The ‘Big 4’ of ’80s One-Hit Wonders

There is arguably no era that embodied the one-hit wonder phenomenon more than the ’80s.

There are many factors that led to this being the preeminent one-hit wonder decade. Music was globalized more than ever before with artists now able to reach audiences across the world. The arrival of MTV offered bands a new avenue to develop a passionate fan base. New technologies, like synthesizers and drum machines, gave musicians further tools to spark creativity. And then there were the flushed-with-cash record label executives, who eagerly forked over money to unproven acts in effort to sign the next big thing.

This perfect storm helped a bevy of one-hit wonders enjoy a brief but shining moment in the spotlight. Impressively, a long list of ’80s one-hit wonders still resonate with audiences today.

With so many deserving options to choose from, picking a big 4 of ’80s one-hit wonders was a real challenge. Honorable mentions include “Relax” by Frankie Goes to Hollywood, “You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)” by Dead or Alive, “I Melt With You” by Modern English and Soft Cell’s cover of “Tainted Love.” Without further ado, here are UCR’s choices for The Big 4 of ’80s One-Hit Wonders.

A-ha, ‘Take on Me’

A-ha’s “Take on Me” was a generation-defining hit in the ‘80s, but it took a long time for the single to reach its potential. The pop rock group first began working on the song in 1982, with different lyrics and sound.

“It started out being called ‘Lesson One,’ then we renamed the song ‘All’s Well That Ends Well and Moves With the Sun.’ A very catchy, short title,” keyboardist Magne Furuholmen recalled to Rolling Stone. “Morten [Harket, singer] had a wonderful falsetto so I thought that maybe that would be a cool thing, just to show us his range a little bit,” guitarist Paul Waaktaar-Savoy added. “I thought it would be cool to just start at the very lowest and build your way up from there.”

By 1984, the band had recorded a newer version of the song and released it in Europe. Though the single hit No. 3 in their native Norway, this edition of “Take on Me” failed to chart anywhere else.

Then, in 1985, A-ha took one more swing. They re-recorded “Take on Me” with producer Alan Tarney, who gave the track deeper instrumentation and a bigger sound. This version also received a brand new music video, the now-iconic half-animated, half-live action clip which you can watch below. Finally all of the pieces for success were in place. “Take on Me” became one of the ‘80s biggest hits, reaching No. 1 in 27 different countries, including the USA.

The popularity of “Take on Me” was so overwhelming that A-ha really didn’t have anywhere to go but down. Sure enough, follow-up single “The Sun Always Shines on T.V.” was only a modest success, and the band never again sniffed the charts in America.

The Proclaimers, ‘I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)’

Scottish twins Craig and Charlie Reid became unexpected rock stars when their 1988 single “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)” became a worldwide hit. The tune had humble beginnings, written in about 45 minutes as the brothers were sitting in their Edinburgh apartment.

“Right from the start we knew it was catchy, but when we started playing it live the reaction was tremendous,” Craig recalled to The Guardian in 2015. “People make all sorts of interpretations of the lyrics – especially the supposed religious significance of 500 miles – but it’s just a love song… I’ve never actually walked 500 miles. I like walking, but that’s a bit much.”

“I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)” first became popular internationally, topping charts in Australia, Iceland and New Zealand before eventually becoming a hit the U.K. American audiences didn’t fall in love with the song until years later when it was featured in the romantic comedy Benny & Joon. The wave of attention was suddenly so monumental that the band reshot the song’s music video to feature clips from the film, as you can see below.

Charlie noted that listeners each seem to be attracted to something different in the tune.

“People say they love the song for lots of reasons: its marching beat, the stop-start rhythm, that call and response bit. I think it’s a bit of everything,” he explained. “The band is nowhere near as famous as the song and we never will be. When they write our obituaries, whether in Scotland or Kazakhstan, they won’t mention much else.”

Though “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)” is the Proclaimers only U.S. hit, it remains an omnipresent part of pop culture, getting sung at sporting events and appearing on Family Guy, Pitch Perfect, The Sheep Detectives and many other films and TV shows.

Dexys Midnight Runners, ‘Come On Eileen’

With its folky instrumentation, buoyant tone and sing-along style lyrics, “Come On Eileen” by Dexy’s Midnight Runners sounded unlike anything else on the radio in 1983.

“We wanted a really good, jaunty rhythm,”lead singer Kevin Rowland explained to Songfacts. “We felt under pressure. We really needed to write a song that would make the record company take us seriously.”

“We wanted a good rhythm and we found one,” he continued. “Lots of records we liked had that rhythm: ‘Concrete and Clay,’ ‘It’s Not Unusual’ by Tom Jones. Lots of records we liked had that ‘Bomp ba bomp, bomp ba bomp.’ We felt it was a good rhythm. We came up with the chord sequence ourselves and just started singing melodies over it. I remember thinking, ‘We’re really onto something here.’”

For lyrical inspiration, Rowland looked to his strict Catholic upbringing.

“I was reminded of being a teenager, surrounded by Irish Catholic girls you couldn’t touch, but at the same time with these overpowering feelings of lust which you’re not supposed to have,” he recalled to The Guardian. “When I played the demo to the record company, they didn’t like it and I was so upset I told them to f— off.”

Sure enough, “Come On Eileen” found a massive audience. Released in the U.S. in January of ‘83, the song reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in April. Though the tune was a certified smash, Dexys Midnight Runners was never able to replicate its success. The band broke up in 1987 and didn’t reunite until 2003.

Tommy Tutone, ‘867-5309/Jenny’

The origins of one of the ‘80s greatest one-hit wonders was shrouded in mystery for decades. At the time of its release, Tommy Tutone lead singer Tommy Heath and guitarist Jim Keller both insisted it was about a real woman (albeit, with different backstories). However, in the early 2000s, the song’s co-writer, Alex Call, set the record straight.

“Despite all the mythology to the contrary, I actually just came up with the ‘Jenny,’ and the telephone number and the music and all that just sitting in my backyard,” he confessed to Songfacts. “There was no Jenny. I don’t know where the number came from, I was just trying to write a 4-chord rock song and it just kind of came out.”

Keller, one of Call’s close friends, helped complete the song, adding to the verses and – most notably – suggesting that the number could be written on a bathroom wall.

“We never thought it would get cut” Call admitted. “In fact, even after Tommy Tutone made the record and ‘867-5309’ got on the air, it really didn’t have a lot of promotion to begin with, but it was one of those songs that got a lot of requests and stayed on the charts.”

“867-5309/Jenny” peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 in April of 1982. The song became so ubiquitous that cities across America began refusing to issue 867-5309 as a phone number. Tommy Tutone never scored another hit, but the legacy of Jenny – and her famous digits – lives on.