Four supposed one-hit wonders from the 1980s whose catalog runs deep

The 1980s were fantastic. The music, especially the early part of the decade, was fun and raucous and unhinged. Not until record companies began to force us to listen to more saccharine pop did things go south.

The decade gave music fans a lot of one-hit wonders. The issue with the bands below, however, is that they were not only one-hit music makers. VH1 thinks so, however. At least, a list the music station put together long ago says so.

Sure, the list is old, but it is still 20 years after the 1980s ended. There was time to reflect. And VH1 still got their list wrong when it comes to the bands on this list.

Four "one-hit wonders" from the 1980s that VH1 got completely wrong

A-ha

These Norwegians released a certain song (you know what it's called: "Take On Me") that was going to always overshadow everything they did again. Worse, the single was on the band's first album, and the music video was groundbreaking. The group should have just done a mic drop and moved on. The song slaps, but it is arguably not even the best track on their debut record.

"The Sun Always Shines on TV" has more depth and is more dangerous. The band's second album, Scoundrel Days, is home to "Manhattan Skyline" and is far more mature and complex than "Take On Me" and just as good. Other than the United States, the band stayed relevant for quite longer than most know. They were worthy of being so.

A Flock of Seagulls

Again, this is based on VH1's "one-hit wonder" list, and A Flock of Seagulls churned out a lot more hits, even in the US, than just "I Ran (So Far Away)." One just has to look beyond the Billboard Hot 100 for those songs. For instance, if one looks at the Billboard Mainstream Rock chart, "I Ran..." hit number three, but so did "Wishing (If I Had a Photograph of You)."

Maybe the group just needed more song with titles that included parentheses? Perhaps the band's best - and by far, darkest - album was The Story of a Young Heart. The record had quite sad and depressing songs that never quite so good unless one is a fan of the Smiths.

Madness

VH1's list never seemed so American-centric. Calling Madness a one-hit wonder is ridiculously misleading and inaccurate. "Our House" reached number seven on the US Billboard chart, but "It Must Be Love" was number 33. Not too shabby. In the UK, the band had 17 top-ten hits.

Heck, the group even has a greatest hits album where every track is worthy of being heard. "Our House" is a great song, but a bit gimmicky. "Shut Up" and "House of Fun" are just as good and just as, well...fun. The ska godfathers are just as influential as any band in the 1980s and that is because the depth of their catalog is amazingly good.

Dexy's Midnight Runners

Had Dexy's been an American band, and they most certainly were not, then it would have been a huge mistake for them to put out "Come On Eileen" because that would have been a hit. They would have soon lost their record contract because the record company would have wanted them to make 20 more "Eileen"s.

In the UK, "Eileen" was not even the band's first number one. "Geno" was. In fact, a must-have for any music fan is the group's debut album, Searching for the Young Soul Rebels. The band's sound was always more soul-based than the folky "Eileen" though most people would never know it.

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