UK ONE HIT WONDERS OF THE 80S
Imagine, if you can, having a major chart hit and feeling on top of the World. Then it all comes crashing down around you, as no matter what you do, you can't replicate that success. The artists on this page certainly know that feeling, and there were so many one hit wonders back in the eighties, that I am still stumbling across songs I had forgotten about and adding them to this page.
Please also visit the Worst Songs of the 80s page as this features many songs which were just too dreadful to feature on this page, although some of the videos below nearly went on that page - it's a very thin line!
Alphaville - Big in Japan
Aneka - Japanese Boy
Ashford & Simpson - Solid
Baltimora - Tarzan Boy
Blue Zoo - Cry Boy Cry
Boy Meets Girl - Waiting For A Star To Fall
Bruce Hornsby and the Range - The Way It Is
Charlene - I've Never Been To Me
Classix Nouveaux - Is It A Dream
Clive Dunn - Grandad
Denise Lasalle - Don't Mess WIth My Toot Toot
Desireless - Voyage Voyage
Double - The Captain Of Her Heart
Fiction Factory - Feels Like Heaven
Flash And The Pan - Waiting For A Train
Harry Enfield - Loadsamoney
Haywoode - Roses
Hollywood Beyond - The Colour Of Money
Indeep - Last Night A DJ Saved My Life
It Bites - Calling All The Heroes
Jane Wiedlin - Rush Hour
John Farnham - You're The Voice
Kissing The Pink - The Last Film
Laurie Anderson - O Superman
Lipps Inc. - Funky Town
Liza Minnelli - Losing My Mind
Maria Vidal - Body Rock
MARRS - Pump Up The Volume
Matthew Wilder - Break My Stride
Mental As Anything - Live It Up
Men Without Hats - The Safety Dance
Mezzoforte - Garden Party
Modern Talking - Brother Louie
Morris Minor and the Majors - Stutter Rap
Murray Head - One Night in Bankgkok
Ollie and Jerry - Breakin... There's No Stopping Us
Oran Juice Jones - The Rain
Owen Paul - My Favourite Waste Of Time
Pebbles - Girlfriend
Peter Cetera - Glory Of Love
Phyllis Nelson - Move Closer
Pseudo Echo - Funky Town
Re-Flex - The Politics Of Dancing
Renee and Renato - Save Your Love
Rockwell - Somebody's Watching Me
Ryan Paris - Dolce Vita
Sly Fox - Let's Go All The Way
Stan Ridgway - Camouflage
Starlight - Numero Uno
Taffy - I Love My Radio (Midnight Radio)
The Look - I Am The Beat
The Maisonettes - Heartache Avenue
The Mobiles - Drowning In Berlin
The Reynolds Girls - I'd Rather Jack
The Timelords - Doctorin The Tardis
Timex Social Club - Rumors
Toni Basil - Mickey
Trans X - Living On Video
Vanessa Paradis - Joe Le Taxi
Wax - Bridge To Your Heart
Zodiac Mindwarp - Prime Mover
Martha & The Muffins
"Echo Beach" (1980)
Now this truly is one of my
top ten favourite songs from the 80s. It sounds quite similar to
Blondie to me, although the band had nowhere near the amount of success, of course!
This
Canadian New Wave/Synthpop band (who formed in Toronto during 1977) actually had two members named
Martha! Lead singer Martha Johnson is still performing today with her
husband Mark Gane as Martha & The Muffins, and they released an
album in 2010 entitled Delicate. The other one is Martha Ladly (playing keyboards in the video above) who is now a Professor of Interactive Design, believe it or not!
Echo
Beach was an International one hit wonder (the band had several hits in
their home country), reaching #10 in 1980 and #5 in Canada. The song
featured on the album Metro Music. The closest the band got to another
hit was in 1984 with Black Stations/White Stations which peaked at #46,
although it performed better in Canada reaching #26.
Interestingly, the song was
covered by Toyah in 1987, although she wasn't very successful with it, stalling at only #54 in the UK singles chart.
Nu Shooz "I Can't Wait" (1986)

Poolside featured eight synthpop/freestyle songs produced by John Smith and Rick Waritzsold, and sold 500,000 copies in the U.S. Three singles were released from the album, the most successful being I Can't Wait which peaked at #2 in the UK, #3 in the U.S. and #1 on the U.S. Dance Chart. The follow-up single Point Of No Return was another U.S. hit, reaching #28 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on the dance charts, but it failed to break the Top 40 in the UK, peaking at #48. The third and final single, Don't Let Me Be The One peaked at #39 on the U.S. Dance Chart but failed to chart in the UK.
The duo were active between 1979 and 2002, but reformed again in 2007 as the Nu Shooz Orchestra, and now have a more cinematic style. The band released an album, Pandora's Box in 2010 and are still performing.
"WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC "EAT IT"
Eat It was the first single to be released from the comedy singer's second album "Weird Al" Tankovic in 3D. Other singles released from the album were King Of Suede (#62 US) and I Lost On Jeopardy (#81 US).
The singer released six studio albums during the 80s and has released 13 albums so far in his long career. He has also released 43 singles and 9 compilation albums.
On April 20th 2011, "Weird Al" released his parody of Lady gaga's Born This Way, entitled Perform This Way online.

THE VAPORS "TURNING JAPANESE" (1980)
The clip in the playlist is from BBC
Top Of The Pops in March 1980, and the band is introduced by a very eccentric-looking DJ Steve Wright - check out the striped jacket!
It
seems that anyone who pens a song about the Japanese only manages to
get a one hit wonder! This song came out in 1980 (before Aneka's
Japanese Boy) and reached No.3 in the UK singles chart.