Stuff You Should Know - SYSK Selects: What Makes a One-hit Wonder?

Episode Date: June 29, 2019

The term "one-hit wonder" gets thrown around a lot, and - yes - you probably are using it correctly, but Chuck Bryant went to the trouble to really define what makes a one-hit wonder in the article this classic episode is based on. Join him and Josh as they get to the bottom of this disparaging term. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the podcast, Hey Dude, the 90s called, David Lasher and Christine Taylor, stars of the cult classic show, Hey Dude, bring you back to the days of slip dresses and choker necklaces. We're gonna use Hey Dude as our jumping off point, but we are going to unpack and dive back into the decade of the 90s.

We lived it, and now we're calling on all of our friends to come back and relive it. Listen to Hey Dude, the 90s called on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Lance Bass, host of the new iHeart podcast, Frosted Tips with Lance Bass. Do you ever think to yourself, what advice would Lance Bass

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Listen to Frosted Tips with Lance Bass on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Hey everyone, it's me, Josh, and for this week's S-Y-S-K Selects, I've chosen How One Hit Wonders Work, which originally published in March of 2013. And this is the episode where we help heal the world

by pointing out that professional musicians who crack the top 40 once in their careers still have feelings and don't much appreciate being called One Hit Wonders. So maybe take that little bit of advice and put it in your pipe and smoke it and go for it from that point on. Enjoy.

Welcome to Stuff You Should Know from HowStuffWorks.com. Hey and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark, there's Charles W. Chuck Bryant. Say something. Yeah. I didn't even say something funny, I just said say something.

I know, I froze. Yeah, it's all right, man. That's good quality in a broadcaster. To freeze up on the air. In a professional talker. Yeah. Yeah, how you doing? I'm great.

Because it's freezing. I'm good, man, this is a fun goofy little topic and we haven't done one like that in a while. This is a fun article written by a guy named Charles W. Bryant, a writer for the site. Yeah, I will go ahead and say one thing I was disappointed in in this article and I would still like to see someone tackle this

in documentary style maybe, is the psychology of being a one hit wonder. Oh, like what it does to your psyche. Yeah, is it better to have that one hit and fade away and at least you had that or is it better to have never, you know, I would be real curious to see a series of interviews with one hit wonders to see like how they feel about it.

You're saying is it better to have hit and lost than never to have hit at all? Exactly. And I couldn't really find anything on that. I'm sure there's one or two who like listen to the podcast and if you do write in, let us know how it is. We're interested. Lubega.

Yeah. The very least Lubega listens. Yeah. The fake Lubega. So Chuck, I wanted to commend you for this article because you really like, this is a tough one for, with how stuff works articles, we typically take a topic that is, you know,

has a lot of research done on it. It's very well-defined and then we deconstruct it. This one is like, I looked on the internet and if you type in one hit wonder, there is like zero scholarly work done on it. For good reason. Yeah. Well, I mean, it's interesting though too, like you brought up the psychology of being a one hit wonder.

Yeah, there should be. Wasn't anyone ever done a study like that? There is, it's all just lists. Yeah. And I actually did find one good website. It's called onehitwondercentral.com and they have everything and you can play like every song. They have it by year.

Oh, awesome. Who the one hit wonder was from like the 60s to the 2000s, maybe 50s. They're some of the greatest songs to me or some of the one hit wonders. Sure. And I mean, that's the point. It's like, you know, one hit wonders, just something that everybody liked at one time.

We just didn't like whatever else they were making, right? Yeah. At least as a large collective group. Anyway, back to me commending you. Okay. You had to take something that was really amorphous that everybody knew. And we knew if you got wrong and whip it into shape

like a definable shape and you got it right. I think you did a great job. Thank you, Michael. So the first thing you pointed out was that no one is 100% certain of the origin of this phrase. That's right. But we figured out that it was, it first came in print in 1977, right?

Well, that's what phrases.org says and I couldn't find anything to dispute it, but a writer there wrote the sentence in July 77 about ABBA. Instead of becoming what everyone expected, a one hit wonder, they soon had a string of hits behind them. And although the website phrase.org does say it appears to have already been a used phrase,

but this is the first time they've seen it in print. Right. And so, and there actually is like a definition for one hit wonder. Like there's a hit, I guess, you define a hit and it's got to be on the, because we're so American centric, it has to be on the Billboard top 100.

