? Let's see. Um, before we uh before we dive in, I want to remind everybody next Saturday, Saturday, October the 4th, 9 a.m. Pacific time, Sheriff Chad Bianco will be sitting in that chair right there, live in this studio. And uh we're gonna have a great time. You don't want to miss that, okay? You don't want to miss it. He is uh running for governor of the state of California, and he's taken time out of his busy day, his busy schedule, and he's gonna sit right there in that chair and we're gonna have a go at it, and it's gonna be a lot of fun. I'm really, really looking forward to this. So you don't want to miss it. You want to be right here. And when when I tell you it's it's live, it means it's gonna be live here on YouTube. All right. Uh, we're streaming it live. Of course, once the show's over, once it's all been recorded, you know, it'll get posted and all that. But you want to be here live because we're gonna take questions and comments, all right? And I'll be able to see them on the screen and we'll have a go. All right, let's see. Um, oh, yes. So right here, you see it on the table. See it right here, the Melort. Melort Challenge is back. It's been a little bit, but the Melor Challenge is back tonight, and uh I'm not looking forward to it. So, what's the Melort Challenge? Some of you are gonna be first timers, some of you veterans, or some of you forgot, some of you don't know, whatever it might be. Malort is the worst-tasting liquor out there, all right. Um, it was uh created during prohibition in the Chicago area, and it was sold as medicine. That's how they got around prohibition, okay? And uh if you call in to the program tonight and you stump me with some music trivia, then I'm gonna take a shot of this malort. It's not fun, it's not good, it's really, really bad. And as usual, I have my Mr. Spock shot glass right here with a nasty bean-boozled bean in the bottom of it. And it may have been a while since the last time we've done a Melort challenge, but this shot glass has not left the studio. So it's got some ugliness at the bottom. I'm sure whatever dust particles floating around in the air are in the bottom of this glass, too. So it you can see it's a punishment, all right? It's not something I enjoy, but it's something that I am willing to do to entice you, the home and car listener, to engage. All right. So the Malort Challenge is back tonight. Sounds good? Sounds good to me. Uh, so why why did why did I take the week off? Okay. Uh, I think the last episode we had was the Kiss Alive. Yeah. That was uh celebrating uh 50, 50th. I'm looking at the calendar there. Yeah, it was the Kiss Alive turning 50 episode. Really good episode. I'll get into that in a little bit. So why did we skip a week? Okay, so I know most of you guys are aware, but some of you are newbies, and so you're not aware. But um a couple years ago, um my dearly departed buddy, um Eddie Sanchez and his friend, and a friend of mine as well, but they're the ones they were like, they were like bros. I mean, you know, they were they were best of buddies. They started this um group uh from our high school. It was uh an alumni luncheon group, and we meet once a month at another friend's place of business at his restaurant. We just hang out for a couple hours, people have some food, chit-chat, whatever. And when I say alumni, I mean alumni. It's not one class, it's all classes. It doesn't matter if you graduated last year, you know, you're more than welcome to be there. And we post it, uh, we post notification on Facebook. Well, when Eddie passed away and Richard passed away, um, when they passed away last year, um, four or five of us took it upon ourselves. We said, hey, we can't let this thing die. We have to keep this thing going. And uh, so that's what we've done. And uh we had a gathering here at the house last week. We decided that we would change venues just for just for a change. And so we had it here last week. So I spent Friday and and I spent, you know, the better part of Saturday morning uh just getting things ready. And so that's why there was no show. Just, you know, no time in the schedule to do it. I was gonna put out a notification and let everybody know, but I didn't. So, you know, sue me, right? Um, so yeah, that's why. And we oh my oh my goodness, we had a ball last week. We had so much fun. I think we started at like two o'clock. I had the flat top going, we had Smash Burgers, we had um, we had um we had hot dogs. We I had uh corn cabets on the flat top as well, and uh Catherine made some great pasta salad. We just had some really good food. Um and the guys all sat around. I think there was like a I don't know, it was about 10 of us. Let me think. Uh, not counting myself. I'm gonna go around the table here. There was uh Javier Sanchez, that's Eddie's younger brother. Um, there was Raul Ortega, there was George Lopez, not the comedian. Uh there was Dan Flores, there was Willie Gonzalez, that's five of us. There was Darren Hammond, there was James Oakes, or Oaks, actually. And did I count myself? I don't remember if I counted myself. Uh, but Darren had his wife Rebecca, then of course Catherine was here. What'd you say? What? I can't, I I don't know what you're saying. I don't know what you're saying. Oh, and yeah, that's right. Um, let's see. So Jana Carrow was here. She brought her daughter Lauren, and Craig Dodge was here, and we just had a great time. And um, getting back to James, uh, his his last name is spelled O C H S. Okay. So, and I've known him since junior high school. So we've got the junior high school, high school together, having been classes, PE, this class, that class, whatever. Everybody always said oaches, and he never corrected anybody. I asked him about it a while back. I'm like, hey, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait a second, James. Okay, James, you got to tell me. I need to know right now the absolute proper pronunciation of your last name. He says, Ox. I was like, holy cow, ox. How come I didn't know that all these years? Why does everybody always say oaches? He said, Well, it's easier for them, and then I didn't want to correct anybody, it was just easier to go with it. So it was oaches all those years. So, anyway, I know it's a stupid story, but I gotta tell it anyway. So, um, yeah. So we had a great time. Everybody sitting around, eating, laughing, just um, yeah, just having a good old time. I think the last two guys to leave was probably like I want