One-hit wonders of the 1980s

Fin Costello/Redferns // Getty Images On July 12, 1979, disco’s decadelong reign over American music culture went up in smoke–literally. Crowds had swarmed the White Sox stadium in Chicago that summer evening but not just for the old ball game. They were congregating to witness something else entirely: the organized demise of disco. The premise was simple: bring a disco record to the stadium and get in to see the game for only 98 cents. The records were collected and placed in a large crate. After the end of the first game, the record-filled box was hauled to the middle of the field and blown up in front of roughly 48,000 spectators. Vinyl shrapnel flew, and as the smoke began to clear, mayhem broke loose. Attendees rushed the field by the thousands, overwhelming security forces and forcing the White Sox to forfeit the following game. The event, known as Disco Demolition Night, marked not only the seeming end of the ’70s musical trend but also the violent backlash to the cultural dominance of a genre led largely by Black, Latinx, and queer artists. Thus, the 1980s arrived in America clothed in leg warmers and blaring the sound of the new decade: synth-based dance tracks and the resurgence of rock ‘n’ roll, revitalized and hardened by the emergence of punk and metal. Television sets across the country broadcast MTV, heralding the cultural supremacy of the music video. New musical giants rose to the top of the charts: Michael Jackson, Madonna, Prince, Cyndi Lauper, Guns N’ Roses, AC/DC, Whitney Houston, and the Police. But not all the big hits of the ’80s came from popular U.S. artists with established fan bases. Many of the defining songs of the decade were one-hit wonders. While some captured the hottest musical trends of the time, laying down synth earworms and euphoric dance tracks, others stood out as distinctly not of their time, featuring unusual instrumentation or nostalgic sounds of past decades. To honor the legacy of these anomalous songs, Stacker dug into the rich history of one-hit wonders–bands that had only one song top the U.S. charts–of the 1980s. Here are 25 songs that may take you back in time. You may also like: Famous songs about every state A-ha: ‘Take on Me’ Gie Knaeps // Getty Images The Norwegian band A-ha’s hit “Take on Me” remains a mainstay of ’80s-themed dance nights and karaoke bars around the world in large part due to its earworm of a synth riff, upbeat drums, and anthemic chorus. The song broke through to U.S. audiences, hitting the top spot on Billboard’s Hot 100. The song’s fame was cemented by its legendary music video, which used then-new rotoscoping technology to create a hand-drawn form of animation. The video took months to create, but the payoff was massive: “Take on Me” won a staggering six trophies at the 1986 MTV Video Music Awards. While their song “The Sun Always Shines on T.V.” peaked at #20 in the U.S., A-ha didn’t have much more mainstream success on this side of the Atlantic, though they continued to chart in Europe. Bill Medley & Jennifer Warnes: ‘(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life’ Great American Films Limited Partnership “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life” was just one of many demos the “Dirty Dancing” team considered for the climactic final scene of the 1987 indie romance. According to the film’s producer and writer Eleanor Bergstein, the production was just one day away from shooting the finale and still didn’t have the perfect song for Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze. She envisioned a song that merged sounds of the ’60s, in which the film is set, and the ’80s, when it would be released. When she and the director, choreographer, and co-stars heard the demo for “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life” the night before the shoot, they all began dancing, and it was immediately clear they had found their finale soundtrack. It was only after the scene was already shot that Bill Medley of the Righteous Brothers and Jennifer Warnes recorded the track. To match the emotional intensity and timing of the choreography, the two watched the film’s final scene while recording. The iconic song hit #1 in five countries and cemented the film’s status as a classic. Soft Cell: ‘Tainted Love’ Fin Costello/Redferns // Getty Images “Tainted Love” was originally recorded in the ’60s by Gloria Jones, but the song didn’t get much play until the British duo Soft Cell covered it in 1982. The dark new wave track cracked Billboard’s top 10 in the U.S., but Soft Cell never charted again after their hit. Marc Almond, Soft Cell’s lead singer, struck out on his own and found success as a solo artist. His 1989 duet with Gene Pitney, “Something’s Gotten Hold of My Heart,” topped the charts in Europe and New Zealand. Lipps Inc.: ‘Funkytown’ Michael Ochs Archives // Getty Images Released on the Minnesota-based Lipps Inc.’s album “Mouth to Mouth” at the tail end of the ’70s, “Funkytown” was a mainstay on U.S. charts for 11 weeks in 1980. Written by the band’s founder, Steven Greenberg, the song reflected his longing to move out of Minneapolis, whose music scene he described as “a very vanilla market.” Lipps Inc. never had another smash hit like “Funkytown” and disbanded several years later; however, some of its members ended up in Prince’s circle and helped the artist shape Minneapolis into a hub of funky music. Rockwell: ‘Somebody’s Watching Me’ Aaron Rapoport/Corbis // Getty Images The son of Motown head Berry Gordy, Rockwell (Kennedy Gordy) wrote “Somebody’s Watching Me” after praying for a chart-topping song to come to him. After performing the demo for his childhood friend Michael Jackson, he recruited the King of Pop to sing background vocals on the track. Jackson’s thematic and musical influences are evident in “Somebody’s Watching Me,” from the paranoia of “Thriller” to its sparkling synth sounds. The song topped the U.S. charts in 1984 and spent 20 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100. Rockwell had moderate success with another song, “Obscene Phone Caller,” but it never reached the fame of “Somebody’s Watching Me.” You may also like: Richest rock stars Dexys Midnight Runners: ‘Come On Eileen’ Brian Cooke/Redferns // Getty Images Based on a teenage romance Dexys Midnight Runners frontman Kevin Rowland had with a girl named Eileen, “Come On Eileen” knocked Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean” from its reigning spot on the U.S. charts upon its release in 1982. The British band had odd aesthetics, both visually and musically, for its time: while the charts were mostly dominated by groups sporting sparkling glam rock outfits and playing synth-heavy dance hits, Dexys Midnight Runners brought Celtic sensibilities–complete with overalls, fiddles, and accordions–to the forefront of American pop music. The group did not sustain the success they experienced with “Come On Eileen,” however, and were mostly forgotten by American listeners. The Weather Girls: ‘It’s Raining Men’ Paul Natkin // Getty Images Originally written for Donna Summer by songwriters Paul Jabara and Paul Shaffer, the song was eventually rejected by the Queen of Disco because she was a newly born-again Christian and found the lyrics “blasphemous.” Jabara and Shaffer then brought “It’s Raining Men” to a duo called Two Tons O’ Fun, who decided to take it on and even changed the name of their group to the Weather Girls after the song became a hit. It was subsequently claimed as a gay anthem. Unable to follow the song with another hit, the Weather Girls parted ways later in the decade. Madness: ‘Our House’