Lest you think Paris Hilton or any of the various Kardashians invented “Famous for Being Famous,” let me point you to Peter Robinson, better known to UK tabloid readers as Marilyn.
Born in Jamaica but raised in England, Marilyn made a name for himself as one of the Blitz Kids, an outrageous group of kids who worshiped Bowie, dressed to the nines in all sorts of drag, and hung out at the Blitz nightclub – other Blitz Kids included Boy George and Steven Strange from Visage. Marilyn’s trademark was his gender-twisting take on Marilyn Monroe – once made up from the neck up, he bore an uncanny resemblance to the dead movie star, hence his nickname. Marilyn wasn’t content to just make the scene, however. He hobnobbed with pop stars (his one-time boyfriend was none other than future Bush frontman, now Mr. Stefani Gavin Rossdale), making a notable appearance in the video for Eurythmics’ “Who’s That Girl?” and famously crashing the Band Aid recording of “Do They Know It’s Christmas.” Proximity to pop royalty probably fanned the desire to become a pop star himself – enter songwriter/producer/Haysi Fantayzee member Paul Chaplin.
Marilyn and Chaplin teamed to create a single, “Calling Your Name,” that sounded just enough like Culture Club to get Marilyn on the charts in the UK, Japan and other territories. Marilyn also got some import airplay on stations like KROQ Stateside, but couldn’t quite score an American record deal. The fact that his next two singles flopped didn’t help.
By the time 1985 rolled around, Marilyn’s label gave him an ultimatum. Go to America and write a hit, or else. Working with famed producer Don Was of all people, Marilyn recorded a great single, “Baby U Left Me (In The Cold)” (download). With a touch of Motown and a dash of Scritti Politti, the record should have been a smash. In fact, it beats anything Culture Club were releasing at the time, since they’d hit the downslide of “The War Song,” et al. “Baby U Left Me” even had a snazzy video featuring a newer, butcher Marilyn (Look! He’s kissing a GIRL!): (more…)
This one’s been a long time coming … and it’s not even as complete as I’d like it to be. Let me explain…
Thought they only had one song, didn’t you?
or on 
After dipping his toe into the mainstream with his fourth album, Security, and its Top 40 hit, “Shock the Monkey,” it’s only natural that Peter Gabriel would continue to experiment fusing funk with world music and new wave. What’s unnatural is that he would wait three years to do it on an album of his own, instead spending that time contributing new tracks to wildly inappropriate movie soundtracks.
Another example of a one-hit wonder in the States while huge in the U.K., paranoid android and Bowie Low cop artist Gary Numan can lay the blame for his lack of U.S. hits solely on his American label, Atco. After the tremendous success of the iconic New Wave single “Cars,” Atco probably thought it was the right choice to release Numan’s first huge overseas hit (with Tubeway Army) “Are ‘Friends’ Electric?” as the follow-up, even though it wasn’t featured on Numan’s then-current The Pleasure Principle LP. After all, “Are ‘Friends’” was a massive U.K. #1 single, so it only made sense to consolidate his successes to break Numan big in the States. Problem was, American radio, still in the thrall of the likes of Journey, Boston and Styx, was just not ready for “Are ‘Friends’” (and probably still aren’t), and the single topped out at #105, a pathetic showing for a Top Ten follow-up.
It’s a shame The Lucy Show picked an awful sitcom to name themselves after, since the duo of Mark Bandola and Rob Vandeven had little in common with the strained comedy of an aging TV icon with a scotch-fueled voice and brassy henna rinse mugging with Sammy Davis Jr. This Lucy Show started out more in a Cure vein, creating darkly melodic pop on their debut album – that all changed when A&M Records dumped them.
It’s a shame that U.K. synthpop duo Soft Cell became the epitome of an ’80s one-hit wonder. While they charted with several singles overseas, “Tainted Love” was their sole American hit, despite releasing several excellent singles and albums. One of those unfairly ignored singles was actually the follow-up to “Tainted Love,” another Northern Soul remake called “What!” 
There’s never been a musical trend that Cher has been afraid to jump upon. From watered down hippie-dippy love songs to disco to adult contemporary schlock, the Dark Lady has matched only maybe Bowie in appropriating the current musical climate for her own campy needs. And New Wave was no exception.
Starting out as a trio called the Strutters, singer/songwriter Mark Kjeldsen along with rhythm section Bobby Irwin and Ron François re-branded themselves as the Sinceros, trading in New Wave and melodic power pop. Epic Records took notice and signed the band in the late ’70s, but not before Irwin and François were tapped to play on Lene Lovich’s New Wave classic, Stateless. After this brief detour, the Sinceros released their debut, The Sound Of Sunbathing in 1979. A single, “Take Me To Your Leader,” got a little buzz in the U.K., and the band toured heavily there and in the States with a power-pop dream line-up co-featuring 20/20 and Paul Collins’ Beat.
It’s an old pop joke that winning the Grammy for Best New Artist is pretty much the kiss of death for long-term success. See the Starland Vocal Band, Milli Vanilli, and today’s featured combo, Australia’s Men at Work. While not the massive flameout some other Best New Artist winners were, Men at Work had a sadly truncated shelf life that no one really saw coming.