3 One-Hit Wonders from the 1990s that Stick in Your Head for Days on End

There are one-hit wonders and then there are one-hit wonders. Meaning, some bands enjoy the success of having a single song top the charts and garner a great deal of attention. And then there are some bands who write songs that stick in your head for days (decades?) on end. They’re so sticky that they might as well be made of glue and bubblegum.

Here below, we wanted to explore three songs that fall into the latter category. A trio of songs from the decadent decade of the 1990s that won’t leave your psyche until, well, you listen to another song on the list and it takes over the space in your internal ear. Indeed, these are three one-hit wonders from the 1990s that stay in your head for days.

Videos by American Songwriter

[RELATED: The 28 Best One-Hit Wonders]

“Ice Ice Baby” by Vanilla Ice from To the Extreme (1990)

What a perfect storm of culture, unintentional comedy, and musical staying power. This song, which was the first rap track to hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and features a sample from Queen and David Bowie’s hit “Under Pressure,” made Vanilla Ice a household name. It is also the prefect confluence of 1980s cheese and 1990s self-seriousness, released on the cusp of each decade. It’s not that Vanilla Ice was without skill, it was that he seemed so not self-aware that this song remains both entertaining and silly. On the classic track, he raps,

Alright stop, collaborate and listen

Ice is back with my brand new invention

Something grabs a hold of me tightly

Flow like a harpoon daily and nightly

Will it ever stop? Yo, I don’t know

Turn off the lights, and I’ll glow

“MMMBop” by Hanson from Middle of Nowhere (1997)

This song, which also hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, was released in the latter half of the decade by the Tulsa, Oklahoma-born brother trio known as Hanson. Ah, we were all so young then! This song, which features more gibberish scatting than actual song lyrics, is about finding good relationships with people—you know, those truly solid relationships that are few and far between—and holding onto them. But more than that, it is a silly song where three blonde little boys run around singing nonsense. And that’s fine. On the track they offer,

Plant a seed, plant a flower, plant a rose

You can plant any one of those

Keep planting to find out which one grows

It’s a secret no one knows

It’s a secret no one knows

Oh, no one knows

Mmmbop, ba duba dop

Ba du bop, ba duba dop

Ba du bop, ba duba dop

Ba du, yeah

Mmmbop, ba duba dop

Ba du bop, Ba du dop

Ba du bop, Ba du dop

Ba du, yeah

“Breakfast at Tiffany’s” by Deep Blue Something from 11th Song (1993)

This song, which hit No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 upon its release, boasts a chorus that most who know it can’t help belting out at the top of their lungs. It’s about a looming breakup the singer attempts to stave off by bringing up the movie Breakfast at Tiffany’s, noting that at least they share an appreciation for that in common. Thus, he sings, love will find a way and they should stick together. But no matter how ridiculous the premise, the song is an earworm. And on it, the band sings,

You say that we’ve got nothing in common

No common ground to start from

And we’re falling apart

You’ll say the world has come between us

Our lives have come between us

But I know you just don’t care

And I said “What about Breakfast at Tiffany’s?”

She said, “I think I remember that film

And as I recall, I think we both kinda liked it.”

And I said “Well, that’s one thing we’ve got.”

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.

Photo by Paul Natkin/Getty Images