to say it was almost midnight. Yeah, almost midnight. And I had to get up early for church the next morning, too. I was like, I don't, you know, I don't kick anybody out if we're having a good time, we're having a good time. But uh yeah, so it was it was a blast. And uh I know I know Catherine, I will do it again. We'll do it again here. We'll we'll have a we'll have it again here sometime and and get some more people involved as well. So it's just a ton of fun. So that's why no new show uh last week. But we're back. Back by popular demand tonight on Friday Night Live. Okay, so listen, let's just dive in. Let's just uh take care of some business right here, okay? Uh let's we are gonna start. Uh let me look this up here, move some things around. All right. We're gonna start with uh what is it today? Oh, today is National Alpaca Day. Anybody out there own an alpaca? I don't. I don't. Nope. I don't. Sorry, I can't can't help you with that one. How about save the koala day? You any koalas? Anyone out there? Anybody? anybody? Wait, I don't want to knock it over. Anyone? Nope. Okay. How about hug a vegetarian day? It's also hug a vegetarian day. Um, yeah, I don't I don't think I have any vegetarians in my life. Although when Catherine and I first met, when we first when we when we met and we we started dating, she was a um a pescatarian. So she was mostly vegan, okay? But she would eat seafood. So that was like salmon. That was salmon and and and chilean sea bass. That was like it. Aside from that, it was all vegan. No, no. I just I I poisoned her. Now she eats it all. Beef and pork and chicken and all kinds of good stuff. I'm a bad influence, I suppose. No, not at all. Not at all. She enjoys it. Uh, and then it's also um Native American Day. And I got a story. I got a story on this. Okay, look, I don't know if you guys know this or not, so I'm gonna share it with you. Native American Day. All right, look at here. Look at the screen. Look at the screen. Look at the logo back there. Okay, the logo at the back of the studio is white, right? It's white on a um gray, black, whatever background. Yeah? Okay. Look at me next to that. I'm almost as white as that. Okay. Now, I grew up my entire life being told and believing that I was Cherokee Indian. Not like full blood or anything, but like at least like a quarter, all right. And um that's what I was told. That's what we were all told. All the whole, the whole slew of us were told that. And so um if you saw pictures of my dad, or if you knew my dad, my dad's complexion was completely different than mine. Red skin, black hair, blue eyes, high cheekbones, everything, okay? Um, very much in the way of American Indian. I don't like that Native American, okay? And I American Indian. So, whatever. Anyhow, so I grew up believing that I was Cherokee Indian, especially because my dad was was uh born in Huntington, West Virginia, and that whole area there is, I mean, it's a huge uh um Cherokee, you know, whatever, it's a whole Cherokee area, I suppose. I'm losing my words here. But um so I always believed that. In fact, I back in like 2006, 2007, something like that, I went and got all the paperwork to file and and become part of the Cherokee Nation. I think they're like in Oklahoma or something. So I got all the paperwork to file for that. All right, so let's fast forward to when Catherine and I meet. And I think it was on our first date, maybe second. I think it was first date, though. We talked about all kinds of stuff. We talked about ethnicities and all that kind of thing. And so, you know, she's she's part Spanish and she's part Mexican and all that kind of stuff. And you know, I'm my my mom is is uh Spanish or you know, Spaniard. And then I'm thinking, okay, well, my dad, so you know, he's Cherokee, so so we're talking about it. I tell Catherine, I'm you know, I'm Cherokee Indian, and she just about falls out of her chair. I'm like, well, so funny. You are not, you are not Indian. And I'm like, yeah, no, of course I am. Yeah, you show you my dad, you know. And um, so anytime that would come up, she would like shake her head. No, you're not, you're not American Indian. I'm sorry, you're not. I'm telling you, you're not. So now jump ahead to that, our first Christmas together, and she buys me the 23andMe kit. All right. Oh, great. I'm gonna show you. Fill it up, put the top on, mail it off. Yeah, let's give it two weeks, I'll show you. And uh two weeks later, comes back, and uh I'm sitting in the kitchen. She she happens to come over, and uh we're sitting in the kitchen at the table and she's right there, and I'm opening the thing up, and I open up the letter, and I am like 98.7 percent Northern European. There isn't not even uh there isn't any Native American, Cherokee, American, I don't care what you call it, there is no chief Wahoo in this boy's blood. Okay, and I was like like devastated. Catherine is like, she's like laughing, you know, ah, I told you I told, and I'm like the Indian standing on the side of the road and the tears coming down my face. No joke. No joke. I was so upset. I was I was I was crying because for 52 years at that time, I thought, oh, hey, you know, I'm you know, um I'm Cherokee Indian. Yeah. Okay, sure. You got something you want to share with me, Dad? I can't hit him up now. He's been dead for 27 years. Uh anyway. Okay, so let's move on. Let's move along. Great. All right, so how about a little uh celebrity birthdays? Well, let's see. I don't know if he's a celebrity or not, but influential political cartoonist who skewered the democratic political machine in the 1870s, Thomas Nast was born on this day in 1840. Did you guys know who who that is? I think I may have heard his name somewhere down the line. All right. Uh let's see, minister who became the first black man in the U.S. Senate representing Mississippi as a Republican during the Reconstruction, Mr. Hiram R. Revels, born on this day in 1827, and Oscar-winning actress and founder of the Goop Lifestyle brand, best known for Shakespeare and Love and the Iron Man films. And let's see, she did Shallow Howl, and yeah, there's some others out there. Gwyneth Paltro, born on this day in 1972. Woo-hoo! Okay. So let's see. Now what happened on this day in history? Let's see, in uh 1779. Well, okay, let's yeah, let's start there because it's at the top of the page. In 1779, John Adams was appointed to negotiate peace terms with the British. That was in 1779.
SPEAKER_00:Uh let's see.
