# What are your favority 80's one hit wonder songs? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 1, 2004, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favority-80s-one-hit-wonder-songs/267032 "2004-10-01T15:26:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2004, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favority-80s-one-hit-wonder-songs/267032/101 "2004-10-02T22:31:23Z")
> [@Mockingbird](#): > > Quarterflash also had a top 40 hit with **Find Another Fool** off the same album.They’re from Portland, OR(if memory serves) and their debut was the first album released on Geffen Records. _The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits_ says they also had another #14 record called “Take Me To Heart” in 1983! But neither it nor the one you mentioned got any airplay in my area of Canada then; I was going from my own frame of reference. I should have looked it up first. I was working in Top 40 radio at the time, and the only one that we ever had on the playlist was “Harden My Heart.” A lot of songs that were popular elsewhere never got played in the Toronto market, and I know lots of songs I heard in that market that didn’t get any airplay in others. In a lot of cases, you’d hear a song on one or two stations in a market, but not on others with a similar format or music style. I saw them on one of the VH1 '80s shows, or “Behind The Music” or something, and they were saying how that song wasn’t the kind of music they wanted to play. They were _serious_ musicians, and wanted to play their own style. But “HMH” was so popular that it overshadowed them, and caused tensions in the group, and with Geffen, who wanted more songs like it. It broke up the group. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2004, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favority-80s-one-hit-wonder-songs/267032/102 "2004-10-02T22:53:14Z")
> [@Uvula Donor](#): > > _Mexican Radio_ is by **Timbuk3** , and is on their _Wall of Voodoo_ album. I guess I might be whoshed here, but no. The band was “Wall Of Voodoo”, the song was “Mexican Radio”. The album was [“Call Of The West”.](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000001I0C/qid=1096757662/sr=8-1/ref=pd_csp_1/102-7637292-4935334?v=glance&s=music&n=507846) ---
**Author:** ![Chad\_C.Mulligan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3be4f8/32.png) [@Chad\_C.Mulligan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chad_C.Mulligan)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2004, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favority-80s-one-hit-wonder-songs/267032/103 "2004-10-03T01:33:11Z")
> [@melondeca](#): > > For me, _Tainted Love_ by Soft Cell is the epitome of 80’s one hit wonder pop music. But what about the oft-played club mix “Tainted Love/ Where Did Our Love Go?” - is that one hit, or two? ---
**Author:** ![Chad\_C.Mulligan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3be4f8/32.png) [@Chad\_C.Mulligan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chad_C.Mulligan)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2004, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favority-80s-one-hit-wonder-songs/267032/104 "2004-10-03T01:36:49Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > Lot’s of my favorite 80’s tunes are from 80’s movies and tv: > > Iko Iko - Belle Stars (From Rainman) This song was also memorably featured on the soundtrack for The Big Easy . Mmmmmm. Dennis Quaid and Ellen Barkin … ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2004, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favority-80s-one-hit-wonder-songs/267032/105 "2004-10-03T01:39:47Z")
> [@Chad C. Mulligan](#): > > But what about the oft-played club mix “Tainted Love/ Where Did Our Love Go?” - is that one hit, or two? Most radio stations played “Tainted Love” as a regular single. The 12" had the medley. On the B-side had an instrumental version called “Tainted Dub”. ---
**Author:** ![Chad\_C.Mulligan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3be4f8/32.png) [@Chad\_C.Mulligan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chad_C.Mulligan)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2004, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favority-80s-one-hit-wonder-songs/267032/106 "2004-10-03T01:40:09Z")
[QUOTE=Dante] No fair using anyone who actually had some legs and made it out of the 80’s. Just the flash in the pans. Exceptions can be made for early 90’s songs with an 80’s feel to them, I suppose… This may be late 70’s - if so I apologize. I’ve been looking for this on vinyl for close to twenty years: New York City , by Canadian punk band **The Demics**. “I wanna go to New York City 'cause they tell me it’s the place to be Oh I wanna go to New York City 'cause they tell me it’s the place for me” ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2004, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favority-80s-one-hit-wonder-songs/267032/107 "2004-10-03T02:58:50Z")
