VH1 Top 100 One-Hit Wonders of the 80s Part 3: 60-41

Almost every song here is terrific: "Just Got Paid," "Easy Lover," "Buffalo Stance," "I Can't Wait."

"I Can't Wait" will tie with "Let The Music Play" (which I voted for)

yes, voted for Shannon.

Despite their lame name, the Outfield's "Your Love" is a great song.

Easy choice for me -- "Buffalo Stance" is one of my favourite songs ever. "Let the Music Play" is a distant second.

I've gradually developed a liking for "Easy Lover", which is a song I absolutely HATED at the time.

Easy Lover for me for sure. Cannot fite that song.

Can't remember one thing about the Don Johnson tune.

This should refresh your memory:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULI5kolBpAk

HEEEEEEEEEEEEEARTBEAT
ugh

That's one link where I would actually be hoping for a rickroll.

x-post

Robbie Nevil had 2 top-10 hits; these lists make me want to murder VH-1's fact-checkers.

although I must say that Don Johnson song is the only one on here that I don't like

One of these three:

Shannon “Let the Music Play”
Mary Jane Girls “In My House”
Nu Shooz “I Can’t Wait”

Neneh Cheerry's "Kisses On the Wind" also hit the Top Ten.

Should I be embarrassed about strongly considering "Voices Carry"?

Was '7 Seconds' a hit in the US?

After The Fire. Any song with a 'Cha 'Cha 'Cha 'Cha chant is automatically great.

Falco original was better though, nicht wahr?

On a Christians against rock and roll show I watched in high school, "The Lady In Red" was prominently featured as an example of devil music, because she's in red, hence is the devil. Plus they had an album or single cover of his with a person with a cloven foot that they said was the devil. I cannot find it now by GIS though. I did learn by searching "chris de burgh satanism" that his song "Spanish Train" caused a satanism controversy, who knew.

oh wait actually I hate that Georgia Satellites song, too

One of these three:

Shannon “Let the Music Play”
Mary Jane Girls “In My House”
Nu Shooz “I Can’t Wait”

― Nurse Detrius (Eric H.),

^yes. voted nu shooz, based on its nba arena ubiquity.

"I Can't Wait" narrowly over "Mexican Radio"

the inclusion of "Easy Lover" is gonna make it really easy for any one hit wonders of the 00's list to include tons of random people who had a hit featuring Lil Wayne or whoever

"Der Kommissar" in a walk for me -- those talky vocals are so hard to pull off, and they nail it. I was slightly tempted to vote for the great "Puttin' on the Ritz" since I suspect no one else will.

Wow, good list of tracks. It's like the greatest hits of my childhood!

I'm going with Buffalo Stance because I think it maybe has aged the best out of all of these.

I guilty pleasure enjoy the Robbie Nevil self-titled album.. it reminds me of what my parents were listening to when I was in like 1st grade.. I remember "Wot's It To Ya" was played on MTV a lot, but nobody remembers that song, so yeah.. one-hit-wonder.. .. I'm not gonna vote for "C'Est La Vie" because "Easy Lover and "Der Kommissasr" are on both on here.. and both of those are pretty sick.

"Lady In Red" isn't very good.

I'd always thought that "Voices Carry" was actually "Princess Carrie" and it was about the tragic Hollywood life of Carrie Fisher.

"Lady In Red" has a very deep sentimental association for me since it's linked to a girl I had a massive crush on in eighth grade who died in a car accident the weekend before I worked up the nerve to ask her out.

Ouch, Dan! That's awful.

I really don't know what to do with this poll. Too much gold here to choose, really. Do I REALLY like Buffalo Stance more than Der Kommissar? Should I give my vote to Outfield because they might not get one otherwise? I will say I'm mystified by how well-liked that Shannon track seems to be, even though I bought it myself back in the day. *shrugs*

I love almost all of these, but especially "Keep Your Hands to Yourself." That's like some perfect pop blueprint shit there.

I'd always thought that "Voices Carry" was actually "Princess Carrie"

I thought it was "Mr. Scary" and then "This is scary" before stumbling onto the right lyric.

I love almost all of these, but especially "Keep Your Hands to Yourself." That's like some perfect pop blueprint shit there.

― Johnny Fever, Monday, April 20, 2009 3:25 PM (15 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Dudes singing on that track is awesome with his little yodeling touches. I recall feeling very disappointed that the same guy didn't sing on their follow-up single.

Dude's

I wish I was in Tiajuana...

Taco

One thing that strikes me about this list is that many of these songs could be labled as "quirky". Obviously, that may not be an entirely unusual attribute of the one-hit wonder single, but perhaps the early to mid 80s were a particularly fertile time for the unusual, anything-goes, oddball single. Is this true? And if so, why?

More so than now, anyway.

There were plenty of faceless, anonymous one-hit songs back then, people just don't remember them.

i'd always thought it was "phil collins (ft. philip bailey)" and not the other way around, i guess due to hearing it so many times on my parents' phil collins live tape

this is probably definitely "let the music play" for me

Going with Shannon.

Nu Shooz an easy second.

