One song per band

[Craig234]

My opinion is that most bands have one song that really represents them enough that you can pretty much get by with that one song for them.

Not every band. Pink Floyd, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin are bands where I don't think that's even close to the case. But most.

It's not the same as 'one hit wonders' - they might have other decent songs, but they just don't add enough different to where the one song can be ok. I understand opinions will vary.

Top of my head, I'll list ten bands where I feel it's the case.

The Cars - Moving in Stereo
Foreigner - I've been waiting (for a girl like you)
Peter Frampton - Do You Feel Like We Do
Rod Stewart - I'm Losing You
Ted Nugent - Stranglehold
Elton John - Madman Across the Water
Cream - Sunshine of my Love
Black Sabbath - Iron Man
Steely Dan - FM
Alice in Chains - Man in the Box

A different topic could be 'masterpieces' - one song that a group gets so right, it stands out as their masterpiece, even if they have other great songs. Some example for me:

Led Zeppelin - Kashmir
Pink Floyd - Comfortably Numb
The Who - Love Reign O'er Me
Santana - She's Not There
Eagles - Hotel California

 

[cbrunny]

I don't understand your premise. What do you mean?

 

[dank69]

Live - Lightning Crashes
U2 - With or Without You (I actually hated this song when it first came out, haha)
Coldplay - Clocks
Jane's Addiction - Three Days
I think those qualify as their masterpieces.

As for the "one song" idea:

Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit
NIN - Head Like a Hole

 

[Homerboy]

All you're doing is picking that band's biggest hit.

 

[master_shake_]

man in the box??

more like no excuses.

way better song.

 

[Craig234]

I don't understand your premise. What do you mean?

I was just noticing that for a lot of bands, they had one song that seemed to suffice for hearing music from that band quite a bit, rather than needing a lot of different songs.

So for example, for Pink Floyd, I like to hear a variety of their songs - but for the Cars, I'm pretty happy if I just hear 'Moving in Stereo' each time for quite a while.

 

[Craig234]

All you're doing is picking that band's biggest hit.

No, it's actually something quite different - though it might happen to be the same song.

 

[dank69]

I don't understand your premise. What do you mean?

I *think* he means it like this:

Here is this one song that exemplifies what this band is really about and the majority of their other songs are similar enough as to not really introduce significant additions to that initial definition.

 

[Homerboy]

The funny thing is too, that more often than not, that bands biggest hit, is not their best song. In fact, of the bands you listed, these are bands that were in their prime in the height of payola, and therefore these are the songs that were pushed/sold/paid-for by the labels

The more you hear a song, no matter how good or bad, the more it's going to get stuck in your head. record labels learned this 50 years ago.

 

[christian1990]

Pink Floyd - Another Brick in The Wall
Camel - West Berlin

 

[cbrunny]

Oh. I wouldn't define any music that way. Or anything, really. Can't you say the same thing about movies and their sequels too? Or books and their sequels? Or books and other books written by the same author?

IMO, you either like something and listen to it, or you don't. Because it sounds similar is not a reason to not listen to something.

This is different from saying "I feel like listening to Metallica" and then listening to one Metallica song and calling it a day. It sounds to me like OP is saying "If you want to listen to Metallica, just pick this one song and forget the rest" - which IMO is not good.

 

[Craig234]

The funny thing is too, that more often than not, that bands biggest hit, is not their best song. In fact, of the bands you listed, these are bands that were in their prime in the height of payola, and therefore these are the songs that were pushed/sold/paid-for by the labels

The more you hear a song, no matter how good or bad, the more it's going to get stuck in your head. record labels learned this 50 years ago.

I have no idea about how payola relates, but don't think it's why I listed those songs.

There are many groups and songs I can more easily imagine it might fit, though I suspect it's more public taste being different than mine than actual payola.

Take a song like 'My Sharona' or "Girls Just want to have fun' - they'd seem to me like the type of song that got big by paid repetition, but I suspect the public just went for them.

 

[CraKaJaX]

I would argue Rod Stewart with Maggie Mae and Elton John with Rocket Man.

