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Look, there's plenty of serious stuff to be excited about with our country's new administration, but I'm here today to talk about one of my favorite non-political topics in the entire world; One Hit Wonders.
Between my love of That Thing You Do! and addiction to VH1's 100 Greatest One Hit Wonder of All Time as a kid (Before learning all the Super Bowls and World Series since 1955, I memorized all 100 in 4th grade; if asked any number could tell you what song it was!) I have been absolutely infatuated with the concept for as long as I can remember.
In recent years, I've unearthed that my fascination with artists, actors, athletes etc. who achieved stardom for a moment (maybe they were even at the top of their field), only to be brought back to reality likely stems from my childhood appearance on the Rosie O'Donnell Show, but this isn't a psychotherapy session...
What it is, again, is a blog telling you about how fucking awesome it is that on day one of the Biden/Harris Administration they were able to get a textbook One Hit Wonder who haven't played together since 1999 to perform again in an act of unity that this nation greatly needs. Because make no mistake about it, New Radicals 1998 song "You Get What You Give You" is quite possibly the greatest example of a textbook One Hit Wonder. They even had a former child star in the line-up in Danielle Brisebois for God's sake. New Radicals simply took a page out of The Verve's playbook a year later. They followed the formula magnificently; have a massive song, then break-up because the lead singer is high key a huge ass hole (at least back then) before even releasing another single. Only instead of losing their songwriting credits and royalties, New Radicals pissed off some of their contemporaries with threats of kicking their asses in if they didn't run to their mansions. I get it Biden/Harris are the new leaders of the free world, but there's a huge difference between those types of One Hit Wonders vs. being a band for 10 years, striking gold, then going back to obscurity. It's not like they got Los Lonely Boys to reunite. This is a massive deal. I say all that because 22 years have passed since New Radicals last performed this late 90's smash. A lot has happened since their moment in the sun; the band has had many offers to reunite, but none were accepted until this performance. I got all the following quotes from Rolling Stone. Lead singer Gregg Alexander said the following about performing again in a statement: “If there’s one thing on Earth that would possibly make us get the band together, if only for a day, it is the hope that our song could be even the tiniest beacon of light in such a dark time." “America knows in its heart that things will get bright again with a new administration and a real plan for vaccines on the way. That’s the message of the song… this world is gonna pull through.” “Performing the song again after such a long time is a huge honor because we all have deep respect for Beau’s military service and such high hopes for the unity and normalcy Joe and Kamala will bring our country again in this time of crisis.” Both the Biden family and Kamala Harris have a personal connection to the song; the late Beau Biden used the song as a rallying cry during his battle with cancer and it was Kamala's husband, Doug Emhoff "walk out song" during the campaign. Best of all, frontman Gregg Alexander STILL has the signature bucket hat (or an exact replica, but that's not as fun) all these years later. 
Okay you earned it, here's the performance (starts one hour & 17 minutes in and since I'm a pros-amateur I already have it queued up).
22 years later and Gregg Alexander's pipes still hold up.
Unfortunately, performances endorsed by the United States government aren't going to feature jabs at health insurance and big banks. Nor will they call out four artists of their day, like they did in 1998 or update the lyric for 2021, but if you need your fashion shoots with Beck and Hanson, Courtney Love and Marlyn Manson fix, Ole Dozo's gotchu.
P.S.
I really don't want to give away my baby, but one of the biggest reasons I want to learn Adobe is to create a graphic for my podcast/video series about One Hit Wonders. Not to s my own d, but the graphic idea is so fire and may make the show. I've had this idea for over a year, but kept procrastinating/getting in my own head. After seeing Netflix and Vice come out with series that break down the stories of hit (not necessarily one hit wonders) songs, I knew I couldn't push it off any further. I need to break through this self doubt and anxiety wall. I'm the fucking man, I need to remember that. As soon as I have graphic you'll see/hear exactly what I'm vaguely talking about. I hope to debut this new project soon! #HireDozo
Double P.S.
I can't wait Fox News morons to post this and be like "SEE THIS IS THE RADICAL LEFT, THEY'RE NOT EVEN HIDING IT!"
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