The Ben Maynard Program
EP. 60 One-Hit Wonders: Iconic 80s Tracks, Synth-Pop Revolution, and Nostalgic Memories
What makes a one-hit wonder truly unforgettable? Join us on this episode of "Breakfast with Ben and Matt" as we explore the fascinating world of one-hit wonders and their lasting impact on music history. We begin by defining what qualifies as a one-hit wonder, using the Billboard Top 40 as our benchmark, and then dive into our shared love for 80s music. You'll hear personal stories of buying bootleg cassettes overseas and our reflections on iconic bands like Journey, making this a deeply nostalgic journey through the unforgettable music of that era.
Starting with Soft Cell's "Tainted Love," we unravel the intriguing history of this track from its origins in the 60s to its mainstream success in the 80s. The conversation highlights the financial struggles artists faced with unfair contracts and the revolutionary use of synthesizers by artists like Gary Numan. We also bring the spotlight to chart-topping successes of bands like The Knack, Dexys Midnight Runners, and Tony Carey of Planet P, while celebrating the groundbreaking impact of synth-pop on the music scene.
Our journey doesn't stop there. We reminisce about lesser-known gems like Rocky Burnette's "Tired of Toeing the Line" and iconic tracks like Simple Minds' "Don't You (Forget About Me)" from "The Breakfast Club." We discuss the enduring influence of music videos, with Ah-Ha's "Take on Me" as a standout example, and reflect on the powerful themes of love and heartbreak in songs like Haircut 100's "Love Plus One." Tune in as we clear up misconceptions about artists labeled as one-hit wonders and share the timeless music that continues to resonate with us today.#tellyourstory #familymatters #podcast #thebenmaynardprogram #onehitwonders #80'smusic #saturdaymorning #aldonova #takeonme #simpleminds #softcell #larrygraham #musiclovers
Thanks for listening! Follow me on Instagram: benmaynardprogram
and subscribe to my YouTube channel: THE BEN MAYNARD PROGRAM
I also welcome your comments. email: pl8blocker@aol.com
What makes a one-hit wonder truly unforgettable? Join us on this episode of "Breakfast with Ben and Matt" as we explore the fascinating world of one-hit wonders and their lasting impact on music history. We begin by defining what qualifies as a one-hit wonder, using the Billboard Top 40 as our benchmark, and then dive into our shared love for 80s music. You'll hear personal stories of buying bootleg cassettes overseas and our reflections on iconic bands like Journey, making this a deeply nostalgic journey through the unforgettable music of that era.
Starting with Soft Cell's "Tainted Love," we unravel the intriguing history of this track from its origins in the 60s to its mainstream success in the 80s. The conversation highlights the financial struggles artists faced with unfair contracts and the revolutionary use of synthesizers by artists like Gary Numan. We also bring the spotlight to chart-topping successes of bands like The Knack, Dexys Midnight Runners, and Tony Carey of Planet P, while celebrating the groundbreaking impact of synth-pop on the music scene.
Our journey doesn't stop there. We reminisce about lesser-known gems like Rocky Burnette's "Tired of Toeing the Line" and iconic tracks like Simple Minds' "Don't You (Forget About Me)" from "The Breakfast Club." We discuss the enduring influence of music videos, with Ah-Ha's "Take on Me" as a standout example, and reflect on the powerful themes of love and heartbreak in songs like Haircut 100's "Love Plus One." Tune in as we clear up misconceptions about artists labeled as one-hit wonders and share the timeless music that continues to resonate with us today.#tellyourstory #familymatters #podcast #thebenmaynardprogram #onehitwonders #80'smusic #saturdaymorning #aldonova #takeonme #simpleminds #softcell #larrygraham #musiclovers
Thanks for listening! Follow me on Instagram: benmaynardprogram
and subscribe to my YouTube channel: THE BEN MAYNARD PROGRAM
I also welcome your comments. email: pl8blocker@aol.com
well, oh, there you are, yeah I'm here how's everyone doing? Welcome into the ben maynard program. Thanks for being here. Um, I said it yesterday in my post if it it worked the first time, then let's do it again. And here we are Breakfast with Ben on the Ben Maynard program, and this morning it's breakfast with Ben and Matt. You remember. Matt right.
Speaker 2:I don't see any breakfast. Yeah, I know.
Speaker 1:I'm starving too. I am. Let me get this going right here. Let's see, let's hit that for a few minutes there. Oh, I know I'm hungry.
Speaker 1:I got up early this morning and I just came into studio and started working on my notes for this show. Oh, okay, well, listen before we get started. How about some housekeeping to take care of? All right? As you know, this program is available on multiple podcast platforms. Instead of running down the ones that I normally do, it's available on all of them. Okay, it really is, I don't you know. So just whatever your favorite platform is, just go with it.
Speaker 1:Search the Ben Maynard program. It's there, including iHeart, or if you can't resist this right here and maybe some of this right here, and you are watching live, which I see that there's nobody watching right now, but you're watching live and you're here joining us on YouTube this morning, then please subscribe to the channel, give me a thumbs up and leave a comment. You know I dig the comments, I read them all. Last but not least, follow me on Instagram. Last but not least, follow me on Instagram. Simply Ben Maynard Program, all one word, and yeah. So with that there are plenty of ways to take in this show for your dancing and listening pleasure, and with that now we'll kind of start things off.
Speaker 1:So yes, I'm really hungry, Dude if they're dancing to this, then they have no rhythm at all right, I'm wondering about them. Okay, no rhythm at all. So so, look, as you can see, my buddy matt's here came in again. Um, I've been. I kind of have to like pull people is the mic working this time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, actually the sound is working. The last time last were on, we were talking and I didn't realize it, couldn't figure out the problem, but we were actually talking into the microphone on the laptop so it sounded like we were across the room. Warts and all right, warts and all. There we go. That's how we do this, but yeah, so we're going to do a little something special this morning. This is actually the first time that I'm doing basically a topic-driven show live and because of the subject that we're doing, I thought, well, why not, let's just go live and see if we can get any engagement from the audience out there, a little bit of participation, either through phone calls or comments, and we'll just see what happens. Right, perfect. So here is what we're doing.
Speaker 1:People, as you know, I'm a huge music fan and Matt here is a huge music fan and I would say, primarily, we love our eighties stuff. But you know, um, that'd be true, yeah, but I mean it. It just it runs the gamut. I love so much other stuff as well, but but yeah, I think the wheelhouse is in the eighties, but yeah, I think the wheelhouse is in the 80s. So everybody knows what a one-hit wonder is, and if you don't, then we'll explain it to you.
Speaker 1:We're going to get into some one-hit wonders today, okay, this morning, and Matt's got his stuff and I have my stuff and we probably have some of the same artists on there and we're just going to talk about them.
Speaker 1:We're going to shed some light on them, and there's a few misnomers in here too, some artists that may have been mislabeled as one hit wonders when they actually aren't, and we'll get into all that minutiae and get things going. But first, just so we have a clear understanding of what a one-hit wonder is, a one-hit wonder is a musician or a band that has one song that breaks the Billboard be 40. It could be number one, but somewhere there in the Billboard Top 40. And then, as far as the Top 40 chart is concerned, they're never heard from. Again Doesn't mean that they're never heard from as an artist. Just means that they don't have any other appearances in the Billboard Top 40. So that's really what a one-hit wonder is, really what a one hit wonder is, and I think some of what we have today is going to um blow your mind or maybe make you scratch your head, whatever it is.
Speaker 2:So we'll see how that all goes. So I mean for me the eighties stuff was I mean it was iconic because you know high school and then I dropped out, then I went overseas and that's where I got into music and it wasn't. I mean Journey was the big 80s band for me and of course it's really a 70s band and they developed into this iconic band where now, when you hear their music especially, don't Stop Believing. I mean it's just, you know, it's on so many number one or top ten lists and whatnot.
Speaker 1:One of the most downloaded songs, if not the most downloaded song or streamer song, I'm never kidding A bootleg of the Escape album.
Speaker 2:I didn't have a Walkman or anything. They didn't exist. Boomboxes are what existed at the time. They didn't exist in America, but in.
Speaker 1:Japan.
Speaker 2:they did no no, there wasn't anything I could buy there that I could play a cassette on at the time. Okay, and what I would do is I'd, because they would line the streets, the vendors, and you would buy these bootleg cassettes and they'd have the label Joan Jett and all these other bands I was buying, and Simon and Garfunkel and Central Park Live. That was a great album.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:And then you would buy five of those and they'd give you this little case. I know you remember these little brown snap cases that came with the cassette, wow, yeah. And so I would take the cassettes and I'd go to the library on base and I'd get the tape recorder. And it wasn't like a stereo tape recorder, it was just a tape recorder, right, and I'd play it with the stupid little plastic headphones listening. Yeah, yeah, it was, uh, it was pretty cool. And then uh, and then of course, rush was my other big love yeah, I mean, I remember that we would go to those.
