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Pop Culture Happy Hour: Who Are You Calling A One-Hit Wonder?

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On this week's Pop Culture Happy Hour, we start by breaking down last weekend's very somber Emmy ceremony, from the repeated death announcements to the perplexing dance routines to a couple of welcome victories that put a more positive spin on the whole thing. Did the host impress? What about poor Shemar Moore? And who will defend interpretive dance?

After we clear the decks of this week's awards flotsam and jetsam, we move on to a listener suggestion: the one-hit wonder. Whether it's a good band, a bad band, or a visual artist, some folks leave one major mark on the world and then seem to be gone entirely. After a brief tussle (involving our consulting pop-music chart expert) over what exactly constitutes a one-hit wonder (or a hit) in the first place, we settle in to a conversation peppered with good music, not-so-good music, and even a little bit of screaming. Yes, screaming.

As always, we close with what's making us happy this week. Stephen cannot tell a lie — he didn't have his strongest week when it comes to what's making him happy. He'll be feeling better next week, we promise. Trey is happy as all-get-out, however, about Merrily We Roll Along, from which he'll give you a little dollop of music. Glen manages to take several great podcast episodes and combine them into one uniting principle, which is essentially that we're all making our own tiny universes, and that can be a very good thing. As for me, I'm happy about a lovely little video, as well as a fantastic series I encourage you all to rediscover.

Find us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter: me, Stephen, Glen, Trey, producer Lauren Migaki and our esteemed producer emeritus and music director, Mike Katzif.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Linda Holmes is a pop culture correspondent for NPR and the host of Pop Culture Happy Hour. She began her professional life as an attorney. In time, however, her affection for writing, popular culture, and the online universe eclipsed her legal ambitions. She shoved her law degree in the back of the closet, gave its living room space to DVD sets of The Wire, and never looked back.