Hey Chad, looky [here](http://www.gemm.com/c/search.pl?currency=US&field=ARTIST+OR+TITLE&wild=The+Demics&Go%21.x=0&Go%21.y=0)! ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2004, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favority-80s-one-hit-wonder-songs/267032/108 "2004-10-03T03:05:00Z")
I may have posted too soon! At [this](http://www.cdplus.com/cdplus300/default.asp?isle=0&action=detail&code=464715) online store in Toronto, it says they have a CD coming out on October 12th that will only cost you $11.99 CDN. No word about what’s on it yet on the website, but after that date, have a look in your local CD store. Or you can get the one from the other place now, whichever you like. ---
**Author:** ![High\_Cheese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8797f3/32.png) [@High\_Cheese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/High_Cheese)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2004, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favority-80s-one-hit-wonder-songs/267032/109 "2004-10-03T12:47:30Z")
\*\*Nu Shooz \*\* _I Can’t Wait_ \*\*Nick Lowe \*\* _Cruel to Be Kind_ \*\*Eddy Grant \*\* _Electric Avenue_ \*\*Chris DeBurgh \*\* _Lady in Red_ \*\*Jack Wagner \*\* \*All I Need \* (Sad!) More to follow I’m sure. \*Switching to Glide \* was my number one and the first that came to mind. How surprised was I, then, when I see it got nominated early on and supported twice over. I thought myself, members of **The Kings** , and family members of members of \*\*The Kings \*\* were the only ones ever to hear of that song. ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2004, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favority-80s-one-hit-wonder-songs/267032/110 "2004-10-03T15:29:11Z")
> [@High Cheese](#): > > I thought myself, members of **The Kings** , and family members of members of **The Kings** were the only ones ever to hear of that song. I have what must be a real rarity! A year or so before The Kings got signed with WEA, they put out their own, independently distributed single of “This Beat Goes On / Switchin’ To Glide.” This is a different recording than the one that made them famous. It has some extra lyrics that were later excised, and one of the chord resolutions is different in this version. I found it at a Goodwill store in Toronto. I don’t expect to ever see another one! It cleaned up very well on the computer, and now resides as a bonus track on my backup copy of “The Kings Are Here and More.” I also taped their appearance on The John Oakley Show on CFRB Toronto in 1995. They haven’t released that one. “I’ve finally found some way out of this hole, you know! Outta this hole!” ---
**Author:** ![TommyTutone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c4cdca/32.png) [@TommyTutone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TommyTutone)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2004, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favority-80s-one-hit-wonder-songs/267032/111 "2004-10-03T15:37:02Z")
///\ I’ll give you three guesses. ---
**Author:** ![Dante](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dante/32/9673_2.png) [@Dante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dante)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2004, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favority-80s-one-hit-wonder-songs/267032/112 "2004-10-04T00:37:25Z")
**fishbicycle** , what station here in The Big Smoke did you work for? I believe you mentioned CFNY (ah, memories…) earlier, but then you said Top 40, so I doubt it was them. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2004, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favority-80s-one-hit-wonder-songs/267032/113 "2004-10-04T00:46:30Z")
Man, I knew I’d be in trouble if I read this thread. I worked in a record store all through the eighties. I had ALL the great one-hit wonders of that era. Total Coelho has been mentioned, but is worthy of another mention. I’ve never met ANYONE who’s ever heard of “Girl of Wood” by the Pinups. “All That I Wanted” by Belfegore is a track I’d pay BIG money for, to find it on CD. What about “Doot-doot,” by Freur? “Dancing in Heaven,” by Q-Feel? Oh, one of the best: “Barbarella” by, who, the Bongos I think. My nostalgia glands are just overloading. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2004, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favority-80s-one-hit-wonder-songs/267032/114 "2004-10-04T00:48:39Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > This is probably the '70s. I’m sure it must be. > > Norman Greenbaum - Spirit in the Sky Nina Hagen’s BRILLIANT cover qualifies as an eighties tune. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2004, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favority-80s-one-hit-wonder-songs/267032/115 "2004-10-04T00:56:29Z")