Speaker 2:we would go into those bars and they would have concert-sized speakers in there and pick whatever album you wanted to listen to. And Steve Jensen I don't know if he's still alive around or whatever he was my corporal.
Speaker 1:He was like yeah, you got to come, let's go.
Speaker 2:We're having some drinks and we're going to go listen to Rush, and I just remember being blown away by listening to 2112. You know side a I was just like, yeah, oh, this is what music is about.
Speaker 1:First time I'm deaf but um, at our age we're all a little bit deaf, anyway, and a little blind too but you know, and we can't remember anything, so we have to have copious notes, that yeah we do, we have to take notes. You typed yours out, I scribbled mine, but um, yeah, you know. Uh, well, first let's start with journey, because you brought him up and you know, the number number one stream song in the history of time.
Speaker 1:You know, don't stop believing. I remember where we were when that album dropped and the first single, who's crying now, was released. We were at Disneyland, you and I, and I believe Chuck was there and your cousin Brian. Oh, wow, yeah, we went a, yeah, we went on a trip to Disneyland. We were hanging out and we had a great day. And, like I said, that was when the album first dropped and Don't Stop I mean not Don't Stop, but who's Crying Now was the first single, and I remember we'd be standing in line and I'd just be running that song through my head over and over again because it was brand new. I almost totally forgot about that. I haven't thought about Brian in years. Wow, yeah, yeah. So that was something.
Speaker 1:And going back to when you were talking about cassettes and you'd buy the cassettes, I remember you also being in the in the Marines at the time and you used to come, come. You know, when you were back in the States you'd come, you'd come up like almost every weekend. You'd take the train and I'd pick you up at the Fullerton train station and hang out for the weekend and then and then take you back and but you brought these. I used to call them bandoliers because they're almost like bandoliers and it was a. It was a strap and it would go across your chest and it had perfect pockets to put cassettes in and we used to load it up with the cassettes and we'd wear them and we'd have all these cassettes.
Speaker 2:They were bullet bandoliers yeah, no, I remember totally. And with the brass uh safety pins yeah, no, totally. And with the brass safety pins yeah, yeah, yes, yes, yes, I remember, yeah, yes.
Speaker 1:And we would wear them. It had probably about eight or ten pouches on it and we'd put all the cassettes in there. And then we had your boom box and we'd be walking around with your boom box, with a whole bunch of cassettes. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:I was trying to remember the make of that boombox because I got paid right before I left Okinawa and then when. I came back, brian picked me up, yeah, and we went to the Air Force Base in. It's not there anymore now. Oh gosh, I'm not even going to remember, but it was the Marine.
Speaker 1:Corps Air Force Base. Was it the one in Tustin? Yeah, I think it was Tustin Air Force Base.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and we went down there so I could get paid. Oh, okay, because I was on 30 days of leave and the guy told me, oh, you have another check coming, leave. And um, the guy told me, oh, you have an, do you have another check coming? So I ended up getting like almost like 1600 or something, yeah, and so I'm like I'm a boombox. Yeah, I cannot remember the make of that boombox. What I do remember about it is one of the one of the guys in the barracks overseas in okinawa had one and it had. It was before the auto reverse came out. It was auto rewind, so you could play one side over and over again.
Speaker 2:Okay, it would rewind and then would play that side again. Oh wow yeah and I remember borrowing that when I was in the barracks and and uh, putting 2112 on it and just listening to that one side of the album over and over, and then also I believe it was side A of moving pictures.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:So, and then for me, rush is still well, I mean.
Speaker 1:I'm so sad you still hold them in high regard.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah totally yeah, yeah, yeah. And not just me, I mean, a lot of people do. Oh, of course.
Speaker 1:Of course. No, I mean, they're one of those legendary bands you know, right up there with, and it's not like, oh, they're not a hidden gem. No, those guys, they have a huge name, they had a huge career. They weren't one-hit ones. No Well no, you're right, they weren't. They weren't because I believe they had two top 40 hits. I don't have them on my list.
Speaker 2:I'd be willing to bet there were more than that, because moving pictures, almost every song charted on at least side A, I'm pretty sure. Well, they would. I'm sure they were on the top 40.
Speaker 1:You're right, yeah, I'm sure they were on the mainstream rock chart, yeah, and which is different than the billboard top 40. I mean, so it's still all billboard, but just there's, there's charts for everything, and you know. But they need to fix those charts in Russia, but but but I do remember that, uh, what was the album that came out before moving pictures, was that signals or was, I don't remember, but but that they had um, um, what was the?
Speaker 1:new world man. New world man was uh, and that was actually uh, that was, I think that almost broke the top 20. We might even look it up, who knows it had that new wave sound.
Speaker 2:It was very rock but it had sort of had a lot of synthesizer in it.
Speaker 1:It was when they turned into the decade of the 80s and they started adding more keyboards. And, uh, it was when they kind of got out of the 80s, maybe in the to the mid 90s, trying to remember the album that they came out with um, it's not snakes and arrows, it might be test for echo they kind of did away with the keyboards or really really minimize the keyboards, because Alex Lyson was getting. It was like hey, well, what am I supposed to do here? If you notice, like through, especially when you got to the back half of the eighties, there was like no, no guitar solos.
Speaker 1:You know, alex didn't have much to do so um somebody saying get out with the top ten no, that's, that's brother jim that's brother jim.
Speaker 2:No, he's not watching, he's texting on something else.
Speaker 1:Oh, I don't even know yeah I thought we were getting to, oh no what did he?
Speaker 1:oh, we have two viewers. I'll just read it. Yeah, we do. We have two viewers right now. I'll just read it. It says do you want to go to this on the 7th? 15 bucks per person. I don't know what it is, probably some kind of tasting. I'll get back to you. Brother, jim, let me see. So let's do this too. Now we all know it's breakfast with Ben. Let's put the number to call in and then let's highlight the comments, because somebody might want to leave a comment. Let's hope we get our guys from the Philippines and from India again.
Speaker 1:Yeah it'd be great to get some participation here. Okay, so one-hit wonders All right, now that we know what a one-hit wonder is, we're going to go over. You know, we're just going to pick and choose on our list and we'll go over, we'll discuss and we'll have some fun with this. What do you say you want to dive into it?
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:Yeah, all right, you are the guest, am I? You are the guest? So yeah, so you get to go first.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Okay, well for me. So for me, just like we're talking iconic and 80s, and so I was mentioning, before we went on air, I mean I joined Columbia there. I mean I joined columbia house just so I could buy a bunch of 80s music back in the day. So, yeah, I've been in the 90s, yeah. And so they used to have those deals, and then you know you would work the deal right, so daniella would order and then we'd cancel her if we could in a night order and we'd get whatever 13 of them.
Speaker 2:And so we had this quite a collection of cds, all of which eventually got sold right because everything went digital. But yeah, uh, for me, probably the most iconic song that I can remember from the 80s, um, that I knew was a one-hit wonder, was the song by, uh, soft sell, oh, painted love, yeah, yeah. And then what I didn't know about this song was that it was a 1964 release with a very Motown sound, and I'm not going to remember. Gloria Jones was the one who originally recorded it and then she actually re-recorded it in 76.
Speaker 1:The actual song Tainted Love.
Speaker 2:It's the actual song, so actually last night jumped on and you can go on youtube and look this up yeah, gloria jones, uh, 64, 65, depending on some of the dates are here and there on that, uh, and then the 76 version and the um, the bass chord line is the same. Yeah, on both songs, uh, but it's very like I mean, you know hard for me to do that, but it's pretty, pretty interesting.
Speaker 2:And then she told the story about that, uh, how it was the way it became popular uh in europe, and she didn't know this at the time. Uh, was that a sailor had her 45? Was that a sailor had her 45 and he needed cigarettes and so he traded it for some cigarettes and the young man who traded it took it to a local club where the youth were meeting and they played this song and it became popular in Europe. It was a hit, of course, soft Cell. The story goes that they were doing a 60s or a, um, yeah, 60s theme at some dance clubs and the uh, the person who, uh, mark almond, who did the vocals heard the song at this.
Speaker 2:Um, somebody was playing it and he just fell in love with the song. He's like I have to, you have to make a copy of this for me and and she said that was how they uh ended up coming to do the song. Wow, and uh, there was even some. There was some uh little short doc, like a little short documentary it wasn't super long uh, where they were singing together, mark karlman oh, that's cool, that's cool and she has this really, uh, raspy, deep, soulful voice.
Speaker 2:So you know, the contrast between the two of them is really interesting. But that's my number one pick on my list. That's cool.
Speaker 1:And then what's unique about that song is you have the Tainted Love portion of it, which, of course, soft Cell didn't write that. And then the back half of that song is where did our love go? Which is the supremes? So you've got two that they combine into one.
