By Jeanni Ritchie

 

Turn up the volume and bring back memories on September 25 to celebrate National One-Hit Wonder Day. Today, we honor all the musical artists and chart-topping songs that make them memorable–even if it was just once.

 

It’s a subjective list but loosely defined as an artist(s) who reached massive success with one hit that was never matched in their follow-up tunes. Little Nas X set an extremely high bar for himself with Old Town Road. 

 

Deciding how to present a list was tricky. There were so many. Choosing one per year left off incredible tunes in favor of mediocre ones. Selecting an even amount from each decade was unfair to my 80’s upbringing. I felt compelled to stack my Gen X deck with some of my old 45 titles. 

 

I ultimately decided to create a list where each one-hit immediately took me to a scene in one of my favorite movies. The songs are listed with the original artist and year though cover versions were usually used in the films. 

 

Sing along and picture the big screen scenes that accompany them. 

 

1956: Earth Angel, The Penguins (Back to the Future)

 

1963: I Will Follow Him, Little Peggy March (Sister Act)

 

1963: Wipe Out, The Surfaris (Herbie Fully Loaded)

 

1965: The Boy From New York City, The Ad-Libs (My Blue Heaven)

 

1972: Jungle Fever, The Chakachas (Just Like Heaven)

 

1974: Kung Fu Fighting, Carl Douglas (Kung Fu Panda)

 

1976: The Boys Are Back in Town, Thin Lizzy (A Knight’s Tale)

 

1979: I Will Survive, Gloria Gaynor (The Replacements)

 

1982: (I Ran) So Far Way, A Flock of Seagulls (La La Land)

 

1982: Mickey, Toni Basil (Bring It On end credits)

 

1984: Almost Paradise, Mike Reno (Footloose)

 

1985: Walking on Sunshine, Katrina and the Waves (Barbie’s A Mermaid Tale…don’t judge, I had a three year old niece that didn’t like naps and it was a good movie!) 

 

1985: St. Elmo’s Fire, John Parr (Rob Lowe plays the saxophone movie aka St. Elmo’s Fire)

 

1985: You Spin Me Round (Like a Record), Dead or Alive (The Wedding Singer)

 

1985: Don’t You (Forget About Me), Simple Minds (The Breakfast Club)

 

1987: Funkytown, Pseudo Echo (Take your pick; I love them equally: Alvin and the Chipmunks or My Fellow Americans)

 

1987: (I’ve Had) The Time of My Life, Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes (Dirty Dancing…also Ryan Gosling’s “big move” on Crazy, Stupid, Love) 

 

1989: Bust a Move, Young MC (This one pulls triple duty for me: Uncle Buck, The Blind Side, 17 Again)

 

1990: Ice Ice Baby, Vanilla Ice (Whose got the moves on the ice and off? Why it’s Jenna Rink’s hockey boyfriend in 13 Going on 30!)

 

1991: There She Goes, The La’s (The Parent Trap– LiLo version)

 

1992: Jump Around, House of Pain (Mrs. Doubtfire)

 

And I must end the list with a silver screen entry, everyone’s favorite theme song from 1995….

 

I’ll Be There For You, The Rembrandts (Friends, celebrating its 30th anniversary this week) 

 

Can you sing it and get the claps right?!