Yeah. And then specifically in the top 40 to be considered a hit, right? Yeah, technically for, like when most people, like there have been books written about one hit wonders and that's usually what they say. Okay. So that wasn't just you or anything saying that?

No. I thought it was a great definition. No, it's a good definition, but that's the generally held definition. But then that's where it gets really blurry as we're about to find out. Right. Well, I mean, in many ways.

I mean, yeah. You make a point that there's a lot of one hit wonders by that definition who are legendary musicians. Yeah. Like Jimi Hendrix. One hit. Janice Joplin. One hit.

Garth Brooks. As Chris gains. Yeah. That's his only billboard hit. Yeah, this is only billboard top 40 hit. Yeah, but he had country hits. It just lived on the country. Sure.

Top 10. But yeah, as in the mainstream top 40, his only hit was as Chris gains with the haircut and the soul patch. Oh yeah. Man, that was... Yeah. I don't know what song that was even.

I don't either. Beck. Yeah. The Dead. The Dead, The White Stripes, Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, Devo, some like iconic bands and musicians that have only had one hit and then you've got artists who never had that hit but are still considered

one hit wonders because what you end up realizing is despite the definition of what a hit is, a one hit wonder is something different. It's just an artist and a song who captured something for a moment in time. It doesn't matter if it was a top 40 hit. Right, like you say Walla Voodoo's Mexican radio? Absolutely.

It was not a top 40 hit. No, but that's definitely a hit. Sure. In the zeitgeist, did you put it? Absolutely. Who else? I'll melt with you, modern English. Hey, that song's...

The Weathergirls, It's Raining Men. Like you would say all of these are definite one hit wonders and none of them had top 40 hits. Right, so but sticking to the strict definition, I mean, that still works too, right? Like the Penguins, Earth Angel? Yeah, in the 50s. Right?

In the 60s, you had Summertime Blues by Blue Cheer, but they really spent blue on like their one thing, their one shot was covered in blue. Blue Cheer did Summertime Blues. Green Tambourine, remember that song? No, I did Green Tambourine. It was very psychedelic. No.

And the Lemon Pipers, it's one of the songs where, sort of like in the 70s, Argent's Hold Your Head Up, like everybody knows that song. Everybody has to go on. But I bet 99 people out of 100 have never heard of the band Argent. No. They probably think, oh, wasn't that The Guess Who?

Wasn't that in Joe Dirt? Or yes, wasn't that in Joe Dirt, was it? Yeah, oh really? Yeah, I never saw that movie. What? I never saw Joe Dirt. Oh man, such a great, like keep your chin up movie is so good.

Like, really can hate David Spade. You can hate all of that kind of comedy, but that movie has such, like, it's got heart. It's a cute movie. Well, I had friends. It's on Netflix streaming. Yeah, I had friends that worked on it, and that's where I have my Gary Busey insider story.

Oh yeah. Yeah, I think I told you, you know, he was supposed to play the father. And if you'll notice in the film, he does not play the father. No, it's done by one Fred Ward. Yeah, so Gary Busey was on set for a day, and it didn't work out. He made it.

I wish I could tell the whole story. He made it into Black Sheep with Chris Farley and David Spade. Was he in that? He was, like, the crazy guy who lived in a school bus in the woods. It was the part he was born to play. Exactly.

Please don't come to our office, Gary Busey. MUSIC On the podcast, paydude the 90s called David Lasher and Christine Taylor, stars of the cult classic show Hey Dude, bring you back to the days of slip dresses and choker necklaces. We're going to use Hey Dude as our jumping off point, but we are going to unpack and dive back

into the decade of the 90s. We lived it, and now we're calling on all of our friends to come back and relive it. It's a podcast packed with interviews, co-stars, friends, and nonstop references to the best decade ever. Do you remember going to Blockbuster? Do you remember Nintendo 64? Do you remember getting Frosted Tips?