SPEAKER_01:There's words in the way on that one. Let's see. French scholar announces he's cracked the Rosetta Stone Code. Let's see. Chample Champelion? I think that's his name. Chample Lion believed he'd unlocked Egypt's mysterious history.
SPEAKER_00:Okay.
SPEAKER_01:Um, all right, how about this one? In 1869, Sheriff Wild Bill Hickok breaks up a fight and kills a man. Great. How about in 1938? FDR Franklin Delano Roosevelt appeals to Hitler for peace. That was in 1938. That was before we certainly got drawn into World War II. Uh let's see. About 1939, Warsaw falls to German forces on this day, 1939. 1960, British suffragette Sylvia Pankhurst dies. Uh, let's see, what else do we have here? Oh, this is a good one. This is a good one. Okay. Hollywood socialite Jahor on trial for slapping a police officer. You guys remember that one? I do. Storms out of the courtroom in the middle of the district attorney's closing argument. The prosecutor told the jury that Gabor craves media attention and abused two weeks of this process for her own self-aggrandizement. All right. Okay. Uh so uh let's see. All right. Oh, so a couple weeks ago, I don't remember if it was, I think it was the um what episode was it? I don't know, a couple three weeks ago. Um I told you I had sent, I had a um text message sent to me by my good buddy Raul. And I don't remember verbatim, but basically it was um name name an uh an album um that is a masterpiece. Name, yeah, name an album that is a masterpiece from start to finish. And I gave him I gave him four, and I talked about it on the air here. Um I think I said um I said Led Zeppelin four. I said um Journey Escape. I said Foreigner's debut album, and there was one other one that I said I can't recall at the time, I can't recall right at this moment what it was. Um, you guys can remind me anyway. So, and of course, there there's there's plenty out there. Um, not every album that's released is a masterpiece, but there are plenty of masterpieces out there, and I just gave him four of them. So uh it hit me, I think it was yesterday. I'm just I'm at work and it hit me, and I thought, oh bam, these ones never even came to mind. I gotta I gotta jot these ones down and and and and talk about it. So the first one, I think you guys will agree, is uh and I don't know why I didn't think about this one. This is just absolutely fabulous. But the debut album from Boston, I think that was 1976, I think it was. The debut album from Boston was a groundbreaking album, just purely because of the sound. Tom Scholes was just like just this this mad scientist. He had he had graduated with a master's degree at MIT, and he recorded pretty much the whole album, minus the vocals, uh, in like his basement. Okay, and he built the equipment that created certain sounds on that album. And um, so it's just it's it's an amazing album. The album itself is it's basically a greatest hits album. So let's go, let's go over the track listing and you'll see where I'm coming from. So uh, and it's funny, there's uh there's a total of eight songs on the album. It's uh like a 30 38-minute running time, I think it is. So uh side one is just three songs. It's more than a feeling. I mean, come on, right? Everyone knows that song. Everyone knows that song. Peace of mind, you guys all know that one too. For play slash long time. That foreplay is the instrumental leading up to the song itself, long time. Uh then if we're listening to this on vinyl, we're gonna walk over to the stereo and flip over the album. And then uh the first song on side two is rock and roll band. Come on, you guys know that one. And then the next one is smoking. Right there, those first five songs, all hit songs, okay, not just rock radio hits, no, hit songs, okay. Then you've got hit your ride. Everyone knows if you listen to album-oriented rock or album-oriented radio, which is basically like rock radio, you guys know that song. Something about you. There must be something about you, yeah. See, and then let me take you home tonight. Come on, uh, let me take you home tonight. You know, you know that one. Yeah. I mean, really, if you if you it really, honestly, every single one of these from one to eight is a hit song. They just weren't necessarily Billboard top 40 songs. But from one to eight, hit. Just brilliant album. And you know, you know what? You know what though? What is sad is that Boston is still not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. They have still never even been on a ballot, never even like considered, never even been nominated. Forget about even making the ballot, never even been nominated. That is a crime. I mean, this album here, the debut album, I it I think it's somewhere around 16 million copies sold. And then Don't Look Back, the follow-up sold another 6 million, something like that, 6 million, 7 million, and nothing's gonna. I mean, it's just really hard to compete with 16 million copies. But Don't Look Back, what a fabulous follow-up to that, and not even a sniff of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame right now. Criminal, absolutely criminal. All right, so the other one I that came to mind that I thought of was also a debut album. The car's debut album. I mean, come on. Seriously? Again, basically a greatest hits album, front to back. I mean, the running time on it, I I don't know, it's like 30, 35 minutes. It's got nine songs on it. But it starts off good times roll. Come on, let the good times roll. You guys know that one. I don't even sing, I don't need to sing it to you. You know, it's funny, Raul tells me, he says, hey, Ben, uh look, I appreciate you singing. I don't need to hear it anymore, okay? So, all right, that's for you, Raul. I'll I'll try to tone it down. Then uh the second song, My Best Friend's Girl. Seriously? Come on. Just what I needed. I think just what I needed was the lead track off the album. Um the the lead single, I mean, the first single released, I believe that was it. Uh and then a lesser-known song, Deep Track, I'm in touch with your world, and then track five ending side one is Don't You Stop. Okay, so now why don't we flip the album over and see what we have on side two? Starts off with You're all I've got tonight. Crazy