3 One-Hit Wonders From the 1960s With Choruses That Stick in Your Head for Days

Have you ever walked down the sidewalk and just started singing a random song? Out of nowhere, a lyric, a couplet, or a refrain leaps from your lips. It surprises you. But then you realize you’ve been singing for three city blocks already.

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That’s the power of a good chorus—it’s like a memory that never leaves you. And that’s just what we wanted to highlight below. Indeed, these are three one-hit wonders from the 1960s with choruses that stick in your head for days.

“Who Put The Bomp (In The Bomp, Bomp, Bomp)” by Barry Mann from ‘Who Put The Bomp’ (1961)

Usually, an artist rises up the charts to become a one-hit wonder because their song is unique and memorable in some specific way. It stands alone and, therefore, is necessary. Well, that’s what happened with this sticky number. Barry Mann asks a simple but weird question. And yet, at the same time, he’s the answer! He’s the one who put the bomp in the bomp bomp bomp! And he’s the one who put this chorus in our minds forever. Thanks to him, it will never leave us.

“Do You Love Me” by The Contours from ‘Do You Love Me (Now That I Can Dance)’ (1962)

There are lots of arguments about the best era in music. Is it the early 1990s? The late 1960s? The early 1970s? Well, this song makes a great argument for the early 1960s. It was a time when rock music was just coming into form. When passion met a certain primordial origin story. The result was a group like The Contours singing lyrics like “Do you love me?” with enough verve to power a small city. It’s pure, organic talent that makes this song stick in your brain.

“Monster Mash” by Bobby Pickett from ‘The Original Monster Mash’ (1962)

One of the reasons this song and its chorus stick in your head is that Bobby Pickett paints such a vivid picture. As soon as the tune comes on, you’re imagining monsters coming to life. What are they going to do? They’re going to have a party! What’s more memorable, more fun than that? Sometimes the subject matter of a song is enough to have it stay with you for decades. And it helps that we hear this one every Halloween!

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