Was that a cereal? No, it was hair. Do you remember AOL Instant Messenger and the dial-up sound like poltergeist? So leave a code on your best friend's vapor, because you'll want to be there when the nostalgia starts flowing. Each episode will rival the feeling

of taking out the cartridge from your Game Boy, blowing on it and popping it back in as we take you back to the 90s. Listen to Hey Dude, the 90s called on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Lance Bass, host of the new iHeart podcast, Frosted Tips with Lance Bass. The hardest thing can be knowing who to turn to when

questions arise or times get tough, or you're at the end of the road. Ah, OK, I see what you're doing. Do you ever think to yourself, what advice would Lance Bass and my favorite boy bands give me in this situation? If you do, you've come to the right place, because I'm here to help. This, I promise you.

Oh, god. Seriously, I swear. And you won't have to send an SOS, because I'll be there for you. Oh, man. And so will my husband, Michael. Um, hey, that's me. Yep, we know that, Michael, and a different hot, sexy teen

crush boy bander each week to guide you through life, step by step. Not another one. Kids, relationships, life in general, can get messy. You may be thinking, this is the story of my life. Just stop now. If so, tell everybody, yeah, everybody, about my new podcast, and make sure to listen,

so we'll never, ever have to say bye, bye, bye. Listen to Frosted Tips with Lance Bass on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. All right, so that was the 50s. And that's generally when the rock era in the 50s is when people say you can start talking about things like one hit wonders. Yeah.

Like not some guy who had one big band hit in the 1930s. Although I'm sure they were there. Sure, you know. That's true. There has been one song that was a one hit wonder for two bands, which is interesting. Oh yeah, let's hear it. Funky Town.

Really? Yeah, Lips Incorporated in 1980. And then, I don't know if you remember Pseudo Echo. They did a version of that in 1986. No. It was a little more electric and upbeat. And that was a bona fide top 40 hit as well. So you just can't, people couldn't get enough of Funky Town.

I hope whoever wrote that really cast in. Yeah, I do too. You know? So the 60s, all right now, the 60s was the Green Tambourine 70s. Songs like Spirit in the Sky by Norman Greenbaum. That's a good song. It was in Apollo 13.

One took over the line. I literally wrote Shutter next to that. What, like, oh, you hate that song? It's pretty bad. Brewer and Shipley. Yeah. And then, Seasons in the Sun, Great Song, Terry Jax. Never heard of the guy.

No. No, no, never have I. No, never have I. And you also make the point that the 70s were lousy with disco one hit wonders. In our disco episode, we talked about why, because it was all producer driven rather than artist driven. Exactly.

I didn't even bother to list any in here. You can just name a disco song, and there you have it. The 80s, of course, you had bands like Soft Cells, Tainted Love, and Oh Mickey, You're So Fine, Tony Basil. I Want Candy by Bow Wow Wow, Kaja Goo Goo. Remember what song? I don't remember, but I. Too shy?

Is that who that was? Too shy shy? Yeah. So the 80s was lousy with it, but a lot of those songs are great songs. And a lot of the artists in the 80s were popular in other countries and are known as one hit wonders here in the US.

Like, I was reading an article on, I think, cracked, maybe, about one hit wonders, and they were saying, like, aha, had Take On Me, which was a hit here in the United States, but that was it. But one of the top 50 grossing bands of all time worldwide. Well, and aha falls into another weird category, which is a band that's known as a one hit wonder who actually had a quieter second hit.

Oh, really? Yeah, they had a song called The Sun Always Shines on TV that was, like, a top 20 hit, I think. Wow, I don't remember that one. Nobody does. They're good, though. Now they're awesome. And then member Wright said, Fred, I'm too sexy.

Huge in England. Yes, I'm too sexy was actually only hit number two in England. They had another one that hit number one. But here in the States, I think it hit number one here. I think so, too. And then that was it for Wright said, Fred. The same with Frankie Goes to Hollywood. Oh, yeah, relax.

Yeah, they were really big in Europe. And Gary Newman. Yeah, that was a good song, though. That song holds up. Cars. You go back and listen to cars. That dude was a good musician. Well, and he was hugely popular and still like tourists today.

