An Album a Day: One-Hit Wonders & Disses
A friend and I are listening to an album each day this year. Let me tell you about it.
This year, my friend Ken and I decided to listen to an album every day. Well, kind of. We started January 23. Then on February 1, we decided that each week’s listening would be themed. The first two weeks were 1970s singer-songwriters and women of the 1990s.
We wanted to invite you along on the journey. Each week, I will be detailing the albums that we listened to, ranked from worst to best. Since this is the first edition, we will cover the last two weeks. We’d love to hear what you think of these albums and what other albums that fit the theme you think are must listens.
US One-Hit Wonders
Everybody knows one-hit wonders. But nearly every artist with a big hit also had an album. Typically, that album did not sell well. We decided to listen to albums that contained the song a one-hit wonder was known for. Please note, we focused on US-based one-hit wonders. Some of these artists may have been popular in other countries. Additionally, some technically had more than one hit (e.g., The Knack), but we counted them as a “one-hit wonder” if they are really only known for one song.
#7 Down for Life by D4L (2005 - Hit Single: “Laffy Taffy”)
I’m convinced that Ken and I are the only people to listen to this album end-to-end. The album and its hit, “Laffy Taffy,” are a prime example of the short-lived hip-hop genre commonly called “snap.” Outside of “Laffy Taffy,” there are a few enjoyable moments (e.g., “Scotty”), but those are weighed down by two of the worst songs I’ve ever heard: “Diggin’ Me” and “Shittin’ Me.”
#6 Divinyls by Divinyls (1990 - Hit Single: “I Touch Myself”)
We chose to listen to this album because the hit, “I Touch Myself,” was cowritten by the late Billy Steinberg. And Steinberg’s efforts are clearly the highlight of the albums. I know the Divinyls are beloved in Australia, but I really found the rest of this record underwhelming, especially the lead vocals.
#5 Who Let The Dogs Out by Baha Men (2000 - Hit Single: “Who Let the Dogs Out”)
Is this album good? Absolutely not. The album’s single ballad, “Where Did I Go Wrong,” is laughably bad. But I know that a Baha Men concert would be more fun than any other band on this list.
#4 Making Mirrors by Gotye (2011 - Hit Single: “Somebody That I Used to Know”)
“Somebody That I Used to Know” deserved all of the love it got when it came out. It’s a tremendous song with an engaging music video. While Making Mirrors has many interesting songs (e.g., “State Of The Art”), I don’t think any match the album’s biggest single. I would love to hear more music from Gotye, though.
#3 Maybe You’ve Been Brainwashed Too by New Radicals (1998 - Hit Single: “You Get What You Give”)
As the single “You Get What You Give” was climbing the charts, frontman Gregg Alexander broke up the New Radicals. I’m very mad at him for doing this. Maybe You’ve Been Brainwashed Too is a great record, 1970s Rolling Stones pastiche in the best way possible. Luckily, Alexander went on to write hits for other artists, including Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s “Murder On the Dancefloor” and Santana’s “The Game of Love.”
#2 Get The Knack by The Knack (1979 - Hit Single: “My Sharona”)
A fun power pop record that my friend Ken enjoyed more than I did. This record is worth your time purely because the biggest hit, “My Sharona,” isn’t even one of the three best songs on the album.
#1 Looking Glass by Looking Glass (1972 - Hit Single: “Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl”)
Just as I’m mad at Gregg Alexander for breaking up the New Radicals, I’m mad at Elliot Lurie for doing the same to Looking Glass. Looking Glass’s debut album is packed with hooks (e.g., “Jenny-Lynne”) and tasteful jams (e.g., “Catherine Street”). “Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl)” is a great song, but its success grossly overshadows a band that should have been much bigger than they were.
Diss Albums
Just as you are familiar with one-hit wonders, you are also familiar with diss tracks, or when one artist releases a song to attack another person. Though associated most closely with the hip-hop community, artists have been dissing each other for centuries. We decided to track down albums where nearly every track is focused on attacking someone else. That said, our definition was a bit loose because there aren’t that many records like this.
#7 It’s On (Dr. Dre) 187um Killa by Eazy-E (1993 - Dissing Target: Dr. Dre)
Eazy-E really hated his former bandmate, Dr. Dre. Outside of a few tracks on this record (e.g., “Gimme That Nutt”), he is really locked in on making that hatred clear. But because of that obsession, the whole thing gets redundant. For example, the last song, “Down 2 Tha Last Roach,” is unnecessarily 7 minutes long.
