It wasn’t easy scoring a hit single in the 80s. The decade stands out as one of the most competitive eras ever when it came to the music vying for position on the charts. In many cases, even songs now identifiable with the decade failed to make too much of an original impact.
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If you’re a fan of the 80s, you probably know these songs by heart. Yet none of them did much damage in the US Top 40.
“What I Like About You” – The Romantics
We’re fudging the parameters a bit with this one. The Romantics released the single version in December 1979, just a month before the turn of the decade. (Their debut album, which contained the song, came out in 1980, so that’s close enough for us.) “What I Like About You” struggled to make much of a dent upon its initial release as the first single from a new band. Still, the power pop surge of the song certainly drew attention to The Romantics. That helped when they broke big a few years later with “Talking In Your Sleep”. As for “What I Like About You”, it gained some more traction when its video made the rounds in the early days of MTV. But it truly reached maximum exposure when it started popping up in commercials, most notably in beer ads.
“Once In A Lifetime” by Talking Heads
Here’s another case of a band releasing an unforgettable track before they had quite gained the clout to get it the attention it deserved. Even for all the critical acclaim they’d received, Talking Heads hadn’t yet reached pop radio much by the time they released Remain In Light, their third album, in 1980. Most of that album featured the band delivering exotic rhythms and songs that wandered freely away from the typical verse-chorus structure. But “Once In A Lifetime” stood out as a gem that should have been a major hit single. Maybe people weren’t ready for David Byrne’s somewhat gloomy pronouncements on the dread of everyday life. That’s the only reason we can think that this amazing track didn’t do better.
“Pretty In Pink” by The Psychedelic Furs
“Pretty In Pink” actually had two chances to go for the pop glory, but came up somewhat empty in both cases, at least in the US. The Psychedelic Furs released it as a single from their second album, Talk Talk, released in 1981. And at that point, the band was still making its way in the crowded UK post-punk scene. Cut to five years later, when it served as the inspiration for the title of John Hughes’ classic film starring Molly Ringwald. Trying to take advantage, the Furs released a gleaming new version of the song. But once again, it failed to make the US Top 40. The popularity of the film helped the song get into the culture, however. These days, it’s arguably the band’s most well-known song.
“I Melt With You” by Modern English
The debut album from Modern English didn’t mess around much with the kinds of pop music that one generally heard on the radio at that time. On their second album, they decided to go a bit more accessible, working with producer Hugh Jones for that purpose. Lead singer Robbie Grey wrote “I Melt With You” in a matter of minutes after hitting upon the idea of depicting a young couple making love in the midst of nuclear annihilation. They managed to hide the darker aspects of the tale behind a veil of unabashed romanticism. Yet “I Melt With You” couldn’t even crack the US Top 75 in 1982. Luckily, an appearance in the popular teen comedy Valley Girl lent the song plenty of ears.
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