80s One-Hit Wonders

Ten acts who got exactly one turn at the American Top 40 and used it well.

Entries
10
Category
Music
Updated
  1. A pair of black sunglasses resting on a graduation cap, reflecting a blinding white glow on the horizon.

    10. The Future's So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades

    Timbuk 3 · 1986

    A married duo's song about a nuclear scientist that America mistook for a graduation anthem. It peaked at No. 19. They turned down a reported $900,000 from AT&T plus offers from Ford, the Army and Ray-Ban. The future was bright. They kept the shades.

  2. A pastel synthesizer hanging from jungle vines above a tropical river, mist rising at sunrise.

    09. Tarzan Boy

    Baltimora · 1985

    Italo disco with a jungle yodel, fronted by Northern Irish dancer Jimmy McShane, who lip-synced in the video and called it pure novelty. It spent six months on the Hot 100, peaked at No. 13, then came back in 1993 via the third Ninja Turtles movie.

  3. A tall can of hairspray and a spiky two-tone blond wig on a mannequin head in a dressing room mirror.

    08. Too Shy

    Kajagoogoo · 1983

    Produced by Duran Duran's Nick Rhodes, fronted by Limahl's two-tone hair, and good for No. 5 in America. The band fired Limahl about six months later. Kajagoogoo never went Top 40 here again, which tells you who the hair was working for.

  4. A vinyl single in a plain black sleeve sitting on a radio studio desk beside a large red ban stamp.

    07. Relax

    Frankie Goes to Hollywood · 1983

    The BBC banned it after a DJ objected to the sleeve and the lyrics, and it sold about two million copies in the UK anyway. America shrugged twice: No. 67 in 1984, No. 10 on reissue in 1985. Two Tribes stopped at No. 43. The ban did all the marketing.

  5. A single microphone on a stand in an empty white studio, a beach towel and a hammock in the corner.

    06. Don't Worry, Be Happy

    Bobby McFerrin · 1988

    The first a cappella No. 1 on the Hot 100, built entirely from one man's voice and body. It won Song and Record of the Year. When the Bush campaign used it without asking, McFerrin dropped it from his own shows. He worried. He was not happy.

  6. A cluttered laboratory bench with bubbling beakers, a synthesizer keyboard and a pair of oversized glasses.

    05. She Blinded Me with Science

    Thomas Dolby · 1982

    Dolby storyboarded the video before he wrote the song, then got British TV scientist Magnus Pyke to shout the title word. It hit No. 5 in the US and No. 49 in the UK. Hyperactive! stalled at No. 62. America liked exactly one experiment.

  7. Two red and white pom-poms resting on a gym bleacher next to a varsity cheer sweater folded neatly.

    04. Mickey

    Toni Basil · 1981

    A cover of a song called Kitty by the British band Racey, with a new name and a cheer chant. Basil directed and choreographed the video herself, in her actual Las Vegas High cheer sweater. It knocked Lionel Richie off No. 1. Her only Top 40 hit. Hey Mickey.

  8. A cluster of red balloons drifting over a concrete wall and a guard tower against a pale blue sky.

    03. 99 Luftballons

    Nena · 1983

    A guitarist watched balloons drift off at a Rolling Stones show in West Berlin and imagined them setting off a war. America took the German version to No. 2, behind Van Halen's Jump. The band later called the English version silly. They were right.

  9. A small black synthesizer on a nightclub floor under a single pink spotlight, a dropped 45 record beside it.

    02. Tainted Love

    Soft Cell · 1981

    A cover of a 1964 Gloria Jones soul song, rebuilt from synths and two quiet blinks of percussion. It took 19 weeks just to crack the US Top 40, peaked at No. 8, and stayed on the Hot 100 a then-record 43 weeks. One hit, but it overstayed beautifully.

  10. A fiddle and a pair of denim dungarees draped over a wooden chair on a rain-wet terraced street at dusk.

    01. Come On Eileen

    Dexys Midnight Runners · 1982

    Fiddles, dungarees and a tempo that keeps changing its mind. It hit No. 1 in the US in April 1983, squeezed between Billie Jean and Beat It. Back home they had a whole career. Here they had one week of beating Michael Jackson, which is plenty.

Honorable mentions

  • Two melting ice pops on a mall bench under a neon glow, a cassette tape half buried in the puddle.

    I Melt with You

    Modern English · 1982

    The most famous one-hit wonder of the decade was never actually a hit. It stalled at No. 78 in 1983, and a 1990 re-recording got to No. 76. Valley Girl and MTV did the rest. It is a love song about the bomb dropping, so the timing was always going to be weird.

Dishonorable mentions

  • A top hat, white gloves and a cane left on a glossy black ballroom floor under a cold blue spotlight.

    Puttin' On the Ritz

    Taco · 1982

    A synth-pop Irving Berlin cover that hit No. 4 and made Berlin, at 95, the oldest living songwriter with a Top 10. The video put dancers in blackface, was banned by many networks, and the edited version did not fix it. A 1929 song with a 1929 problem.

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