360°Sound’s Greatest One-Hit Wonders series keeps chugging along. For this installment, we take you back 50 years to 1971. That year saw the opening of Walt Disney World in Orlando, the largest ever anti-Vietnam War protest in Washington, D.C., and the sentencing of Charles Manson for the Tate-LaBianca murders. There were huge breakthroughs on the digital front with Texas Instruments and Intel developing their first microprocessors and Ray Tomlinson sending the first email.
1971 was such a momentous year for music that earlier this year Apple TV+ released the eight-episode docuseries 1971: The Year That Music Changed Everything. According to the synopsis, it was a year of “musical innovation and rebirth fueled by the political and cultural upheaval of the time,” during which “stars reached new heights” and “fresh talent exploded onto the scene.” In a year full of classic albums, perhaps the greatest was Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On. (Click here to read our interview with music journalist Travis Atria about the album).
To qualify as a 360°Sound One-Hitter, an artist must have had just one entry into the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100. To provide a bit of context, the top three Billboard year-end singles of 1971 were Three Dog Night’s “Joy to the World,” Rod Stewart’s “Maggie May,” and Carole King’s “It’s Too Late.”
Here we highlight six of the year’s best one-hit wonders. Some of these are widely known and still played regularly today, while others seem to have drifted away. Enjoy these one-hitters, and email us or hit us up on social media if we omitted any of your favorites.
Ray Price – “For The Good Times”
Songwriter: Kris Kristofferson
Genre: Country
Billboard Hot 100: #11 on January 2
Baritone country crooner Ray Price charted a whopping 39 Top 40 hits on the country charts between 1952 and 1970. However, only five of those crossed over to the pop charts. Price finally landed his sole top-40 pop hit in 1971 with the Kris Kristofferson-penned “For The Good Times.”
Kristofferson wrote this weepy ballad about the end of a love affair while he was traveling from Nashville to the Gulf of Mexico in 1968. Bill Nash recorded it first that year, and Kristofferson later cut it and included it on his 1970 self-titled debut album. Price’s version topped the country charts and won “Song of the Year” by the Academy of Country Music. “For the Good Times” is ranked #18 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 40 Saddest Country Songs of All Time. For a genre dripping with tear-jerkers, that’s quite an accomplishment.
Lynn Anderson – “(I Never Promised You a) Rose Garden”
Songwriter: Joe South
Genre: Country
Hot 100: #3 on February 13
The daughter of country singer-songwriter Liz Anderson, Lynn Anderson started notching Top 10 country hits in the mid-1960s. In 1970, Anderson moved to Nashville with her husband, writer/producer Glenn Sutton and signed to Columbia Records. Not long after, she recorded this Joe South composition. Sutton, who was initially reluctant to record it for his wife because he viewed it as a man’s tune, tweaked the tempo and melody to make it bouncier and more lighthearted.
Anderson won a Grammy for “Rose Garden,” a hit in 15 counties, and was named “Female Vocalist of the Year” by the Country Music Association. “Rose Garden” was “perfectly timed,” Anderson would tell The Associated Press years later. “We were just coming out of the Vietnam years, and a lot of people were trying to recover. The song’s message was that you can make something out of nothing.”
Janis Joplin – “Me and Bobby McGee”
Songwriters: Kris Kristofferson and Fred Foster
Genre: Blues-rock
Hot 100: #1 on March 20
Yes, even the great Janis Joplin is technically a one-hit wonder. Her best-known song, “Piece of My Heart,” (#12 in 1968) came when she fronted Big Brother & the Holding Company. Her solo singles, “Kozmic Blues” and “Cry Baby,” both barely missed the Top 40 at #41 and #42, respectively. Joplin, who died of a heroin overdose at age 27 in October 1970, recorded “Me and Bobby McGee” for her second solo album, Pearl, released posthumously in 1971. Like “For The Good Times,” it was written by Kristofferson, and also included on his debut LP.
The Fuzz – “I Love You For All Seasons”
Songwriter: Sheila Young
Genre: Soul
Hot 100: #21 on May 22
The Fuzz may sound like a garage/psych band, but they were actually a female R&B vocal trio. Formed by teenagers Sheila Young, Barbara Gilliam, and Val Williams, the Washington, D.C.-based group cut their eponymous debut album at the legendary Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia. That lush Philly-soul sound is evident on this lovely hit. Young, the songwriter, said she was inspired by the autumn leaves falling by her window. The Fuzz released just three more singles before disbanding in 1972.
The Beginning Of The End – “Funky Nassau, Pt. 1”
Songwriters: Ray Munnings and Tyrone Fitzgerald
Genre: Funk
Hot 100: #15 on July 17
Formed by three brothers in Nassau, Bahamas in 1969, The Beginning Of The End played a unique blend of R&B, funk, rock, jazz, and Bahamian music. The group received a $2,000 advance from their uncle and recorded “Funky Nassau, Pt. 1” at Miami’s Criterion Studios. They pressed 5,000 copies and received considerable airplay from a Black AM station in Miami, which led to a distribution deal. With lyrics describing life in the Bahamas (“miniskirts, maxi shirts, and afro hair-do”), “Funky Nassau, Pt. 1” was an instant smash. The record sold over a million copies within three months, an amazing feat for an unknown band with no PR campaign.
The funky, infectious track peaked at #15 on the pop charts and #7 on the R&B charts. On the heels of the single’s success, The Beginning Of The End recorded their first full album, Funky Nassau, within a week with many of the songs coming to form from jam sessions. They recorded one more album in 1976 before breaking up.
In 2018, their two albums were reissued on CD as Funky Nassau: The Definitive Collection by the excellent UK label Strut Records. In the CD’s liner notes, songwriter and organist Ray Munnings wrote of the hit, “The track was a benchmark for not just the band but the island and remains perhaps the biggest musical export ever from the Bahamas, all starting from that desire to create something that was ours.”
Chase – “Get It On”
Songwriters: Bill Chase and Terry Richards
Genre: Jazz-rock
Hot 100: #24 on July 31
Trumpeter Bill Chase cut his teeth playing jazz music with Stan Kenton, Woody Herman, and others in the 1960s. Inspired by the horn-rock bands Chicago and Blood, Sweat, & Tears, Chase moved to Las Vegas in 1969 and formed the jazz-rock band Chase. Featured on their self-titled debut album was their only hit, “Get It On,” which spent 13 weeks on the pop charts.
“Get It On” rips! I love the horn break at the 1:13 mark. Interestingly, the chord progression sounds a bit like the Christmas carol “Angels We Have Heard on High.” Chase’s hit shares the same producers as another great horn-rock one-hit wonder, “Vehicle” by Ides of March, which made our 1970 list. Another fun fact: T. Rex added the parenthetical “Bang a Gong” to the U.S. release of their hit of the same name to avoid confusion. Sadly, in 1974 Bill Chase and several of his bandmates were tragically killed in a plane crash not long after they wrapped their fourth album.
Stay tuned to 360° as we continue our trek through one-hit wonderdom. Up next is 1981!
