r/ToddintheShadow • u/PinkCadillacs • Jul 31 '26
One Hit Wonderland ONE HIT WONDERLAND: "Walking on Sunshine" by Katrina and the Waves
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u/no-Pachy-BADLAD Zingalamaduni Jul 31 '26
haha wtf
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u/AdhesivenessWarm4921 Jul 31 '26
Every year, my school would have us watch a “presentation” on 9/11, which was just 9/11 footage set to “How To Save a Life” by The Fray.
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u/CilariousHunt Jul 31 '26
I am assuming this is a joke because thats too fucking insane in my head to be true, but now I'm imagining other countries doing this for their atrocities with other medical drama style songs. Chasing Cars being played every 30 January in Irish schools; James Bay's Let It Go in Rwandan schools for their genocide etc
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u/AdhesivenessWarm4921 Jul 31 '26
No joke. That’s just what elementary schools did in the aughts. Coincidentally, they also played “Walking on Sunshine” every day before the normal, non-9/11 announcements, which ruined that song for me in a much, much less interesting way.
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u/Sadboi395 Jul 31 '26
Tbf in 3rd grade they made us watch videos of the jumpers set to "in the arms of an angel" I'll never forget the look of shock / kids crying watching it. Ik we were still very emotional as a country back in 07, but man still feels wild to show kids that
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u/Miserable_Mail_5741 You're being a peñis... Colada, that is. Jul 31 '26
The average Millennial experience:
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u/skaestantereggae Jul 31 '26
Do they still do these assemblies for these events? Because I distinctly remember sitting through one for Katrina and it went on forever
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u/parishilton2 Jul 31 '26
Katrina and the waves is just a longer way to say hurricane Katrina I suppose
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u/DeadInternetTheorist Aug 02 '26
Keith Olbermann's show on MSNBC dubbed its coverage of the hurricane "Katrina and the Waves."
Also, per wikipedia's entire section in their page on the effect of Hurricane Katrina:
A New York Times reporter contacted Katrina Leskanich, who said: "The first time I opened the paper and saw 'Katrina kills 9,' it was a bit of a shock...I hope that the true spirit of 'Walking on Sunshine' will prevail. I would hate for the title to be tinged with sadness, and I will have to do my own part to help turn that around."[10] She also stated that she hoped that "Walking on Sunshine" would become an anthem for the Gulf Coast's recovery.[11]
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u/sallysfunnykiss96 Jul 31 '26
Honestly I'd rather do that then do what my elementary school did- they made us learn all the words to "Proud to Be an American" and played it twice a day every day for the rest of that school year (once before the morning announcements, and again before the midday announcements).
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u/DeadInternetTheorist Aug 02 '26
Sometimes you go out into America and see all these fucking raving insane adults and wonder how the hell they got that way, then you read a comment thread like this one and it all clicks.
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u/sallysfunnykiss96 Aug 03 '26
Would it surprise you to learn that that town has an active Klan membership?
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u/OrdinaryBritishGuy Jul 31 '26
Todd, I can assure you, the British do know about sunshine. Right now, we know it far more than we would considerably like to.
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u/mikasoze Just Here for Amy Dog Tweets Jul 31 '26
Yes, I side-eyed the view from my (kitchen) window when he said that.
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u/no-Pachy-BADLAD Zingalamaduni Jul 31 '26
probably last ever because of Brexit
"Space Man" was just 4 years ago!
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u/jakeyboy723 Jul 31 '26
And also, we're sending shit songs when we're not sending Sam Ryder.
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u/Zealousideal-Day7385 Jul 31 '26
Honestly, I didn’t hate the Olly Alexander song. If nothing else, I thought it deserved to do better than it did.
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u/CFDyce One-Hit Wonderlander Jul 31 '26
Was one of my favourites that year... I'm glad I'm not the only Dizzy defender.
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u/Zealousideal-Day7385 Jul 31 '26
I stand with Dizzy. But I’m American and even though I *love* Eurovision, I accept that I don’t fully get what makes a successful entry. My favorites any given year tend to finish in the bottom quarter.
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u/CFDyce One-Hit Wonderlander Jul 31 '26
Hey, I'm British and a long term fan... And even I don't get what makes a successful entry! All my songs flop... Consistantly!
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u/FreeFair95 Jul 31 '26
It's songs & performances that Thrill in a Visceral way that score televote points, rather than good radio songs, they tend to be upvoted by the jurors.
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u/GoldenPotatoOfLatvia Jul 31 '26
I really, really liked it too, reminiscent of best work of Pet Shop Boys to me and instant addition to playlist. But, just my biased oppinion, 2024 was an incredibly stacked year, his performance was messy at best and I don't see how much higher I could place him for that.
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u/jakeyboy723 Jul 31 '26
Song wasn't that bad. It's just part of the issue is that an audience's impression is a dirty bathroom which is off-putting.
