Posted January 29, 201213 yr There's a massive discussion on this topic in the iTunes thread, so I thought it would be best with a topic of it's own. I've taken SOSC post from the topic and quoted it for here (as he gave the most examples of what he thought would be certain artists signature hits, so it'd be a good starting point) I wouldn't say 'Cry Me Out' is Pixie's signature hit. I don't actually think she has one (yet). Same with The Saturdays although 'Up' stands out slightly more than any of their other singles. Flo's is obviously 'Low'. 'Right Round' pales in comparison in every way. I would say it is too early to be claiming what is One Direction's/Olly's/Jessie's signature hit. They've only been around for five minutes. :mellow: And Drake's signature hit can't be WMN because he's a featured artist. My examples would be: Cyndi Lauper - Girls Just Wanna Have Fun Aerosmith - I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing LeAnn Rimes - How Do I Live Rihanna - Umbrella Michael Jackson - Thriller Kelly Clarkson - Since U Been Gone / Because Of You (to a lesser extent) Usher - Yeah Stevie Wonder - Superstition Britney Spears - Baby One More Time Christina Aguilera - Dirrty / Beautiful Katy Perry - I Kissed A Girl Justin Timberlake - Cry Me A River Leona Lewis - Bleeding Love Pink - Get This Party Started Can't think of any more atm. And Lee, a signature song isn't necessarily the biggest-selling one. Eric gave the best definition of what a signature song is.Cyndi, Aerosmith, LeAnn Rimes, Britney Spears ('Toxic' would easily be second though), Christina Aguilera (more for 'Beautiful' and I'd say 'Hurt' is more of her signature song than 'Dirrty') and Leona Lewis I definitely agree with. Rihanna is a tough one. 'Umbrella' just because of it's status at the time of release but I'd say 'We Found Love' is fast becoming her signature hit. Michael Jackson the only time I hear people mention 'Thriller' is when they are talking about "The greatest videos ever" or around Halloween. I think 'Billie Jean' (and 'Man in the Mirror' considering it was the most cherry picked track WW after his death) is more of a signature hit. Kelly Clarkson 'Since U Been Gone' is a very good shout, but I think people remember her more for 'My Life Would Suck Without You'. (Probably because it's newer though) Usher I agree with to some extent. Although I'd argue 'OMG' is just as much a signature hit for him now. Stevie Wonder 'I Just Called to Say I Love You' I think if you asked people to sing the song they'd associate with Stevie, they'd go for this just because the hook is so simple and you can pretty much guess the hook just by looking at the title aha. Katy Perry, like Rihanna is tough. I'd personally say 'California Gurls' or 'Firework', but I can definitely see why people would think 'I Kissed A Girl'. Justin Timberlake 'SexyBack', surely? P!nk. Tough one. Earlier when this topic came about I was thinking 'So What', but that's probably because it's fairly recent and hasn't had time to gather a "classic" status of some sort yet. 'Get the Party Started' is a good call though...
January 29, 201213 yr Justin Timberlake is definitely Cry Me a River imo (or even Rock Your Body). Sexy Back and My Love are notable though, for their heavy electro/trance synths, and they were back in 2006. Katy Perry I'd say I Kissed a Girl, because of its massive cultural impact, and it's also her first single. Rihanna, definitely Umbrella. She''ll never get a hit like that again. We Found Love will go forgotten in comparison to Umbrella. Like in 2009 people were saying in the hype of the moment that Disturbia was bigger than Umbrella and now nobody says that anymore looking back, so I think it's a similar situation here. Usher, definitely Yeah! imo. It was the 2nd biggest song of the 00's in the US. That's massive. OMG is a very interesting song, but I don't think anybody remembers it anymore. :( Pink, I honestly don't have a clue tbh. I felt like Just Like a Pill was her "biggest" song, but I doubt it actually was.
January 29, 201213 yr People always have definitons of what signature songs are, and they probably are different. Arguments can be made both for and against what signature songs are. I'd say a signature song would probably be a song that someone who hates a band/artist would know of. There's some easy examples like Snow Patrol. But more difficult ones like Britney Spears, Coldplay, Eminem. People are from different generations / eras aswell. Look at Emimem - everyone would probably say it was Love the Way You Lie, but people who are perhaps mid-late 20s would argue it would be Lose Yourself or Stan. Swings and roundabouts really. I predict this discussion will never come to a conclusive end.
