Playlist: 5 One-Hit Wonders of the 1990s

Were it not for the memorable video where a chubby girl in a bee costume dances, or rather flails, from stranger to stranger, starved for some meager form of encouragement, we might not remember this song from Blind Melon’s self-titled album at all. The Film Geek blog clues you in about where Heather De Loach, the bee girl, is now.

Blind Melon put out a second album in 1995, “Soup,” which didn’t get much love from either the critics or the fans. After the lead singer’s overdose and the release of the third album, “Nico,” the group broke up. They reformed again in late 2006 with a new lead singer, Travis Warren.

Although the song was admittedly a bit shrieky and the lyrics were brutally callous, there’s just something about the almost piercing crescendo at the end of the line, “Oh, you think you’re so pretty.”

James formed in 1982 and gained a cult following. Some critics called them “second-rate Smiths,” but with help from the real Smiths’ lead singer Morrissey, the band found itself a part of the “baggy scene.” Their song “Sit Down” was a chart-topper in the U.K., but it wasn’t until producer Brian Eno came along and the band released the album (and the song) “Laid” that Americans began listening. James pushed on after guitarist Larry Gott’s departure, producing “Whiplash,” “Millionaires” and “Please to Meet You” (the latter two released only in the U.K.). After founding member Tim Booth left, the band dissolved. In 2007, the band regrouped, went on tour and released its tenth album, “Hey Ma,” but has yet to regain its U.S. fan base.

With lyrics like “When all is well and well is all for all,” the song’s mellow vibe was a testament to the rebellion and apathy that made some define Generation X as “Generation Whatever.” (Back then, we didn’t care.) The complex, interweaving melodies, including one track that sounded like a phone off the hook, and the hill-and-valley chorus of “oooohs” got under our skulls and onto our mix tapes.

Drummer Jonny Cragg and guitarist Antony Langdon, both Brits, met at a coffee shop in New York in 1993. They added Langdon’s brother Royston and guitarist Rick Steele. “In the Meantime” appeared on their first album, “Resident Alien,” in 1996 and became an immediate hit. Although the group released two subsequent albums, “The Chinese Album” and “Hogyssey,” neither achieved comparable success.

Beneath Hope Sandoval’s distant-seeming voice and indifferent lyrics, “I think it’s strange you never knew,” we hear an achy songstress whose heartbreak is palpable. Stylus magazine says, “There’s a quiet resignation to Hope Sandoval’s sublime performance, a resignation borne not out of surrender but rather assuredness: she knows exactly what she wants.”

Guitarist David Roback met Hope Sandoval in the late 80s, when Hope replaced bassist Kendra Smith in the band Opal. When the group dissolved, Sandoval and Roback formed Mazzy Starr. “Fade into You” appeared on their second album “So Tonight That I Might See” in 1993, and the song made it to the U.S. Top 40.

The group followed with the album “Among My Swan” in 1996, a further testament to their “frustrating and entrancing soundscapes”; while it was well received, it was unfortunately not as successful. Sandoval put out a solo album, “Bavarian Fruit Bread,” in 2001.

The term “one-hit wonder” is generally reserved for those musicians who are striving for fame and success in the music world. Baz Luhrmann, a successful director, screenwriter and producer clearly doesn’t fit that mold. Yet the song, a graduation speech by Chicago Tribune advice columnist Mary Schmich that was set to Baz Luhrmann’s “languid hip-hop soundtrack,” was memorable for its deceptively simple advice. (“Do not read beauty magazines. They will only make you feel ugly.”)

An urban legend, spread virally via e-mail, erroneously credited Kurt Vonnegut with the lyrics.