3 One-Hit Wonders From 1979 That Every Radio Listener Remembers
The article highlights three acts described as one-hit wonders whose 1979 singles became enduring radio favourites: The Crusaders, The Boomtown Rats and The Buggles. It presents the songs as products of a transitional year for popular music, when new wave and synth-pop were gaining prominence and artists could achieve major success without sustaining it on US charts.
The Crusaders’ jazz-funk song “Street Life” reached No. 5 in the UK and No. 36 in the US, their only Billboard Hot 100 Top 40 entry. The Boomtown Rats’ “I Don’t Like Mondays”, inspired by a 1979 California school shooting, topped the UK chart but reached No. 73 in the US; “Video Killed the Radio Star” by The Buggles reached No. 1 in parts of Europe and No. 40 in the US, and its video later became MTV’s first US broadcast in 1981.
- Three 1979 singles became lasting radio-era one-hit wonders.
- “Street Life” was The Crusaders’ only US Top 40 hit.
- “Video Killed the Radio Star” later opened MTV in America.