Speaker 1:Well, I wasn't aware of that well, when the first, when, when the song, when the song broke in 1982, top 40 radio played the edited version, which was just the Tainted Love portion, and as that song was, it would end with you know, tainted Love, and they would repeat that a few times and then it would go into when Did Our Love Go? But Top 40 Radio, they would cut that they play it now, right, but they didn't back then. Oh, that they play it now, right, but they didn't back then. Oh, I didn't know that. Yeah, and it's got the when Did Our Love Go from the Supremes. So the guys from Soft Cell man, they actually did a big favor to the writers of those songs, bringing them to light, selling, I'm sure, a million copies or more of that one particular song. Then you get your royalties from that, you get your publishing, but those guys they didn't make any money on that, the only money, and I don't know whether Gloria Jones would have received props.
Speaker 2:I mean artists used to sign contracts where they didn't own anything.
Speaker 1:They would get pennies on the dollar. He may not have made any money. The management or record company he probably continued touring and singing.
Speaker 2:One of the things I did was I went through and I tried to find some information on these different songs. Some of them. There's not a lot out there. You have to want to parse through all the Wikipedia posts or whatever. With Wikipedia it's sort of you know it's a lot better than it used to be, but it used to be a lot of you know sort of questionable information. More gossip, it would be nice, because it would say like this is unsubstantiated.
Speaker 2:Citation needed you know that kind of thing, so that was my number one pick.
Speaker 1:Alright, you came right out of the gate with that one.
Speaker 2:Well it's. I mean, like I said, it's like. Well, one of the trivia facts I found on it said that this particular version, the 10-11 version, the radio version, is often cited as being the song that really broke the synth pop.
Speaker 1:I would say that's probably. Yeah, I would say that's probably very accurate, because I do remember when the first, when the song first dropped in 82, and that was like the spring of 82. It was a totally different sound it was. You knew immediately you were hearing something that was different. Oh, yeah, yeah and yeah, so I could see that definitely.
Speaker 2:The other thing about it is the video is just a strange video, is it?
Speaker 1:I don't think.
Speaker 2:I've ever seen it. Yeah, so you have a lot of people, just remember Mr Almond's head with like stars, like background type of thing. But there's this whole sequence where the the other guys on the bed and there's these light dots outlines of females, obviously because they have breasts and they're like all dancing around them and it's just, it's just kind of like really great, it's an early video, but it's just really bizarre, okay.
Speaker 1:Didn't make you feel like you were on an acid trip or anything, did it?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I've been on an acid trip.
Speaker 1:So no, yeah, I didn't feel anything like that, all right. So what I did is I now now in in in researching one hit wonders. You can go back to the fifties and there's I mean there are so many one hit wonders you never even thought of and thousands. But for you know the purpose of our exercise, we're going to get into thousands of them and you know everybody would tune out pretty soon. I didn't have to be home till 8 pm, yeah. So what I did is, I think, on my list right here and we maybe even talk about more. I probably have a dozen here, but I thought, okay, I'm not going to do 50s, I'm not going to do 60s. I could have done 70s and actually I did have one from the 70s, but it's 79. So I kept mine into the 80s and uh, but I'll start with this one here, the vapors turning Japanese. There you go. Yeah, turning Japanese. Oh yeah, that's a high school for sure. Yeah, yeah, that was uh like our sophomore year in high school. Actually it was the like mid, because it came out in 1980. So in our sophomore year was 80, 81.
Speaker 1:But the, the album was released in 1980. The song reached 36 on the top 40. And the band was like never heard from again, Outside of of course, you know, maybe like here in Southern California and in fact the radio station still exists KROQ K-Rock. They used to play a whole plethora of different genres of rock, but in the 80s they really kind of honed in on it and were playing more like new wave post-punk, some punk, that kind of stuff and so this kind of fit right into their format. So, yeah, they could have played album tracks off of the album, but yeah, I mean not Soft Cell but the Vapors. They were never heard from again. Hey, we got a comment. We got a comment. Oh, and it's from Danny. He says hello, ben, how you doing? Well, I'm doing great, and so is my buddy, matt, he's doing good too. Keep playing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, no, no. We're all doing great and we're going to have some fun with One Hit Wonders this morning. So, yeah, so that's my first one to start things off.
Speaker 2:So shoot, that's it On the vapors yeah, oh my gosh, yeah, I had to carry the show today, yeah, I had to carry the show today Okay, all right, I can tell you, I remember seeing the vapors on solid gold. So we'll go with this one from the trivia standpoint, and this is going to be so easy for you. So we were all obsessed with this video game.
Speaker 1:Oh, I know where you're going with this one. I almost put it on my list, that's great.
Speaker 2:And I'm like I have to. I wasn't going to originally include this, but then, as I was going through reviewing them, I was like this has to make the list. I mean, because of what we did, it has to, it has to. And so that, of course, the waka, waka, waka, waka, waka, waka waka. And we were obsessed with this game. We would stand around that machine for hours taking turns playing, yeah, and the game we are talking about is Pac-Man, yeah, pac-man. And so there was a song that came out in 1982. It was called Pac-Man. And so there was a song that came out in 1982. It was called Pac-Man Fever, buckner and Garcia I wouldn't have known who did this song. I vaguely even remember the song. That's a good song, but I remember being obsessed. I remember spending hours playing that game and, of course, later, when arcade games became television games and in home games you know, pac-man was one of them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, one of them yeah, it sucked.
Speaker 2:Compared to the arcade, it did suck especially, especially the atari version of it the atari version was nothing like the coin-op version, for sure, um.
Speaker 1:But you know, buckner and garcia were actually a duo that used to write jingles. They wrote, they wrote jingles for commercials and um, I don't know what inspired them, but uh, yeah, they wrote um. They wrote pac-man fever and um, that was a big song. It was a uh, I don't know if you have chart position on your list there, but I think it was a top 10 song, number nine. There you go.
Speaker 2:In fact, everything on my list is top 10.
Speaker 1:So okay.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Well.
Speaker 2:I have the handwritten ones, yeah, so I don't get six. I don't know how long we're going to be talking about. Well, so so then the interesting thing about that and I didn't know this either, but when I was looking up the facts about the song was that it basically was so popular that it ended up resulting in them producing an album based on a bunch of different video games. Yeah so Donkey Kong. I think there was an asteroid song or something too. I don't remember if there was an asteroid one.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I do remember it was eight or ten tracks. I think it was like ten tracks and they were all about video games. I do remember that. I remember seeing the album cover. Never owned it, so it is the first video game-themed album ever released Probably the only one.
Speaker 2:No, there are a number of other albums that have been released where different artists what's her name? Sterling the violinist, I'm not going to remember her name, but she released video game-based albums where she's doing Link and stuff like that from Zelda. Okay, yeah, I mean those songs pop up, but those are obviously very niche. But uh, but that's my uh number two pick oh, all right, cool, yeah, you know.
Speaker 1:Just see, this is what's fun about this stuff. We get into some minutiae here and we, uh, we get your wheels turning. Oh, I remember that what I didn't. I never heard of that one before and we make you think a little bit. All right, so I'm going to back up a year, to 1979, just because this particular song is so iconic and they were considered a one hit wonder. But they really aren't. And that's the Knack. And my Sharona Okay, yeah, and my Sharona is a huge song, huge song, I mean number one, number one on the Billboard chart, big song on the rock charts, all that stuff.
Speaker 1:But the follow-up single was Good Girls Don't, off the same album, their debut album, and that one reached number 11. I don't even remember. I do remember the song. I don't remember it being that high. And then their follow-up album was Baby Talks Dirty and I think the single off of that no, I'm sorry, the album was called, but the Little Girl Understands, and the single was called Baby Talks Dirty and it reached number 30. So they had three top 40 songs. Of course, one of significance and yeah, that's why I wanted to bring it up, just because people just consider them a one-hit wonder, and by the rules then they really aren't.
Speaker 2:They're his rules. They're his rules, all right.
Speaker 1:Moving on.
Speaker 2:All right. So this one's another iconic song, 1982. And the thing about this song is that I think I'm pretty sure it has some strings in it and some other things and it's basically probably included in all the 80s you know, top top lists, so top 100, top 50, top 10, at least by some people it's all about what people say Known for its underground, catchy chorus and folk-inspired sound. Before we were REM and those guys were doing this kind of stuff, these guys did it first, more or less.
Speaker 2:I knew it's where you were going with that, yeah great song, I mean it is it's just, it's very, it's very catchy and you know, I have them on my list as well.
Speaker 1:And the thing about Dexys Midnight Runners is there's honestly there's like past and present members because they still do things you know kind of currently certainly not in the united states there's like been like 70 members in that band, yeah, and they only they formed in 78 and they only released three albums. Uh, I think they released one prior to the big album in 1983 and then they released one after that and they were pretty much pretty much done by 1986 as far as a band. And then, of course, you know, bands reunite, they reform, guys quit, guys come in, you know that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2:So yeah, like yeah, it's a they still wear dungarees when they perform.
