PUTTIN’ ON THE RITZ.: Yet more ’80s music theorizing.

Scott Thompson notes that Men at Work were at least four-hit wonders–he lists Who Can It Be Now?, Down Under (I completely forgot this was by the same group!), It’s a Mistake, Be Good Johnny, Overkill. I only remember the first two.

MLY: “[Eve wrote] ‘The ’90s top-40 is pathetic. There are brilliant bands (Huggy Bear, PJ Harvey, obviously my lady Cat Power) but there aren’t one-hit wonders . . . .’

“I suspect there were quite a few one-hit wonders in Hip Hop and Rap (fewer in R&B;). Whoop there it is? Who let the dogs out? The Humpty Dance? (Note, however, that the man who called himself ‘Humpty Hump’ is not a one-hitter insofar as he gets credit for also being ‘Shock G,’ the star producer who discovered Tupac. Humpty Hump was just another of the man’s alter egos. Unfortunately, I can’t remember his given name.)”

Eve replies: Uhhhh, I’m not even going near any theory involving praise for “Who Let the Dogs Out?”. I’ll give you “one-hit,” but “wonder”?

Lentis: “I think that there’s something to your nouveau riche hypothesis. The 80s really did embody new money and the displays of conspicuous (but not always tasteful) consumption that went along with it. But I think that it was all very superficial. Under the surface of the upturned Izod collars, designers jeans, designer sun glasses, and designer water lay the oozing pustule that is the legacy of the 70s — which I think was acknowledged more honestly in the 90s by the way. Add to this, I think that there also was a real underling angst. The Cold War seemed colder in the 80s than it did in the 70s — and then there’s AIDS.

“One thing, you talk about using bouncy music to de-emphasize alienation in lyrics but didn’t even mention The Smiths! — the undisputed masters of that style. Then again they didn’t really produce the type of wonder hits that you’re talking about–not even How Soon is Now.”

Mansfield Fox wants his MTV.