by love. Come on. Bye bye, bye, bye love, bye, bye love. Yeah, that was that was for you, Row. And then moving in stereo. And and look, every teenage boy knows that one. Well, when you were a teenager, now you're my age. Because that was uh that was the song playing in Fast Times at Ridgemont High when Phoebe Cates comes popping up out of the pool. Um, Brad Hamilton, who had just come home from work, working at the fish and chips joint. What was the name of that place? I forgot. Captain Hooks, I think. Anyway, comes home. They're all having a swim party, and and uh he he goes in the bathroom, and of course he's you know taking care of business in there, and he's thinking about Phoebe Cage. She's popping out of the pool, she undoes her bikini top, and I mean that's the song playing, moving in stereo. So every teenage boy remembers that one. And then the album closes out with All Mixed Up, another little bit lesser-known song, deep track. So you've got six out of eight bonafide hits. That's bananas. That's bananas right there. So, really, I mean, two two masterpiece, two more masterpiece albums right there. Boston's uh Boston's debut and the car's debut. Cool stuff. Um, so I thought we would have a little bit of fun. Let me take a sip of water. I'm getting a little dry mouth. No one's called in, so so far, no malort, no malort from me. That works. I'm good with that. Now, this is where you guys can get can get active, okay? You guys at home, wherever you're watching the show, this is where you guys can get active. Uh, yesterday was National One Hit Wonder Day. And look, we're talking about music. You guys know I dig my music, and I mean that's what we talk about a lot on this program. So I couldn't very well do an episode last night. No, couldn't do it. Being that today's Friday, I knew we were gonna be doing a live stream. So I said, well, it's only one day. Who cares? We're gonna celebrate one hit wonders right here, right now. All right. Again, you and me. We're gonna do this. So I just started looking up some stuff. And remember, I think it was last year. Last year, my um my good buddy Matt and I, we uh we did a one-hit wonder special, and um that one was that one was good, and it was so much fun. Uh, I think we pretty much focused on the 80s on that one, I think is what we did. So I got a whole ton of them here. So I'm gonna talk about them. I'm gonna like you know drop some hints to you so you guys will remember the the song will come back to you if you if it doesn't you know hit you right away and just oh yeah, I know that one. So I'm starting in the 70s. We're all about the same age here, okay? So I'm starting in the 70s, and and I and I there's there's kind of a method to my madness on this, okay? So the first one from the band Shocking Blue, Venus. Okay, just remember the uh the the Lady's Razor commercial.
SPEAKER_00:She's got it. Yeah, baby, she's got it.
SPEAKER_01:I'm your Venus, I'm your fire, and the way Shocking Blue did it, at your desire. Okay. The reason why I wrote that one down is it might have been Shocking Blue's only hit, but fast forward to like I don't know, 84, 85, something like that. Who was it? Banana Rama had a hit with it, so they brought it back. And and to be honest, in 84, 85, I didn't even know that shocking blue, you know, I didn't know anything about them. So I thought it was an original from Banana Rama. So, anyhow, I I you know what instead of getting a comment here, I'm getting a text message from Catherine. She's like, hey, I thought you were gonna sing. Well, you know what? It's the way it works, and this is my show, okay? If if if if you know you don't like the singing, then start your own show, right, Catherine? There you go. I guess I told her, huh? All right, next one. We'll be here all friggin' night if I don't hurry up. All right, so next one, Norman Greenbaum, Speared in the Sky. Oh, you guys know that one. Uh I'm trying to remember. It was so many of these songs were uh um became a part of television commercials. And this one was one of the beer commercials. I think it might have been Coors Light, maybe might have been. I know Coors Light also did uh people all over the world. Where was that?
SPEAKER_00:Uh Start of Love Train.
SPEAKER_01:Love Train. Yeah, that was Coors Light also. But I think I I don't think it was Light Beer. I don't think it was Miller Light. Anyway, all right, let's see. The next one is uh from the Ides of March, and you're like, huh? The Who? What? No, not the Who, the Ides of March. The song is Vehicle, and I'm just singing like the line in the hook so you guys recognize it. That's all.
SPEAKER_00:I'm your vehicle, baby. I'll take you anywhere you want to go. You know, because I love you, love you, need you, need you, want to gotta have your child.
SPEAKER_01:Great, wait, great God in heaven, you know I love you. There it is. So I and I picked that one out on purpose, too, not so I could sing it, but because the name Jim Peterick may not strike a chord with you at this moment, but Jim Peterick was the guy singing that song in The Eyes of March. He was the writer, he was the singer, he was the, you know, he was the lead guy in The Eyes of March. Well, Jim Peterick and a guy by the name of Frankie Sullivan started this other band out of the Chicago area around 1979, 1980. A little band called Survivor with a little song called Eye of the Tiger, amongst others, but that certainly was their biggest hit. Yeah, that was Jim Peterick. He wrote that, he wrote Eye of the Tiger with Frankie Sullivan. He pretty much wrote all the songs in Survivor. But uh yeah, and then Jim Peterick has written songs for just a bazillion different artists as well, big time. Okay. Next, from free, a little all right now. Yeah. And you might be thinking, wait a second, wait a second. Nope, nope, nope. That was their only uh Billboard Top 40 song, but the band then morphed into, I think it was around 75, Bad Company. You guys know Bad Company. Now, Bad Company had a lot of stuff, they had a lot of hits going on. So the band free only had the one, and then they, like I said, they morphed into bad company and off to the race as they went. Um 1971, a band called Blood Rock with DOA. Now, I don't remember how this tune