80s One Hit Wonders Vol. 4 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Lipps Inc

Billboard number one, May 31, 1980. Lipps Inc. were out of Minneapolis, and were a studio band formed by Steven Greenberg. This song is generally considered the last song of the "disco" genre to make it to number one on the charts in the U.S. It also got to number two in the U.K.

Their only other Billboard Hot 100 charting hit called "Rock It" got as high as number 64 on the U.S. charts. They did, however, have a couple of higher charting singles on the U.S. Dance charts.

Answer: Bertie Higgins

Billboard number eight, April 17, 1982. Bertie was a less than successful artist in the 1960s with a group called the Romans, later becoming The Roemans, while doing backup vocals for Tommy Roe. This song was his only Top 40 entry.

Answer: Vangelis

Billboard number one, May 8, 1982. Evangelos Papathanassiou was a world known composer of various types of electronic, and classical music. In a career that spans over 40 years, he is regarded in many circles as the best artist of electronic music of all time.

He composed the musical score for the motion picture "Chariots Of Fire", and won an Academy Award for this song as well as the score of the film.

Answer: Taco

Billboard number four, September 3, 1983. Taco Ockerse (actual birthname), was born to Dutch parents in Indonesia. This song was recorded in Germany in 1982, and released in the U.S. in 1983, zooming into the Billboard Hot 100's Top Five that year.

Answer: Tracey Ullman

Billboard number eight, April 28, 1984. Tracey emigrated to the U.S. in the 1980s after growing up in England. She starred in "The Tracey Ullman Show", a show which spurred the longest running animated show in the history of U.S. television, "The Simpsons". Tracey has had a couple of other TV shows in the U.S. and has appeared in a number of feature films as well.

As for her singing career, it preceded her acting career, and she did have six songs in the U.K Top 100 in the space of two years, but "We Don't Know" was her only Top 40 entry in the U.S.

Answer: Frankie Goes To Hollywood

Billboard number ten, March 16, 1985. The song shot to the top of the charts in the U.K. in 1983 amid controversy over the lyrics which were alleged to be overtly sexual, although this was denied by the group. The song was actually banned by the BBC even though it was a number one hit.

The group followed with two more number one hits in the U.K. making them the only the second group in U.K. history to have their first three releases go to number one. The first group was Gerry and The Pacemakers in 1964.

The song itself was not released in the U.S. until 1985, and got as far as number ten on the charts.

Answer: Don Johnson

Billboard number five, October 18, 1986. Johnson is actually a pretty accomplished musician in addition to his work on "Miami Vice", and various feature films. Johnson was a co-writer along with Greg Allman and Dickie Betts on a couple of their songs, namely "Blind Love" and "Can't Take It With You" in the late 1970s.

He also recorded a duet with Barbra Streisand in the late 1980s called "Till I Loved You". The song "Heartbeat" mentioned here is from Johnson's 1986 album of the same name.

Answer: The Barbusters

Billboard number 33, April 4, 1987. This fictitious group was the basis for a movie starring Michael J. Fox and Joan Jett called "Light Of Day". They were brother and sister and formed a rock band amid a myriad of family problems. The film also featured appearances by Gena Rowlands and Michael McKean.

This song was the title track for the film, performed by Jett, and written by Bruce Springsteen.

Answer: Jimmy Harnen with Synch

Billboard number ten, June 10, 1989. Harnen grew up in Pennsylvania and joined the group named Synch as their drummer in 1985. They recorded an album called "Get the Feelin'" in 1986, and Harnen was asked to do the vocals for one song called "Where Are You Now" which was released as a single and only got as high as number 77 on the Billboard Hot 100 that year.

In 1989, well after the group disbanded, the song began to get airplay again and reached number ten on the charts that year. Go figure.

Answer: Bobby McFerrin

Billboard number one, September 24, 1988. McFerrin won a Grammy for this song as well as many others awards over the course of his career which began in the early 1980s. He also recorded the theme song for season four of "The Bill Cosby Show", and sang the theme song from the 1993 film "Son Of Pink Panther"