'60s One-Hit Wonders

Pop never fails to produce a group of artists who will forever be remembered for their one moment on the mountaintop, confident that their first big hit wouldn't be their last. Sadly, it would. Join us, as we salute the fireballs of the '60s, who burned brightly but briefly: Scott McKenzie, P.P. Arnold, Vanilla Fudge . . . we never forgot you.

It's not that these '60s artists had no longevity; it's just that they didn't dominate the U.K. charts like they did elsewhere. That's why we've included the folk super-group Peter, Paul & Mary (gently covering Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind") and the magnificent Booker T & the MG's ("Time Is Tight", a tune immortalised in The Blue Brothers).

You might expect the Deep Cuts section within our playlist to be a sweet shop full of bubblegum — and in the case of the Archies' "Sugar, Sugar", or "Yummy, Yummy, Yummy" by the Ohio Express, you'd be right. But don't overlook Max Romeo's reggae classic "Wet Dream", slapped with a radio ban (which only increased sales).

The one-hit wonders of the '60s just get better with age. At the time, they were here today, gone tomorrow, but to discover them now is like finding treasure at a car boot sale: their short life only adds to the rarity value and ensures maximum listening pleasure for fans of the obscure, the unusual, and the criminally neglected. Make room on your iPod for the likes of Johnny Tillotson, who had 26 chart hits in the U.S., but was known here only for "Poetry In Motion"; or Bruce Channel, who played a gig with the (pre-fame) Beatles before obscurity pulled him back into its shadows.