3 One-Hit Wonders Who Tried (And Failed) to Write the Same Hit Again

Being a one-hit wonder comes with the unfortunate circumstance that you’ll never put out a major hit again. However, that didn’t stop a few one-hit wonders from trying to get a taste of their former glory by putting out the same hit… again. Let’s look at three examples, shall we?

1. Tommy Tutone

You might know Tommy Tutone by their hit new wave track “867-5309/Jenny” from 1981. That song was the band’s claim to fame and peaked at no. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100. 

Unfortunately for Tommy Tutone, the band never scored as big of a hit again. And like many one-hit wonders, they tried to milk the value of their one charting hit by releasing a Christmas version of it with altered lyrics. It didn’t exactly do well.

Fortunately, Tommy Tutone has recently reunited as of 2024 and are working on a new album. Who knows? We might get a hit that rivals “867-5309/Jenny” soon enough.

2. Larry Verne

One-hit wonders don’t often try to rehash the same hit that made them famous, but when they do, it often doesn’t lead anywhere good. Larry Verne got a taste of fame back in 1960 with the novelty hit “Mr. Custer”. That track made it to no. 1 on the US Pop charts. A few additional songs from Verne charted in the early 1960s, though none of them even came close to “Mr. Custer”.

In an attempt to hit the charts again following a few non-charting single releases, Verne put out the song “Return Of Mr. Custer (Please Mr. Sittin’ Bull)” in 1964. The song used the exact same melody and the same musical arrangement as “Mr. Custer”. And, naturally, it didn’t hit whatsoever. Verne’s music career ended not long after that release.

3. Vanilla Ice

Vanilla Ice made it big in 1990 with the release of “Ice Ice Baby”. That song famously sampled the bassline from Queen and David Bowie’s hit track “Under Pressure”. Sadly for Vanilla Ice, he never saw as big of a chart-topping hit again. That being said, he tried to use the same formula to claim a bit of his former glory… very unsuccessfully.

This technically isn’t an instance of one-hit wonders remaking their same hit, but Vanilla Ice did try to sample another hit song for his 1991 comeback attempt, “Rollin’ In My 5.0”. That song samples Steve Miller Band’s “Fly Like An Eagle”. And it didn’t even chart at all in the US.

Photo by Paul Natkin/Getty Images

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