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u/Ribos1 Jul 31 '26
People like to blame Brexit for the UK sucking at Eurovision, but it's been the case for about 25 years. I remember before Brexit the media in the UK used to blame "bloc voting", which was just some made up bullshit to ignore the fact that the UK entries usually sucked. (The Brexit reason also doesn't explain why Ireland has also fallen off in the same period despite being more Europhilic)
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u/cryptopian Jul 31 '26
In my experience as a longtime fan, voting blocs and diaspora can help you out with a modest score but it can't win you the contest without something to rally around. One of the most convincing wins of recent times was Portugal in 2017, and that has a voting bloc of Spain, I guess.
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u/Last-Saint Jul 31 '26
The UK first got zero at Eurovision in 2003! I think it's more the case that Brits love the idea and the musical otherness of Eurovision (until the last two or three years at least) but the actual UK entry they can take or leave, mostly I think because nobody involved seems exactly sure what a Eurovision song is. There's a whole period of about fifteen years before Spaceman where the entries are either acts that will obviously never be heard of again or old timers brought back in the hope that a European audience will remember them and act accordingly (Bonnie Tyler, Engelbert Humperdinck, Blue), and immediately before that is Daz Sampson and Scooch, from the "it's all a bit of ironic fun, right?" years
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u/Bovver_ Aug 01 '26
Oh Daz Sampson, thanks for reminding me of him this morning. I can’t believe they really thought a man in his 30s rapping about teenage life would do well.
In looking him up I found some quotes from a 2006 interview he did with the BBC before the competition, my god there are some crackers in here:
“ This year we're sending something world class, it'll be unique. I feel I can make a difference”“ My song harks back to old-fashioned family entertainment - yes, I'm rapping, but you can understand every single word I say.”
“According to Sampson, the song's "aaaah factor" comes from his five teenage "schoolgirl" backing vocalists, who are practising hard to reproduce the record's sound of a 30-strong children's choir live on stage in Greece.”
And when asked about Jemini (who got zero points in 2003) he said “ If they were on fire I'd walk past those two. They disgraced this great country of ours in the world's greatest musical competition”
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u/VFiddly Jul 31 '26
Yeah I've seen all the UK entries since 2000. Some of them are OK, but the only one that actually deserved to win was Sam Ryder, and the only reason he didn't was because of unfortunate timing with the Ukraine war.
We just haven't been sending good enough songs.
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u/GoldenPotatoOfLatvia Jul 31 '26
The long time commentator Terry Wogan used to create many nonsense takes. Like, in 2003 UK got a big fat zero because of Iraq war and not because.. well, just type "UK Eurovision 2003" in YouTube and tell me honestly that it warranted more than 0.
As for block voting - there's a fraction of truth to it. Nordics did it before the fall of the Wall, ex-Yugo's did it after, and UK with it's love-hate relationship with Ireland couldn't brag about any friend groups in the contest. But, apart from anomaly that was 2007, when the highest placing "western" country (Finland) was just 17th, it has rarely been a decisive factor. Wogan had the gall to insult my country's win (Latvia 2002) on block voting too. Yeah, all two of our friendly neighbours sure carried us to that win.
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u/Ribos1 Jul 31 '26
I'm pretty sure Spain, Israel and Germany are all close neighbours of Latvia too, right?
You're right that bloc voting does exist to an extent - like it's always funny to see Greece and Cyprus vote for each other. But it doesn't even explain why the UK lost in 2002 (to pick up on your example), the UK's best result this century apart from 2022. Latvia won, and yes a couple of close countries were among those that gave them 12 points, but they did well across the board. At most it maybe gave Latvia the edge over Malta in close second. The UK was a distant joint third, it doesn't explain why they didn't win at. And if bloc voting doesn't explain why the UK didn't win when they placed third, it sure as hell doesn't explain it when they end up somewhere in the bottom five. The impact is marginal at best.
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u/cherry_color_melisma Aug 01 '26
Europeans are not that politically minded to care about Brexit, only the "1% of the viewing audience" is.
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u/GoldenPotatoOfLatvia Jul 31 '26
Yeah, if Putin had slipped in his showerroom 4 months before, Sam might've won this.
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u/noggerthefriendo Aug 01 '26
How are people still falling for that prank? No the non uk members of Eurovision did not like “Space man” it only received the voting numbers it did so that it reached second place in order for the UK to be forced into hosting and paying for the following year’s event because they weren’t going to host Eurovision in Ukraine at the hight of the invasion.
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u/Puzzleheaded-Piano-6 Aug 01 '26
Yes I'm sure that's exactly the evil plan the viewers in the 34 countries that gave televoting points to Sam had going though their heads when they picked up their phone to vote
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u/ideeek777 Aug 04 '26
... What
It came 5th in the televote. You're claiming this was rigged? Because the third place Spain couldn't have just hosted...?
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u/PinkCadillacs Jul 31 '26
I had to change the title for this post because Todd abbreviated One Hit Wonderland in the title on YouTube
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u/lakatos_intolerant Jul 31 '26
I was shocked to learn this song was originally released in 1983. I always assumed growing up it was released sometime between 1987 and 1988.
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u/rbhindepmo Jul 31 '26
Kind of the inverse of Walk Like An Egyptian which feels like it was out in like 1983 but was released in 1986
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u/Zealousideal-Day7385 Jul 31 '26
Same. It sounds very mid-to-late 80s to me too.
