3 One-Hit Wonders From the 1980s That Will Inspire You to Write Your Own

If Sheb Wooley can write a Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 song about a purple people eater, you can write one, too! You just have to have that one idea that will blow audiences away and strike the funny bone or heartstrings of an audience. But how to get started? Well, one way might be just to start to listening to other one-hit wonders that were successful.

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Here below, we wanted to dive into three one-hit wonder songs that may just help to inspire you to write your own one-hit wonder. Whether it’s something about your passion for posteriors, or a type of safe dance, or a weather report about men falling from the sky—take these other songs as encouragement. Indeed, these are three one-hit wonders from the 1980s that will inspire you to write your own.

[RELATED: 3 One-Hit Wonders from the 1970s Fans Can’t Stop Singing to]

“Don’t Worry, Be Happy” by Bobby McFerrin from Simple Pleasures (1988)

Sometimes it’s the most concise and simple things that get to our souls the fastest. And with this light and breezy tune from Bobby McFerrin, which hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, the singer says something so crucial but so facile that the combination somehow creates something everlasting. So, all you have to do is find that obvious but sweet thing to say and put it to charming music. Sings McFerrin,

Here’s a little song I wrote
You might want to sing it note for note
Don’t worry, be happy
In every life we have some trouble
When you worry you make it double
Don’t worry, be happy
Don’t worry, be happy now

“We’re Not Gonna Take It” by Twisted Sister from Stay Hungry (1984)

Who doesn’t like a little rebellion? So, perhaps that’s lesson No. 1 as you’re trying to write your next big hit. Get some big, buzzy guitars and turn the amps up. Give it a hefty thump that would get a sports fan pumped for his team’s big game and then add some lyrics about not giving up, not losing out, or some other fist-in-the-air sentiment. This song, which hit No. 24 on the Billboard Hot 100, has inspired so many people to stand up for themselves and now your hit can carry the torch. On this song, Dee Snider sings,

We’re not gonna take it
No, we ain’t gonna take it
We’re not gonna take it anymore

We’ve got the right to choose, and
There ain’t no way we’ll lose it
This is our life, this is our song
We’ll fight the powers that be, just
Don’t pick on our destiny, ’cause
You don’t know us, you don’t belong

“Hot Hot Hot” by Buster Poindexter from Buster Poindexter (1987)

Truly, sometimes the right three words put together the right way with the right rhythm and performance can make you a millionaire. And sometimes it doesn’t even have to be three words, it can be one repeated three times. This classic 1980s cover of a song originally recorded by the band Arrow is just fun. You immediately want to get up and dance. And while the musicianship is especially appealing, the refrain, which somehow sizzles your toes, is as simple as can be. On the track, Poindexter belts,

Me mind on fire
Me soul on fire, feeling hot, hot, hot
Party people
All around me feeling hot, hot, hot

What to do on a night like this
Music sweet, I can’t resist
We need a party song
A fundamental jam

So we go rum-bum-bum-bum
Yeah, we rum-bum-bum-bum
Feeling hot, hot, hot
Feeling hot, hot, hot, oh, Lord

Photo by L. Cohen/WireImage