Oh man, Romeo Void’s “Never Say Never” is the soundtrack for some of my most forgettable memories. Wow. The eighties. I need to go back to bed now. ---
**Author:** ![Chad\_C.Mulligan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3be4f8/32.png) [@Chad\_C.Mulligan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chad_C.Mulligan)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2004, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favority-80s-one-hit-wonder-songs/267032/116 "2004-10-04T01:43:11Z")
> [@fishbicycle](#): > > I may have posted too soon! At [this](http://www.cdplus.com/cdplus300/default.asp?isle=0&action=detail&code=464715) online store in Toronto, it says they have a CD coming out on October 12th that will only cost you $11.99 CDN. No word about what’s on it yet on the website, but after that date, have a look in your local CD store. Or you can get the one from the other place now, whichever you like. _Fishbicycle_ , you have made my month, or perhaps my year!!! “I think I love you, but what am I so afraid of …” ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2004, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favority-80s-one-hit-wonder-songs/267032/117 "2004-10-04T01:53:14Z")
> [@Dante](#): > > **fishbicycle** , what station here in The Big Smoke did you work for? I believe you mentioned CFNY (ah, memories…) earlier, but then you said Top 40, so I doubt it was them. I was at 1280 CJJD, Hamilton. It doesn’t exist anymore, it’s been several different stations owned by several different companies since then, and last I heard was still 820 CHAM, a country station - back to the call letters of when they were the best Top 40 station outside of Toronto, where I used to hang around often enough that they finally let me in. I remember CFNY quite fondly, back in the days before they became a formula station. Did you listen to Dave Marsden? Pete & Geets? (I have their album of bits from their CHUM-FM shows!) There is a website that’s a tribute to CFNY’s old days. I don’t have the URL handy, but I found it by Googling. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2004, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favority-80s-one-hit-wonder-songs/267032/118 "2004-10-04T02:07:34Z")
> [@Complex Conjugate](#): > > Infact they’ve had many different names, The Justified Ancients of Mu (?) was another one of them. Mummu. I know nothing about the band (well, now I know a little), but it’s a Robert Anton Wilson reference. I saw a poster for them in NYC once and I’d always wondered what that band sounded like. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2004, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favority-80s-one-hit-wonder-songs/267032/119 "2004-10-04T02:58:52Z")
> [@fishbicycle](#): > > There is a website that’s a tribute to CFNY’s old days. :eek: :eek: Me want URL. Now. 😃 (I’ll google in a bit.) Ah yes, CFNY when it was non-formulaic. :: wistful sigh :: Would that someone had the guts and treasure to do that again. This time, over the internet. Check out the highly relevant article in the October issue of Wired, “The Long Tail”, about how the total volume of potential sales of non-hit music dwarfs that of the hits, but it’s just thinly spread and hard to serve. If the record-companies could get their heads out of their short-sighted litigious butts and take a look around, they’d see that the world is passing them by… (The economics of thin-spreadness and the application of Internat distribution is something that we in the Esperanto-speaking world are acutely aware of.) ISTR that CFNY got sold around 1990, the new owners tried to outdo Q107 with hard rock and (because they were hip) rap for about six months, but the ratings plunged, and it was sold agin. It was around this time that I stopped listening to radio a lot. The new owners restored something like the old CFNY, but with a lot more control, and gradually morphed the format. I don’t listen to it a lot now–I get most of my music references from the net these days. I have their New Music Search CDs from the early Nineties, and you can see the format change: 1992: CFNY 1993: CFNY 102.1 The Leading Edge 1994: CFNY 102.1 The Edge Now it’s just Edge 102. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2004, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favority-80s-one-hit-wonder-songs/267032/120 "2004-10-04T03:16:12Z")
