One Hit Wonders: Part 1

Main Entry:  one-hit wonder

Part of Speech:  n

Definition:  an individual or group with only one success, such as a hit song, bestselling book, etc.

Etymology:  1977; from “hit record”

One of the more interesting expressions that has come to defined fleeting success in modern pop culture is the term “one hit wonder” that is usually associated with music and music videos. Literally, the term means one success or only known for one particular work, even though the individual or group could have produced many works.

There are all kinds of lists for one hit wonders, especially when it comes to music. As such, I would like to offer some of the more famous one hit wonders of the New Wave music scene in the 1980s.

Turning Japanese – The Vapors

Although The Vapors would release two albums in the early 80s, they will forever be remembered for this danceable ditty from 1980. It might have been the band’s only success, but almost 30 years later, people still get nostalgic for those new wave days. I really think so.

Cars – Gary Numan

Gary Numan had already made a name for himself with his Tubeway Army band but it wasn’t until his song Cars made him a household name. Years later, someone who must have grown up listening to this song, in their car perhaps, made sure to include it in that violent and rock and sock ‘em computer and video game Grand Theft Auto.

Major Tom (Coming Home) – Peter Schilling

Who says name recognition doesn’t work? And if you are the person who doesn’t mind a little oddity, not space oddity, though how many Major Toms do you know, then this 1983 hit for Peter Schilling might be all that you need. No one understands, but Major Tom sees.

99 Luftballoons – Nena

It’s 1983, Ronald Reagan is in the White House and Mikhail Gorbachev is in the Kremlin. Two superpowers play with a loaded deck. Reagan tells Gorbachev to tear down the wall. The Cold War is just as cold as it always has been with the US committing Pershing II missiles (to counter the Soviets deployment of SS-20 nuclear missiles) and then along comes Nena singing about red balloons. You know how it goes in German, right — Hast Du etwas Zeit für mich/ Dann singe ich ein Lied fuer Dich/
Von 99 Luftballons/Auf ihrem Weg zum Horizont – something like that. It was a big hit for Nena, and a few years that wall came tumbling down in Germany and the Soviet Union was no more.

Safety Dance – Men Without Hats

We can dance if we want to and we can leave your friends behind because your friends don’t dance and if they don’t dance, well, they’re no friends of mine. Sadly, for the Men Without Hats, all the dancing they were going to do wasn’t going to help them come up with another hit.