On a PAPI, flying a different light sequence will cause you to fly a steeper (1 red, 3 white) or shallower (3 red, 1 white) glide slope, because the lights are all in the same plane.
Flying a low (1 dot low) ILS will be the same -- you'll be shallower.
On a 3-bar VASI, you can fly the same 3 deg glideslope on either the top 2 bars or the bottom 2 bars, because they are set in different planes.
The key to the magnitude of the problem is the difference between the height of your eyeball and the height of the first piece of airplane to hit the pavement! If you maintain a constant PAPI or ILS indication, your eyeballs (or the ILS antenna) will be on a direct vector for the same piece of pavement. The metal and rubber hanging beneath them will tend to hit progressively shorter as you get progressively lower and/or shallower.
If you're flying a Cessna 150, it just doesn't matter! With a low but constant PAPI/ILS, you'll still land in the same area, and maybe bounce a little less...
If you're flying a B-747, the main body gear are hanging about 45 or 50 feet below your eyeballs. If you fly a 3 red/1 white PAPI, you will be low AND shallow, causing you to touch down well short.
Static Discharge didn't fly a constant one-ball-high approach when he got the 1-wire. He was trying to bring the ball to center, setting up an even higher rate of descent than he would have had flying the constant high ball. A constant 1 ball high would have gotten him a consistent 4-wire (3-wire on the Midway) with an occasional bolter.