goes, but I know that this is like a thick, twisted song. You guys look it up. You have to look it up. It is, I mean, it's talking exactly DOA. Okay, it is just a sick horror song. About a an a guy, I think a guy and his girlfriend get in an automobile accident, and I don't know, they just it's terrible. It's terrible. Probably why Blood Rock only had one hit. Um let's see. Oh, how about this one from uh Brewer and Shipley? I had no idea who these guys were, but I know the song. One toke over the line, sweet Jesus. One toque over the line. Sitting downtown in a railway station, one toe over the line. You guys know that one. I yeah, Brewer and Shipley. I don't know if somebody would have somebody would have played the song and said, name the artist. Uh that's it. I I throw my hands up, I quit because I wouldn't even known. How about this one from the five-man electrical band? The song Signs. You guys know that one. But you may not know it as a song from the Five Man Electrical Band. You may know it from a little band out of the Sacramento area named Tesla. That was like, it wasn't their their first single, but it was their their biggest one was Signs. And the big version of it is from their MTV Unplug special around 1991, I think. Something like that. Really, really good song. And and the uh the Tesla version is I like it much better than the original version. Now I put this one down because it's really not a one-hit wonder. And you say, what's up, Maynard? Well, just a little history, okay? That's why. Don McClain's American Pie. Everybody knows American Pie. Everybody loves American Pie. Dig that song. But what do you mean it's not Don McLean's only hit? I don't know why they call him a one-hit wonder. In 1981, Don McClain had a huge hit with a cover version of Roy Orbison's Crying. I think it went to like number four or five on the on the Hot 100. So huge. And again, like with Tesla, Don McClane's version of the song, so good. And I don't want to bash, uh I I just I um yeah, I I don't I don't want to bash um Roy Orbison's version of the song. I don't, but Don McClain's song, so much passion in it. So much passion in it. So good. All right, everyone knows this one from the band Looking Glass. How about a little Brandy? You're a fine girl, right? And if you listen to Yacht Rock like I do, I think they play it like once every hour and a half, maybe two and a half hours, something like that. Great, great, great song. Yeah. And uh how about how about this one from the band Argent? Hold your head up. You guys know that one, okay? And the reason why I wrote that one is because Argent was it was named after Rod Argent, okay. Rod Argent was from the zombies in the 60s. Uh him and uh Russ Ballard. Oh, no, it was Russ, no, was Russ Ballard? No, I think Russ Ballard was in Argent, but not Russ Ballard wasn't in the um in the zombies. He was in in Argent. But Russ Ballard, who is also in the band, tremendous songwriter, wrote songs for a ton of people. I think he only had one hit himself. It's a song called Voices, as a solo artist himself, but wrote a bunch of songs for other people, or not necessarily for other people, but wrote songs that a ton of other people recorded. I'll get into at least one of them on this list here. Um, I'll tell you one that I didn't put on the list is the song from Frida, um, who was a part of ABBA. Um what's that song? Phil Collins plays drums on it. It's from 1983. I know there's something going on. That's the one. Phew! Man, I pulled that one out of my behind. All right. So we're gonna we're gonna head into 1972. I know 72. What? Don't trust me, I don't go through every year the 70s. I'm not gonna do that to you. Uh anyway, so one of my all-time favorite bands, you guys know them. You love them, you should. If you don't, you better. You're Raya Heap. And Easy Living, their only single, their only top 40 hit in the uh United States. Easy Living from 1972. It's from what most people, what, what most uh most people consider to be their their best album. Uh that's the Demons and Wizards album. And I can't I can't disagree with that one. Uh next, also from 1972, Mot the Hoople and All the Young Dudes. You guys know that one. You know that one. You guys know it. Sing it. Sing it. But I bet you didn't know. Maybe you did. Some of you. If you guys are nuts like me, then you know. But I bet you didn't know that song was written by David Bowie. There you go. How about this one? Steeler's Wheel. Stuck in the middle with you. You're like, Steeler's Wheel, what? No, no, no. Clowns to the left and me, jokers to the right. Here I am stuck in the middle with you. Yeah, now you know. Yeah, that was their only hit, but did you know coming out of Steelers Wheel was a guy named Jerry Rafferty? Huge, gigantic song with Baker Street. I'm getting a call here. It better be some rock trivia. Who is it? Oh, it's my buddy Spaz. Hang on a second. I'm gonna hold you up to the what's going on, homie.
SPEAKER_00:You missed one from the 1971 era.
SPEAKER_01:What did I what well I didn't cover the whole entire year. Stay with me.
SPEAKER_00:Ron Stewart singing that song?
SPEAKER_01:Yep, yep, yep.
SPEAKER_00:Stay with me. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, that's a good one. That's a good one. Yeah, I know the song. That's a great song.
SPEAKER_00:You're on your way.
SPEAKER_01:I'm not covering every single one. Oh, well, thank you. Oh, well, I continue to do well. I appreciate you watching, my friend. No, I appreciate you contributing. We've got to get you back in studio too.
SPEAKER_00:When you get a chance.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. I'll just I know all I have to do is just send you a text message and you're here.
unknown:No worries, man. I'm gonna go get back to your show and I'll comment later.
SPEAKER_01:Alright, keep it going. I'll talk to you later. Yeah.
unknown:Be nice to uh be nice again, right?
SPEAKER_01:Oh, I am so nice.
SPEAKER_00:Well, you don't have to sing. What about humming? Humming sounds better than singing. Oh, geez. This guy's giving me the business on my own podcast. You believe this?
SPEAKER_01:Alright, bud. I'll talk to you later. I'll talk to you later. I will see you. Bye bye.
unknown:Bye.
