Five fabulous one-hit wonders of the 1980s

Two more one hit wonders from the 1980s

It Bites - “Calling All The Heroes”

It Bites is a UK band that had a really catchy single with great guitar sounds. “Calling All The Heroes” is a crossover between art and prog rock but still very much a great pop song. It was the band’s second single but their only chart hit, peaking at number 6 in the UK in 1986.

It was an exciting and lively sound taken from their album The Big Lad in the Windmill. The rest of the album is pretty good too but there is a similarity here to Fiction Factory. The single is a stand-out song but different from the album tracks overall. The band continued to record and release albums but a second chart hit didn't follow.

Orange Juice - “Rip It Up”

Another band from Scotland. Orange Juice only had one hit, “Rip It Up”, but they were really influential on the Scottish music scene at the time. They formed in 1979 in Glasgow and hit the big time with the song which reached number eight in the UK charts in early 1983. It was the title track from their second album which was released just a few months earlier in November 1982.

Previous songs had adopted a Chic and Nile Rodgers funky guitar sound but “Rip It Up” went a bit more synth pop and disco. Though there was definitely a funky rhythm in there too. Lead singer Edwin Collins had a distinctive voice and style which worked well on the song too. It's a dance floor classic and still sounds great today. Collins had a solo hit in 1994 with “A Girl Like You”, another terrific song, but Orange Juice remain a one-hit wonder.