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Specials
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Toni Basil - "Mickey" (1982)
- Todd's barely-caring attempts at cheerleading ("I'm bad at everything...").
- He's surprised to learn that Toni Basil choreographed Talking Heads' music video for "Once in a Lifetime", having previously assumed that David Byrne's twitchy dance in it was the result of some form of neurological disorder.note
- Todd's self-description as "a preeminent historian of shitty music."
- As a Call-Back, the comparisons Todd makes between "Mickey" and "Shake It Off".Todd: [during the song's intro] ♪ I stay out too late! ♪
- The entirety to Todd's reaction to Toni Basil's follow-up, "Shoppin' From A to Z". The Call-Back to Meghan Trainor when he asks who could have been so stupid to do a song about shopping is a plus.Toni Basil: ♪ H - hairspray! / I - ice! / J- junk food! / K - ketchup! / L - liver! ♪
- When the item meant to represent the letter X turns out to be "nothing"...
Todd: [scoffing] Oh, what's the matter? Didn't have to get any xylophones for dinner? C'mon, can't eat mac and cheese every night, mix it up! - After noting through the video that Basil did a lot of things besides "Mickey" (and we mean a lot), Todd ends up finding the "Did she deserve better?" section pointless.Todd: I feel like if you asked her, she'd laugh pretty hard at the thought that she actually needed to do better. [...] I mean this in the kindest way - no, she did not deserve better.
Barry McGuire - "Eve of Destruction" (1965)
- Meta: he released this episode... on April Fools' Day 2016.
- Introducing Barry McGuire a "this dude with the frog voice and the paige haircut."
- About the Unintentional Period Piece-ness of it:I mean, check out all his concerns. Human-rights abuses in Communist China, war in the Middle East, racial tension & violence in America. In other words, it has zero relevance to the modern day.
- When describing the New Christy Minstrels, the folk band McGuire was originally a part of:Todd: Okay, have you ever seen A Mighty Wind? The Christopher Guest mockumentary? Okay, you know the smiley-smile, squeaky clean group the other folkies hate? That's supposed to be the New Christy Minstrels. I don't think the Minstrels were in a cult that worshipped colors, but... yeah, that's supposed to be them.
- "Okay, I don't know if you know this, but the '60s were really intense, and a lot of shit happened."
- Noting that Bob Dylan "might as well have sued, if there weren't also a billion other Dylan wannabes he had to worry about."
- On a note about how people his age might not like The Vietnam War era protest music, he uses a clip from Animaniacs to prove a point.The Devil: You will remain in here for eternity listening to...whiny protest songs from the 60's.Whiny Protest Singer: Oh, I hate the governmentMore than you and meThe government took my goldfishAnd unplugged my TV
- The Take That! against "response records" (in this case, one called "Dawn of Correction").Sorry if he's harshing your buzz, man. But sometimes you just need a person to look at all the shit going on and yell, "Fuck this! Fuck everything!"
- Speaking of "Dawn of Correction", here is Todd's summarization:Todd: [I]t argued that, you know, things are actually getting better and no one's actually crazy enough to start a nuclear war, and seriously, quit whining. And also, there's some stuff in there about how we need to gear up and fight the Commies.
- Speaking of "Dawn of Correction", here is Todd's summarization:
- Comparing and contrasting The '60s:Todd: Yeah, segregation is over, and the Jordan Water War isn't happening anymore, but... (increasing exasperated) the Middle East still sucks, racism is still ugly, people are still blowing up, Superman kills people now... Boy, that was a fun movie to watch when I was writing this episode. That felt really appropriate, not gonna lie.
- The Failed Follow-Up is... "California Dreamin'" (or rather it was going to be before The Mamas & the Papas decided to keep it for themselves).
- Todd's immediate reaction to the real Failed Follow-Up, "Child of Our Times":
- Calling back to his "Butterfly" review by noting that he did "drugs. A looot of drugs."
- After becoming a born-again Christian in 1971, Barry went off in some of the most interesting and eclectic decisions of his career — including, to Todd's delight, a never-released album called Narnia in collaboration with fellow Christian artist 2nd Chapter of Acts.note Todd seems genuinely disappointed that he can't listen to or play it.
- Cracking up upon hearing his 2012 version of "Eve of Destruction," dismissing it as the "Kidz Bop version."
- "Did he deserve better?"Todd: *scoffs* Ehh, he's fine. Yeah, his other songs, you can skip 'em.
Chamillionaire - "Ridin'" (2005)
- Todd noting that, with "Ridin'" being released as a single in 2006 (its parent album, The Sound of Revenge, released in 2005), it makes it possibly the most recent song featured in OHW."In fact, I am risking the real possibility that the artist in question could have another hit any day now. I mean, I didn't think I'd be covering a Mike Posner song in 2016, but here we are."