SPEAKER_01:There he goes. That's my buddy Spaz. You guys know him. You guys love him. Yeah, we got to get him back in here. I don't know. We'll figure something out. We'll we'll do something really good. Um, all right. Oh, see, there's a reason why I write these down. David Essex. You're like, what? Rock on. Hey, kids, rock and roll. Rock on. Ooh, my soul. Yeah, that one. You guys know that one. Now, that song's been covered two, well, that I know of, probably more, but at least two more times. I can't remember the it was a um soap opera star. What was the guy's name? He was on a show that was on, I don't know, it was on CBS. I can't remember, back in the 80s. Anyway, he did a cover version. He had a good he had a pretty big hit with it. And then about 15 years ago, maybe, geez, maybe it was 20 years ago, Def Leopard did a tremendous version of it. My favorite version of the of the three that I'm aware of, anyway. Great, great, great version. They had a video out with it and everything. Great, great version that Def Leopard did. Check this stuff out, guys. You should be writing some of this stuff down. All right. How about this one from the band Ace? And if you listen to Yacht Rock like I do, you know this song. How long? How long has this been going on? There you go. Well, like I said, I write this stuff down on purpose. Not so I can sing it, but so I can give you a little bit of a little bit of something to chew on. Rod Stewart did a version of this song, released it on had a video that accompanied accompanied it as well. It was a live video, um, about 1984, maybe '85. It was a pretty big MTV video. I remember seeing it. Um yeah, so Rod Stewart did that. And then the guy singing the song from the band Ace, that's Paul Carrick, who was in uh Squeeze and you know, tempted by the fruit of another. And also Mike and the mechanics. So just a little bit of you know, fun stuff for you. How about this one from the band Pilot? What's the song? You guys know it. Oh, oh, oh, ozempic. Oh, wait a minute. I mean, it's magic. Yeah, that's right. Magic turned into a pharmaceutical commercial. Uh plug in fat shots. Okay. And I and I had I I put this one on here on purpose because I dig this song. I had the single also from the band Jigsaw. You're like, Jig who? Jigsaw, sky high from 1975. Such a cool song, such a cool song. And then how about um Elvin Bishop fooled around and fell in love? Yes. You guys know that one, it's from 1976. But did you know the guy singing the song in Elvin Bishop? Elvin Bishop was uh obviously band named right after the leader of the band, Elvin Bishop. Um, but the the the guy singing that song is none other than Mickey Thomas, who like three years later, four years later, I think it was in 1980, joins Jefferson Starship. Yeah, and becomes a co-lead singer in the band. I think he took over, I think he came into the band when um uh oh, what's his shoot? Had a great song. Marty Ballin. Speaking of one hit wonders, Marty Ballin, one hit, one hit, Hearts. Hearts, 1981, I think. Um yeah, you guys love this one. Starland Vocal Band, A Little Afternoon Delight. I had the single for this song. I had no idea what these people were singing about. I I just I had no idea. But I'm like 11 years old because I think this came out in 76. I'm like 11 years old. I had no idea what they were singing about. Now that's what I'm singing to Catherine all the time. Uh oh, yeah. A little wild cherry. Play that funky music. Who?
SPEAKER_00:White boy.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Play that funky music. Such a good song. And then this one here from 1977. Debbie Boone, You Light Up My Life. It's a kind of a cheesy song, but what's so funny is now Debbie Boone's the daughter of Pat Boone. I don't know how you describe Pat. Was he a folk singer or I don't know, actor, singer? Um, but so Debbie Boone's his daughter, and this is her one and only hit she had, but this song was enormous in 1977. I think it was number one. I first off, I think it was the number one song for the year 1977. I think it was hit it was in the number one slot for like 10 or 11 weeks. Check my math on that. So crazy. Um, and then I I just I had to put this one, I had to include this one because I love the song. Walter Egan, huh? A little magnet in steel. Come on, you guys know it. Do I really have to sing it? This is for you, Spaz. With you, that's the chicks now. With you, I'm not shy. Show the way I feel.
SPEAKER_00:With you, I'm not shy.
SPEAKER_01:Here you come. My secrets to reveal. Right out there, you people, for you are the magnet. Finish it with me, and I am the steal. You guys know it. Uh, such a good song. So good. Another great one. I sing this to Catherine all the time. Kiss you all over from exile. What a dirty. Well, I mean, it it really isn't a dirty song. It's it it's it kind of is very uh uh because it's not real descriptive, but it's it's suggestive. Okay, suggestive. But it like there was a lot of radio stations in 78 when the song was released that wouldn't play it. It was kind of it's it's kind of naughty, okay? It is, but it's not bad. I mean, please, not by any stretch of the imagination compared to today's standards. Um, all right. Ace Fraley. Yes, Ace Fraley from Kiss, 1978, off of his solo album, New York Groove. Now, why did I include that one? Because I I tie things together, okay, and tie it up and like you know, serve it to you on a silver platter. New York Groove was a song written by previously mentioned Russ Ballard, and it was uh Ace's only solo um hit that he had, and out of the four solo albums that Kiss released in 78, it was the only hit single, the only top 40 single off of all four of them. So um, all right, how about this one from 79? From 79, Anita Ward. What did she sing? You can ring my bell. Ring my bell. That's right. Now, I wrote this one on purpose because it's not true, and I can't remember the other single that they had. But everyone thinks that the knack is a one-hit wonder with My Sharona, and they're not. They're not, okay. My Sharona, obviously, huge song. I think it was might might have been the number one song of 1979, because it's an enormous hit. Um, but I I should look it up. You should have to give me like 10 seconds, something like that. But they had a song. Let's see. The knack. Come on. I think it was 81. Might have been 80. No, I don't think it was 82. The knack. Songs. Uh what was it? Not she ain't no good. Not good. Not good girls don't. That was off of, I think that was off the debut album also. But uh, let's look at here.
SPEAKER_00:Shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot.
