Hey Boston! One Hit Wonder day is Monday September 25! Thanks to our friends at VH-1, we have found the TOP 7 One Hit Wonders Of The 80s!

It’s the one day a year we celebrate hitting it out of the park, once. 

One Hit Wonder Day History

Imagine, being a music artist with a massive hit, and somehow, that’s it. Just when you think your career begins, it ends. Well, not really. I’ll share in a minute. One Hit Wonder stars, can have a life, after their one grand slam. According to nationalday.com:

One Hit Wonder Day was originally started in 1990 by a music journalist named Steve Rosen. Rosen started the day because he wanted people to remember the names of artists who’d only had a brief moment in the spotlight despite their work outliving them. 

My crack research team (ah…me) found a couple one hit wonder stars that found new life after music retired their jersey, if you will.

One Hit Wonder Artists Still Working

Remember the hit television show The Office? That hysterical show starring Acton’s Steve Carell ran on NBC for many years. Yet did you know that the theme music for the opening credits of The Office was created by 1970’s One Hit Wonder artist Jay Ferguson? In 1977, Jay had just ONE hit called Thunder Island. It hit #9 in April 1978. The Eagles Joe Walsh played the guitar on that song! Jay also did the entire score to A Nightmare On Elm Street 5. He is also the current soundtrack composer for TV’s NCIS: Los Angeles.

In the 1990’s One Hit Wonder hit maker Vanessa Carlton gave us her hit A Thousand Miles. In May of 2019 she was tapped for the lead role on Broadway’s Carole King musical Beautiful. What an honor to be chosen to play Carole King, and actually sing her songs. Add to that, it was Vanessa’s first time performing on Broadway!

1980’s hit maker Toni Basil had the One Hit Wonder hit, Mickey. Dressed as a singing cheerleader in the video, she was actually 38! After her 1980’s years she went on to be a successful movie choreographer for movies like Legally Blonde 1 and 2 in 2001 and 2003.

So as we get ready to celebrate the top One Hit Wonders on Monday, let’s see VH-1’s TOP 7 of the 80’s!

  • 7-Modern English-I Melt With You

    These guys still love to perform. They did the Big E last year!

  • 6-Toni Basil-Mickey

    In addition to her Legally Blonde choreography credits, she was credited for those duties on movie hits like The Rose, Peggy Sue Got Married, Charlie Wilsons War and House Bunny.

  • 5-Soft Cell-Tainted Love

    The 12 inch version includes an extended cover of The Supremes “Where Did Our Love Go.”

  • 4-Tommy Tutone-867-5309 (Jenny Jenny)

    This is what Tommy sounds LIVE performing his only hit! He currently is touring with Rick Springfield. 

  • 3-A-ha-Take On Me

    This hit ONE BILLION views on You Tube on February 17, 2020.

  • 2-A Flock of Seagulls-I Ran (So Far Away)

    This band was so influential, during a 1980’s flashback scene in Friends, Chandler was spotted with Flock of Seagulls hair.

  • 1-Dexy's Midnight Runners-Come on Eileen

    They just played the MGM Music Hall at Fenway this past Summer! Their new name NOW is simply Dexys’. Maybe they dropped the MIDNIGHT Runners because we all can’t stay up past 10pm now.

    Here’s the FULL VH1 List!

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