3 Wang Chung Hits From the 1980s You Should Remember

There are bands whose hits from the 1980s you know, but the name escapes you. Perfect for trivia. Maybe you forgot who sang “Don’t You Want Me”. (That’s The Human League.) Or maybe “Relax”. (That’s Frankie Goes to Hollywood.) However, when it comes to Wang Chung hits, they made sure you remembered the name on their biggest hit. Everybody do what now?

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When John Mulaney opened his Netflix talk show with “To Live And Die In L.A.”, perhaps only Wang Chung diehards knew who recorded it. Both iterations of Mulaney’s excellent show Everybody’s In L.A. and later Everybody’s Live With John Mulaney feature the song as intro music.So, here are three more Wang Chung hits from the 1980s you should also remember.

“We were so in phase.”

“Dance Hall Days” from ‘Points On The Curve’ (1984)

Things were changing for Wang Chung in 1984. The London group changed the spelling of their name from Huang Chung. They moved record labels from Arista to Geffen. Points On The Curve was a commercial breakthrough, and “Dance Hall Days” became a Top 20 hit in America. Wang Chung also picked up a new fan in film director William Friedkin who invited the group to write the soundtrack for his 1985 film To Live And Die In L.A.

“We were cool on craze
When I, you, and everyone we knew
Could believe, do, and share in what was true.”

“Everybody Have Fun Tonight” from ‘Mosaic’ (1986)

Following To Live And Die In L.A., the duo released their highest-charting single “Everybody Have Fun Tonight”. Nick Feldman and Jack Hues co-wrote the song with Peter Wolf. Wolf is also responsible for Starship’s “We Built This City”.

Wang Chung’s signature tune has the band name right there in the hook: “Everybody Wang Chung tonight.” There are some interesting definitions of the verb form of the band’s name in the Urban Dictionary. We’ll keep it clean here, but it’s worth your time to look it up.

“The words we use are strong
They make reality
But now the music’s on
Oh, baby, dance with me, yeah.”

“Wait” from ‘Points On The Curve’ (1984)

This one plays out during the closing credits of To Live And Die In L.A., with the song appearing on back-to-back albums. Wang Chung is best known for its dance-pop hits. But “Wait” echoes the krautrock of Can and Kraftwerk. It also shows the cinematic nature of Wang Chung’s early work. Perfect for a noir film based on a novel by a former U.S. Secret Service Agent.

“Punctuality was never much to me
Being yourself is the main thing
Forget about the time, forget about the time
Being yourself is the main thing.”

Photo by Jim Steinfeldt/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images