This 1970s One-Hit Wonder Helped Inspire Another One-Hit Wonder in the 1980s (With Some Help From a Soap Opera)

Music is nothing if not cyclical, and that applies even to one-hit wonders, like the one from the 1970s that helped establish another in the 1980s. (Though, to be fair, the ABC soap opera, General Hospital), also played a large role in the latter band’s creative output.) As their one-hit wonder distinction might suggest, neither group achieved great fame. They were household names for a moment in time. But these days, only those who were around when they were more ubiquitous or are fans of niche 20th-century pop are likely to recognize them.

…or fans of the 2004 comedy film, Anchorman, technically. Indeed, the first one-hit wonder from the 1970s is Starland Vocal Band’s 1976 hit, “Afternoon Delight”. The song is a lesson in sexual innuendo, which is what songwriter Bill Danoff was going for. “I didn’t want to write an all-out sex song,” Danoff said of the track. “I just wanted to write something that was fun and hinted at sex. It was one of those songs that you could really have a good time writing.”

According to Danoff’s wife and fellow Starland bandmate, he came up with the idea for the song while waiting at Clyde’s restaurant in Washington, D.C. “It seems Clyde’s has a menu called ‘Afternoon Delight’ with stuff like spiced shrimp and hot Brie with almonds. So, Bill ate it—the food, that is—and went home and explained to me what ‘Afternoon Delight’ should be.”

From “Afternoon Delight” to the Afternoon Delights

The Starland Vocal Band won two Grammy Awards for “Afternoon Delight”, including Best New Artist and Best Arrangement for Voices. Their track was a chart-topping hit, but they never managed to recreate its popularity. The band broke up in 1981—just in time for an equally kitschy group from Boston to take their place. The Afternoon Delights, which took their name from the Starland Vocal Band’s one-hit wonder from years earlier, formed in Boston in the early 1980s. The group, which featured Rebecca Hall, Janet Powell, Robalee Barnes, and Suzanne Boucher, released their first and biggest hit in 1981, a funky, earworm-y narrative rap called “General Hospi-Tale”.

Staying true to its title, the song consists of an, admittedly, very catchy sax hook, ultra-80s chorus with layered harmonies, and a smooth rap about the plot of ABC soap opera, General Hospital, performed by a voice that sounds straight out of a public radio broadcast. Although a song that covers basic soap opera plot points seems unlikely for a hit, General Hospital was a popular show at the time. The Afternoon Delights seemed to capture lightning in a bottle, peaking at an impressive No. 33 on the Billboard Hot 100. Their follow-up single didn’t perform nearly as well, and the group disbanded not long after.

Still, just like the Starland Vocal Band’s original track they named themselves after, both “Afternoon Delight” and the Afternoon Delights have their respective place in the world of quirky, niche, and cringily decade-specific pop culture.

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