#6 Blood in My Eye by Ja Rule (2003 - Diss Target: Shady/Aftermath universe, including 50 Cent, G-Unit, Eminem, D12, Dr. Dre, Obie Trice, DMX, and Busta Rhymes)
I think Ja Rule has one of the most compelling voices in the history of hip-hop. But I think he’s better as a feature than a lead artist. His raspy snarl begins to grate after like 5 tracks. He does deliver what might be my favorite diss across all of these records, though: “50 Cent / Is that what this is all about? / Two punk ass motherfuckin’ quarters.”
#5 Here, My Dear by Marvin Gaye (1978 - Diss Target: Wife, Anna Gordy)
When Marvin Gaye learned he had to give 50% of the royalties from his next record to his ex-wife, he said he was going to make something unlistenable. But Gaye didn’t want to disappoint his audience, so he wrote a whole record about the dissolution of his relationship. This record is messy. There isn’t much traditional song structure outside of tracks like “Sparrow” and “Anger.” But that messiness makes this all feel very honest.
#4 The Don Killuminati: The 7 Day Theory by Makaveli (1996 - Diss Target: East coast rappers, including Biggie Smalls, Jay-Z, and Diddy)
Though released posthumously, The Don Killuminati was the final work 2Pac had creative input in, albeit released under his pseudonym “Makaveli.” Like Eazy-E’s diss album, this record is vividly violent and often unsettling. But 2Pac is a more compelling storyteller than Eazy-E. Plus, some of his grooves, like that on “To Live and Die in L.A.,” are insatiable.
#3 Lemonade by Beyoncé (2016 - Diss Target: Husband, Jay-Z)
Marvin Gaye has the best voice across these diss albums, but Beyoncé gives Gaye a run for his money on Lemonade. Across this record, her voice is delicate (e.g., “Sandcastles”), unhinged (e.g., “Don’t Hurt Yourself”), and everything in between. My only criticism is that stylistically Lemonade crosses so many styles (e.g., country on “Daddy Lessons,” trap on “Formation”) that it can come across unfocused.
#2 West End Girl by Lily Allen (2025 - Diss Target: Husband, David Harbour)
My friend Ken said of this album, “If someone wrote this about me, I’d never be able to leave my house again.” Across West End Girl, Lily Allen painfully details the dissolution of her marriage. Unlike Marvin Gaye’s similar effort, Allen’s songs are more structurally typical. But Allen’s superpower is her ability to make her lyrics feel effortless while still following rhyme scheme and meter: “So we went ahead and we bought it / Found ourselves a good mortgage / Billy Cotton got sorted / All the furniture ordered.”
#1 Rumours by Fleetwood Mac (1977 - Diss Target: Bandmates)
We felt a little silly calling Rumours a “diss album,” but it might be the quintessential example of the form, with the added benefit that everyone being dissed was in the band. Lindsay Buckingham sings about Stevie Nicks (e.g., “Never Going Back Again”). Stevie Nicks sings about Lindsay Buckingham (e.g., “Dreams”). Christine McVie sings about John McVie (e.g., “Don’t Stop”). Through it all, the group is held together by something deeper, something they can never get away from: “Chain, keep us together.”
Shout out to the paid subscribers who allow this newsletter to exist. Along with getting access to our entire archive, subscribers unlock biweekly interviews with people driving the music industry, monthly round-ups of the most important stories in music, and priority when submitting questions for our mailbag. Consider becoming a paid subscriber today!
Recent Paid Subscriber Interviews: Pitchfork’s Editor-in-Chief • Vinyl Specialist • Spotify’s Former Data Guru • Hall of Fame Songwriter• John Legend Collaborator • Broadway Arranger • Indie Label Founder• Fender Exec
Recent Newsletters: Two-Hit Wonders • The Lostwave Story • Forgotten Artists • Album Cover Colors • Bad Ways to Die • A Frank Sinatra Mystery • Slop Problems
Want more from Chris Dalla Riva? Get a copy of his book Uncharted Territory: What Numbers Tell Us about the Biggest Hit Songs and Ourselves wherever books are sold.