One-hit wonder songs through the years have covered everything from lost love to walking 5,000 miles to be with the one. Like much of popular music, most one-hit wonders involve falling in love in some capacity. Some one-hit wonders, though, have lyrical subject matter that might just have you scratching your head. Let’s look at just a few examples of solitary hits that are about pretty weird subjects!
“I’m Too Sexy” by Right Said Fred
English pop outfit Right Said Fred posed a brave, never-before-asked question in 1991: Can one actually be too sexy? The songwriting behind this tune didn’t win any awards, but the theme of being just too sexy, combined with a pretty addictive dance-pop melody, made “I’m Too Sexy” by Right Said Fred a very popular song for use during fashion shows in the 90s. The music video for this song even featured models strutting down the catwalk.
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“She Blinded Me With Science” by Thomas Dolby
This one’s an underrated synth-pop tune from the early 1980s. Thomas Dolby only enjoyed this one massive hit back in the day, but it was honestly a really great one.
“She Blinded Me With Science”, complete with its early 80s weirdness often associated with new wave, is based around the British expression, “to blind someone with science.” That phrase refers to people who deliberately provide very complex, knowledgeable answers to questions with the intention of confusing the question asker. That concept, mixed with a mad scientist in love, forms the theme of Dolby’s hit.
“Turning Japanese” by The Vapors
Well, this power pop tune from 1980 hasn’t aged all that well. But “Turning Japanese” by The Vapors was a pretty big hit back in the day, and it’s the group’s most well-known song. And this particular track is, on the surface, about turning into a Japanese person. But when you dig deeper, this song is more about being an angsty young teenager and turning into a person you didn’t expect to. It happens to all of us.
“Kung Fu Fighting” by Carl Douglas
One-hit wonder songs don’t get much better than this disco hit from Carl Douglas. Released in 1974, “Kung Fu Fighting” is all about the martial art known as kung fu. This song was heavily inspired by both the disco musical movement and the chopsocky film craze that kicked off in the late 1960s. And it’s still a very fun song today.
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