Whatever Happened To These '80's One-Hit Wonders?

The 1980s proved to be a pivotal decade for popular music, thanks in large part to the launch of MTV and the rise of music videos as an art form unto itself. The result was a new generation of artists who melded their groundbreaking sounds with dynamic and creative visual imagery, leading to the likes of Madonna and Duran Duran ruling both MTV playlists and top-40 radio. 

The music itself was also evolving in bold new directions. The emergence of punk in the latter part of the 1970s, for example, paved the way for what came to be known as New Wave, while the new breed of so-called "hair metal" groups infused hard rock with elements of '70s glam. Meanwhile, legacy acts who were big in the previous decade — including the likes of Michael Jackson, Tina Turner, and Bruce Springsteen — experienced even bigger success than they ever had before. 

During this era, numerous bands and solo artists popped up, seemingly out of nowhere, skyrocketing to the top of the charts with a catchy single — only to never be heard from again. While this phenomenon certainly isn't unique to the '80s, the decade did offer music fans a number of hit songs that are now considered era-defining classics, from acts who never again experienced that level of fame. 

To find out more, read on for a musical stroll down memory lane to find out whatever happened to these '80s one-hit wonders.

Blending elements of punk, Kraftwerk-style electronica, and avant-garde performance art, Devo was at the forefront of what came to be known as Nerd Rock. Founded by Gerald Casale and Mark Mothersbaugh, Devo released its first album in 1978. It wasn't until their third LP — 1980's "Freedom of Choice" — that the band catapulted from quirky cult favorites into the mainstream with the hit single "Whip It." Devo continued releasing albums throughout the 1980s, but never came close to recapturing that level of mainstream popularity; after the failure of the 1990 album "Smooth Noodle Maps," the band embarked on a hiatus.

Devo reunited in 1996  and was part of the 1997 Lollapalooza tour. The band continued to perform on an occasional basis, while Casale and Mothersbaugh focused on their own careers, with both finding success composing music for film and television. 

In 2010, Devo released their first album of new music in 20 years, "Something For Everybody," which ultimately flopped. In 2018, Devo celebrated the 40th anniversary of their debut album with a two-in-one book, "Devo: The Brand/Devo: Unmasked," co-written by Casale and Mothersbaugh. While promoting the film "Cocaine Bear," Mothersbaugh (who composed the film's music) confirmed 2023 as Devo's 50th anniversary, and declared his intention to keep the band going for another 50 years. "So I'm going to have a talk with the band and say, look, we got to stay healthy because we got more things to do, so take your vitamins," he told the Akron Beacon Journal.

Soft Cell is comprised of British duo David Ball and Marc Almond, who broke through with their 1981 album "Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret," and the massive appeal of lead single "Tainted Love." The song was such a hit that it spent a record-breaking 43 weeks on Billboard's Hot 100 chart — which surprised Almond, considering he felt the song was something of a throwaway. "We did 'Tainted Love' in a day," he told The Quietus. "When it started to move into and up the charts it was a bit of a shock." The pair released two more albums before taking a hiatus in the mid-1980s. "It was time for a break, so we said, 'Let's call it a day for a few years.' It ended up being a very long day!" Almond recalled. 

Soft Cell reunited in 2002, unveiling the album "Cruelty Without Beauty." Their next album arrived two decades later — 2022's "Happiness Not Included." The following year, the pair announced the release of two different "expanded" versions of the new album.

Soft Cell also announced plans for a brief tour of England (and one date in Spain) during the summer of 2023, extending into the fall. Fans were told to expect the first set to feature a selection of fan favorites, while the second would include all the songs from "Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret," in the order in which they appear on the album. "It'll be a full-on and exciting show," Almond told the Shropshire Star.

Toni Basil had dabbled in acting (in such films as "Easy Rider") but was predominantly known as a choreographer, whose extensive experience included teaching Ann-Margret and Elvis Presley their moves in "Viva Las Vegas," training David Bowie for his tours, and choreographing Talking Heads' iconic "Once In A Lifetime" music video. In 1981, Basil — then in her late 30s — tried her hand at pop stardom by recording the pop ditty "Mickey" (a rewritten version of a 1979 flop called "Kitty," originally recorded by U.K. band Racey). 

"Mickey" shot to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, and remains her only No. 1. After subsequent musical efforts bombed (two other singles charted at 77 and 81, respectively), she refocused on choreography, with substantial success; among her credits, she choreographed dance sequences for hit movies "Legally Blonde," "My Best Friend's Wedding," and "That Thing You Do." In 2022, she won a long and convoluted legal battle over ownership of the "Mickey" copyright and was awarded sole ownership of the song. 

