I love ’80s music, and have since at least 1980. While the calendar may read 2014, my musical sensibilities have never really progressed beyond the Decade of Decadence. I mean, I once went to a Simple Minds concert…in 1996. You can have your Katy Perry; I’ll take Steve Perry any day. Have fun with Maroon 5 — I’ll shaking my Swatch-covered arms along to Haircut 100. I could go on forever with these clever comparisons (okay, not true. They’re are really hard to come up with). I wave my “’80s Pride” flag high and proud. It’s pastel green and pink, by the way. As you might imagine, I’m fiercely protective of my favorite era of music. That’s why it pains me so when I see lies — damn, dirty lies — perpetrated about my beloved ’80s artists. Specifically, I’m referring to the “one-hit wonder” label. Don’t get me wrong. Like any time period, the ’80s were littered with flashes in the pan. You’ve got your Kajagoogoos, your Scritti Polittis, and your Baltimoras. What I take issue with is when acts are slapped with the “1HW” designation when it’s not entirely accurate. While certain artists and groups may have charted only one hit, they were involved in one way or another with other major hits…and we, the harsh, unfeeling public — have dismissed them. I’m here to rectify that. I look at it as a service to those who have given me so much enjoyment over the years. Here’s a quick look at a few artists that deserve a little more credit than the fickle public has granted them since their heyday.

Boy Meets Girl

This Seattle-based pop duo hit #5 in the US in 1988 with their power ballad “Waiting For A Star To Fall.” Don’t even try to pretend you haven’t sung along to this little gem before. The song is also the best part of the 1993 movie “Three Men and A Little Lady” — it’s played over the closing credits. How very sad for that movie. Anyway, the duo also performed backup vocals on Deniece Williams’s seminal #1 hit from 1984, “Let’s Hear it For The Boy.” But wait, there’s more! BMG actually wrote not one, but two #1 hits for Whitney Houston: “How Will I Know” (1986) and “I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)” (1987). They wrote the song and actually offered it to Houston and Belinda Carlisle, who both passed on it (there’s actually a bad demo out there of Carlisle struggling through the song). Furthermore, BMG is credited with spurring on the Seattle grunge movement as a response to all the saccharine pop  music they released. Okay, I made that last part up. But the next time you’re at a party and you hear someone besmirching the good name of Boy Meets Girl…well, I’ve given you plenty of ammunition to shoot them down.

Matthew Wilder

1983 was Matthew Wilder’s time. His catchy ditty “Break My Stride” was ubiquitous, running all the way to #5 in the US. I could never wrap my head around why the title of the song wasn’t “Break-uh My Stride,” but whatever. It didn’t even have the benefit of continuous play on MTV, since Wilder didn’t make a video for the song. But! I do have this clip from “Solid Gold,” which is just surreal. The dancing, the lip-synching, the Marilyn McCoo, the crazy instrument that the guy at the :49 second mark is playing…it’s like an ’80s-gasm. Now I know what you’re thinking: How could this 5-foot tall dynamo with the cheesy ‘stache and white-man’s ‘fro not be a bigger star? Well, it turns out that Wilder found success as a producer. He had his hand as a producer in a bunch of major albums over the years, including No Doubt’s monster 1995 release Tragic Kingdom, 98 Degrees (98 Degrees and Rising), and Christina Aguilera (Christina Aguilera). Wilder has also been a composer for Puff Daddy (No Way Out) and written songs for Kelly Clarkson. While his role behind the scenes hasn’t allowed Wilder to sustain the name recognition he had during the early ’80s, he’s hardly been a blip on the music radar. Back off, haters.

Joey Scarbury

I’ll admit this selection may be a bit of a stretch. But hey, it’s my blog. I have a special affection for the singer of my favorite show from the early 80s, The Greatest American Hero. The clumsily titled “Theme From The Greatest American Hero (Believe it or Not)” landed at #2 in 1981. The song perfectly captured the flavor of the old “divorced high school teacher is given supersuit by aliens in the desert and goes about fighting crime with his FBI handler” theme. Scarbury had enjoyed a pretty nondescript career up until that point, and chart success eluded him after his big hit. But he did perform the theme songs to a couple other TV series, Hardcastle and McCormick and Jennifer Slept Here. For a mainstream singer, that’s gotta be some sort of record. Scarbury did pen a song for the Oak Ridge Boys that became a number one hit on the country charts, as well. And how many ’80s artists can say that they had a song that made it onto George Constanza’s answering machine?