SPEAKER_01:Uh I can't find it really. I can't find it right now. I don't want to keep you guys here too long. But um, yeah, they did have it was a very minor hit. It broke the top 40, but I think it stalled at like 38 or 39, and it was like one week in and out. So, and the criteria for one-hit wonder is gotta break the top 40. Okay, so if it breaks the top 40, it's a hit. So, somebody got their math wrong on this stuff here. Anyway, uh, and how about this? And uh see, there's a purpose for all of this. The Buggles Video killed the radio star. Now, why is that song significant? Well, it was, I think, written by Trevor Horn. What's Trevor Horn have to do with it? Well, Trevor Horn came from the Buggles, but Trevor Horn also spent time in Yes. Not only did he do some producing for Yes, but he also was a member of the band in the early 80s in Yes as well. So, but video killed the radio star. For those of you who are my age, I don't even need to explain this to you because we're all aware of that little tiny channel that exploded in 1981, uh, MTV, that played nothing but videos, wall-to-wall videos, 24 hours a day of Jock here and Jock there, announcing, back announcing, giving you a little bit of news here and there, all that stuff. And Video Killed the Radio Star was the very first video played on MTV. There's the significance in that. All right. We're getting close to wrapping this up here, so I'm gonna give you a few more. Just for my uh entertainment and yours out there too. This is good stuff. I'm telling you, you should be writing this stuff down. You really should start looking this stuff up, go on whatever music service you have and start looking this up and build a playlist of one-hit wonders. I'm telling you, you you could put together a list of a thousand, no problem. How about everyone's favorite? For me, this is rap music at its finest, and that is Rapper's Delight from 1980. Does anybody know the music track, the music bed behind it? Does any? I can't hear anyone out there. You guys, if if some I'm gonna give you till I'm gonna give you till the end of the show for somebody to tell me who you you have to call it in. Okay, you gotta call it in, and it'll be part of the Melore Challenge, okay? I'll take a shot of Melort. If someone calls it in and tells me what the music bed for Rapper's Delight is, okay. All right, let's see. And this one I I I noted on purpose from Charlie Dory, which is a girl, a woman, pilot of the airways. It's a song she wrote about the nighttime DJ. Okay. It's not that I'm a DJ or anything, but you kind of get it, right? How about this one? Everyone knows this one. Yeah, that was really bad because it's like an octave higher than that. Lip sync and funky town. Oh my goodness, my goodness. Tremendous song, tremendous song. Cars from Gary Newman. Man, is that not a great song? Oh, so good. Now I may I'm I'm I made a note next to this one here. Robbie Dupree Steal Away is from 1980. Incorrect. Robbie had another hit. This one here, Steal Away. I think this, I think Steelaway topped out at like number nine, nine or ten on the on the on the hot 100 or Billboard Top 40. And um, it sounds a lot like What a Fool Believes. He got a lot, he got a lot of heat for this. It sounds like What a Fool Believes from the Doobie Brothers, which came out the same, I think, what did I say, 1980? Same year, too. And um, but it's a good song. But he had another song, he had a follow-up hit that broke the top 20, and that was uh Hot Rod Hearts. It's about teenage love and in the backseat of a car and that kind of stuff. So um, yeah, I guess I'm just full of corrections and everything tonight, right? Oh, this next one. Oh, so good. Benny Mardonis Into the Night. You guys know that one. And that had a second life, and was even, I think it was even bigger the second time around, or maybe equally as as big in um in 80 when this song came out uh when it was released. I think it I think it topped out around number 10. And then about 1988 or 89, in the LA area, a radio station popped up. It was uh 101.3 years, but in the early 80s, it was KIQQ, top 40 station. Then it went to Adult Contemporary in the mid-80s, and then the late 80s, it went to kind of uh they played a lot of rock. It was it was uh it wasn't really top 40, it was all over the place, but one of the jocks, what was his name? Was it Shadow Stevens? I think it was Shadow Stevens. Is that the guy that did the federated commercials on television? I think so. Anyway, he started playing the song and it had a new life. Second time around. So good for uh Benny Mardonis, who I think is no longer with us now. Um how about a little looking for love from Johnny Lee? That's from the it's not only from the soundtrack of Urban Cowboy, which is a tremendous soundtrack. Um Johnny Lee looking for love in all the wrong places. And I had to mark this next one because this is like mine and Catherine song. And it's been it's been sung in this studio live. Well, it has been sung live, it wasn't recorded live. It did go out though, and that's a one in a million you from Larry Graham. If you remember, go back to I don't know, like episode 29 or something. It's it's uh Fab and Sexy uh were in the studio and we were talking music and all kinds of stuff, and and uh we started singing that one together. Uh big sexy Sean Hector and I started singing that one. Good stuff. How about the vapors turning Japanese? Yeah, those guys, one and done. And I I made a note next to this one. Donnie Iris Ah Leah. Look it up now. Well, no, wait till the show's over. Look it up. Great, great songs from 1981. Donnie Iris Ah A H Leah. L-E-A-H. Okay. And not only is it a great song, but it's not Donnie's only hit. He had uh Love is Like a Rock, like a year later, and he had another follow-up to this one too, and I'm trying to remember what it was. So he's he's had like three top 40 hits. Okay. Um we're gonna we're gonna wrap it up here. I got about five or six more, and then we're done, okay. Stanley Clark and George Duke, a couple of guys that are were like RB, RB musicians, um, studio rats, also, and big time. These guys were like big time. And um, they came together on an album, and the song that they put out in '81, great, great song, sweet baby. So, so good. You got just check it out. Uh you guys remember Bo Duke from Bo and Luke Duke, Duke's a Hazard, John Schneider. John Schneider's a country artist, and he'd started his country career, uh, country music career back