Top of my head in both cases:

Skynyrd - Free Bird
Derek & the Dominoes - Layla
The Police - Roxanne
AC/DC - Hells Bells
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Under the Bridge
Green Day - Good Riddance (Time of my Life)
Grand Funk Railroad - We're an American Band
Bob Dylan - All Along The Watchtower

more to come....

 

[WT]

man in the box??

more like no excuses.

way better song.

This man .. he speaks the truth.

 

[Craig234]

I would argue Rod Stewart with Maggie Mae and Elton John with Rocket Man.

Top of my head in both cases:

Skynyrd - Free Bird
Derek & the Dominoes - Layla
The Police - Roxanne
AC/DC - Hells Bells
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Under the Bridge

more to come....

Good additions. I just can't stand anything by Rod Stewart except "I'm losing you", which is an incredible song, including "Maggie Mae", though that's a far bigger hit.

Under the Bridge I think is a good pick; I considered it and Free Bird as well but limited the list to ten; Hells Bells seems like a good pick for AC/DC though I'd have to think about it.

 

[Craig234]

This man .. he speaks the truth.

This I find interesting. I didn't know the other song but listened to it from his post, and for me there's just no comparison.

That's where the issue of personal preference comes in.

Appreciate the different opinion, I'd have no idea that song would play this role for people.

 

[tHa ShIzNiT]

For Led Zeppelin the masterpieces would have to be Rain Song, No Quarter, and Stairway. But they have so many its hard to say. Same with Pink Floyd. Probably my favorite by them are Young Lust and Poles Apart.

 

[Homerboy]

I would argue Rod Stewart with Maggie Mae and Elton John with Rocket Man.

Top of my head in both cases:

Skynyrd - Free Bird
Derek & the Dominoes - Layla
The Police - Roxanne
AC/DC - Hells Bells
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Under the Bridge
Green Day - Good Riddance (Time of my Life)
Grand Funk Railroad - We're an American Band
Bob Dylan - All Along The Watchtower

more to come....

These two don't make sense. Those songs are much different than the bands "normal" type of songs both in the past and in the present.

 

[Craig234]

Pink Floyd - Another Brick in The Wall

That's a fine song, but I don't think you can begin to say it's enough for Pink Floyd - others on The Wall, and Animals, and Dark Side just for a start are very different and add a lot.

That's why I listed them as a band I don't think the one song for them comes close to being enough.

 

[Sheik Yerbouti]

The Who - The Real Me
The Kinks - All Day and All of the Night
The Clash - White Man (in Hammersmith Palais)
Black Keys - Stack Shot Billy
White Stripes - Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground
Blondie - Dreaming

 

[CraKaJaX]

Good additions. I just can't stand anything by Rod Stewart except "I'm losing you", which is an incredible song, including "Maggie Mae", though that's a far bigger hit.

Under the Bridge I think is a good pick; I considered it and Free Bird as well but limited the list to ten; Hells Bells seems like a good pick for AC/DC though I'd have to think about it.

The point is, I didn't think about it. it's what came to my mind initially. If you think about it too much, you just end up picking their biggest hit. What came to mind first is more along the lines of what most people know from that band... even if they aren't fans. They're more likely to hear Hells Bells than say... Have a Drink on me. I guess that could also depend on where you're listening.....

 

[CraKaJaX]

These two don't make sense. Those songs are much different than the bands "normal" type of songs both in the past and in the present.

It doesn't matter. As per my post above, those are the songs from those bands that everyone knows even if they aren't fans. Due to radio, media, etc. it's just what they know. I didn't think this was a 'pick their biggest hit' thread....

 

[Ichinisan]

Hanson - Weird

 

[Ichinisan]

Aqua - Heat of the Night

 

[Craig234]

I'm not really looking for 'the first song you think of' though, but rather one song that you wouldn't mind much if it was the only song you heard from the group for quite a while.

For example, for Foreigner, the first song I think of is 'hot blooded', which I don't like and was one of or their biggest hit - but 'I've been waiting' is the one I think that fits the role.

It's too easy for threads to be the usual 'a song I like by a group', and that's not the topic for this one.