Appearing on "The Originals" podcast, Basil said she's become comfortable with her status as a one-hit-wonder. "I was grateful by the time the '80s came to have a record, to be able to do videos and have a hit record," she said. "The 'Mickey' video is in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and the song has lasted like an anthem. My blood does not curdle when I hear one-hit-wonder. It really doesn't."

Gary Numan was and will always be best known for his hit single "Cars," which was released in 1979 but did not rise to the top of the charts until the following year. In fact, the single spent 25 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at No. 9. Since that success in 1980, Numan has continued to put out albums — his most recent, 2021's "Intruder," was his 22nd. 

Discussing his career with The Guardian, he pointed to his decision to mount a farewell tour in 1981 as the moment he self-sabotaged his own success. According to Numan, he found being suddenly thrust into stardom to be alienating and unsettling, and figured a goodbye tour would allow him to return to making music without the record-company pressure to replicate the success of "Cars." "I should have just quietly stopped touring and no one would have noticed," Numan mused. "Instead, I upset everybody and destroyed my career."

In recent years, Numan has experienced something of a comeback, with both his 2017 album "Savage (Songs from a Broken World)" and 2021's "Intruder" debuting at No. 2 in the U.K. As he told The Guardian, after the album's chart success, he "cried like a baby, because it meant so much." In a 2010 interview with Songfacts, Numan was asked if he finds it frustrating to be lumped into the one-hit-wonder category. "In a way it does," he said. "But you have to be realistic; better to have had one than none."

Bursting onto the charts in 1982, Dexys Midnight Runners' "Come On Eileen" was a transatlantic hit for the British band, making it to No. 1 on the Billboard Top 100, and ultimately spending 23 weeks on the chart. That success was hard-earned and hard on the band, with frontman and songwriter Kevin Rowland reportedly such a taskmaster that the rest of the group became so fed up with his musical tyranny that all but one of them quit, forcing him to reassemble a whole new band at the height of Dexys' success. "I was quite a control freak and obsessive — and I still am — about work," he told The Guardian in 2023. Despite that perfectionist streak, however, none of the singles he released in the years that followed came anywhere close to "Come On Eileen."

Rowland eventually slid into cocaine addiction. The drug, he told The Spectator, initially boosted his flagging confidence — but only temporarily. "Everything it gave it took back with a lot of interest in later years," he admitted. Eventually, he declared bankruptcy and got clean, re-emerging with the 1999 solo album "My Beauty" (rereleased in 2022). 

Rowland has been tempted with offers to put Dexys Midnight Runners back together for a reunion tour, which he admits would be lucrative. "But I wouldn't do that," he insisted, viewing such an enterprise as a nostalgia-driven cash grab. "No offence [sic] to the old fans, but we're not in the business of reliving memories."

Tommy Tutone hit the big time in 1982 with the ear-worm single "867-5309/Jenny," topping out at No. 4 while spending 27 weeks on the charts. Tommy Tutone wasn't the name of a singer, but the moniker of the band led by singer/guitarist Tommy Heath and lead guitarist Jim Keller. The band cranked out a few more albums and singles in the years after "Jenny," but none charted. Their 1983 album "National Emotion" would be their last for more than a dozen years.

As Heath told the Orange County Register, he stepped away from music to become a software engineer, but kept the band alive doing occasional gigs — 30 or so a year, he estimated. However, he admitted to being frustrated when audiences seemed disinterested in the band's other songs, clamoring only to hear "Jenny." He's since come to make peace with his biggest — and only — hit. As he told the Modesto Bee, he's come to look forward to performing his signature song for audiences. "I'm going to play the hell out of it," he said, referencing an upcoming Tommy Tutone gig.

Looking back, Heath has accepted having briefly hit the big time and then fading back into quasi-obscurity. "I think we had a good run there," he said. "Could have been better. It's just a one-hit wonder, but there aren't many books on two-hit wonders."

Norwegian synth-pop outfit a-ha hit No. 1 in 1985 with "Take On Me," while the song's semi-animated video has become something of a pop-culture touchstone that's been parodied in a VW TV commercial, an episode of "Family Guy," and more.  

The pop trio — comprised of singer Morten Harket, keyboardist Magne Furuholmen, and songwriter/guitarist Paul Waaktaar-Savoy — never recaptured that level of fame in the U.S., but remained popular in Europe, particularly in their native Norway. After disbanding in 1993, a-ha reunited in 1998 to accept an invitation to perform at the Nobel Peace Prize concert, and stayed reunited until splitting up following a 2010 farewell tour. "We've literally lived the ultimate boy's adventure tale," the trio said in a joint statement at the time, via The Guardian.

