Will Daniel Powter Revive the One-Hit Wonder?

A fun and often silly side effect of the musical 1960s, that era that spanned roughly 1963 to 1974, was the one-hit wonder. It was usually a fluffy tune, with a catchy hook and forgettable lyrics. The Archies' "Sugar Sugar." Golden Earring's "Radar Love." Steam's "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye." Say what you will about the phenomenon, it showed at least that record companies were willing to take chances on unknown acts and cross genres looking for a hit.

That era died 25 or so years ago. Popular music became so formulaic, market-tested and niched that it became virtually impossible to produce a one-hit wonder. (Not that anyone actually set out to do that, but you know what I mean.)

The Rise of Singles
But what goes around comes around. With iTunes and other outlets driving singles sales through the roof, I'm looking forward to a whole new crop of musicians who briefly flash across the sky of pop stardom only to eventually become a question on a future edition of Trivial Pursuit.

Take, for example, Daniel Powter. Please.

His song "Bad Day" has been sitting atop Billboard's Hot 100 singles chart for more than a month as of this writing. The song did not debut in the 35-year-old singer's native Canada or in the United States, though. Rather, it first found a market across the Atlantic in mid-2005 when Warner Bros. Music submitted it for commercial production. The tune was subsequently chosen by Coca-Cola as the theme song for an ad campaign in Europe. Based on that exposure, the song eventually reached No. 3 on the Euro pop charts.

Powter's North American break came when "Bad Day" was picked up by the TV show American Idol, which played it as contestants were voted off the show. Warner Bros. released it as a single in early 2006 and, presto-chango, it's one-hit wonder time.

Why am I so quick to pull down the curtain on a barely-off-the-ground career? It's not just because "Bad Day" has all the hallmarks of one-hit wonderdom: It's a bouncy bit of pop reminiscent of James Blunt and the early, piano-driven Elton John. Nor is it just because the lyrics are nothing special: "They tell me your blue skies fade to gray/They tell me your passion's gone away/... Well, you need a blue-sky holiday." It's also because of what I heard when I listened to the rest of Powter's CD.

The Balance of Powter
Based on the success of the single, the record label rushed out an album 10 weeks later based on songs Powter had written for a self-produced disc a few years ago. Perhaps they should have left well enough alone. The additional songs aren't bad, but they're most definitely so-so. And these days, that's almost a bigger curse than bad.

Even more so than the music, it's the album's lyrics that show Powter's true weakness. On several songs they vary from the ho-hum (such as those on the hit tune) to "huh!?" I'm not talking poetic obscurity, either. I'm talking plain nonsense, such as these gems found on the song "Styrofoam": "I don't never feel warm/Like grass stains/And I'm stone-cold whatever's left."

Looking in between the nonsense—from a moral perspective—it quickly becomes clear that there are flaws here, too. Several songs feature illicit sexuality, such as "Free Loop" in which Powter encourages a girlfriend to have a one-night sexual encounter ("And I will figure out that we can, baby/We can do a one-night stand, yeah").

"Hollywood" finds the singer seducing a promiscuous girl—with the caveat that he does not intend it to be a long-term relationship ("Let me buy you a drink or two/And you could be my star for weekends/... Tell your daddy not to wait up/You're not coming home, you're all mine"). At the same time he's seducing her, he's also mocking her for her promiscuity ("As far as I'm concerned, the lesson's been learned/At least that's what I understood").

When the singer dumps a frivolous girlfriend on "Song 6," he takes advantage of her one more time before doing so ("And I don't need you any more/Seeing something new is what I'm hoping for/I'm going to lose and go for a ride/Seeing that I've got the time/... So let's groove and get high").

The Problem With One Good Song
Modern music lovers face difficulties music lovers didn't back in the '60s when it comes to one-hit wonders. Now that singers aren't laying "it between the lines" (or leaving it out altogether) the way they did then, fans of a single aren't assured the rest of an album will line up, message-wise, with what they've already heard.

There's no indication on "Bad Day" that Powter takes the rest of his music in a sexual direction or that he gives an approving nod to drug abuse. So newly minted Daniel Powter fans of all ages will buy his album containing that one hit and then wonder why they get something different. That's a variation on "one-hit wonder" that's neither fun nor silly.