Favorite 80's One-Hit Wonders #4 - "Genius of Love"
@teamfreak16 (43418)
Denver, Colorado
June 27, 2016 11:09am CST
#4 in my Favorite One-Hit Wonders series takes us to both New York and the Bahamas, home of, and birthplace of, respectively, the Tom Tom Club.
Led by Talking Heads bassist Tina Weymouth and husband/Heads drummer/percussionist Chris Frantz, Tom Tom Club formed in 1981, naming the band after the Bahamian studio studio in which they recorded.
Although they have, historically, been a sensation on the dance charts, "Genius of Love," from their 1981 self-titled, Gold Record debut album, remains the band's only Top 40 hit.
(Notably, guitarist Adrian Belew is the guitarist of record on the album.)
"Genius of Love" is a quirky dance tune that, despite use in various ad campaigns, a lot of folks will unfortunately recognize only as the backing music for Mariah Carey's hit "Fantasy." It ("Genius of Love") peaked at #31 on the Billboard Hot 100.
I used to play "Genius of Love" on the radio a lot when I was in college. It was a great song then, and it's a great song now.
(I'm using the rules from Wayne Jancik's book The Billboard Book of One-Hit Wonders: An act can only have appeared in the Top 40 on the Hot 100 once. Any other charts don't count, and neither do countries other than the States.)
Official Video (Dasantigas!). Visite também o blogue CANTO DE ROCK... http://cantoderrock.blogspot.com
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3 responses
@JohnRoberts (109846)
• Los Angeles, California
27 Jun 16
Oh yeah, a good one! The best version is in Stop Making Sense when David Byrne takes a break and the Tom Tom Club take over.
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@teamfreak16 (43418)
• Denver, Colorado
27 Jun 16
And naturally, I passed over that for the video option. Why, I have no idea.
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@FourWalls (68000)
• United States
27 Jun 16
I truly considered this but rejected it. It's certainly not that I don't love the song, but I love the four songs I picked more than this. I'll say this: if we were doing a top 20 this would be #11!
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@teamfreak16 (43418)
• Denver, Colorado
27 Jun 16
Ah. I figured with your love of Talking Heads that we might both do this one. Oh well, can't wait to see your last four.
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