Yet that wasn't the end; a-ha reunited in 2015 for a performance at the Rock in Rio festival, which led to the release of their 10th album "Cast in Steel" later that year, followed by a European tour and their own edition of "MTV Unplugged" in 2017 (that performance's acoustic rendition of "Take On Me," by the way, wound up in Ryan Reynolds' "Deadpool 2"). In 2021, the band was the subject of the documentary "a-ha: The Movie," which preceded another album, 2022's "True North," and their new single "I'm In." Looking back at how the band's one-hit wonder status fuelled a career spanning five decades, Furuholmen told The New European, "I don't regret a single thing."

Few bands are more identified with the 1980s than A Flock of Seagulls, thanks to the distinctive horn-like hairdo of lead singer Mike Score. Just as identifiable is the band's 1982 hit single "I Ran (So Far Away)," which spent 22 weeks on the charts while the music video enjoyed heavy rotation on MTV. The albums and singles that followed proved to be a case of diminishing returns, all while interpersonal conflicts roiled the band. When their 1986 album "Dream Come True" flopped hard, A Flock of Seagulls called it quits. 

Score revived the group in 1988 — albeit with a completely new roster of musicians. In fact, over the years there were eight different versions of the band, featuring dozens of different musicians. Various comebacks were attempted over the years until the four original band members reunited in 2018 to record "Ascension," in which they were joined by a symphony orchestra. Another orchestral album, "String Theory," followed in 2021. 

Thanks to technology that didn't exist in the '80s, the band members recorded their "Ascension" parts separately and didn't even see each other while making the album. "Well, we only got together for one day, and that was when we were making a video," Score told Billboard, admitting they weren't together long enough for old grudges to resurface. "And it was good as far as nostalgia goes, we were chatting, and everyone knew let's not bring up old s**t, so we got along nicely," he added.

The 1987 hit "Beds Are Burning" put Australian rockers Midnight Oil on the map, thanks to a ferocious performance from frontman Peter Garrett. Although future hit singles eluded them, the band continued touring and recording for more than a decade after that, ultimately going on hiatus in 2002 when Garrett decided to pursue political office. In 2004, he was elected to Australia's Parliament as a Labor Party candidate. He was re-elected in 2007 and again in 2010, serving as a cabinet minister with various posts before retiring in 2013.

In 2016, Garrett announced that he was getting the band back together, with plans to hit the road for a world tour the following year. Speaking with Rolling Stone, Garrett admitted he was initially nervous about whether the band would still have an audience 15-plus years after disbanding. They did; the magazine listed an example of a venue with a capacity of 700 for which the band received 26,000 ticket requests. "We're lucky to have that connection with people," Garrett said, "that it's still there."

In 2022, the band embarked on what was billed as Midnight Oil's final tour. As for what lay ahead, Garrett left the door open — albeit vaguely. "This is a band of musicians and writers and performers who will all continue to do that in different guises, so long as we can breathe a breath," he told The Guardian in 2022. "What shape and form that takes, that's anybody's guess."

Thomas Dolby emerged on the scene like an MTV version of a mad scientist with his 1982 hit "She Blinded Me With Science." The single put Dolby on top, hobnobbing with the likes of Michael Jackson and David Bowie, even playing in the latter's band during his performance at Live Aid. "It was delightfully unexpected, a mad time," he told Baltimore Magazine of that high-flying period of his life. "I felt like a fish in a bowl ... "

Dolby decided to step away from music in 1992 after a string of commercial failures. That year, he accepted an invitation to create a sonic installation in NYC's Guggenheim Museum, a project that led to the formation of his Silicon Valley startup Headspace, focusing on emerging audio technology for multimedia. From there, he began composing and creating digital music for video games and served as the musical director for the annual TED conferences. In 2013, he ventured into filmmaking, directing the digital short "The Invisible Lighthouse." In 2014, Dolby joined the faculty at Johns Hopkins University as a professor, and since 2018 has headed the Peabody Conservatory's Music for New Media program.

Being relegated to a one-hit wonder isn't something that particularly concerns Dolby, and he has no desire to attempt to recapture the lightning in a bottle. "Fortunately, I've been able to pay the rent for years without having to worry too much about commercial success," he told the Washington Independent Review of Books.