Speaker 1:I I don't know, I don't know, with only one strap on them. You know, buckled and no shoes. Oh yeah, yeah, that's it. If you listen to the, it's not the chorus, but basically it's about a guy begging a girl to take her clothes off. You know come on eileen yeah, you know um okay yeah, no, he is, I guess I never really thought about it. Well, and when you're a teenager you know it's like uh, aren't all the songs about taking?
Speaker 2:your clothes off yeah, yeah, unless. Yeah, unless it's Rush, then it's science fiction, that's true.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, it is Science fiction or about cars or something like that. You know, or you know fictional characters. You know by what's his face Golly, I'm losing my mind here but you know fictional characters like Tom Sawyer. I should say oh, yeah. But yeah, it's like the list is incredibly long on the past members of Dexys midnight runners, but but you're right that was.
Speaker 2:It wasn't on my list as how many people had.
Speaker 1:That was a that was, and now that was a great song, but I don't know. For whatever reason that was it for them One and done.
Speaker 2:I've never gone back and listened to any of their other music, but one of the things that I had started doing three or four years ago was listening to various different releases from groups that I really enjoyed the the pop sound from, and then going and listening to all their other songs that hadn't become hits, and I discovered that there were many of these songs I really liked a lot, and, and so you know, there's one that it's not on my list and I it's probably not on yours either, and and but I, but I was in when we were talking about doing this, this topic, it it was top of mind, though, and that's planet P.
Speaker 1:No, not on my planet P. And the album. I'm trying to remember the album, the one album that was released in 83, but the single on it was why Me? Now, the reason why I bring it up is because the creator, the founder, of Planet P's name is Tony Carey. Tony Carey was in the band Rainbow with Richie Blackmore and Ronnie James Dio, and he was the keyboard player. He did one album and I think he did one tour, two tours, and then he kind of went out on his own, formed Planet P, known for some interesting music and interesting direction, but in 1984, he released a few albums under Planet P, released a few albums under his own name, but he did have another top 40 hit under his own name in 84 called A Fine Day.
Speaker 1:It's a really really, really, really good song. I think it, it, it, I think it topped out at around number 23, 24, something like that, but really really good song. But anyway, okay, we're getting off topic a little bit. So so, um, you're up, I am up, huh, this song, I absolutely love it. It crushes and it, it. It's got to be on everybody's top songs of the 80s. It has to be and it's got to be way up there on this on the on that list and it's from 1980 and it's from Gary Newman cars. It's such a good sign.
Speaker 1:Talking about sin, you know Gary was a huge into the synth world. He really dived into it. I heard him say at one time that he went into the studio with his band and they were getting ready to record something and in the studio was like this synthesizer, he starts playing around with it and he's so fascinated with it he's like scrap everything, this is what we're doing. He goes in with one thing and comes out with something else. You know so. But but yeah, gary was especially in the early, early days. He was real heavy into the synth and synth rock, synth pop and. But that's such a that's such a good song. Do you know where that charted? It topped out at number nine. Nine, yeah, topped, a good song. What?
Speaker 2:do you know where that uh charted it topped out at number nine, nine, yeah, topped out at number nine, yeah, because I I remember considering that one, I thought, yeah, it was, it's a good song, but it wasn't one of my favorites I love it, I just love it, so, so good all right, all right.
Speaker 2:So, um, my next pick uh, this one topped out at number two, ooh and had a was basically, it was became a protest song, or it was a protest song. It was written about the war and the oppression that was going on in Germany, and so, if that doesn't tell you what this is, it was also one of the reasons for the title of the song had to do with signaling that would go on for NATO, and that was part of the history of the song was they would do balloon releases that would signal the.
Speaker 2:NATO allies or forces. That would signal the NATO allies or forces, and so that song, of course, was by Nina and it is 99 Left Balloons. Yeah, and that was a pretty iconic song. It was very different than most anything else that had come out. Anything else that had come out and, I think, because it had that um, had some political um backing in terms of a message that it was. It was uh, uh, delivering, uh, you know the fact that it was catchy and yeah, um, that was also something that was important. But yeah, that was, uh, that's on my list. And 99 Red Balloons was the English version, left Balloons was, of course, the German version.
Speaker 1:But it was the same song, different language, but the German version charted higher than the English version In America.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was a bigger song, um, why, I don't know, but it was bigger than the, um, than the English version. And I, when it first was when it first hit, hit the shores in America, we only knew the German version. But then, shortly after the, the, uh, the English translated version was released and, depending on which top 40 station you were listening to, or what jock was, was, you know, spinning the vinyl at the time Um, you know you would hear one or the other and um, so it was a little bit different. But yeah, the German version was more popular. And so it was a little bit different, but yeah, the German version was more popular. I don't know, maybe it just sounded, I don't know, it sounded different.
Speaker 2:Well, German is a very distinct language, oh yeah, it's one of those languages where if you hear people speaking to one another in German it's you almost think they might be arguing when they're talking to each other sort of like Chinese I was going to say like Korean and Chinese and stuff. Some of the Asian languages sound that way. When people are speaking to one another.
Speaker 1:Yeah, definitely not the language of love or a romantic language. It doesn't sound romantic when you hear it being spoken.
Speaker 2:I didn't know that. German felines must have thought something was romantic about what their men were saying.
Speaker 1:I'm not saying you can't be romantic. I'm saying it doesn't sound romantic. You know, when you're speaking Spanish, or you're speaking Italian or French, those come off a lot. You know, I don't know a lot better.
Speaker 2:Yeah well, I don't know enough German to be able to do it in my sexy.
Speaker 1:Sprechen.
Speaker 2:Sie Deutsch my A lot better. Yeah, well, I don't know enough German to be able to do it in my sexy. Sprechen Sie Deutsch.
Speaker 1:This is my really sexy deep Matthew voice Right?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm sure any language could sound that way, if you just slow it down, enough Okay. You'd say it with a lot of heart.
Speaker 1:Sure, okay, okay. Well, some of you may not have, may not recognize this artist. I hope you're still with us, danny, because I see that I I see that we still have some viewers out there, but we have not any comments and please, everybody out there, feel free to drop your one hit wonder in the comments. We'll bring it up if it's on our list.
Speaker 1:We'll talk about what we have. If it's not, we'll talk about it anyway. Um, but the next one I'm going to bring up, I I think a lot of people or won't be familiar, but I had to put it on the list because it's just such a, just such a cool song and it's tired of toeing the line from rocky burnett. Never heard of it. Yeah, you have. If I played it for you, I'm sure I've heard it.
Speaker 2:But the title and the and the artist, I'm not familiar with.
Speaker 1:He kind of, uh, he, his, his dad was. His dad was john burnett, who was a rockabilly artist in the 50s. And um, it's, I don't know. It just has kind of that sound when it gets to the chorus, baby I it's out of toe in the line. Don't know why. You want to jump on me, baby, baby, baby, you're making me cry. Yeah, it kind of has that wail at the end of each line. So, good stuff, all right, I see you there. Yeah, it reached number eight on the Billboard Top 40. That's where it topped out. What year was it? No, it was 1980. And it was like summer of 80. Okay, yeah, and um, just one of those songs that always grabbed me, even way back when and, uh, you know, rocky wasn't known for anything else really after that, but he had six more albums that followed, so he was playing to the rockabilly crowd. He might have been just one of those things.
Speaker 2:But, yeah, good stuff there, all right, so you're up okay, so um, this one essentially was really boosted by the popularity of the film that came out. It is, uh, another iconic of of 80s song. I mean most people are going to immediately going to like oh yeah, of course.
Speaker 2:I know that one yeah, it was very influential in terms of its style and it won a Grammy Award. I'm sorry it was nominated for a Grammy Award and its music video was very influential because it was a 1985 song, so this would have been after I got out of the service. Oh yeah, no, we, we were already roommates so and it charted at number one.
Speaker 1:Wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute, let me. I'm not going to guess, but let me see if I get it in my head. You said, oh, okay, I got it. Yeah, okay, I got it. Go ahead, go ahead.
Speaker 2:Simple minds.
Speaker 1:No, yes, yeah, simple minds. Simple minds. Don't forget about me, but it was. It wasn't. Well, I have to check the charts. It was their first on the top 40, their first on the top 40, but they released their. They released an album shortly after that. I have a great album, great album. It's got. It's got Alive and Kickin' on it. In fact I think that's the album title Alive and Kickin' Gosh. Now I'm losing my mind here as far as the songs on the album, but that's a good song and I'll bet you didn't know that particular song that wasn't written by Simple Minds.
Speaker 2:It was written by. I know I have it written down here.
Speaker 1:Oh, you do yeah.
Speaker 2:Keith Forsey and Steve Schiff, Now Keith.
Speaker 1:Forsey wrote all kinds of stuff and and a lot of it was in movies, um, but that song was originally um um the the, the writers of the song, originally approached billy idol to perform that song. I.