This thread has me digging out my Eighties music. Some classic CFNY music is on these CDs I have: “Hardest Hits Collection vol 1” (SPG-001, © 1991 SPG Music, PO Box 64 Station A, Etobicoke ON, M9C 2Y0) contains: _The Way of Life_ by **The Puppets**. _The Waiting Game_ by **Scary Thieves**. _A New England_ by **Kirsty MacColl**. One of my faves. _The Girl Who Seduced The World_ by **Jon Saint James**. _I Don’ Need Your Love Now_ by **The Mood**. _Like Dust_ by **The Passion Puppets**. _Our Love Has Just Begun_ by **Uropa Lula**. _Nowhere Girl_ by **B-Movie**. Love this song–the loopy disconnected feeling… _Heartbeat_ by **Thomas Leer**. _The Way of Life (Edit 91)_ by **The Puppets**. “Hardest Hits Collection vol 2” (SPG-002, © 1992 SPG Music) contains: _Screaming Jets_ by **Johnny Warman**. One of my all-time favourites. _Tell Me Girl_ by **Scary Thieves**. _The Passion of Love_ by **Boys Brigade**. _(You’ll Always Find Me In The) Kitchen At Parties_ by **Jona Lewie**. Being a socially-unskilled geek, I really empathised with this song, though I thought the ending was a little optimistic. _The Politics of Dancing_ by **Re-Flex**. _Da Da Da_ by **Trio**. _Situations_ by **Cetu Javu**. _Always Something There To Remind Me_ by **Naked Eyes**. _Papa’s Got A Brabd New Pigbag_ by **Pigbag**. _Don’t Walk_ by **The Big Supreme**. _92 In The Shade_ by **The Big Supreme**. _Don’t Walk_ by **The West End Dance Project**. _Smiling Monarchs_ by **Abecedarians**. _Warm Leatherette_ by **The Normal**. Hated hated HATED this song. I’m listening to it again, and my opinion hasn’t changed. _Change Your Mind_ by **Gary Numan and Bill Sharpe**. “Classic Alternatives vol 1” (SPG-1900, ©1994 SPG Music) contains: _The Promise_ by **When in Rome**. _Love Plus One_ by **Haircut One Hundred**. _Together in Electric Dreams_ by **Giorgio Moroder with Philip Oakey**. Great movie, _Electric Dreams_. I’d like to see it again so I could laugh at the computers. _Oh Yeah_ by **Yello**. _Dancing in Heaven (Orbital Be-bop)_ by **Q-Feel**. _Heartbeat (New York remix)_ by **Psychedelic Furs** I liked Psych Furs. _I Ran_ by **A Flock of Seagulls**. I _liked_ AFoS. I don’t know why a lot of people seem not to. _Desire (Come and Get It)_ by **Gene Loves Jezebel**. _The Sound of the Crowd_ by **Human League**. What I listened to in 1982. _Eyes of a Stranger_ by **The Payola$**. Excellent group. Wnat their music again–it was on another lost tape. I think they reformed as Rock & Hyde. _Sinful (Wickest[sic] Mix in Town_ by **Pete Wylie**. _Smalltown Boy_ by **Bronski Beat**. Love this song. “Pure Canadian Vol 6 (Retro 80’s)” (E2-72435-20023-2-0, ©1999 EMI Music Canada) contains: _Echo Beach_ by **Martha and the Muffins**. _Saturdays in Silesia_ by **Rational Youth**. Great music. I really liked _Heredity_ too. _Worlds Away (edit)_ by **Strange Advance**. _Safety Dance_ by **Men Without Hats**. Men Without Hats. Another great band that I have on vinyl. _Heaven Street_ by **Minutes From Downtown**. _I Want You Back_ by **Sherry Kean**. _Dancing On The Ceiling_ by **Deserters**. Ecellent song. _Gonna Get Close To You_ by **Lisa Dal Bello**. This song creeps me out now. Talk about stalking… _Let It Go (extended club mix edit)_ by **Luba**. _Come Day-o Night Eh_ by **Bamboo**. _Soul City_ by **The Partland Brothers**. _Don’t Forget Me (When I’m Gone)_ by **Glass Tiger**. Meh. _Last of the Red Hot Fools_ by **Sherry Kean**. _Peace of Mind_ by **The Grapes of Wrath**. _Teenland_ by **The Northern Pikes**. _Dirty Water_ by **Rock and Hyde**. Excellent excellent EXCELLENT! I have this on vinyl. _I’m an Adult Now_ by **Pursuit of Happiness**. I :rolleyes: at this one. _Flesh Under Skin_ by **National Velvet**. Pretty good. _No Such Thing_ by **Annette Ducharme**. Being an Eighties colection, rather than an alternative collection, this CD contains a significant proportion of non-CFNY music (we never called it “alternative”), such as _Come Day-o Night Eh_, _Soul City_, and _Don’t Forget Me (When I’m Gone)_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favority-80s-one-hit-wonder-songs/267032.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-your-favority-80s-one-hit-wonder-songs/267032.md?page=7)