British pop group The First Class topped the charts in 1974 with their hit single “Beach Baby”. And it must be said, if for no other reason than irony, that their lead songwriter’s last name was Shakespeare. Oddly enough, the band’s lead singer had a very American-sounding accent.
As the name suggests, the song is about a girl on the beaches of California, so it wouldn’t be surprising if they were merely trying to imitate the Beach Boys. Still, they added their own classic musical style and a lot of brass.
"All Right Now" by Free
The legendary rock band Free may have been a one-hit wonder in the U.S. with their epic song "All Right Now," but that was certainly not the case in Britain. Free was one of the most famous rock bands in Britain, and even though the band broke up shortly after their record-breaking hit song, they still managed to sell over 20 million albums worldwide. All in all, it's not too shabby.
The young British boys wrote the song at the student union building at Durham University in England. And when we say young, we really mean it. The bass player, Andy Fraser, was only 17 years old when he and his bandmates became rockstars around the world with "All Right Now." Fun trivia: remember Jessa from the famous HBO series 'Girls'? She's the drummer Simon Kirke's daughter!
"Indiana Wants Me" by R. Dean Taylor
Another 1970's gem is the hit song "Indiana Wants Me", written and recorded by one-hit wonder, R. Dean Taylor. A Canadian native, Taylor wrote the song, which tells the story of a man who murdered someone for insulting their wife and is hiding from the Indiana police after watching the famous film 'Bonnie and Clyde'. Taylor even added some actual police officers' sounds to the song.
"Indiana Wants Me' rose to number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1970 and number 2 on the UK Singles Chart in 1971. A perfect mix of a folk-rock musician singing about Indiana on an album produced by Motown Records was just a fusion of styles that could only work back in the 70s. This was Taylor's only smash hit.
"Got To Be Real" by Cheryl Lynn
This 1979 disco hit's success transcends far beyond its time, as it is still making an appearance in countless TV shows, films, and commercials to this day. Cheryl Lynn topped the charts with "Got to be Real," but many don't know that she had seen quite the success before that.
Lynn's music started to gain a major following many years before her hit song came out. Why? Because she had played a part in the stage version of 'The Wiz.' Interestingly, when "Got to Be Real" started to top the charts years later, the film version of 'The Wiz' with Diana Ross and Michael Jackson had just come out.
"Ça plane pour moi" by Plastic Bertrand
Plastic Bertrand is a bizarre, quirky man from Belgium who wanted to do a parody of a new genre called punk, and the result was fantastic. Imagine a naughty version of the Beach Boys. And you may think you've never heard it before, but "Ça plane pour moi" has appeared on many big Hollywood films, like 'The Wolf of Wall Street' and 'Eurotrip'. Just google it, and you'll be shocked.
Don't worry; even if you understand French, you won't understand a word this odd little man says. The delightfully weird Bertrand topped charts across Europe and, surprisingly, the U.S.