The 90s seemed to be the last gasp for the garage-rock band’s one-hit wonder. But, whereas the past forty years had lived up to the archetype laid out perfectly in Tom Hanks’ That Thing You Do!—wherein a band (in the film, “The Wonders,” yuk, yuk) has one great song that grows from the local level to briefly hit the national level, only to fall hard—the ‘90s broke the mold: the bands that ended up being one-hit wonders almost always had more strong material behind them that could have easily put them over the top. (If only they’d had a record company who was looking for more than just the flavor-of-the-month…)

Case-in-point: Superdrag, a Knoxville, TN based band who signed with Elektra Records after the success of their debut EP, The Fabulous 8-Track Sound of Superdrag. With a sound that was equal parts Weezer and British Invasion, Superdrag was sure to be successful, and they were: at least for a while. They made an album, 1996’s Regretfully Yours and the group’s video for their first single “Sucked Out” became a “Buzz Clip” on MTV, joining the ranks of other one-hit wonders like Primitive Radio Gods’ “Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth With Money in My Hand” and that “Cantaloop (Flip Fantasia)” song.

Superdrag took the good will they’d garnered from Elektra, went up to Woodstock, NY and made a glorious second album complete with orchestras, pianos, and (predictably) songs that weren’t quite as commercial as its predecessor. It was the album they’d always wanted to make, and they had been given the money to make it. Unfortunately, the suits didn’t want Superdrag’s Pet Sounds. They wanted the hits. But the way Elektra reacted to Head Trip in Every Key; you would have thought they’d made Metal Machine Music. It’s so cliché, it’s almost sick. The label cut the band’s funding and eventually Superdrag asked to be dropped from Elektra.

This is why I don’t get labels. It just doesn’t make much sense. Listen to “Do the Vampire,” it’s all crunching, catchy riffs, poppy choruses, and harmony vocals. Sure it’s not quite the same brand of sugary pop as “Sucked Out,” but it’s not “Revolution 9” either; it’s not even “El Scorcho.” Maybe there’s that slight lag in the middle and they were afraid the stupid audience would think the song was over and change the dial. I don’t know much, but it sounds like a radio hit to me. But this was 1998, the year Kid Rock and Limp Bizkit were breaking out. Did Superdrag’s brand of power-pop really stand a chance against “Nookie”?

Superdrag’s next album, In the Valley of Dying Stars (released on the indie label Arena Rock Recordings) starts off with “Keep It Close to Me,” which begins with an obvious ode to the band’s former employers, “I want rock n’ roll, but I don’t wanna deal with the hassle.” As if to rub it in Elektra’s face even more, Stars is a far more commercial effort than Head Trip.

The band’s last gasp was 2002’s Last Call for Vitriol, an album with a sound that varied wildly; going from Replacements-esque alt. rock to straight up Eagles rip-offs.

Unfortunately, in 2002, front man John Davis, an alcoholic, became a born again Christian and decided “the band was a mouthpiece for the life he left behind.” He moved to Nashville and has become a session musician and released a couple of surprisingly good, Beach Boys-influenced gospel records.

This band wasn’t The Wonders. They had the songs and they had the chops, but, as is the case with many of the ‘90s casualties, no record companies were willing to give them a chance to prove it, and the band eventually just didn’t want to “deal with the hassle.” It wasn’t worth it. And it’s the listening audiences that lost out.

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