VH1 Top 100 One-Hit Wonders of the 80s Part 2: 80-61

Swing Out Sister: “Breakout," but with mad love for "The Rain."

why the hell is InSoc on this list

"Think" and "Walking Away" were both top-40 hits ("Walking Away" cracked the top 10); this is lazy intern bullshit of the highest degree.

"Black Velvet" was the surprisingly easy choice here, thought I wouldn't mind hearing either the JJ Fad or T'Pau songs right about now.

reppin for go-go

Gotta vote for The Juice.

Swing Out Sister's "Twilight World" also cracked the top 40.

This basically reminds me of why I hate VH-1.

AND XTC never HAD a US Top 40 hit.

Key Largo

XTC

oh shit can I change my vote to Tenderness?! One of my personal fave 80s songs, genius from start to finish, and definitely better than a fairly weak XTC track...

61 E.U.: “Da Butt”
63 Oran “Juice” Jones: “The Rain”
68 Peter Schilling: “Major Tom”
69 T’Pau: “Heart And Soul”
70 Harold Faltermeyer: “Axel F”
73 Paul Hardcastle: “19″
76 J.J. Fad: “Supersonic”
77 General Public: “Tenderness”
79 Alannah Myles: “Black Velvet”

one of these, dunno which one yet

Juicy Oran walks this

I thought Alannah Myles charted in 1990..

XTC as a one-hit wonder feels very weird, but it doesn't matter: "The Rain" pwns the hell out of this.

Juicy Oran walks this

^^^Yes, though 'Heart and Soul' comes a close second.

t'pau, remember hell of digging that track as a kid

63 Oran “Juice” Jones: “The Rain”
69 T’Pau: “Heart And Soul”
77 General Public: “Tenderness”

filtered down to one of these 3

No love for R Dup? Steal Away is a killer jam yo!!!

"The Rain," obv.

Also great:

61 E.U.: “Da Butt”
65 Boomtown Rats: “I Don’t Like Mondays”
68 Peter Schilling: “Major Tom”
70 Harold Faltermeyer: “Axel F”
76 J.J. Fad: “Supersonic”
77 General Public: “Tenderness”
78 Aldo Nova: “Fantasy”

Not in that order (might rank "Fantasy" #2 actually.)

Need to revisit yacht-rocking "Steal Away" and "Key Largo"; they may well fit up there, too.

And right, XTC are a ZERO-hit-wonder, for Crissakes. (Highest they charted in the U.S. was "Mayor Of Simpleton," ick, #72 in 1989.)

Don't know these at all:

66 The Jeff Healy Band: “Angel Eyes”
71 Jack Wagner: “All I Need”

(Actually, "I Don't Like Mondays" only went to #73, too. Some wishful thinking ex-new-wavers at VH1, apparently.)

ALLLLLLLLLLL I NEEEEEEEEEEEEED

I rilly like "Black Velvet" btw.

I didn't even notice "Supersonic." Fuuuuuuuck.

Considering how omnipresent both of those were, I can only think you're not remembering them, xhuxk.

xp: lol Alfred

This song takes me back! I just saw this performance on VH1 and I had to look it up. My cousin Marlene was madly in love with both him and Rick Springfield. He was a cuttie then, and, a cuttie now!

Jack Wagner looks like he's been dipped in pure polyurethane, extracted with tongs, and put atop a warm dryer.

63 Oran “Juice” Jones: “The Rain”
69 T’Pau: “Heart And Soul”
77 General Public: “Tenderness”

filtered down to one of these 3

I endorse this top three completely, and in this order.

lolz chuck has never seen Roadhouse

Neither has Jeff Healey (rimshot)

Too soon!

Weren't there other charts besides Hot 100 during the 80s?

Yeah, the Tepid 25 was pretty popular.

good joke not

Isn't it possible that "Dear God" or "I Don't Like Mondays" performed well on rock stations? Thats pretty much what I'm asking.