- The numerous jokes about Chamillionaire's name, including:Todd: Chamillionaire also started his own label at that point, Chamillitary Entertainment. Yes, he had a Chamillitary. I kinda wish he had just continued with that; he could marry Chamilla Kunis, his children would be Chamillennials...
- "I need a name that conveys wealth and success, and also that I am a small lizard." Bonus points for offering Gordon Gekko as an alternative.
- Upon learning that Chamillionaire has performed under the stage name "King Koopa", Todd suggests that he hunt down Mario of "Break Up" fame.
- "I mean, there was probably a ton of provocative hip-hop that I'm not remembering, but the way it felt, the sum total of hip-hop making a statement in the 2000s was..."Todd: ...which, you know, was not gonna go down as one of the great speeches in history.
- His reaction to "Good Morning," which samples "Free Fallin'":Todd: Oh, God, poor Tom Petty. This is the worst thing to happen to "Free Fallin'" since...John Mayer.
- The reveal that Chamillionaire is actually a stupefyingly successful entrepreneur, and invested his money in Maker Studios, meaning that money from viewing Todd's videos goes straight into Chamillionaire's pocket.Todd: Well I hope I made you a lot of goddamn money, Chamillionaire!
- "Did he deserve better?"Todd: *Beat* ...DID I MENTION THE MILLIONS? WHO CARES!? I don't give one shit about whether his music career should've been bigger.
- He continues by saying Chamillionaire may yet have more hits, invoking Bone Thugs N Harmony (whom Chamillionaire himself signed). But considering his successes outside music, he doesn't really care.Todd: So yeah, he could very well make a comeback and sell a ton more records. Won't be selling them to me, though. [I've] done enough work for him.
- He continues by saying Chamillionaire may yet have more hits, invoking Bone Thugs N Harmony (whom Chamillionaire himself signed). But considering his successes outside music, he doesn't really care.
The Darkness - "I Believe in a Thing Called Love" (2003)
- Todd's pure enthusiasm introducing the band and his love for them circa 2003."Welcome back to One Hit Wonderland, yeah yeah yeah, THE DARKNESS!!"
- Todd's attempt at mimicking Justin Hawkins' falsetto has him understandably have a vocal fault and say "I'm not doing that again...".
- "In fact, this was a good time in general for bands who wanted to make hard rock that was so over the top, it went past ironic and back into, like, sincere again. I mean, we had Andrew W.K., we had Electric Six, and it's worth noting that I actually didn't hear those acts much on the rock stations, which did still exist back then. I heard about The Darkness entirely through word of mouth. The only retro rock band from overseas they had time for was Jet, 'cause why play a band that actually has their own sound when you could listen to those talentless hacks shit up the place? Jet flat sucked, everyone! Good riddance!"
- When talking about "The average age of one of my fans," he shows a picture of a baby at a computer keyboard.
- On understanding the critical hate for them:
- Waxing Lyrical on them losing the UK Christmas #1 spot to Gary Jules' "overrated" version of "Mad World":Todd: which I think is kind of funny, but mostly kinda sad.
- And again when describing their breakup:
Todd: The official statement from the band was that they were in a spin, but everything would be A-OK. ...Literally, that's in the press release."
Living in a Box - "Living in a Box" (1987)
- Joking about their Self-Titled Album and song.
- Trying to remember this band or how the song goes:Todd: You remember this one, it goes... ♪ I'm livin' in a box! ♪ No? Uh, maybe it was ♪ Ooooohhh, livin' in a box! ♪ [shrugs shoulders]]
- Handwaving the name of the gutarist/lead singer's early band, Zu Zu Sharks, "because it was The '80s."
- Todd describing the ridiculous look of New Wave Music to contrast it with "Sophisti-Pop" (a name he's not a fan of either).
- Comparing and contrasting the song's inspiration—something a friend of theirs said about living in Sheffield, England—to the relatively-nonsensical lyrics.
- "I mean, I know all about living in a box, but that's because I live in New York City. I'm actually filming this in a shipping container. It's only $2200 a month, y'know, so it's not bad."
- In talking about its unoriginal sound and how other bands did it better, "Never Gonna Give You Up" keeps trying to creep in.
- He also mashes it up with Animotion and one of their follow-ups with Sonic the Hedgehog 2's "Chemical Plant Zone"
- Todd having almost nothing to say about their Failed Follow-Up, citing the huge amount of mediocre music he's discovered doing One-Hit Wonderland.
- Describing their next-biggest single with one word—"Boring!"—before immediately moving on to the Did They Do Anything Else segment.