So he's one of those guys that's like, please don't call me a one hit wonder. I've had a long, successful career. Look at my house. It's a car. No, I think it's like a mansion. He lives in his car. It's where he feels safest.

Gotcha. He can lock all his doors. Falco and Nina were really big in German-speaking countries. Yeah, yeah, I could see that. But had the 99 red balloons. Luftballons. Luftballons. And then Falco's Rock Me Amadeus.

Yeah, huge hit here. Like it didn't occur to my young brain that that wasn't from the Amadeus soundtrack. Because remember, it came out at about the same time as the movie. Oh, yeah. And I just thought it was part of the soundtrack. Yeah.

Like the movie soundtrack. Well, the point with this, though, is that one hit wonder is sort of a derogatory term to throw on an artist. So a lot of these people are like, in America, like you jerks, I was huge in Europe, or maybe some other country. And you saw my ones on. In America, just go, you on. Yeah.

Who cares? So much for your one hit. The 90s, Crash Test Dummies, remember those dudes? Well, that was the song. Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's right. The Macarena, even though I don't even like to count that song. What about Faith No More's Epic?

Yeah, see, that's a band that hugely critically popular and had a big cult following. But yeah, just the one hit. Epic, yeah. That was the name of it, right? You want it all, but you can't have it. I remember hearing that song the first time. This is the coolest thing I've ever heard.

Yeah, and that lead singer, what's his name? Mike something. He's like super respected. He's been in other bands. Mr. Bungle? Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's a big like, has a big cult following. And not among cults even, like among people who aren't in cults.

All right, so that's music. That's an overview. Yeah, you make a really good point in this article that one hit wonder that derogatory term isn't just aimed at people only in the music industry, although that's where the lion's share of it is. But it shows up in sports. You pointed out a couple of them, a couple of instances.

Yeah, well, if you have one hit in baseball, then you've been a complete and utter failure. But a couple of guys have had one hit, and that one hit was a home run. Which is pretty cool. Which is pretty interesting. Who was it? There was a guy named Chris Jellick,

whose name I recognize for some reason. And I don't follow the Mets or anything, but I guess I just saw that bit of trivia before that he had one hit and it was a home run. Yeah, maybe so. There's a guy who didn't have a hit named Eddie Godel. He had one plate appearance in a 1951 game for the Yankees. And he was a little person.

Oh, yeah. And they put him in against the St. Louis Browns. And he drew four consecutive balls and got a walk. Really? Yeah, and his jersey's in the Hall of Fame. And it's, you can't see me doing this right now. I'm rubbing my face. His number was 1 eighth.

Really? Yeah. But he was, I guess you could say, a one hit sports wonder. It was kind of a fun story until then. Yeah. Yeah. But I mean, that was his jam. That's what he got paid for.

And that's, I mean, he was aware that he was a little person. So he had money off it. What about the art world, design world? There's a very famous person. Yeah. Harvey Bell. Yeah. Who has the perfect name for what he did.

Why is it the perfect name? Harvey Bell, it sounds like the creator of the smiley face. Yeah, the iconic 70s smiley face. He created that as a marketing campaign? It sounded like an internal morale campaign for a state mutual life assurance company. And it took off, I don't know if the company made the money or what, but he was paid $240 for it.

And he never had another artistic hit. And I looked to see if there were any other artists who were considered one hit wonder. I found some, but I didn't recognize any of them. I did recognize one. Grant Wood, the painter of American Gothic. Oh, yeah. He painted that and was, he won all sorts of prizes,

became like this, like, cause celeb, like all over the art world. And the media started digging into his life and realized that he was a middle-aged bachelor who lived at home with his mother and sister and like wanted to know more about that. And all of a sudden, he just really couldn't handle the limelight. And it's a pretty sad story.

Interesting. I think I read an article about it on mental floss. It was worth reading. So he never painted again? I don't think he ever kind of went for the gusto. If he didn't just stop painting altogether, I don't remember the end of the article. Well, the art world certainly has a lot of people famous,

super famous for a single painting. But they may have been very revered in other areas. Right. Like Faith No More. That's right. They're the Faith No More of the art world. I told you I saw this scream this last trip to New York. Oh, yeah.

