Canadian One-Hit Wonders

Some of these homegrown artists may have visited the charts more than once, but everyone remembers them by their one outstanding hit: these are the tunes that sit like flaming beacons atop an artist's career, songs of solitary splendour that leave everything else in the shadows, whether it's "Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft" by legendary Toronto proggers Klaatu (whose thunder would be stolen on the international stage by the Carpenters), Len's "Steal My Sunshine" — which topped the domestic chart and featured on the Go movie soundtrack — or Trans-X's high NRG electro-dance landmark from 1983, "Living On Video."

The ephemerality of the butterfly meets the longevity of the tortoise . . . in Next Steps.

Here you'll find some of the great pioneers of the Canadian one-hit wonder phenomenon, including composer and pianist Hagood Hardy, who scored with the easy-listening classic "The Homecoming" in 1975, and fellow instrumental maestro Frank Mills, the genius behind "Music Box Dancer." Cape Breton Island fiddler Ashley MacIsaac makes it onto our list with his mid-'90s Top 40 hit "Sleepy Maggie" while the pan-flashing Thundermug finds one-hit wondrousness in "Africa" from their 1972 debut album, Thundermug Strikes, and Kazzer bangs an early-'00s rap-rock gong with his adrenalized signature, "Pedal to the Metal."

Look at the many eras of pop through one-hit spectacles, in Deep Cuts.

Our Canadian one-hit wonders come in all shapes, sizes, and backgrounds, from fifth season Canadian Idol victor Brian Melo, reminding us of his mellow charms with 2007 winner's single "All I Ever Wanted," to hirsute rock wizards Anvil ("Metal On Metal"), whose journey into obscurity after a bright start at Japan's Super Rock Festival (1984) was brilliantly documented in the 2009 film Anvil! The Story of Anvil. Filling out the one-hit picture are twin sisters Toni and Trisha Sherwood, a.k.a. 11:30, best-remembered for their millennial dance-pop party-starter "Ole Ole," Pukka Orchestra, Artificial Joy Club, Wild Strawberries . . . oh, yes, there's much more where they came from.

If you're going to score with just one big hit, you may as well make it a good 'un . . . a pop shot heard 'round the world, if you like. That way, it'll stick in the memory and earn a degree of immortality that may once have seemed unlikely. Like the arrow that pierced the heel of Achilles, each one of these tracks hit its mark when it was first released and, by virtue of inclusion on this Essentials list, will now last forever. So doff your caps to Men Without Hats, as you act like an imbecile to "The Safety Dance," get a box of tissues at the ready as Dan Hill unleashes his all-time classic pop-weepie, "Sometimes When We Touch," and look for direction as the Poppy Family asks the question "Which Way You Goin' Billy?" — as with all these tracks, there's only one answer: straight to the stars, then back down to earth.