2. The Verve - Bitter Sweet Symphony (1998)
Possibly the most tragicomic one-hit-wonders of them all. This song was absolutely MASSIVE in it's day - you couldn't go anywhere without hearing that familiar string section. There was only one problem - it was lifted straight out of "The Last Time" by the Rolling Stones without permission. To avoid a costly legal battle, and knowing that by taking it out of the song they would be killing their chance of a brief moment of fame the band gave writing credits to Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and and 100% of their royalties to the Stones lawyers. Let's just review that - for all the motivational videos, footy highlights packages and Channel 7 advertisments the song was used for the people who sung it didn't recieve one cent. Not a cracker. Laugh? We nearly pissed ourselves.
There was a second single, "The Drugs Don't Work" that lingered around the wrong end of the top 40 for a few weeks and then sunk without a trace. They plugged away for a couple of years touring to try and recapture a spot at the top of the hit parade (as well as some much needed cash) and then, proving the title of their second song, crashed and exploded in a mire of drug addiction, jealously and absolute madness.
Where Are They Now? Singer Richard Ashcroft (no relation to John, which is surprising because they're both mad) jumped ship to launch a solo career and was never heard of again. He's got an official website if you care enough. Sadly (?) it doesn't appear anyone does.
UPDATE - Readers revolt in the comments section. Sometimes you have to make the hard calls.
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