January 29, 201213 yr Justin Timberlake is definitely Cry Me a River imo (or even Rock Your Body). Sexy Back and My Love are notable though, for their heavy electro/trance synths, and they were back in 2006. Katy Perry I'd say I Kissed a Girl, because of its massive cultural impact, and it's also her first single. Rihanna, definitely Umbrella. She''ll never get a hit like that again. We Found Love will go forgotten in comparison to Umbrella. Like in 2009 people were saying in the hype of the moment that Disturbia was bigger than Umbrella and now nobody says that anymore looking back, so I think it's a similar situation here. Usher, definitely Yeah! imo. It was the 2nd biggest song of the 00's in the US. That's massive. OMG is a very interesting song, but I don't think anybody remembers it anymore. :( Pink, I honestly don't have a clue tbh. I felt like Just Like a Pill was her "biggest" song, but I doubt it actually was. Yeah by Usher was massive...im trying to think but was it the first time an rnb/hip hop artist moved away from the traditional sound?? Yeah imo showed us rnb that they could be a success with more dancier beats(even though Yeah had a 'crunk' beat)...but it was the start!!
January 29, 201213 yr Lady Gaga - Poker Face/Bad Romance. Can't really decide.. Black Eyed Peas - I Gotta Feeling... Although Where Is The Love? can be debated.. Beyonce - Crazy In Love / Single Ladies Cher - Believe Kelis - My Milkshake Celine Dion - My Heart Will Go On Whitney Houstin - I Will Always Love On Ciara - My Goodies 50 Cent - In da Club / Candy Shop Nelly / Kelly Rowland - Dilemma Taylor Swift - Love Story Justin Bieber - Baby Miley Cyrus - Party in the USA Enrique Iglesias - Hero Adele - Rolling In The Deep / Someone Like You Duffy - Mercy B.o.B - Airplanes Chris Brown - Forever / Kiss Kiss Cascade - Everytime We Touch Fergie - Big Girls Don't Cry Glee Cast (:lol:) - Don't Stop Believing Gwen Stefani - Hollaback Girl / Sweet Escape Hilary Duff - Wake Up Inna - Hot James Blunt - You're Beautiful Nelly Furtado - Say It Right / Promiscious / Maneater One Republic - Apologize Timbaland - Give It To Me / The Way I Are Robbie Williams - Rock DJ Kaiser Cheifs - Ruby Train - Hey Soul Sister Jason Mraz - I'm Yours Sugababes - Push The Button / About You Now Girls Aloud - Something Kinda Ooh Spice Girls - I FORGOT THE SONG NAME, ONE OF THESE BLANK OUT MOMENTS! Jessie J - Price Tag Nicki Minaj - Superbass LMFAO - Party Rock Anthem Mika - Grace Kelly Madonna - She has too many hits. Kylie Minogue - Can't Get You Outta My Head Ke$ha - Tik Tok Kanye West - Gold Digger / Stronger Shakira - Hips Don't Lie / Whenever, Wherever Far East Movement - Like A G6 Iyaz - Replay Akon - Don't Matter / Smack That / Lonely Avril Lavigne - Girlfriend Alphabeat - Fascination Alicia Keys - No One / Empire State of Mind with Jay Z The Ting Tings - That's Not My Name / Shut Up And Let Me Go The Noisettes - Don't Upset The Rhythm ----- ENJOY MY LONG LIST! Edited January 29, 201213 yr by Oricon
January 29, 201213 yr Madonna - She has too many hits. Maybe, but surely her signature hit is Like a Virgin?
