3 One-Hit Wonders From the 1980s You Didn’t Know Were Written About Real People

Every once in a while, you just have to call someone out in a song. Most of the time, songwriters know how to use metaphors. They take an idea in their life, and then they add layers of fiction to it in order to make the idea less personal. But then there are those occasions when artists go the opposite direction. They take real-life events and blow them up into something more. And that’s what we wanted to highlight below. Indeed, these are three one-hit wonders from the 1980s you didn’t know were written about real people.

“867-5309/Jenny” by Tommy Tutone from ‘Tommy Tutone 2’ (1981)

The list of songs written about relationships is long. And one of the songs on that list is the catchy 1981 offering, “867-5309/Jenny”, by Tommy Tutone. Not only did the track lead to a craze of people prank calling phone numbers and asking for Jenny, but Jenny, according to Tutone, was a real person. In an interview with People after the song came out, he said, “Jenny is a regular girl, not a hooker. Friends of mine wrote her name and number on a men’s room wall at a bar. I called her on a dare, and we dated for a while. I haven’t talked with her since the song became a hit, but I hear she thinks I’m a real jerk for writing it.” Well, okay then! That clears that up!

“We Are The World” by USA For Africa from ‘We Are The World’ (1985)

This 1985 offering is part-entertainment and part-news headlines. Led by Harry Belafonte, Michael Jackson, and Lionel Richie, many of the world’s greatest artists at the time got together one night to record this charity track. Its lyrics highlight people across the globe who were in great need—namely, those in Ethiopia suffering from famine. The result was the eighth-best-selling single of all time. That’s the power of music and the value of telling the truth about what’s happening in the world.

“99 Luftballons” by Nena from ‘Nena’ (1983)

While this German song from the West Berlin-born band Nena is about 99 red balloons, it also isn’t. In another way, it’s very much about the events in the country prior to the fall of the Berlin Wall. The band cites real events and real people who are stuck in the mindless, devastating conflict. Soldiers firing at rubber balloons, the people watching them in horror. Fear is taking hold. While there is no specific subject referenced—no general or world leader—the track is very much rooted in what it was like to live in that moment, with boots on the ground.

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