And you were like, meh? Yeah. This was like, meh. I can see what you're telling me. I mean, you build something like that up in your head. You see it everywhere. And then just to see the real one, it's either going to go one of two ways.

Sure. You're going to be underwhelmed or amazed. You know, I completely agree. And that's been what's happened to me with art. Because you know how I feel about art. I know how you feel about art. I love it. What about books?

Yeah. To Kill a Mockingbird? Yeah, that's the one most often cited as the one hit Wonder, because Harper Lee wrote one book. Yeah. That's one of those rare ones where I actually think the movie is better than the book. Oh, yeah?

And I love the book. It's one of my favorite books of all time. And I hadn't read it in a while. And I went back and read it. And then I watched the movie shortly after. I was like, holy cow, the movie's better than the book. Yeah, I mean, Gregory Peck. I mean, talk about one of the best casting.

But all of those actors were amazing. Every single one of them. Yeah, that's good stuff. She wrote the one book. And she worked on a second for a while, come along goodbye, but shelved it. And in the 1980s, she started another book and never finished that one either.

I guess she just. Procrastinated. No, I think she just, I don't know. I don't know if anyone has an answer why she never wrote again. Same with the Salinger. Yeah. Catch on the ride. That was it.

Except he wrote short stories, too. But I mean, he never published another novel. Yeah. And I will never know. And John Kennedy Tool. Sure. Confederacy of Dunces. How often do you think about that book?

Just in your normal life? How, I don't know. Almost never, maybe? Yeah, a couple of times a year, maybe, when it's like a movie will be in the works that never happens. I was thinking about that movie or that book yesterday. Oh, really? And I hadn't read this article yet.

Have you read it? No. Yeah, it's good. It's like, I think a lot of people have these expectations because it's known as this genius work after this guy committed suicide. And it is really good. But I don't think it's one of the greatest

books of all time or anything. Yeah. So what happened to him? Do you know? No. I just, I've never read the book. I don't know much about it. I know it's kind of like a wacky Southern Gothic kind of novel.

He lives with his aunts, I think, or something like that. Yeah, this crazy character in Louisiana. It's always grabbed my attention because it's just like a perfect title. And then the guy's name is perfect as well. John Kennedy Tool? Yeah. Or the character?

He's the author. Gotcha. Well, he'd killed himself. He was clearly now suffered some sort of mental illness and could not get published. And that drove him to eventually commit suicide in 1969. And his mother made it her life's work to get it published and did so in 1980.

And then his second book was published, The Neon Bible, I think, in 1986. And that was made into a movie. So he's not a one hit wonder, then? Well, The Neon Bible wasn't a huge hit, but. Oh, gotcha. But yeah, I would say he's a one hit wonder. And you also bring up movies, too, man.

Yeah, and on books again, Sylvia Plath is on here for the bell jar. I kind of wish I hadn't put that in here because she was a well-known poet. That's why I hadn't mentioned it. You know? But she did write the one book. And then what did you do, stick her head in the oven

or something? I don't know how she killed herself. I think Virginia Woolf drowned herself, right? Sylvia Plath hung herself. She hung herself, I think. Did she? That sounds right. God, remember that scene in Wonder Boys

where Toby McGuire rattles off the famous celebrity suicides? It was really great. That was a great movie. Joseph Heller with Catch-22? Yeah. That's certainly a one hit wonder. So yeah, movies. I mean, there are more directors and actors

that you could even mention that had one hit. But legit, super, super hits, people like Michael. Is it Chimino or Simino? Simino, I think. Although, if you're speaking in the Italian, it'd be Chimino. Chimino. Yeah. He did The Dear Hunter, of course.

Yeah. One best picture in four other Academy Awards. Diddy Mow. Huh? Diddy Mow. That's what they tell him when they were making on Play Russian roulette. Diddy Mow? Yeah.

Except they probably scream it. Yeah. Yeah. Boy, that scene was so intense. Yeah, it was. I saw that very young. Oh, really? Too young to be seeing that movie in retrospect.