Speaker 2:I could have, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:And it's not Billy doing that when you. Yeah, Because when you listen to when you, when you listen to the simple minds version of it and you hear, um God, I'm losing it here, Maybe because it's in the morning, Maybe if we were doing Friday night live, when we have the Lord, he calls it breakfast Party.
Speaker 2:Night Live, when we have.
Speaker 1:Malort, he calls it breakfast. I know, see, I have no fuel in me and that's why I can't think it's not servicing my brain here. I've got those beans in here somewhere.
Speaker 2:Go ahead and have a go.
Speaker 1:Those ugly beans are over there. Jim Carre Jim Carre, the lead singer of Simple Minds. When you hear his voice and then you think about what Billy Idol was doing back then or what he does period. You hear songs like Catch my Fall or Flesh for Fantasy and you're going oh yeah, I could actually hear Billy doing that song, you know but, yeah, he was approached with it, but he turned it down. He didn't want to do it. That's interesting, huh.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Stuff I don't know, but see, that's what's cool. Everything I don't know is interesting.
Speaker 1:So and everything he doesn't know I know, and everything I don't know he knows.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and if you believe that, then I a some oceanfront property in arizona, um so yeah that, that is a, really that, and you're right, that's iconic song oh, very iconic, the breakfast club, of course, being the film that it was in iconic movie?
Speaker 1:yeah, we were. We were just talking about that before we hit. Go on this breakfast club show that would be cool to do a, to do a show, yeah, just on the breakfast club and and really dive into it. Oh, dude, I love that film because for most of the audience here we're all kind of in that same age range and, um, well, it's an iconic film too.
Speaker 2:It's going to continue to be an iconic film. It's going to inform people in the future about what life was like in the 80s. Yeah, and the thing that I really love about them and we're getting way off topic, but you know, movies is my thing- yeah, it's true is that it? It wasn't set in los angeles or chicago or anything. It was set in a suburb somewhere. I'm not even sure it was outside of chicago.
Speaker 2:It was a suburb of chicago, but it wasn't, you know, it wasn't a main city. There's all these films about inner city schools and all the fabulous things that have happened there, but you know Midwest schools and there you know there are other films in that same genre that are, you know, three o'clock highs. When I think about it, it's so good.
Speaker 1:That's so good.
Speaker 2:You know, and even Fast Times at Ridgemont High you know, Another iconic movie, yeah so, even fast times at ridgemont high, you know. Another iconic movie, yeah so, but uh, yeah, this the, the characterizations and the um. Well, in fact, they just did a documentary on it. I remember what platform was on, was it you're?
Speaker 1:talking about the andrew mccarthy yeah, the andrew mccarthy did he, yeah, he did, he did well it, I mean it. Obviously it was more on the, the brat pack, the brat pack, but yeah, of course it covered saint, almost fire, the Breakfast Club and so on and so on. You know those movies that Sixteen Candles and Pretty in Pink, and the movies All those young actors were either acting in together as a big group or just some of them or whatever, but yeah, that was a, that was a pretty good documentary. I talked to Andrew McCarthy, see if you can get one, but yeah, yeah, good, we, we should, we should, we should kick that one around and and see if we can come up with something for yeah, we'll talk about it some more.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah yeah, definitely, but definitely an iconic song for an iconic movie, most definitely. So this next one is so near and dear to me. Okay, wait, wait, wait, what'd you say? Let's see. Yes, that one. Ah, yeah, okay, you agree. Thank you for agreeing on the Breakfast Club. I don't know how he can read that.
Speaker 2:I'm wearing my glasses and I can't read that.
Speaker 1:It's because I have to lean in and squint. But the next one is near and dear to my heart. It's such a great song Not that any of these other ones aren't, but 1980, larry Graham, a one in a million you.
Speaker 2:It's such a beautiful song, sounds so familiar, but I can't think of it.
Speaker 1:Larry Graham was known. He had his own solo career as well, but Larry Graham was primarily known as the bassist in Sly and the Family Stone and the architect also of the slap technique, the slap bass technique, which is where you slap the string and then you pluck it as you go away and it gives it a completely different tone and sound to it. And he was the basic, like I said, the architect of that technique. And there's not many that play, that will play slap bass. The one that I think of the most that does is Randy Jackson, who was in journey for for a short period of time. That's right, but but this song and it just it always hit me, even in 1980, when I'm 15 years old and the song comes out. But it really resonated with me when I met Catherine as well, because now I'm actually listening to the lyrics and paying more attention to it.
Speaker 1:But Larry, such a great vocal performance and the chorus is A one in a million chance of a lifetime Is that ringing a bell? It sounds like it's familiar. You know, one of a lifetime Is that ringing a bell? It sounds like it.
Speaker 2:It sounds familiar. You know, one of these days, if he had a distinctive voice, I'm sure I would have liked it.
Speaker 1:So deep, yeah, and so much vocal control in certain areas on the song. It's just, oh, it's dynamite, oh my gosh. And not to get crass, but a panty dropper, okay, I'm sorry, all right.
Speaker 2:Ben, I didn't know you wore panties.
Speaker 1:I don't, I wore thongs, okay, but such a great song.
Speaker 2:Oh, such a great song. All right, so, and this is the last of my printed list, ah, okay, and this is my absolute number one pick. No, I thought the first one was your number one. No, no, that was my first one.
Speaker 1:Oh.
Speaker 2:But this also charted at number one. I know which one this one is yeah. I mean, it's a super iconic video, groundbreaking yeah, it was groundbreaking.
Speaker 1:And I do I have who did it.
Speaker 2:I don't remember if I wrote down who did the video?
Speaker 2:uh, but it was a pioneer using animation. It received numerous awards, including a grammy nomination, um, but the interesting thing was and I didn't know this is that it, when it was originally released in 1984, it didn't succeed, wow, and so they revamped it. Yeah, we released it in 85 and then it became a major hit and, of course, largely uh, attributing that to the fact that mtv, the visual release, released the video and the video and if you know and it featured the mirror with the animation and live action, and, of course, if you don't know what it is by now, if you're in that age bracket or group, it is, uh, by aha 1985. Take on me, yeah, and I I just have fond memories of that song. I remember us all when we'd on, we'd all flock just to watch the video when we lived over in Hacienda Heights.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And that would have been you. I, jav and Lucy.
Speaker 1:Yep and everybody else who congregated at the house.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was just a great. It was a great song and continues to be a great song. One of the things yeah, one of the things about most of the songs on my list, with the exception of the pac-man, is, um, the vocals are all high. I tend to really appreciate highs more than bass. That's one. Probably one of the reasons I'm not a big fan of like rap and stuff is because it's such a heavy, heavy bass line to it. Um, but and why I really like journey? Yeah, and getty lee.
Speaker 2:You know getty lee's voice yeah, it's just ranging voice um, so that, uh, you know one of my, like I said, all-time favorite songs. I just you know, you could you think about the video and that animation and it was just like, wow, this is so cool and yeah, well, I mean, I mean the video is, you know, to what you were saying.
Speaker 1:The video is probably really really set that song in motion, and MTV had a knack of doing that. I mean, MTV was like like appointment television, you know. You would say oh, oh, yeah, we got to get home and watch this. They're gonna have a video premiere, or and they didn't have all these reality shows on mtv back then yeah, they had news, and they even had news news who were covering stuff that we were interested in.
Speaker 2:Right, it wasn't our, our parents, you know evening news and that kind of stuff, not that we weren't interested in that, but it was music news. It was music news but also other popular news and cultural news that was impacting people of our age. Well, what are we Gen Xers right? Something like that.
Speaker 1:Well, I'm on the cusp though. Yeah, well, we both are. We used to actually be considered boomers and then they changed it. I'm definitely a boomer. They changed it like I don't know. 15, 20 years ago they changed it and now we're not anymore. I don't know, but you know it was, I think what they had done with that, because anybody who's familiar with that video and I think what they had done with that because anybody who's familiar with that video it's you can see the live action, and then you see what's what's sketch animation, and they took the cells and they physically sketched it out like pencil drawing on onto the cells, and it was wild. Yeah, it was wild, groundbreaking. I mean stuff like that you could. I mean I could probably do it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean like 10 wild. Yeah, it was wild, groundbreaking. I mean stuff like that you could. I mean I could probably do it at home, yeah.
Speaker 1:I mean like 10 minutes yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I could probably just there's a filter that you just add and you can do something like that. Nowadays it's just amazing, but yeah but we're talking 1985.
Speaker 1:Everything was physically cut and paste on you know photos and stuff. But yeah, and a great song, and I do, I love that song. And you know, we'll go out to the club, we'll go out to Club 80s from time to time and just go shake our tail feathers a little bit because it's so much fun to dance to all that music. And when that song comes on, everybody on the dance floor you just got to get up there.