January 29, 201213 yr Maybe, but surely her signature hit is Like a Virgin? I'd say 'Material Girl' just edges it over 'Like Virgin'. Even today, people still refer to Madonna as being 'the material girl'. Edited January 29, 201213 yr by Col1967
January 29, 201213 yr Westlife - Flying Without Wings Boyzone - No Matter What Take That - Rule The World/Back For Good? M People - Moving On Up Will Smith - Men In Black Girls Aloud - The Promise/Call The Shots/Sound of the Underground (certainly not Something Kinda Ooooh as mentioned above :o) N-Trance - Set You Free Savage Garden - Truly Madly Deeply Steps - Tragedy S Club 7 - Don't Stop Movin' Spice Girls - Wannabe Atomic Kitten - Whole Again Daniel Bedingfield - If You're Not The One Will Young - Leave Right Now Robbie Williams - Angels (over Rock DJ as suggested above)
January 29, 201213 yr Robbie Williams - Definately Angels Madonna - Certainly not Material Girl. You could argue any of these though: Into The Groove (her biggest sellar) Vogue Hung Up Like A Prayer Holiday Like A Virgin
January 29, 201213 yr Ciara/ Goodies or Love Sex Magic Destiny's Child/ Survivor Pussycat Dolls/ Don't Cha Swedish House Mafia/ Miami 2 Ibiza Tinie Tempah/ Written In The Stars Florence + The Machine/ You've Got The Love
January 29, 201213 yr Ciara/ Goodies or Love Sex Magic Destiny's Child/ Survivor Pussycat Dolls/ Don't Cha Swedish House Mafia/ Miami 2 Ibiza Tinie Tempah/ Written In The Stars Florence + The Machine/ You've Got The Love I would say "One (Your Name)" for Swedish House Mafia. It was HUGE in the clubs, and it was their debut hit.
January 29, 201213 yr How about for The Beatles? For me, it would be 'Hey Jude'. They have a lot of signature tracks, such as that, Come Together, I Wanna Hold Your Hand, Let It Be... A few other people with 2 signature tracks would be LMFAO (Party Rock Anthem, Sexy And I Know It) Kings Of Leon (Sex on Fire, Use Somebody) Rihanna (Umbrella, Only Girl) Any others?
January 29, 201213 yr How are we defining 'signature hit' anyway? For me, it is the one song that instantly springs to mind whenever you hear the artist's name. Of course, it doesn't have to be a single - e.g. for Mike Oldfield, it would be Tubular Bells.
January 29, 201213 yr A lot of the artists mentioned on this thread are far too new to have a "signature track" yet - Bruno Mars, Swedish House Mafia, LMFAO etc. As for the Beatles, for me they fall into the same category as the likes of Elvis Presley, Abba, Michael Jackson etc where if you ask 100 people you'd probably get at least 8 different answers
January 29, 201213 yr I'd say the simplest way of thinking about it would be to consider what songs would get high scores on Pointless if the question was "Name as many top 40 hits by X". If one song gets a much higher score than any other then that would be their signature song. On that basis the likes of The Beatles, Elvis, Abba and Madonna would have several songs with very high scores so couldn't be regarded as having a single "signature song". Queen would have a number of songs with high scores but I suspect Bohemian Rhapsody would still be comfortably ahead.
January 29, 201213 yr If Justin Timberlake's 'signature hit' isn't Cry Me A River then it damn well should be. I don't dislike him but I heard CMAR on the radio a couple of weeks ago and was shocked at how much I still love it. By far the best thing he ever put out. Robbie Williams' is without the slightest bit of doubt Angels. Florence + The Machine's would be Dog Days Are Over, while 'You've Got The Love' was a much bigger hit here, ask anyone outside this country (maybe even in this country) to name a Florence + The Machine song and I think they'd be more likely to say DDAO. Especially as You've Got The Love isn't even their song. Cee Lo Green sort of has 2, but I suppose 'F**k You!' would be more associated with the name Cee Lo Green even though 'Crazy' is nothing more than a Cee Lo Green song produced by Danger Mouse and credited equally to the pair of them under a different name. What about N-Dubz? (I know they haven't been around THAT long but they're hardly newbies either). I would say 'I Need You' as it remains their biggest hit but I dunno, perhaps something from 'Uncle B' would be closer to being their 'signature hit' (maybe Strong Again or Papa Can You Hear Me?) Snoop Dogg - Gin And Juice / Drop It Like It's Hot?