Like it made an impression on you? Oh, yeah. Huge. But yeah, he famously made Heaven's Gate as his follow-up, which was one of the notorious disasters, along with Ishtar. Was that? And like Waterworld of all time. Was Heaven's Gate a Warren Beatty movie, too?

Or is that Heaven Can Wait? He was in Heaven Can Wait and Ishtar. So what about Heaven's Gate? What was that about? Yeah, I think it was a Western. Oh, yeah? If I'm not mistaken. Yeah, and it was just a notorious failure

and a very expensive one. And then Chimino never, he made a few other movies, but you haven't heard of many of them. He did Year of the Dragon was like, with Mickey Rourke, was the only other notable movie. That was supposed to be a good one. Yeah, but it was far from a hit. I gotcha.

You know what I'm saying? Yeah. And then my favorite, Steve Gordon, one of my favorite movies of all time. I have not seen it. You didn't see Arthur? Not only have I not seen the original Arthur, I haven't seen the remake that includes our friend Hodgman

as a candy store manager, I believe. That was terrible, by the way. Not Hodgman's bit. Not Hodgman was great, but the remake was really bad. And it was so sad because Arthur is one of the movies that I hold very, very dear to me. And Steve Gordon wrote and directed it, and then died afterward.

It was the only movie he ever made. By his own hand? No, I think he had a heart attack or something, and died young, but young-ish. And it was just so like, it was a gut-wrenching experience watching the remake for me. Why did you watch it? Like, for example, I think Red Dawn is one

of my favorite movies of all time. There's not a chance that I will ever see the remake of Red Dawn. Well, I'm not either, and I learned after Arthur did that. So that's the one that taught you the lesson? Yeah, I'm not going to watch anything that was really precious to me if they rebooted or remake it again.

Never again. It sounds like Hodgman taught you a valuable lesson. Yeah. And I like Russell Brand, you know, and I thought, you know, they made Helen Mirra and John Gilgood's character and was just enough of a spin. And I was like, well, that could be interesting. But then everything about the movie

was just some new little spin to make it different. And it was like, hey, let's make the man a woman. Let's make the white guy Puerto Rican, you know? And it was like Louis Guzman, and it was just, it was bad. So bad. I got you. Yeah. Well, that's it for Arthur.

Yeah. If you want to learn more about Arthur, you can type that word in the search bar. Isn't that what this podcast is about? I forgot. Yeah, it was Arthur. One Hit Wonders. Steadly More.

That's what it was. You should read this article by Chuck. It's a good one. You can type One Hit Wonders in the search bar howstuffworks.com, and it will bring up this article. Again, a commendable article. Thanks, sir. And I said commendable, so it's time for Word from our sponsor.

Just like the number of stars in the sky, there is so much stuff you should know. On the podcast, Paydude the 90s called David Lasher and Christine Taylor, stars of the cult classic show Hey Dude, bring you back to the days of slip dresses and choker necklaces. We're going to use Hey Dude as our jumping off point, but we are going to unpack and dive back

into the decade of the 90s. We lived it, and now we're calling on all of our friends to come back and relive it. It's a podcast packed with interviews, co-stars, friends, and nonstop references to the best decade ever. Do you remember going to Blockbuster? Do you remember Nintendo 64? Do you remember getting Frosted Tips?

Was that a cereal? No, it was hair. Do you remember AOL Instant Messenger and the dial-up sound like poltergeist? So leave a code on your best friend's beeper, because you'll want to be there when the nostalgia starts flowing. Each episode will rival the feeling

of taking out the cartridge from your Game Boy, blowing on it and popping it back in as we take you back to the 90s. Listen to Hey Dude, the 90s called on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Lance Bass, host of the new iHeart podcast, Frosted Tips with Lance Bass. The hardest thing can be knowing who to turn to when questions arise or times get tough,

or you're at the end of the road. Ah, OK, I see what you're doing. Do you ever think to yourself, what advice would Lance Bass and my favorite boy bands give me in this situation? If you do, you've come to the right place, because I'm here to help. This, I promise you. Oh, god.

