The article looks at three songs from the 1970s that many baby boomers assumed were part of bigger catalogues, but which turned out to be their artists' only brush with major chart success in the US. It highlights how each act produced a memorable, well-loved hit before fading from the Top 40, illustrating how one-hit wonder status can be surprising even for seemingly established bands.

British rock group Uriah Heep's "Easy Livin'" reached only No. 39 on the Billboard Hot 100, despite performing better in Denmark and the Netherlands, and the band never returned to the US Top 40. Psychedelic soul act The Undisputed Truth peaked with "Smiling Faces Sometimes" at No. 3 on the Hot 100 and No. 2 on the R&B chart before disbanding at the end of the decade. Jazz fusion group The Ides Of March scored their biggest hit with "Vehicle", which climbed to No. 2, but never matched that success again.