'90s One-Hit Wonders

They're here today, gone tomorrow — but just how do you help define an entire decade with just one song? These one-hit wonders unintentionally did just that, from the hum-dinging mumble-pop of Hanson's "MMMBop" and Crash Test Dummies' "Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm" to Billy Ray Cyrus' line-dancing anthem "Achy Breaky Heart."

No one-hit-wonder list would be complete without an insanely addictive novelty track or two, and here you'll find Miami's 69 Boyz (so called because every member of the group was born in '69) with "Tootsie Roll." The cross-cultural NYC club scene of the '90s was represented fiercely, albeit briefly, by Deee-Lite's "Groove Is in the Heart."

Here, we vary the pace in our homage to '90s artists of fleeting genius, from the slow and soulful balladry of Oleta Adams, who runs the gamut of travel options (speedy colt, caravan, windsurfer) in her heartfelt entreaty "Get Here," to the frenetic techno-pop of the Shamen, who don't need transport, because they can "Move Any Mountain."

Every era has its one-hit-wonder artists in every style of music: They come out of nowhere with one fantastic classic, own the airwaves for the requisite few minutes, before promptly receding to a dark corner of obscurity. The '90s was no exception, as you'll recall with these flashes of momentary pop glory from the likes of Delerium (with vocal assistance from Sarah McLachlan), Tom Cochrane, Alannah Myles, and Len (with the classic "Steal My Sunshine"). All of them delivered fantastic tracks that lit up the charts and thoroughly deserve our fanfare.