One-Hit Wonders for Metalheads
Audio Ink Radio presents its tally of great one-hit wonders for metalheads, based on our panel of experts voting on their top picks. – Author: Anne Erickson, Drowning Pool photo via Tricia Starr Photography
Just because you love heavy music, that doesn’t mean you’re at a loss for enjoying some great one-hit wonders. Actually, there are plenty of great one-hit wonders for metalheads and headbangers. Even though some of the greatest one-hit wonders of all time are on the pop side of things, a few of them certainly fall into the guitar-heavy genres.
One thing that makes a heavy one-hit wonder so special is that it’s usually a song that makes that band a household name, when, let’s face it, most metal bands are not mainstream enough to be household names. In honor of these hard-hitting songs, Audio Ink Radio presents its tally of famed one-hit wonders for metalheads, based on our panel of experts voting on their top picks.
One-Hit Wonders for Metalheads
Autograph, “Turn Up the Radio”
The guys of Autograph had a hit on their hands with their 1984 game-changer, “Turn Up the Radio.” The song peaked at No. 29 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was their highest-charting single. The song is everything one could want from a classic metal tune, from bread-and-butter riffs to heavy drums to shouty vocals.
Drowning Pool, “Bodies”
In 2001, the nu-metal guys of Drowning Pool released an opus in “Bodies.” This song is one of the most recognizable heavy songs from the early 2000s. The song, which came off the band’s 2001 “Sinner” release, is by far the Texas band’s most successful track, even though they’ve had a lot of additional success throughout the years. The song is actually a heartfelt tribute to original vocalist Dave Williams, who passed away in 2002. While “Bodies” isn’t a heavy metal song in the classic sense, it’s certainly headbanging worthy, and any metalhead should relish in its choppy guitars and guttering screams.
Crazy Town, “Butterfly”
Here’s a song, “Butterfly,” that isn’t super heavy, but it’s indictive of the nu-metal era right when the genre was getting super mainstream. The 2000 song, which features a sample of the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “Pretty Little Ditty,” arrived on the band’s debut album, 1999’s “The Gift Of Game,” and reached No. 1 in the U.S. and a range of other countries. It made Crazy Town super popular right as the new century was starting, but it turned out to be their only big hit. They released their next album more than a decade later, in 2002 with “Darkhorse.” Another cool tidbit about Crazy Town is that they appeared on the 2001 Ozzfest bill, which was heavy on trendy nu-metal at the time.
Quiet Riot, “Cum On Feel The Noize”
Quiet Riot hit in big in the early 1980s with a cover of the 1973 Slade song, “Cum On Feel The Noize.” The song, by far, is the band’s biggest hit and hit No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, meaning it was loved by the mainstream, as well as metalheads. This song is heavy, hard and hits the listener like a ton of bricks, but it’s still catchy and has the pop appeal that so many of the hair metal hits of the 1980s possess.
Find more heavy metal one-hits wonders in this Audio Ink Radio feature.
- One-Hit Wonders for Metalheads - March 22, 2025
- Best One-Hit Wonders That Were Really Cover Songs - March 20, 2025
- The Best Rock Songs of the ’80s - March 17, 2025