Hey hey baby how ya doin' come on in here
Got some hot chocolate on the stove waiting for you
Listen first things first let me hang up the coat
Yeah how was your day today
Did you miss me
You did? Yeah? I missed you too
I missed you so much I followed you today
That's right now close your mouth
'Cause you cold busted
Now just sit down here, sit down here
I'm so upset with you I don't know what to do
You know my first impulse was to run up on you
And do a Rambo
I was about to jam you and flat blast both of you
But I didn't wanna mess up this thirt-seven hundred dollar lynx coat
So instead I chilled -- That's right chilled
I called up the bank and took out every dime.
Than I cancelled all your credit cards...
I stuck you up for every piece of jewelery I ever bought you!
Don't go lookin' in that closet 'cause everything you came here with is
packed up and waiting for you in the guest room. What were you
thinking?
You don't mess with the Juice!
I gave you silk suits, blue diamonds and gucci handbags.
I gave you things you couldn't even pronounce!
But now I can't give you nothing but advice.
Cause you're still young, yeah, you're young.
And you're gonna find somebody like me one of these days . . .
Until then, you know what you gotta do?
You gotta get on outta here with that alley-cat-coat-wearing,
punch-bucket-shoe-wearing crumbcake I saw you with. Cause you
dismissed!
That's right, Silly rabbit, tricks are made for kids, don't you know
that. You without me is like corn flakes without the milk! This is my
world. You're just a squirrel trying to get a nut! Now get on outta
here. Scat!
Don't touch that coat...

http://rangerland.net/forum/uploads/photo-245.png

n-n-n-n-19
mostly for the sexy backing vocals and d-d-d-d-d-d-deSTRUCTION

wait, I voted for "Steal Away"? Bugger!

Tenderness

"Breakout" easily wins because I just cannot consider XTC in this poll. And because it's the better song.

I'm tempted to rep for Canada (Alannah Myles or Jeff Healey) but they had a bunch of hits and the songs chosen here aren't even close to being their best, so forget about that. "Major Tom" it is.

I like a bunch of these, but Tenderness wins. Do love Martika though.

My, my, my. There are some really smelly crappy songs in this list. Jack Wagner? Bertie Higgins? Even the thought of that Eddie Murphy song makes me cringe.

I heard "I Don't Like Mondays" on the radio a LOT, despite its low chart placing.

this is super easy....The Rain!

Yeah I had this feeling The Rain was gonna win this one from the getgo, though I don't remember it from back then at all. I'll probably vote for T'Pau, with some bad feelings about ditching General Public in the process.

I'm tempted to rep for Canada (Alannah Myles or Jeff Healey) but they had a bunch of hits and the songs chosen here aren't even close to being their best

Aldo Nova is also Canadian. This is between T'Pau and Peter Schilling for me. "The Rain", "19", and "Breakout" are also great.

1. Bertie Higgins
2. Robbie Dupree
3. Aldo Nova

Okaaaay.. so... Aren't there other ways to determine whether a song was an American hit besides its chart placement in Billboard? I'm pretty sure there were some songs that recieved lots of MTV airplay in the 80s that didn't chart at all.. I'm pretty sure "Dear God" was played on the radio a lot although it might not have been on top 40.. I'm having trouble seeing why XTC is a bad choice for this show.

Swing Out Sister, edging out JJ Fad.

SOS had a decent roster of hits in the UK, though, no?

1. Major Tom 2. Supersonic 3. I Don't Like Mondays

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Several of these aren't one hit wonders at all, including "Dear God", which is the one that got my vote. The best actual one hit wonder here is "Axel F".

And cool to see "What's On Your Mind" there too. Information Society sounded roughly like one could imagine a late 80s/digital synth era Human League would have sounded had they not stumbled into Jam & Lewis.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Solid top five.

Information Society bug me more than they should or something. I've already been talked to death from like two of my friends about how great they are (were?) and I really do not get it. Sorry.

LOL The Rain won of course. And hey! General Public didn't need my help after all! Not bad.

"Black Velvet" first charted in January 1990. How does that make it a One-Hit Wonder of the 80's?

Because VH1 cheats.. because they think no one will notice.

Just noticed recently that the entirety of this top 100 also inexplicably left out "Shattered Dreams" by Johnny Hates Jazz.

But they weren't a one hit wonder!

But by VH1 standards Twisted Sister somehow belongs on this list..