One of my favorite one-hit-wonder songs from the 1960s is “In The Year 2525″ by Zager and Evans, which takes us on a journey through the centuries as humankind is twisted and tweaked by technology into creatures that no longer resemble us at all. It’s like a nightmare episode of “Star Trek” with a beat you can dance to and a great hook. The music/pop culture blog Dangerous Minds had this post about the song and the artists, and, of course, the requisite YouTube clip:
Another hippie hit that I unashamedly love is the 1973 hit from “Philly Sound” R&B singers The O’Jays, “Love Train”. Here they are performing it on “Soul Train”:
Less hippie-tastic, but no less fantastic, here is voice actor Rob Paulsen, who performed the voice of Yakko Warner on “Animaniacs”, singing Yakko’s famous “Nations of the World” song live at ComicCon last month:
And finally, the Internet hit of the moment, Cee-Lo singing “Fuck You”:
As the Dangerous Minds post points out, “In The Year 2525″ was one of many songs banned from the air by Clear Channel in the aftermath of 9/11, and yet it has survived (and, one might say, even thrived) since. Cee-Lo’s song might never ever get on the airwaves, and yet it’s already a guaranteed hit thanks to YouTube. Funny old world.