- A band named Living In A Box just asks for a Running Gag. For instance, follow-up single "Blowing the House Down" earns "it's easy to do that if you're living in a cardboard box!"
- And he ends by saying the song, and the band, deserves to be put in a cardboard box, duct taped shut, and left in a garage with everything else from The '80s you didn't throw out.
Donna Lewis - "I Love You Always Forever" (1996)
- "If not for the cultural juggernaut that was the goddamn "Macarena", this would be a #1 single."
- Todd states that Donna Lewis is Welsh, and assumes her name is actually spelt "Donnllwwya Llwegys".
- Todd notes that Donna Lewis's followup song "Without Love" didn't even make it onto VH1's Top 50 list for that year, which included two songs from the second Hootie & the Blowfish album. To fully rub it in, he remarks that that album "was the first record to be released directly to the Used CD rack."
- The breakdown hypnotizing Todd.
- "The poor man's Disney got the poor man's Michael Bolton! (Shows pictures of Bolton and Richard Marx, then switches them around) Wait, think I got them wrong..."
- At the end of a lackluster episode that he described the research for as boring, Todd then checks his phone for his next Patreon request:Todd: (sigh) Please tell me there's something more interesting for the next one... (checks phone) (Beat) Oh. That will be interesting. (puts phone away) I don't, uh... That's like the exact opposite of this... I don't know if I've ever covered anything that dirty on "One Hit Wonderland"...
The Divinyls - "I Touch Myself" (1990)
- The subject matter just calls for jokes.This means I finally get to bust out my Australian accent. Say some of my favorite Aussie phrases like "good day, mate," and "that's not a knife," and "I masturbate frequently." Oy!
- "There's more to this band than some Aussie chick tossing shrimp on her barbie.""...I hate myself"
- After pointing out that Divinyls' singer Chrissy Amphlett once made a theater production alongside none other than a young Russell Crowe:"Never forget: Every Australian knows each other. Next time you meet one, just ask them what Margot Robbie is like and they'll tell you."
- This gets a Call-Back when, later in the review, it is revealed that Hugh Jackman was the one in charge of inducting the band into the Australian Music Hall of Fame.See? I told you, everyone in Australia knows each other.
- This gets a Call-Back when, later in the review, it is revealed that Hugh Jackman was the one in charge of inducting the band into the Australian Music Hall of Fame.
- On bragging about the song's subject matter:Todd: That is exclusively a female privilege. You cannot be a guy and just go "Hey girl, I jerked off thinking about you in the shower this morning." "Well, go on, big boy!"
- "(Chrissie Amphlett) looks great. I mean, she's not a model or anything, but the camera still loves her, and for that you can thank the video director, a young up-and-comer named Michael Bay, which, you can kind of tell, right? There's a lot of his trademarks in there." (cut to clips from the music video mixed with a fight scene from one of the Transformers movies)
- "Did they deserve better?"Todd: Yeeeeeah.
- Todd explains that, considering how big they were in Australia, they deserved more hits stateside.Todd: The Divinyls. They touched themselves. They also touched all of us.
- Todd explains that, considering how big they were in Australia, they deserved more hits stateside.
Wall of Voodoo - "Mexican Radio" (1982)
- "You never saw Devo do any cowboy stuff." [clip from the "Whip It" video plays] "...That doesn't count."
- Todd's flat bewilderment at Wall of Voodoo's Cover Version of "Ring of Fire".
- "Back in the day, MTV would throw anything on, the weirder the better. Wall of Voodoo benefited greatly from this."
- His pure bewilderment at a similar video that was actually a hit: "Dog Police" by... Dog Police, and practically begging people to request it for a future OHW.
- Todd gets political:"I think at some point there was a plan to stop these airwaves from getting across the border by...building a giant wall, or something. I don't know if anyone's still promoting that."
- Todd trying and failing to figure out what the hell the song is about."Okay, he's listening to a Mexican radio because it helps him sleep...which is not really my experience listening to Spanish broadcasters." [clip of a soccer game narrated by a very loud Hispanic commentator]"No, wait...he's the DJ on the Mexican radio station. Or actually, you know what? I think he's trapped in a Mexican radio. He's literally been sucked into the airwaves and he can't escape.""He's listening to Mexican talk radio? I don't know why you'd want to listen to that in English!"
- Todd being stunned to that learn barbecued iguana is a real thing.“Eh-heh. Mexicans don't eat iguana, you racist! (Cut to a picture of a dish of barbecued iguana) No, wait, I'm told that's a thing. That's a...that's a real thing... Okay, jumped the gun on that one. I apologize.”
Coven - "One Tin Soldier" (1971)
- While it is an obvious and mandatory joke, Todd utterly sells the buildup and letdown of covering a satanic band and then learning that their one hit is a hippie anti-war anthem.Todd: Uh... Happy Halloween? Why can't I have this one thing?! That's all I ask for, one... (buries head in hands)
- However, he did manage to make the song sound haunting and spooky at first by playing it in a minor key.