Speaker 2:That's the great thing too about that is everybody knows the song and it, it, uh, it just community is bred out of that familiarity and it breaches gaps and um that's what music does, yeah it's a, it's a wonderful gift that we've received from god. Absolutely yeah, absolutely no, some people abuse that, but we won't talk about that. It's true, we'll stick to the one hit wonders, okay although yeah, I mean, uh, I mean, I have a whole nother oh, yeah, no, we'll hit them.
Speaker 1:And yeah, we'll hit them, but we'll try to do go a little bit quicker so we don't keep people from Well, I don't have any facts on any of these. Oh, but I probably do. They're locked in your brain.
Speaker 2:Exactly when you originally came to me with this idea and I was like, oh, I totally love that, because there is a two-tone film by Tom Hanks Productions Company that deals with this topic and it's one of those films where if I'm flipping channels and this was on I would stop and watch it, because I just love this film and it stars Steve Zahn and I can never remember the name of the lead character in it.
Speaker 1:But Liv Tyler's in it. Liv Tyler's in it, and so is Charlize Theron. She's in it as well.
Speaker 2:And it's a real. Oh, that's right, she has that really small role. Yeah, yeah, yeah, where she's a vacuous blonde in that movie. She's a bombshell yeah she's a bombshell but she brain but, and of course the movie that I'm talking about is that that thing you do, yeah, and of course we have to mention that as a one hit wonder, because that's what the whole film is about, and of course it's actually set in the fifties, I believe.
Speaker 1:I think it was late fifties, early sixties, right in that time yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so there's a lot of spoofing of like Frankie and Annette and the Beatles and things like that. I love that film. It just gives me good feelings. It's a good family film too.
Speaker 1:The song itself is really good and catchy too. Yeah, it is, it's so good. It's funny. We're talking about one hit Wonders. The band was called the wonders. Yeah, with an o, with an. Yeah, it didn't start with the w, just started with. They dropped the w and it was the wonders and wasn't it, wasn't it? Uh, tom hanks who said so. What's the name of your band? Is it the oneeters, or something like that?
Speaker 2:yeah, there somebody said that he goes. Yeah, that was because it was confusing everybody, because they were pronouncing it, the Oneiders yeah. And there's a. There's a line where Steve Zahn says oh, like he goes, so we're going to be the wonders now, Like I wonder whatever happened to the Oneiders? Yeah, and Steve Zahn, I always like Steve Zahn. He's a great character actor. He's not, he's not known for a lot of stuff, but that's one of my favorite roles Everett I can't remember the name of the lead character.
Speaker 1:He's the drummer. I know he's done a little bit. He hasn't done a ton. He's done a little bit, but he's always good in what he does too.
Speaker 2:I don't remember his name off the top of my head. I like those actors.
Speaker 1:I like those actors.
Speaker 2:I like those actors that are good at what they do, yeah. So that's my side. They're sort of my film crossover. It's all good.
Speaker 1:It's all good, it's all good. So the next one I want to bring up is by Jim Steinman. Most of you might be thinking well, who's Jim Steinman? Okay? Well, everybody's heard of meatloaf, right, everybody knows. And I don't mean, I don't mean my comfort food, okay, I don't mean my comfort food dish, I'm talking about meatloaf.
Speaker 1:The artist, jim Steinman, wrote all of meatloaf stuff for primarily his entire career. There was a period of time where they were at odds with one another and meatloaf with one another and Meatloaf. You know they went their separate ways. But Jim Steinman had one hit song in 1981, and it's called Rock and Roll Dreams Come Through and it's a really cool song. And if you know anything about Meatloaf then you know that a lot of the songs are very theatrical. They are, I don't want to say operatic. They have ebbs and flows like a stage production would have, like a play, and that's how Jim Steinman writes. That's how he writes his songs. And I'm going to point something else out to you in a minute. But the song only topped out at number 32 on the top 40, but it's a really good. It's like a six minute song but it's really really good. The arrangement on it is great. The vocal performances from the background vocalists as well are just so good and it's just a neat catchy song. I think it's catchy.
Speaker 1:But getting back to Jim Steinman as the songwriter and not the performer, think of these big hits. Well, actually, let me say this first, that Meatloaf actually did his own version of Rock and Roll Dreams come through as well On his 1994 album Bad Out of Hell 2, back Into Hell, and that version charted at number 13. So probably just because of the name behind the song got him a higher chart position and that album was tremendous anyway and that sold. I mean, bad Outta Hell is one of those biggest selling albums of all time. And Bad Outta Hell 2 was also just like that and it was a great album as well, great album.
Speaker 1:But going back to Jim Steinman, okay, here's some great songs, big songs, huge songs from Jim Steinman. I'll start with this one, probably the least out of the three Barry Manilow, read Em and Weep. And I'm right, there's so many more from Jim Steinman, but there's a reason why I'm going to bring these three up. So Barry Manilow, read Em and Weep oh, by the way, all three of these songs, 1983 too Air Supply, making Love Outta Nothin' At All and Bonnie Tyler, totally Clips of the Heart, huge songs, especially the first two. If you listen to those people go and listen to Making Love Out of Nothing at All Totally Clips of the Heart, and Barry Manilow's read them and weep. It's the same song. It's the same song, it's got the same, it's got the same time signatures in it and everything else. And then you'll start to understand what I'm talking about when I say he writes these songs that are, that are, they're like plays, you know, and they kind of do this and that up and down. And you'll kind of understand what I'm saying.
Speaker 2:I mean, I know Total Eclipse of the Heart. And what was the other one? Making Love Out of Nothing at All, of course, yeah.
Speaker 1:I mean, those are epic songs and those really are the same song, but you AB on those. You could sing the chorus on either song with the other one. Just really, really interesting stuff. So I just want to try to throw that little fun fact out there. Anyway, how much more of this you?
Speaker 2:want to do? Just throw somebody out there, we'll talk all right so I the first time I remember hearing this song, I was in the barracks in san diego and somebody had it blasting on a boom box. And so if you know anything about barracks, um, in san diego especially, they were basically linoleum floors, big old giant rectangular, open spaced, and then you had a bunch of metal lockers down each side. So just you know, somebody was cranking music, it just echoed bouncing, bouncing off of everything.
Speaker 2:So this song, I remember hearing it going like I really like the hook in the song and that's by Modern English. I'll melt with you.
Speaker 1:Oh, we talked you and.
Speaker 2:I talked about this one when you originally brought this up. Yeah, we talked about this I remember mentioning going like I'm pretty sure this is a one-hit wonder. I don't have any of the details on this.
Speaker 1:Well, this is what's interesting about that song, about Modern English, and I'll Melt With you. The song never even charted in the top 40. Never. I think it was released on two different occasions no-transcript. I think the first time it might've charted at 79. And then, but what's so weird is that that song is so iconic and it's such a huge song. You go into any eighties club or it was in more than one eighties movie. You know, probably John, there was probably John Hughes movies, and not only that, the song was a part of a Taco Bell ad campaign for like their cheesy melt, something like that. You know, like 15 years ago, 20 years ago. So the song's huge but it had no traction as far as the Billboard chart is concerned, and so it's just, it's weird. But you start singing the song or plays on the radio or you put it on whatever, and everybody knows it. Everyone knows that song. I just found that really interesting, that I just thought it would be so much bigger as far as a chart position.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean I wouldn't have known. Yeah, Again, I, you know I spent the six that I covered. I did some more research on it yeah you know, for me the music is just about listening and and uh, singing along, and that's what I do still. I mean, I'm when I'm in the car, I'm singing. Yeah, especially when I'm alone, and even when danielle is with me, I'm singing oh yeah, no, I irritate katherine.
Speaker 1:so why you gotta sing everything? Everything is there. Sometimes you just can't stop and just listen. You gotta sing all the songs with me. I'm singing, I irritate Catherine. Why do you have to sing everything? Sometimes you just can't stop and listen. You have to sing all the songs. I hate it because you know all the words to all the songs. Let me bring this one up, because there's a misnomer on this one. This artist is not a one hit wonder, but they're called a one hit wonder, and that's Tommy Two Tone.
Speaker 2:Tommy Two Tone Eight six, seven, five, three, oh nine.
Speaker 1:Eight, six, seven, five, three, oh nine, yeah, so obviously that's their big song, released in 1982 off of their second album, the Tommy Two-Tone 2. And what a great song. It's just a great song and it's an iconic song. But previous, in 1981, on their debut album. But previous, in 1981, on their debut album, they had a song that charted at 38 called Angel Say no, and that is a really good song. It's a really good song. Their first, actually both of those albums those first two albums are really good. They released one more album after Tommy Two-Tone 2, and then they were done.
Speaker 1:Now the band has gotten back together a time or two over the last 40 years and done some stuff. Tommy Heath, the lead singer in Tommy Two-Tone, actually still does shows. He became like a computer programmer you so I really smart guy and and so, um, I think he's living in oregon now, but he'll do shows from time to time, especially if there are some 80s theme shows. Um, and, as a matter of fact, they have released material recently. It's not the original band tommy heath is the only member of the original lineup but I think they released an album in 2017 or something like that. And then I read something recently that they're looking to release an album by the end of this year. I should check that out. Check out the new Tommy Two tuto material. You know see what it's all about.
