3 One-Hit Wonders That Were Actually Cover Songs

Did you know that many one-hit wonders through the years have actually been cover songs? Some of these covers are so wildly different from the source material that few have clocked the fact that someone else originally wrote them. Let’s take a look at three examples!

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1. “Blue Monday” by Orgy

Industrial rock fans have like heard the 1997 alternative metal track “Blue Monday” by Orgy at some point in their lives. After all, it was a huge hit for the California band. It made it to the Billboard Hot 100 in the US, too. However, unless you’ve got some serious love for post-punk, you may not know that this track was originally a 1980 song by the English rock band New Order.

Unfortunately for Orgy, they never had as big of a hit again. Their song “Stitches” from that year charted on the US alternative charts, but “Blue Monday” was their only hit to make it to the Hot 100. The “death pop” band is still together today.

2. “Time After Time” by INOJ

Everybody knows “Time After Time” by Cyndi Lauper. It’s one of the biggest hits from her 1983 album She’s So Unusual. However, unless you were around in the 1980s to experience Lauper, you may know the song by INOJ’s version from 1998. 

INOJ’s R&B rendition is fire, and it made it all the way to no. 6 on the Hot 100 chart that year. She had another hit in 1997 that did pretty well (Love You Down” made it to no. 25), but “Time After Time” was her only Top 10 hit in the US.

3. “Tainted Love” by Soft Cell

Nothing says “80s” quite like these one-hit wonders’ cover version of “Tainted Love”. That song was a huge hit for the synth-pop duo in 1981. Surprisingly enough, the song’s origins go way back to 1964. Originally, “Tainted Love” was composed by Ed Cobb and recorded first by Northern Soul star Gloria Jones.

Soft Cell’s version topped the charts across the globe, landing at no. 8 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, among others. Sadly, Soft Cell failed to chart in the US again. Though, they did enjoy a few hits in the UK, such as the 1982 songs “Torch” and “What”.

Photo by Fin Costello/Redferns

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