Seriously, I swear. And you won't have to send an SOS, because I'll be there for you. Oh, man. And so will my husband, Michael. Um, hey, that's me. Yeah, we know that, Michael. And a different hot, sexy teen crush boy bander each week

to guide you through life, step by step. Oh, not another one. Kids, relationships, life in general, can get messy. You may be thinking, this is the story of my life. Just stop now. If so, tell everybody, yeah, everybody, about my new podcast, and make sure to listen, so we'll never, ever have to say bye, bye, bye.

Listen to Frosted Tips with Lance Bass on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Star, stuff you should know. Now it's time for Listener Mail. Josh, I'm going to call this, uh, we're going to give this guy's wife a tongue-matching. Oh, jeez, what'd she do? Let's see.

OK. Dudes have been an avid listener since shortly after its inception. I'm a huge fan. I especially enjoy listening to it while I'm stressed out. It always soothes my nerves to hear your banter. Over the years, I've tried to convince my now wife, Elizabeth, to listen.

Oh, I know this one. Unfortunately, she's always insist that you too are stoners, and that your really rip-artee is contrived. It's so far off. She makes me change over to this American Life or radio lab. Great shows. With your podcast, I download to fill the time between stuff you should know releases.

I've repeatedly informed her that you guys are not stoners. You've done frequent podcasts on the ill effects of drugs. And this is not convinced or still. Listen with envy when you read letters during listener mail about couples who enjoy listening together. That's so sad. I know.

If I'm not mistaken, one pair even became engaged during a listener mail segment. Yeah, we don't know about that yet. I'm not vouching for that. It recently struck me that perhaps if you were to give Elizabeth a shout out at the end of a show, she might be impressed enough to become a fan as well. You could say hi to Elizabeth at the end of a show.

You'd be contributing to my marital bliss. So wait a second, wait a second. You realize what's going on here? We're being manipulated. Yeah, to say hey to somebody who doesn't even like us. I feel like there should be some money exchanged for this. Well, no, I feel instead of saying hi to Elizabeth, she needs to get a tongue lashing for these baseless

accusations of us sitting around in a garage smoking marijuana and just like talking. Yeah, that's BS. That's someone who's never listened to the show. We have banter. We might go off on tangents. We might say like five million times in a sentence. But we're not sitting around smoking weed just rambling.

Yeah, we're just relaxed. A lot of work goes into the show. Sure. So Elizabeth. Mellow out, dude. Yeah, seriously. Maybe you need to go in the garage. Not me, but you.

So anyway, this guy's a neurologist, and he's at the Alien Hand Syndrome part, struck close to his heart. Awesome. And Devin, if this doesn't do it, then Elizabeth can just go listen to this American Life and Radio Live. Yeah, let her hang out with our glass.

It's cool. And I'm sorry for your marriage because it is clearly headed in the wrong direction. I think we had her until just that last sentence right there. No, she's great. I'm sure she'll tune in. We'll find out. Let us know, Devin, will you?

If you want us to say something specific to somebody you know, we very well might do it if you ask. We might. We have before. You can tweet to us at SYSK Podcast. You can join us on facebook.com slash stuff you should know. You can send us an email to stuffpodcasts at discovery.com. And you can always find us at our home on the internet,

stuffyoushouldknow.com. For more on this and thousands of other topics, visit HowStuffWorks.com. On the podcast, Hey Dude, the 90s called David Lasher and Christine Taylor, stars of the cult classic show Hey Dude, bring you back to the days of slip dresses and choker necklaces. We're going to use Hey Dude as our jumping off point,

but we are going to unpack and dive back into the decade of the 90s. We lived it, and now we're calling on all of our friends to come back and relive it. Listen to Hey Dude, the 90s called on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, I'm Lance Bass, host of the new iHeart podcast, Frosted Tips with Lance Bass.

Do you ever think to yourself, what advice would Lance Bass and my favorite boy bands give me in this situation? If you do, you've come to the right place, because I'm here to help. And a different hot, sexy teen crush boy bander each week to guide you through life. Tell everybody, yeah, everybody about my new podcast and make sure to listen so we'll never, ever have to say bye,

bye, bye. Listen to Frosted Tips with Lance Bass on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.