- When explaining about why Coven dropped the Satanism angle, he mentions that Satanic cults soon became "a bit of a hot-button issue":Todd: ...look, there was this guy...Charles Manson, and he- you probably know this story.
- The loads of Fridge Logic about the plot, including how the valley people have no redeeming qualities, the mountain people are unable to handle obvious problems, and how this story actually ends with peace because the conflict has been resolved.
Jars of Clay - "Flood" (1995)
- After stating his distaste for Christian Rock in several earlier videos, "Flood" finally gives Todd an excuse to directly tear the genre a new one... until he sees the requester is a reverend."Wasn't I just reviewing a band of Satan worshippers last week?"
- Some commenters noted that, ironically, between the Christian rockers and the Satan worshippers, the former had the edgier-sounding song as their hit.
- Pretending to look up The Bible verse from where the band gets its name... Only to reveal that it's just "a Game of Thrones book."
- "Alt Rock in the mid-nineties had absolutely no interest in matters of God!" [cue "Counting Blue Cars" and "One Of Us"note ]
- Todd's immediate Rapid-Fire "No!" and Squick-y reaction to their Christian follow-up, "Love Song for a Savior", comparing it to Faith + 1's love songs for Jesus.
- Todd repeatedly getting their mainstream-rock sound mixed up with other songs/bands of the era.
- And On Jars of Clay's audible adjustment to changing musical trends in the late 90s:
- "Did they ever do anything else?"Todd: They were a Christian band good enough to cross over. Ye-yeah, what do you think? Of course they did.
- Todd enjoys one of the songs featured so much that he throws up the devil horns before realising it's an inappropriate gesture for a Christian rock band.
- Todd finds that, in 2014, the frontman of Jars of Clay caught a lot of flack from his own fans for saying that opposing gay marriage no longer made sense. He prays to God, begging forgiveness for any insults he sent to the band."God": Child, I forgive you. I don't really listen to Jars of Clay anymore anyway. I'm more about Christian hip-hop now. You ever check out Lecrae?
Todd: Umm... no, but, umm... I'll be sure to check him out!
"God": I KNOW WHEN YOU'RE LYING, TODD!
Todd: (cowers) Sorry, sorry, it's not my genre, okay? - "Did they deserve better?"Todd: Well, all will receive their just reward when the Lord calls them home. But they seem like they've done well enough.
- Todd gives Jars of Clay the best review he can give a Christian group: that he could almost mistake them for a real band.
Midnight Oil - "Beds Are Burning" (1987)
- It figures that the last OHW of 2016 ends up dealing with heavy subject matter. As "Beds are Burning" is a commentary about Australia's history abusing its aboriginal population.Todd: I didn't pick it. Don't blame me. Blame the Australian government.
- Todd's subtle astonishment at the fact that Midnight Oil were actually pretty big in Australia for over a decade before this song crossed over in America.Todd: And they released eleven albums. No joke, this band has the most extensive and substantial discography I've ever covered on this show since Chumbawamba.
- Todd's comments about Midnight Oil frontman Peter Garrett, first remarking that he looks like a "Hulked-out John Malkovich", and then saying that he looks like Michael Stipe on steroids. Upon seeing a clip of him in concert, Todd remarks that he also dances like Michael Stipe on steroids, directly comparing it to the "Losing My Religion" video (the fact that both R.E.M. and Midnight Oil achieved their first real hits in the United States in 1987 compounds the humor of the similarities).
- Todd brings up the fact that the book "The 100 Best Australian Albums" ranked Midnight Oil's "Diesel and Dust" at number one:Todd: Seriously. "Back in Black" is number 2. "Kick" by INXS is at number 11. Air Supply doesn't even show up at all!
- Since the song deals with some heavy (and distinctly Australian) subject matter
, Todd digs deep into the Black Comedy well to bring his viewers up to speed:Todd: Okay, you know how in America, we have this thing where we tend to screw over black people and screw over the natives? Well, in Australia, the black people are the natives, so they were able to screw them over much more efficiently than we did. - Todd says the band is so political that even Rage Against the Machine would tell them to talk about something else.
- Todd questions his OHW episode structure, as Midnight Oil didn't really fail, so much as they simply never had another big song in America. He also notes part of the reason is, yet again, because Nirvana pretty much destroyed anything in Alternative rock that happened before them.
- "Name one Australian Prime Minister! I don't know, MasterBlaster?"note And related, noting how Midnight Oil taught Todd a lot about Australian tragedies, he starts thinking if Mad Max is an improvement.
