One-hit Wonders, Part I: the 80s
The term one-hit wonder was coined by the Guinness Book of Hit Singles from the 1970s, and originally was used to identify artists who landed "a number one hit, and then nothing else, ever." Sometimes artists will have another mini hit that is trumped so magnificently that we'll still lump them into this category. The reasons for such a significant-yet-crappy fate? Bands break up, people die (uh oh!), and more typically, the artists have only enough talent for one catchy single-ah, the dreaded sophomore curse!
We will be tracking our favorites one-hit wonders during upcoming days and we'd like to start out our journey with a decade you all know and love: The 80s. After the jump, some "me generation" tracks we just wouldn't be the same without.
1) Soft Cell - "Tainted Love"
Everyone loves this song! Rihanna even chose to sample it for her smash hit, "S.O.S." Go ahead-sing along, we know you know all the words! But try and name another Soft Cell tune, and, well… oh. Guess there aren't any.
2) Frankie Goes to Hollywood - "Relax"
This track was infamous enough to spawn the popular t-shirt, "Frankie Says Relax," but sadly, that was all Frankie had to say.
3) a-ha - "Take On Me"
We can forgive this group for a mediocre run since they had one of the coolest (and earliest) music videos ever!
4) Devo - "Whip It"
Devo is the perfect example of a group that's actually put out decent material (Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! is one of several enjoyable albums) but our brain association only leads us to this song and those weird red hats!
5) Toni Basil - "Mickey"
A great cheerleading anthem! Shake your pom poms. And then put 'em away.
6) Tommy Tutone - "867-5309/Jenny"
8-6-7-5-3-0-9. How we would have loved to have that as our phone number growing up. Hmm, the only words we even like or know in this song are numbers.
7) Survivor - "Eye of the Tiger"
Written at the request of Sylvester Stallone for Rocky III, this song topped the Billboard 100 for six weeks. And then it was used in a Frosted Flakes commercial.
8) Eddie Murphy - "Party All the Time"
Famous from Saturday Night Live, Beverly Hills Cop and Coming to America, Eddie Murphy probably should have stuck to acting-right after releasing this track we love so dearly.
9) The Buggles - "Video Killed The Radio Star"
Video may have killed the radio star, but lack of material annihilated any chance this band had to be legit.
10) The Knack - "My Sharona"
Fun party song that gets stale about half way through. The end.
Other notable classics:
Gary Numan - "Cars"
Europe - "The Final Countdown"
Stacey Q - "Two of Hearts"
Dexys Midnight Runners - "Come On Eileen"
M - "Pop Muzik"
Thomas Dolby - "She Blinded Me with Science"
Sinead O'Connor - "Nothing Compares 2 u"
Bow Wow Wow - "I Want Candy"
Carl Douglas -- "Kung Fu Fighting"
Modern English - "I Melt With You"
The Divinyls - "I Touch Myself"
The Fixx - "One Thing Leads to Another
Men Without Hats - "Safety Dance"
Modern English - "I Melt With You"
The Vapors - "Turning Japanese"
Falco - "Rock Me Amadeus"
Musical Youth - "Pass the Dutchie"
Did we miss any? What are your favorites?
Tomorrow -- One-hit Wonders, Part II: Dance music.
