Top 7 One Hit Wonder Rock Songs Of The 80s

We gave you the 90s. Then we gave you the first decade of the 2000s. Now it’s time! What are the Top 7 One-Hit Wonder Rock Songs Of The 80s?

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Ahh the 1980’s. What a time for America and the world. The final chapter of the Cold War, (or so we thought!), Just Say No, the Moonwalk, and of course the Fashion and the Music!

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 Rock In The 1980s 

When coming up with the list of the Top 7 One Hit Wonder Rock Songs Of The 80s, you first have to acknowledge the vast landscape of music in the 1980s. There wasn’t much room to breathe with all the different genres emerging, and the proliferation of MTV. Music Television certainly changed the game big time in the 1980s, and while it didn’t last, music videos went a long way in making or breaking careers. This was just as true in the Rock world as it was across the Pop world.

Rock in the 1980′ was dominated by veteran names like Ozzy, Priest, and Van Halen. While newcomers like U2, Bon Jovi, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and a bunch of North California hooligans, who called themselves Metallica attempted to get their foothold on the music mountaintop during the decade of excess. No, safe to say none of those bands are one of our top 7 one-hit wonder rock songs of the 80s contenders!

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However, there were others. Bands and artists who made a name for themselves using their sound, as well as their look, to climb the charts and get a hit. As it turns out, for the most part, their only hit. The top 7 one-hit wonder rock songs of the 80s are more than just a list. It’s a salute to these long ago yet not forgotten rockers who will always have a place in our head bangin’ hearts.

So let’s head back…Back into time. To a place where the sex was safe, and the martinis were dirty. Where Doc Brown and Doctor Feelgood stood side by side, and where the only real important questions were “Coke or Pepsi? “Who Shot JR?”, and “Where’s The Beef?”…

It’s right here, with the top 7 one-hit wonder rock songs of the 80s, and it’s outta this world!

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• Aldo Nova - Fantasy 1982

  It was all over the tube in the early days of MTV. The guitar virtuoso, Canadian born Nova wrote and produced his debit self titled album. While Fantasy was his only hit, he went on to be a Grammy winning producer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPQgfaB3S1c

• Accept - Balls To The Wall 1984

  The loud and proud band from Solingen, Germany had plenty of balls with their diminutive but powerful front man, Udo Dirkschneider. Accept had been around for about a decade when Balls To The Wall gained popularity around the same time as fellow Germans, the Scorpions where riding the wave of Love At First Sting.

   

• Europe - The Final Countdown 1986

  As far as one hit wonders go, this sucker has staying power. A huge hit for Europe in ’86, who were actually from Europe. Sweden, to be exact. Meanwhile, thanks to Geico, the band and the song were introduced to a whole new generation.

• Red Rider - Lunatic Fringe 1985

  If you know the name Louden Swain, then you know this song. A emphatic theme throughout the movie Vision Quest, this song helped put High School Wrestling on the same level as Karate Kid put Martial Arts a year earlier. As for Red Rider, Tom Cochran would find solo success a decade later with Life Is A Highway. Making him a two time OHW.

   

• Krokus - Screaming In The Night 1983

  Another band from across the pond with one hit in the US. The Swiss Krokus got a big lift from Judas Priest’s Rob Halford who performed on the band’s 1983 album Headhunter. Believe it or not the Krokus crew is still rocking today!

• Vixen - Edge Of A Broken Heart 1988

  The St Paul, Minnesota gals were really put on the national map with this song written by Richard Marx and the Tubes Fee Waybill. Of course who can forget the ladies performing as the band “Diaper Rash” in the classic sex romp Hardbodies?

• Autograph - Turn Up The Radio 1984

  Constant radio airplay, a cool MTV video, and a world tour opening for Van Halen on their 1984 tour skyrocketed Autograph. Nowadays you could probably get their autograph’s for a song.