British popsters Frankie Goes to Hollywood hit the big time with their 1984 debut album, "Welcome to the Pleasuredome," and the sexually suggestive single "Relax." Despite being banned by the BBC in the band's native Britain, "Relax" shot to the top of the charts while also sparking the "Frankie Say Relax" t-shirt phenomenon (famously recalled in an episode of "Friends). While their follow-up single, "Two Tribes," was also successful, the second album, 1986's "Liverpool," completely tanked. 

Meanwhile, tensions within the band were flaring; as The Guardian recalled, a physical altercation between lead singer Holly Johnson and bassist Mark O'Toole backstage before a show at Wembley Arena proved to be the tipping point, and Johnson parted ways with Frankie. The band attempted to soldier on sans Johnson, but the singer's lawyers scuttled those plans. "The brightest star shines half as long," band member Paul Rutherford told The Guardian. "We ran out of steam and we split up. It's sad. But the memories are amazing."'

Asked in 2014 about a potential reunion, Johnson told Digital Spy, "I don't ever say never again, but I just say it's highly unlikely that will ever happen. I don't want to dash people's hopes for all eternity, but it's not something I'm interested in whatsoever."

However, Johnson's stance changed in 2023, when he reunited with his former bandmates to open the Eurovision Song Contest in their hometown of Liverpool. As The Guardian pointed out, they only performed one song — which wasn't "Relax."

Rockwell broke through with his 1984 ode to paranoia, "Somebody's Watching Me." The singer — real name, Rockwell Kennedy Gordy — had some serious connections in the music biz, given that his dad was Motown Records founder Berry Gordy, and he enlisted family friend Michael Jackson to sing backup on the track. That may or may not have been a factor in the song's success, peaking at No. 2 on the Billboard Top 100 and remaining on the chart for 20 weeks. His two follow-up albums, however, both flopped and by 1986 his brief music career was kaput.

In the decades that followed, Gordy made the occasional headline — albeit never for his music, but for some scandalous aspect of his personal life. That was the case in 2013, when TMZ reported he'd filed for divorce to end his three-year marriage, and asked to not pay any spousal support. In 2017, TMZ reported that he was placed under arrest after his housekeeper called the cops on him, alleging that he hit her because she didn't make the sandwich he'd requested fast enough for his liking.

In 2019, Gordy was arrested again — also for alleged violence toward an employee. According to The Blast, a woman who worked for him approached Gordy to ask about being paid. He responded by viciously beating her with a chair, with her injuries reportedly requiring multiple surgeries. That report mentioned other ongoing criminal cases, for such infractions as making criminal threats and indecent exposure. 

The single "99 Luftballons" was a big hit in West Germany for singer Nena (born Gabriele Susanne Kerner), and broke through into the U.S. market to land at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100. Savvy (or possibly just greedy) music execs got her to rerecord the song in English as "99 Red Balloons," which became a hit in America all over again, but Nena has always preferred the original. "I don't want to say I never liked it," she told Billboard of the remake. "But I never felt it." 

While she faded into obscurity in the U.S., Nena continued to be a popular recording artist in Germany, appearing on German television and experiencing a career comeback in 2002. Her most recent album, "Old School," was released in 2015. The following year, she returned to the U.S. to perform for the first time since her '80s heyday.

In 2021, Nena made headlines for her public criticism of the German government's pandemic policies, and some statements that appeared sympathetic to the anti-vaccine movement; during a Berlin concert, reported The Independent, she encouraged the audience to make up their own minds about whether or not to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, ending the show by declaring, "Take back your freedom!" The backlash was so severe that one of her concerts was canceled. "Did Nena just destroy her career with the dubious appearances of the last few weeks?" pondered a Munich newspaper. 

One of the quirkiest hits of the 1980s was undoubtedly "Safety Dance," by the unabashedly quirky Canadian band Men Without Hats. After receiving tons of radio play in Canada, the song broke through in the U.S. — where it wound up charting even higher than it had in Canada, hitting No. 3 and remaining on the charts for 24 weeks.   

The band has made a few comeback attempts, and released various albums, yet "Safety Dance" remains the group's biggest hit. In fact, it remains firmly embedded in the pop-culture firmament, even spawning a "Howard Stern Show" parody about "Star Trek" alum George Takei, called "Sulu Dance."

In 2022, the group released a new album and embarked on a 40th-anniversary tour. "We have now been assimilated into pop culture to such a degree that song is way bigger than me ... way bigger than the band," Men Without Hats frontman Ivan Doroschuk (who wrote the song) told Amplify of being a one-hit-wonder. "I feel like a museum curator travelling [sic] around the globe and presenting this musical artifact to people that procures immense joy. That is one of the reasons our fans are still listening to our music and enabling us to play live."