Perhaps the most eclectic decade for music in history, the 1990s featured everything from electronic to acoustic jam band. It was the age of CDs and Tower Records. The era when MTV was between two worlds—playing music videos and creating original television. And it was a time when two-hit wonders thrived on the airwaves.
Here below, we wanted to explore three such projects. A trio of acts that wrote great music that we’re still enjoying today, along with a couple of songs that bubbled up to the top of the charts. Indeed, these are three two-hit wonders from the 1990s that still brighten our day.
[RELATED: 3 Two-Hit Wonder, Foreign-Born Bands that Ruled the 1970s]
Spin Doctors: “Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong” (U.S. No. 17) and “Two Princes” (U.S. No. 7) from Pocket Full of Kryptonite (1991)
This New York City-via-Princeton, New Jersey-born rock band released two lively hits in the 1990s. One was about a woman who thought she could never be wrong and another was about a love triangle. Thanks to Chris Barron’s whimsical lyrics and vocal delivery—not to mention his choice in comfy sweaters and ski hats—the group became a phenomenon despite starting off as a slow burn. But when radio DJs began playing “Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong,” that got the LP to hit No. 3 on the Billboard Top 200. (For more on the band’s breakout hit single, check out the American Songwriter interview with Barron here.)
Paula Cole: “Where Have All the Cowboys Gone” (U.S. No. 8) and “I Don’t Want to Wait” (U.S. No. 11) from This Fire (1996)
Paula Cole’s breezy, emotive voice could be heard all throughout the latter half of the 1990s. Whether it was her singing about the lack of rustic, cowboy-like men or the fact that she wanted to live in the here and now, she was nearly ubiquitous. Especially since her track “I Don’t Want to Wait” became the theme song to the uber-popular teenage drama Dawson’s Creek. Since then, it’s been used in parodies of the show and in teen movies, too. But it’s Cole’s heartfelt, loving lyrics that ruled the airwaves in the 1990s (for more, check out the American Songwriter interview with her here).
Sixpence None the Richer: “Kiss Me” (U.S. No. 2) and “There She Goes” (U.S. No. 32) from Sixpence None the Richer (1997)
When 1997 came, so did fame for the Texas-born band Sixpence None the Richer. That’s when their self-titled third LP dropped and with it came two hit singles, “Kiss Me” and “There She Goes.” Both tracks were featured in film and television and showcased the sticky lead vocals of frontwoman Leigh Nash. In a way, the band symbolized a certain section of the decade: heartfelt but relaxed. Reflective but not super-dramatic. Ah, if we could only go back in time …
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