3 of the Weirdest One-Hit Wonders of the 1970s That Are Surprisingly Still Catchy

The 1970s were full of psychedelic experimentation and exploration, which inevitably led to some strange sounds seeping into the cultural zeitgeist. Some elements of this musical era stuck around for the long haul, while others fizzled out as one-hit wonders. While these tracks aren’t as well-known as other cuts from the 1970s, these weird and wacky one-hit wonders are surprisingly still pretty catchy.

“Neanderthal Man” by Hotlegs

“Neanderthal Man” by Hotlegs sounds like you’re listening to music underwater, except the drum kit is underwater with you, too. Everything else sounds faraway and distant, as if the singers and guitarists are all on the pool deck while you’re in the deep end. The band behind this wacky one-hit wonder from the 1970s, Hotlegs, eventually rebranded as 10cc. Under this name, the musicians saw far greater success—both in commercial sales and mixing quality.

“Popcorn” by Hot Butter

A band called Hot Butter releasing a track called “Popcorn” seems like something from a cartoon or a children’s television show. But in the 1970s, this one-hit wonder track was very much a Billboard reality. The synth-pop track peaked at No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 before eventually being discarded by the zeitgeist like a picked-over tub of movie theatre popcorn (with hot butter, obviously). Decades later, this song is just as weird, but it’s undeniably catchy, too.

“Kung Fu Fighting” by Carl Douglas

This writer would humbly argue that “Kung Fu Fighting” is one of the weirdest one-hit wonders, period, let alone one-hit wonders just from the 1970s. Carl Douglas released the song in the late summer of 1974, prompting a wave of non-kung-fu-practicing listeners karate chopping and hi-yah-ing ad nauseam. On paper, this song seems too strange to work. However, work it did. “Kung Fu Fighting” topped pop charts around the world. And as much as this writer might hate to admit it, the song has a melody that sticks with you for a (too) long time.

“Chirpy Chirpy, Cheep Cheep” by Middle Of The Road

Finally, we’ll wrap this list of weird one-hit wonders from the 1970s with one released in September of 1970: “Chirpy Chirpy, Cheep Cheep” (the Middle Of The Road version). The Scottish band’s goofy rendition of Lally Stott’s original track has an infectious melody and a somewhat alarming plot twist in the lyrics that makes the happy-go-lucky feel of the music sound a bit sinister and untrustworthy.

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