Occasionally it happens that a super talented group of musicians comes together to deliver some excellent music and they end up having one hit. We’ve all got at least one song in our personal repertoire that’s a one-hit-wonder. Why does this happen? How does it come to be that a group of creative professionals can’t make it work out to make more awesome music? The disagreements usually come out over things like differing creative styles and other issues. That’s exactly what happened when an all-female rock group called 4 Non Blondes recorded their first and only album, “Bigger, Better, Faster, and More!” The album immediately hit the charts and spent a whopping 59 weeks on the Billboard 200 Chart.
Unfortunately, only one song from the album was a huge hit: the classy tune called “What’s Up.” This song became a hit in 1993 and is still a favorite around the world. However, that’s when things went downhill for the 4 Non Blondes. That single turned out to be the group’s only hit, and their destiny as a one-hit-wonder group was set in stone. They could have done great things together, but as soon as the “Bigger, Better, Faster, and More!” was finished, the lead singer, Linda Perry, left the group. Shortly thereafter, the group disbanded as one by one, the members left.
Perry says she left the group because of not only creative issues, but also because she is an out lesbian. According to Perry, her sexuality created tensions within the group. This was the 1990s and things were still pretty regressive when it came to sexuality. Homophobia was still a big problem in the world. It’s all good, though, because Linda Perry went on to do some amazing work for artists like Alicia Keys, Christina Aguilera, Courtney Love, Kelly Osbourne, Gwen Stafani, and Pink. It’s disappointing that the 4 Non Blondes didn’t do more music together, but at least we have some great artists still covering “What’s Up.”
YouTube
Below, watch the incomparable Pink cover an iconic one-hit-wonder. This edgy song is perfect for an artist like Pink.
