{"id":761346,"date":"2026-07-14T00:14:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T00:14:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/761346\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T00:14:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T00:14:12","slug":"4-iconic-one-hit-wonders-that-were-also-debut-singles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/761346\/","title":{"rendered":"4 Iconic One-Hit Wonders That Were Also Debut Singles"},"content":{"rendered":"

From The Buggles<\/a> to Wheatus, here are a few one-hit wonder songs that were also debut singles.<\/p>\n

\u201cVideo Killed The Radio Star\u201d by The Buggles<\/p>\n

\t\t\tPlay video<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"Play\"\/<\/p>\n

The Buggles,\u00a0aka Trevor Horn and Geoff Downes,\u00a0released \u201cVideo Killed The Radio Star\u201d as their debut single in 1979. The song was released ahead of the group\u2019s debut album,\u00a0The Age Of Plastic. A song about the way the media was changing at the time, \u201cVideo Killed The Radio Star\u201d not only became The Buggles\u2019 biggest hit but also the first song to have its music video aired on MTV.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\tVideos by American Songwriter\t\t<\/p>\n

\u201cYou Get What You Give\u201d by New Radicals<\/p>\n

\t\t\tPlay video<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"Play\"\/<\/p>\n

New Radicals released \u201cYou Get What You Give\u201d as their first single in 1998, and released their first and only album,\u00a0Maybe You\u2019ve Been Brainwashed Too, later that year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As lead singer Gregg Alexander told Stereogum<\/a>, his reason for leaving the band was a matter of wanting his old life back.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI simply missed feeling like an artist every day and being able to write songs every day and not feel like my time was being controlled and managed to answer to corporate shareholders,\u201d he shared. \u201cI missed my old life.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTeenage Dirtbag\u201d by Wheatus<\/p>\n

\t\t\tPlay video<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"Play\"\/<\/p>\n

Talk about an iconic debut single. \u201cTeenage Dirtbag\u201d by Wheatus was the group\u2019s first song, released in 2000, followed by their self-titled debut album. The song was apparently inspired by a teen in Brendan B. Brown\u2019s hometown who was involved in a homicide case. When he got arrested, he was wearing an AC\/DC T-shirt. This made AC\/DC, along with other hard rock groups, look kind of problematic.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026So when I sing: \u2018I\u2019m just a teenage dirtbag\u2019, I\u2019m effectively saying: \u2018Yeah, f\u2013k you if you don\u2019t like it,\u2019\u201d Brown shared with Tone Deaf<\/a>.\u00a0\u201cJust because I like AC\/DC doesn\u2019t mean I\u2019m a devil worshipper, and you\u2019re an idiot. That\u2019s where it comes from.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTake On Me\u201d by A-ha<\/p>\n

\t\t\tPlay video<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\"Play\"\/<\/p>\n

Last but not least, we have \u201cTake On Me\u201d by A-ha. This song was actually released multiple times. It came out first in 1984, then again, then in 1985, with that iconic music video fans know and love. While the duo had success with other songs like \u201cThe Sun Always Shines On T.V.\u201d, it\u2019s hard to match the cultural significance of \u201cTake On Me\u201d with any song.<\/p>\n

Photo by: Martyn Goodacre\/Getty Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From The Buggles to Wheatus, here are a few one-hit wonder songs that were also debut singles. \u201cVideo…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":761347,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[88,216,34562,17172,2156],"class_list":["post-761346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-music","tag-one-hit-wonders","tag-pop-music","tag-rock-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/761346","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=761346"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/761346\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/761347"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=761346"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=761346"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=761346"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}