Then Neneh and/or Phil and Philip. Then these, in some order or other:

42 Timbuk 3 “The Future’s So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades”
44 Wall of Voodoo “Mexican Radio”
46 Georgia Satellites “Keep Your Hands To Yourself”
48 Yello “Oh Yeah”
51 After the Fire “Der Kommissar”
52 Mary Jane Girls “In My House””
55 Johnny Kemp “Just Got Paid”

Songs that are probably better than I remember:
57 Jermaine Stewart “We Don’t Have to Take Our Clothes Off”
45 Robbie Nevil “C’est La Vie”
54 Chris DeBurgh “Lady in Red”
59 The Outfield “Your Love”

Song that's nowhere near as good as "One Night In Bangkok" (much less "Da Da Da") no matter anybody around here says (hated it then; still kinda makes me cringe even if its voice did totally predate "I Could Never Be Your Woman" by White Town):
53 Taco “Puttin’ On the Ritz”

Songs I couldn't hum if you paid me:
41 Billy Vera “At This Moment”
58 Don Johnson “Heartbeat”
(Well, probably the Outfield song too, but at least I know he sang like the guy from Jules and the Polar Bears)

Now and then I catch myself wondering if any of Billy Vera and the Beaters' other songs were any good, in a Huey Lewis and the News kind of way maybe. Probably not.

Pretty sure the Wall of Voodoo, Yello, and After The Fire songs were not actual "hits," per se'. (Which is to say they never made Casey Kasems' countdown.)

I thought "Oh Yeah" did based off of its use in "Ferris Bueller's Day Off"...?

hah I just looked it up, 51 on Billboard

"Der Kommisar" hit #5, though. "Mexican Radio" hit #58.

went with pretty poison, but shannon and neneh cherry are tremendous

I just went by the number of times I've played them in iTunes, which meant Nu Shooz.

xp -- Hi Dere already said most of this, but:

Yello peaked at # 51.

Wall of Voodoo peaked at #58.

After The Fire, holy shit, peaked at #5!! I never would have guessed that. I was in Germany at the time, and still consider it Falco's song. I think of After The Fire's hit as "One Rule For You," which is stupid becaue it never even made the Hot 100. ("Dancing In The Shadows," which I'm not sure whether I've ever heard, got to #85.)

^^^this

(also the original version of Der Kommisar is way better)

i'd always thought it was "phil collins (ft. philip bailey)" and not the other way around, i guess due to hearing it so many times on my parents' phil collins live tape

I thought it was credited as a straight-up duet, "Philip Bailey *and* Phil Collins"?

^^^ this is what I remember, too

Haha! I was just about to say how much I hate that Timbuk 3 song. It seemed to get played on TV a truly ridiculous number of times.

xp I've got it as a Philip Bailey 45, with just Philip on the cover. Label of single says:

PHILIP BAILEY
EASY LOVER (Duet with Phil Collins)

Joel Whitburn book I have lists it under both artists, but under Collins's entry it says:

PHILIP BAILEY (with Phil Collins)

So I'd say the way it's listed at the top of the thread is right.

I didn't realize there were 2 versions of Der Kommissar by different groups, although I'm sure I've heard both versions. The After The Fire version is definitely the more familiar one to me, but I always thought it was by Falco.

One of these three:

Shannon “Let the Music Play”
Mary Jane Girls “In My House”
Nu Shooz “I Can’t Wait”

― Nurse Detrius (Eric H.),

^yes. voted nu shooz, based on its nba arena ubiquity.

― hope this helps (Granny Dainger),

Going with Nu Shooz too.

I voted "Let The Music Play", but this is my favorite video of these songs:

Meta meta meta

re: Philip Bailey, I don't think the "ft" thing was used all that often during the 80's or earlier.. The first time I remember seeing it used was probably Warren G featuring Nate Dogg... and a few years later it was decided to shorten the word to "ft" since everyone figured out what it meant by then.. But in the 80's, duets were actually labeled as duets.

"Easy Lover" was the single from Bailey's Chinese Wall so it started out as (w/ Phil).

re: Philip Bailey, I don't think the "ft" thing was used all that often during the 80's or earlier.. The first time I remember seeing it used was probably Warren G featuring Nate Dogg

Hey, don't forget MC 900 ft. Jesus.

true

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

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

I personally don't need to hear "Easy Lover" ever again. Not sure I needed to hear it the first time, either.

I hear it at least once a week on the radio and I never get tired of it.

Hahaha, well thank god it's you hearing it and not me, then!

Fuck, I totally forgot to vote!

always thought that "Voices Carry" was actually "Princess Carrie"
I thought it was "Mr. Scary" and then "This is scary"

I still hear it as "This is Carrie." (So, halfway between the two mis-hearings above.)

(I never thought the line was hard to make out.)

Please don't forget about 'Give Me Tonight,' Shannon's excellent follow-up to 'Let The Music Play.' It was a massive hit (at least in Philadelphia) and you will probably like it.

Never hit the Top 40 though, but I like it almost as much as "Let The Music Play" (also: "My Heart's Divided").

Ooh, "My Heart's Divided!" I haven't thought about that song in 25 years. Just played it - thank you!

Missed this poll, but I woulda voted for Shannon anyways.

Mary Jane girls came close; also the Phils, Wall of Voodoo and that "Hush hush, you're so scary" one.

I'd listen to the hell out of a cd with all these (minus Billy Vera, Chris DeBurgh and Don Johnson).