Were you a kid in the 1960s, particularly in the US? If so, these famous one-hit wonders from 1968 might just be burned into your brain. Or, at the very least, you’ve heard them on more than one occasion. Let’s take a walk down memory lane and celebrate a few artists who only made it big on the charts once!
“Journey To The Center Of The Mind” by The Amboy Dukes
Remember this hit from American outfit Amboy Dukes? “Journey To The Center Of The Mind” was a pretty popular psychedelic rock tune that came out in mid-1968. Fun fact: Ted Nugent wrote the melody for this hit.
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The Amboy Dukes peaked on the Billboard Hot 100 chart with this track. It settled in at No. 16 on the coveted chart. Unfortunately, they wouldn’t make it to the Top 100 again, and their latter songs would fail to chart at all. Amboy Dukes called it quits in 1975. However, their legacy as one of the earliest proto-punk and proto-metal bands still remains.
“Little Arrows” by Leapy Lee
How about a little country pop? “Little Arrows” was released by English artist Leapy Lee in October 1968, and the song was written by Mike Hazlewood and Albert Hammond. It was a standout single from Lee’s album of the same name.
The song did a bit better in the singer’s native UK, but the English hit was also a pretty big US hit, too. “Little Arrows” peaked at No. 16 on the Hot 100 and also made it to the Top 20 on the US country chart. However, Lee would never make it to the Hot 100 again, though two more of his singles in the 70s would make it to the country charts.
“In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” by Iron Butterfly
We couldn’t leave this one out. “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” by Iron Butterfly is an acid rock and prog classic. Even if you weren’t a kid in 1968 when this entry on our list of one-hit wonders came out, you probably can recognize that melody.
Despite making it all the way to No. 30 on the Hot 100 with this fine little rock tune, the band would struggle to continue that momentum. A few of their songs did decently, but none of them made it to the Top 40 again. Iron Butterfly would later disband in 1971, but they reunited on more than one occasion, well into the 21st century.
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