January 29, 201213 yr Some which I don't think have been mentioned yet, but worth a shout: Travis - Why Does It Always Rain On Me? - Opened the door for bands such as Coldplay, Snow Patrol, Keane, etc... The Verve - Bittersweet Symphony Gorillaz - Feel Good Inc or possibly Clint Eastwood Foo Fighters - Best Of You/Everlong or possibly Learn To Fly that's a debatable one really. Basement Jaxx - Red Alert Faithless - Insolmia Calvin Harris - Acceptable In The 80's
January 29, 201213 yr There's a massive discussion on this topic in the iTunes thread, so I thought it would be best with a topic of it's own. I've taken SOSC post from the topic and quoted it for here (as he gave the most examples of what he thought would be certain artists signature hits, so it'd be a good starting point) Cyndi, Aerosmith, LeAnn Rimes, Britney Spears ('Toxic' would easily be second though), Christina Aguilera (more for 'Beautiful' and I'd say 'Hurt' is more of her signature song than 'Dirrty') and Leona Lewis I definitely agree with. Rihanna is a tough one. 'Umbrella' just because of it's status at the time of release but I'd say 'We Found Love' is fast becoming her signature hit. Michael Jackson the only time I hear people mention 'Thriller' is when they are talking about "The greatest videos ever" or around Halloween. I think 'Billie Jean' (and 'Man in the Mirror' considering it was the most cherry picked track WW after his death) is more of a signature hit. Kelly Clarkson 'Since U Been Gone' is a very good shout, but I think people remember her more for 'My Life Would Suck Without You'. (Probably because it's newer though) Usher I agree with to some extent. Although I'd argue 'OMG' is just as much a signature hit for him now. Stevie Wonder 'I Just Called to Say I Love You' I think if you asked people to sing the song they'd associate with Stevie, they'd go for this just because the hook is so simple and you can pretty much guess the hook just by looking at the title aha. Katy Perry, like Rihanna is tough. I'd personally say 'California Gurls' or 'Firework', but I can definitely see why people would think 'I Kissed A Girl'. Justin Timberlake 'SexyBack', surely? P!nk. Tough one. Earlier when this topic came about I was thinking 'So What', but that's probably because it's fairly recent and hasn't had time to gather a "classic" status of some sort yet. 'Get the Party Started' is a good call though... The reason I suggested 'Dirrty' for Xtina was the same reason I gave for suggesting IKAG for Katy. The amount of controversy, backlash etc 'Dirrty' created at the time was huge in the pop world. Even to this day, people refer to her as the dirrty girl/singer. 'Beautiful' is definitely her second signature hit though. I wouldn't say 'Hurt' was though. It's not really that well remembered, I think. I don't think WFL will have anywhere near the legacy 'Umbrella' has. That song "cursed" the summer of 2007 all over Europe, it helped Rihanna have her own brand of umbrellas, it had a ridiculously long run (welcomed by me though) at the top of the UK charts and, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think it marked the first time that an artist went to #1 on downloads alone TWO WEEKS before the physical release. It just seemed far more legendary. 'We Found Love' is a mega hit but I'd say it is more 'Hot n Cold' than 'I Kissed A Girl'. ;) Whether or not the video helped its legacy, I'd definitely say 'Thriller' was one of MJ's signature hits. It was iconic in many ways which is a huge attribute of a signature song. 'Billie Jean' and MITM are definitely up there though - BJ I guess is joint top with 'Thriller'. Kelly C's just has to be SUBG and BOY because they are seen as modern-day classics from a musical era that was incredibly week at the time. MLWSWY can't really be her signature hit when it is publicly seen as SYBG Part II. :P I think IJCTSILY is definitely up there with 'Superstition' regarding Stevie Wonder but surely 'Superstition' is the most remembered? If I had my way, his cover of 'The Redemption Song' or 'Lately' (or 'Living For the City', 'Master Blaster' :kink:) should be his most remembered. I think 'Sexyback' and 'Cry Me A River' are both JT's signature hits. I don't think one can be chosen over the other, come to think of it. Edited January 29, 201213 yr by SceneofSIXCrimes
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