in the in the 80s. And uh, I don't know if it was his first album or not, but in 81 he put out an album and he did a cover of Elvis's, well, I shouldn't say Elvis's because the song's been done like a billion times. Um, It's Now or Never, which is a solemn, you know. Okay. But um, yeah, good stuff. And then uh, you guys remember Double Dutch Bus from Frankie Smith? Just a really cool song. Really cool song, Double Dutch Bus, um, from 1981. I think that one that one didn't get too high. I dig this, I think it topped out around number 33, 34, or something like that. Uh, I may have mentioned this one last year, but I got it. It's worth mentioning again. But rock and roll dreams come through from Jim Steinman, and you say, Who's Jim Steinman? Jim Steinman was the guy that wrote all those songs for Meatloaf. All the stuff off Bat Out of Hell, you know, uh Paradise by the Dashboard Lights, two out of three ain't bad. Um gosh, whatever. Even the stuff off of Bat Out of Hell, too. He wrote he was he was the writer, and Meatloaf was the performer. And uh there was a period of time in the early 80s where Jim and Meat split, and um Jim put out a solo album, and that's he put that song out. Now, Jim Steimon didn't just write for Meatloaf. Jim Steinman was just a just a writer, period. And but he had a way of doing it. Everything was very theatrical, and it would build up and then come down. It was like watching uh uh like a Broadway play, his his songs. Go check out well, first off, check that song out Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through from Jim Steinman. Meatloaf also did a version of it. I I don't know what album it was on, but Meatloaf also did a version of that. But check these three songs out, and you're gonna say, Oh my gosh, it's the same song. Um shoot, I forgot the name of it. It'll come back to me. Um, Making Love Out of Nothing at All from Air Supply. That's number one. Um what was the other song? It was there's it's from Barry Manilo. It's also 1980. All three of these songs, by the way, that I'm giving you are from 1983. Um Total Eclipse of the Heart from Bonnie Tyler. That's a Jim Steinman song, yes. And then um uh what was that song from Barry Manilo? It's oh, Read Em and Weep. That's the one. I had to play through the uh through the chorus a little bit. Uh Read Em and Weep from Barry Manilow, all released in 1983. It's all the same song. Just just listen to them. They're good songs. I like them all. I like them all. All right, that's Jim Steinman. And uh the last one I'm gonna hit you with tonight is from a band named Balance, released in 1981. The song's Breaking Away. You guys know the song. Is it Breaking Away or Breaking Away? Breaking Away Breaking Away, yeah, that's what I thought. Um and I I I jotted that one down because uh two main players in that band, one is Peppy, Peppi Castro, I think he was the one singing. And then the guitar player in the band is Bob Kulich, who is who was the older brother of Bruce Kulick, who was prominently known for being in KISS for about 12 years. Uh but but Bruce also did work um with Michael Bolton and Bob. Wait, it was and well, Bob was a studio musician, play with everybody. Um he even played with KISS too. He was a he was a ghost musician on some stuff in the 70s. And I think in the early 80s, too. I think he played on some stuff on the Kiss Killers album, which came out in '82, I believe it was. Um more mostly a greatest hits package with four brand new songs. And I think Bob was playing some guitar on on those those new tracks. Anyway, so um, but Bruce, I think, also played in Meatloaf. I can't I get my I get my culick confused a little bit, mixed up. So there you go. So I just throw that stuff in there. See, it's like bet you didn't know, you know, that kind of stuff. But that's why you come to me. You come to me for for like useless information, stuff you don't really need to know, but I'm gonna give it to you anyway. All right. So listen, before we get out of here, all right, last thing before before we get out of here. Next Saturday, Saturday, October 4 at 9 a.m. Pacific time. Sheriff Chad Bianco is gonna be sitting in that chair right there. That chair right there next to me, we're gonna be live in studio, live streaming 9 a.m. I welcome your comments and questions, tell your family and friends, tell everyone you know. I tell you guys all the time, and we'll get into it at the end here. Um, so you got to do that. He's running for governor of the state of California, and uh I think we need some law and order for a change. So we're gonna we're gonna get into a lot of stuff, and uh I I want you guys to be involved too. He's totally on board taking some questions and comments and that kind of thing. So uh listen, you gotta be here for that, all right? Be here or be oblong. All right, sound good? All right, so we're done. It's a wrap. As you know, this program is available wherever you get your podcasts, wherever you stream them. Doesn't matter, it's everywhere. Just search the Ben Maynard program. Boom, it's right there. Hit it, subscribe to it, okay? Subscribe to it. Give me a five-star rating, all right? I deserve it. Uh, let's see. Oh, and then, you know, next, because you can't resist some of this right here, and you're watching on YouTube, uh, because you're doing that, you have to do a couple of things for me now, all right? I'm doing for you, you got to do back for me. You have to subscribe to the channel. Just like with the the streaming services, you got to subscribe to this channel because anytime a new episode drops, you'll get notification. All right. Then you have to give me a thumbs up, and then you have to leave a comment because I will reply to your comments. And you have to tell a thousand of your family and friends. Okay. Just a thousand. It's not a lot, it's just a little bit. A thousand of your family and friends. And then uh, you know, last but not least, follow me on Instagram, simply Ben Maynard program, all one word. Or on the TikTok, right? The TikTok. It's the Ben Maynard program. All right. So we're done. That's it. Thank you so much for being here on Friday Night Live. I hope you enjoyed this with the one-hit wonders. It's just, it's just good stuff. And and when you talk about music, it just takes you down memory lane. Okay. Music is so great that way. So, anyways, listen, you guys behave yourselves, all right? I'll check you next time. This is the Ben Maynard program. Tell a friend.