Speaker 2:so yep so what else we got here? Throw it out there. Let's see what we come up with. Oh, let's see. You know what this I? I really like this band. In fact, I like most of what they did um, but they didn't have a lot of, uh, big hits, and that's a flock of seagulls. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Another one considered a one hit wonder, but they're really not. They have not. Not that they had this whole long list of of of top 40 songs, but they had the big one. I ran, I think it topped out at like number four, number three, number four on the on the top 40, um, but then they had space age love song and they had um. There was one more um. Oh gosh, it's kind of. I'm singing it in my head right now uh, wishing, I think is the title of it. I think is the title of it. I think is the title of the song.
Speaker 2:Are fact checkers out there?
Speaker 1:No, I don't know if we have any fact checkers, but you can check me on that, but I think it's Wishing. So they actually did have a couple, but they were more minor hits and that's what gets confusing about this is people just know an artist for this huge song.
Speaker 2:I am?
Speaker 1:I'm getting busted from my wife here. She's saying let Matt talk, he is talking.
Speaker 2:I thought I was talking quite a lot.
Speaker 1:I did too. So yeah, but but yeah, they had a real unique sound and um um, there was the song that I ran was released on.
Speaker 2:There was another song on there that I really liked, and it was I'm not going to remember the names. It's either Mommy, mommy or I've Been Having Nightmares, something like that. Yeah, that's part of the chorus, mommy, mommy, I've Been, and I was like that yeah, so that's part of the chorus. You know, mommy, mommy, and I was like this is just, these are just cool, these are just cool. There, he is Right, yeah, and I just the the whole. In fact, I have it on a playlist at home. I'll listen to it sometimes when I'm reading. I like to listen to the to the 80s stuff, and you know it so well. It doesn't interfere with what you're reading.
Speaker 1:It always interferes with what I'm doing. I need dead silence.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I don't, because I'm ADD, so I need something usually.
Speaker 1:I am ADD, so that's why I need the dead silence, so I can focus.
Speaker 2:That's a good one. Which other one you got there?
Speaker 1:I got Tony Basil, mickey, tony Basil, yeah.
Speaker 2:She almost made my list.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I got Tony Basil and Mickey One hit. That's it. Hey, Mickey, this is funny. He was old in 1982 when that song was released for music artist, breaking the chart. In 1982, when that song was released for for music artists and breaking the chart.
Speaker 2:And wasn't she known for choreography?
Speaker 1:She was a dancer and a choreographer and all that good stuff, and that's where she you know, that's you know where her career really was.
Speaker 2:I want to say she was affiliated with Paula Abdul, but I'm not if I'm right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I don't think so. I I maybe, because Paula Abdul was a choreographer as well, maybe that's why Maybe that's what I'm thinking.
Speaker 1:But she had the one song Mickey and good song Could be an earworm at times, oh for sure. But, like I said, she was old at that. She's like 80 years old right now. It's hard to think about the oh my gosh, she had this pop song, you know, mickey, oh Mickey, and she's dressed like a cheerleader and all that kind of stuff, dancing around with the cheerleaders as well, and she's you think about it now and she's 80 years old. So yeah, just I thought that was kind of cool. Um, I wanted to include that one. There's, there's, there's, you know what. Let me look at something here. I got three more, I got more, but I want to just cover three more myself off of my list and we'll let everybody go.
Speaker 2:But go ahead Just because I mean. I mean I can name any of these, I mean they're all they're all great songs, but you know, this one has a really haunting quality about it. And it is. It's just when you think about syncopation. You can definitely see the syncopation in this song, and that's by Till, tuesday and Voices. It's a beautiful song. That's's by Till.
Speaker 1:Tuesday and Voices.
Speaker 2:It's a beautiful song. I love that song. That's a great song Amy man.
Speaker 1:Is she still out there doing stuff? Not as Till Tuesday, just as a solo artist?
Speaker 2:Yeah, she still does stuff and great voice and yeah, just one of those songs that just like oh yeah, I love this song, great song.
Speaker 1:Crank it up, great song. But but yeah, again, really nothing happened, of course, outside of a radio station that was more in that format of a new wave. Um, you know, uh, uh genre. You weren't going to hear anything else. Nothing else broke on top 40 for till tuesday. Um, but yeah, that's a great song.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love that song, that is a great song and it's got every song on my every song on my list I love, so it's got a cool bass line to it I like, and she, and she was the bass player in the band. Um, all right who's saying?
Speaker 2:who's saying self-control?
Speaker 1:oh, that was laura branigan that was a great song yeah, it's not on my list.
Speaker 2:Is that no?
Speaker 1:no, she no, laura yeah laura had some, some, some big hits, gloria being the biggest oh glory, that's right, yeah yeah, she did a cover of a michael bolton song. How am I supposed to live without you?
Speaker 2:yeah, well, I know I have at least five or six different versions, mixes of Self Control, really, yeah, I just love that song and every time I'd find another version I'd add it to my list.
Speaker 1:Wow, I had no idea there were that many. You take myself. You take my self control. This one's cool. All right, go go. This one's cool Aldo Nova fantasy. Everyone knows my love for Aldo Nova. I'm going to see him in October. He's going to be in town. I was going to go to Vegas and see him, where I saw him last year, but then a show popped up here in LA, so I'm going to that one. I'm going to reach out to his people, see if I can get them on the podcast. You should go to both of them. They're like on back-to-back nights, oh yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, I guess you're not that hardcore to fan. I'll be there in the front row.
Speaker 1:I just called him out. But Aldo Nova Fantasy yeah, it's his biggest song. It's the only song that he had that charted on the Billboard Top 40, topped out at number 23 in 1982. I didn't know that yeah Really. Yeah.
Speaker 2:And again, I wonder how much of the video had something to do with that.
Speaker 1:That was an interesting video. Yeah, that that was an interesting video. Yeah, it was in his leopard unitard and and, uh, you know, shooting lasers out of out of his guitar, flying in on a helicopter. Um, it was a good video.
Speaker 1:And and and aldo doesn't get the the recognition that he should get for his, uh, his musicality, his songwriting, his voice. He still sounds pretty darn good today at 67 years old. Um, still sounds really good. But the thing is is he walked away from music after his 1991 release, blood on the Bricks, which is a fabulous album, fabulous album, and he started songwriting. He just started writing for other artists. He won a Grammy for production. He produced Celine Dion's 1996 album oh, I didn't know that he wrote, for he wrote songs for Celine Dion produced her album. He also won a Grammy. He also won a Grammy for, uh, a Latin artist I, I don't know, I think was their name an album they released in like 19 or 2000, 2001, some somewhere around there, yeah, so he did work for other artists, but I don't think the pay was right.
Speaker 1:I don't think he had a great deal with that. But so that's when he got back into songwriting and writing for I shouldn't say songwriting, but writing songs for himself. And he still owes me and all other Aldo Nova fans the second half of his rock opera Life and Times of Eddie Gage. So let's go. You released the first part of it two years ago, aldo. I'm waiting for the back half of it.
Speaker 2:He's going to play it at the concert.
Speaker 1:It's a 10 song. Check this out A 10 song EP out a 10 song ep I've never listened to it, so yeah, it's good stuff it is. It's really really good stuff.
Speaker 2:But anything rock opera, I'd probably go check it out.
Speaker 1:So that's yeah so that that's that one there. Uh, love me some aldonova, throw me another one oh, okay, uh, and I've I mentioned this.
Speaker 2:I know we talked about this before, but John Waite as a solo artist, oh yeah, missing you. Yeah, it was just another. For me that's just a super iconic song. It was one of those ones I could just belt out. I have this deep voice, but I'm told I'm an alto or I used to sing as an alto, and so I would just be singing that song at the top of my lungs when it came out 1985, and I remember that song and Tina Turner had the what's Love Got To Do With it. They were both contemporaries or came out that same year, I believe, and I remember both of those songs were just great songs. But Missing you is just. They were contemporaries or came out that same year, I believe, and I remember both of those songs were just great songs, but Missing you is just, you know, as a guy who had some girlfriends and breakups and things, you know, when you were younger.
Speaker 2:Had, we all Could just totally relate to everything he was saying in that song. Just good stuff, yeah. And he has a good voice and, you know, went on later to perform with the number of different. It was with the babies, but then he also was with bad, bad English, right?
Speaker 1:Yeah, bad English With Jonathan Cain and Neil.
Speaker 2:John, yeah.
Speaker 1:And Dean Castronovo. Yeah, that's right as well. Yeah, but they could have called themselves journey, but they they didn't. John still sings incredibly well. He's out right now doing um he's do. He's doing the foreigner tour. He's the special guest. He's in the opening slot. You've got John Way, Styx and Foreigner.
Speaker 2:That would be a good concert.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that would be a good bill. I think it already came through our market. I think it did. I can't recall, but I didn't check it out. But yeah, that's a great song. That's a great song. Like I said, john still does a great job. A lot of times he writes. I think he's like a tortured soul, you know. And and he, it seems that he writes from that space he's a poet, I think.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, would you think any of the great uh artists that some of the soulful songs that are singing about that kind of angst? You see that with almost a lot of bands right. Yeah, especially Journey. You know, there are several songs that are really you know, when they were struggling through touring nonstop and having families and never seeing them and the lyrics just pour out of them.
Speaker 1:I think Steve Perry, I think Jonathan Cain has the ability to just write a good song. Never seen them and and the lyrics just pour out of them. And I think steve perry, I think I think jonathan cain has the ability to just write a good song. I think steve perry is one of those like tortured souls. I really do because it seems when he on, especially on a lot of stuff that he would write by himself, it seems to come out a little more and it's like wow, man, or I think, if you know anything about his history, that's probably true too because of his life, you know there was, you know, he.
Speaker 2:He had different goals, he had different vision and you know, he asserted himself. Kudos to you, steve. Hey, you know, and you know, every person should do what their heart tells them to do and.
Speaker 2:And and yeah, I think that's true. I think if you probably go back and look at even like songs like love me tender and stuff like that you're looking at, you know some, some part part of that whole, the idea of loving and break up, and I mean this is just a common theme in in pop culture and everybody's lives, because we all experience that you know, yeah, absolutely country western, even right, oh more iconically country, even if you're writing about your dog or your pickup truck absolutely.
Speaker 1:You know, you can still rip someone's guts out um yeah how many more you got.
Speaker 1:I just, you know, let me, let me, just let me, just let me mention this. Okay, no, I have to because this song, this artist, always came to mind. Every time I hear about top, I mean a one hit wonders, and this, this, this artist always comes up. It's a catchy song. Most of you probably won't even remember it, but it's by an artist, a band called haircut 100. And the song is called Love Plus One and it's just so poppy, but it's in that new wave, it's in that vein of new wave, but they only released two albums. They were done. After that, this song, their only top 40 charting song, topped out at number 37. And when I, when I, when I, I, I, I see that, um, I think, wow, the song seems so much bigger to me than than that, and, um, but I love it. It's just a really cool poppy song. Look it up Haircut 100, love Plus One. It's just a cool song.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I totally am like drawing a complete blank on that one. If I play it for you, you'll be like yeah, okay, let me finish. Can I finish? Go ahead? Let's finish with this one here, because this is another really really cool song by an artist that you know they're not around anymore, but after the fire the song is Der Kommissar. You know the song right, don't turn around. Uh-oh, der Kommissar's in town, uh-oh, yep, okay.
Speaker 2:I have an 80s list.
Speaker 1:It's one of those songs it is. It's a great song.
Speaker 2:I always think Berlin did that song, and I'm always wrong. It's DeCometh.
Speaker 1:After the Fire, after the Fire. But the interesting part about that is they didn't write it. Falco wrote it. Remember, rock me on my days, on my days, on my days, you know, okay, which wasn't a hit for Falco until later on, but it was written by Falco and it was performed by Falco, by Falco, I think, in 1981, I believe it was, but nothing happened to it. Decarmen, I mean after the fire, records it and they reached number 10 on the top 40 with it in 1983. So, um, it's just a cool song I like, like it a lot it is.
Speaker 2:Think about it. It's got those unique vocals, that poppy, that little uh-uh.
Speaker 1:What I dig about it is there's a part in the song it's like a chant and I used to tease my brother because it comes out twice, twice in the song. But in the center of the song they're going Cha, cha, cha Cha. And I would tell them they're saying Chuck, chuck, chuck, chuck. And to this day, when that song comes on and I'm singing it, I scream out Chuck. Okay, I do, I scream out Chuck. So yeah, yeah, just good stuff. And look, we could go on for hours talking about wonders yeah, you know, but we didn't even mention debo.
Speaker 1:We didn't. We didn't mention debo, we didn't meant, yeah, there's a lot I'm not even gonna mention because we'll start going down a rabbit hole, right, right. But uh, you know, this was fun, though. See when we first talked about it.
Speaker 2:I only had to get up at the book cracker Don.
Speaker 1:I wanted you up earlier, but whatever, no, no.
Speaker 2:Look, I'm 60 now.
Speaker 1:Okay, this was a long week for me, but when I first talked to you about it and we've been trying to do this now for like two months when I first talked to you about it? And we've been trying to do this now for like two months, you're like, but I don't know.
Speaker 2:What. I could come up with two and I'm like just use the word. I know all these songs. Like I said, they're iconic, they're from our youth and I got into music. Like I said, before I went into Marine Corps, I wasn't into music. Yeah, I was into music. Like I said, before I went into Marine Corps, I wasn't into music yeah.
Speaker 2:I was into video games. We were playing Atari at my house and I mean, it was what I was addicted and attracted to as a young kid. So all the songs I knew were all the stuff my mom and dad listened to.
Speaker 1:Right, you know.
Speaker 2:So Elvis and some different various country songs and stuff that I can't even remember. Or if I were to hear it I'd go like you know, oh yeah, I remember that song. But when I went into the court that was when everything broke for me and there were, because there were just music clubs over there and they had walls of albums. You just go and they have a catalog.
Speaker 1:You pick out what you want to listen to in the japanese. The japanese love music and they love music from the uk and they love american artists, they love that stuff.
Speaker 2:First time I ever sang karaoke was in a japanese bar. Yeah, it was, and it was it. And the karaoke machine was like a little jukebox that sat on the end of the bar Right. It had a microphone you could just pop in your yen and the song. What was the song I sang? Sound of Silence.
Speaker 1:Oh, okay.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and I'm pretty sure I probably crucified that song, probably.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I did. But you know, did you know that I sang in the country western bar overseas? No, yeah, and I used to sing Kenny Rogers, Coward of the County, Big Gambler, and the other song that I used to kill right was Hotel California. Ah, I used to just crush that song. And so I used to hang out with the band and there was a Filipino band that would come in and they would do sets and I remember they asked me to translate the song for them Walking Shoes, by or not Walking Shoes. That was a big song and I can't. Sinatra's Daughter, oh oh, these boots are made for walking. They were like can you?
Speaker 2:we want you to write this because they wanted to perform that song. That was a big song and I can't. Sinatra's daughter, oh oh. These boots are made for walking. They were like can you try. Can we want you to write this? Cause they wanted to perform that song and so we are all hanging backstage. One time and they lived in this little two rooms behind the bar it was crazy, you know, they were slave labor, basically. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2:So we're hanging back there we're doing shots and I'm like yeah, play it again and I'll write down the song for you. Yeah, it was. I mean there were some good memories from that time in my life, because music became something that, once I came back, it was something I was paying attention to.
Speaker 1:That's all we would do is listen to music, and when we had the ability to watch our music on television, we, we, we, watched it it was the best of both worlds right, right and uh, or just cruising in the car, whether we're going to the beach or we're just cruising to cruise. Whatever it was, we always had music, always had a cassette in the stereo. Um had had it cranked with the windows down because I had a 68 mustang and we didn't have air conditioning. So that was our 255 yeah, that was our air that was, that was our air conditioning, but.
Speaker 1:But but the thing was, too is we wanted everyone else to listen to what we were listening to, so we had it cranked up and uh, but but that is, you know, music's just such a. It's just so good. You know it could be so, so, um, I don't know. So soothing, so healing, take you back to a place, uh, where you can just get away from everything. Sometimes it takes you right back to a place of heartbreak too, but you know, it's just yeah, it's just good stuff, it's good stuff.
Speaker 2:And so that's why you know.
Speaker 1:That's why I talk so much about music on this show. Even when the topic is not music, I still have to bring it around to music somehow.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's all part of life.
Speaker 1:Yeah, this was fun, matt. Thanks for doing it. I really do appreciate it. This is some good stuff.
Speaker 2:I want you to succeed, I know if this is on the show once the word gets out then I actually stand a chance. You're going to see there's going to be thousands of views, maybe millions People will be calling you.
Speaker 1:I hope so. I hope so, all right. So listen, we'll call this one. People Just want to say thanks for tuning in, thanks for hanging out with us. As you know, this program is available on all of the streaming platforms. Okay, just whichever one you have. Look it up there it is, go with it. So it's on all the streaming platforms. But if you're hanging out and watching us watching on YouTube Matt and I, here we go, and you're having a good time, you enjoy what you see, you enjoy what you hear Then please subscribe to the channel, give me a thumbs up, leave a comment, all right. Last but not least, follow me on Instagram. Not the just Ben Maynard Program. All one word Ben Maynard Program. So look, we're done, we're out. Thanks for the hang. We'll see you next time, whether we're recording or we're live. Again, we will see you next time and, as always, this is the Ben Maynard Program. Tell a friend K-N-R, he's such a dope.