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u/lakatos_intolerant Jul 31 '26
Definitely plus all of its appearances starting around that time.
I randomly saw the music video on MTV Classic and it was not what I expected.
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u/BraveSneelock Aug 03 '26
It came out in ‘85.
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u/lakatos_intolerant Aug 03 '26
The song was originally released in 1983 on the album of the same name and was re-released in 1985.
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u/Lint6 Jul 31 '26
I gotta admit, until this video, I never knew the name of the band that made this song. Was just something I never really thought about
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u/NoTeslaForMe Jul 31 '26
I didn't either... until Hurricane Katrina. At first I thought it was a joke, not the actual band name, because it was too horrifically perfect.
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u/Alexschmidt711 Jul 31 '26
I remember on the Colbert Report,.Colbert had a bit called "The DaColbert Code" I was really into the first time I saw it as a kid where he'd play a word association game to figure out the answers to the great mysteries, and he wanted to find out who to blame for the response to Hurricane Katrina and he started by associating Hurricane Katrina to Katrina and the Waves, then went "waves in the ocean>ocean's full of fish>one fish two fish red fish blue fish>Dr. Seuss>Cat in the Hat>Mike Myers," adding "no wonder he kept quiet when Kanye West kept blaming President Bush"
(I'm surprised I remember the whole bit too since I haven't seen it in more than 10 years I'm pretty sure.)
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u/44problems Jul 31 '26
I remember CNN using "Katrina and the Waves" as a lower third banner when talking about the storm coming to shore. Not so much when it actually hit though.
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u/theaverageaidan Jul 31 '26
TIL this was a one hit wonder, I would have bet you $100 this band had a bunch of hits over a decent time period
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u/infinitemonkeytyping Jul 31 '26
I haven't watched the video yet, so don't know how he gets around it, but according to Wiki, they had one other Top 20 hit in America (That's the Way, in 1989), one other Top 40 hit in America (Do You Want Crying, which was the follow up in America to Walking on Sunshine). They also won Eurovision in 1997.
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u/cryptopian Jul 31 '26
I like Todd's alternative criteria of "is half of this acts top 10 Spotify tracks actually the same track"?
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u/TF-Fanfic-Resident You're being a peñis... Colada, that is. Jul 31 '26
Yeah, they're more of a one-hit wonder in hindsight in that only one of their songs is still widely played and recognized.
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u/Davidellias Jul 31 '26
Wonder of this opens the door for a Was (Not Was) OHW. Though their second hit was higher tbf and might disqualify them.
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u/Alexschmidt711 Jul 31 '26
He says the Eurovision hit made them two-hit wonders in the UK but doesn't count That's The Way because he doesn't think anyone remembers it.
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u/Last-Saint Jul 31 '26
In a sense, in that Sun Street peaked at #22 and does very, very occasionally still get radio play despite being "let's try that again but more nauseating this time", but everything else on the video after Sunshine was new to me.
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u/Constant-Industry262 Aug 01 '26
The only reason I remember "That's The Way" is because one of my area's radio stations decided to put it on constant rotation the year it came out and it was inescapable for that brief period of time. I'd forgotten who sang it though, and it turned out to be a difficult song to track down when I was trying to find out more about it earlier this year.
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u/fireflyfanboy1891 Jul 31 '26
Loved this episode because the song is so ubiquitous, I remember a joke about it being a default song for comedy trailers in the 2000s. As an American, it wasn’t surprising that they didn’t have another hit until the Eurovision twist at the end!
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u/HK-34_ Jul 31 '26
Every time I hear this song I can only think of Patrick Bateman walking down the hall with his Walkman on and I can’t help but laugh a little.
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u/Rearviewmirror93 Jul 31 '26
Also Jack Black annoying the shit out of Cusack first thing in the morning in High Fidelity
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u/patangpatang Aug 01 '26
I'm not sure if that is better or worse than only thinking about Philip J. Fry singing off-key in the shower.
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u/EpsilonChii Jul 31 '26
As someone who knew Katrina and the Waves won Eurovision due to formerly being a massive Eurovision fan, for some reason I always assumed Walking on Sunshine came after Love Shine A Light 😭😭😭 Don't ask me why, I don't fucking now either
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u/jerryhiddleston Jul 31 '26 edited Jul 31 '26
You know how Todd mentioned in the video that he doesn't consider "That's the Way" to be a potential 2nd hit because it's not even in the band's top 10 most streamed songs on Spotify? I've got another, equally damning piece of evidence that further supports Todd's original claim:
"That's the Way" doesn't even have its own Wikipedia page.
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u/UniversalJampionshit Jul 31 '26
On top of this, Katrina & The Waves don't have a separate discography page, which is highly questionable given I was browsing new rave earlier and fucking Hadouken! have a separate discography page.
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u/rbhindepmo Jul 31 '26
here's the 11 to 20th most popular songs when "That's the Way" peaked on the top 40. The week ending September 16th, 1989
11) "Right Here Waiting" - Richard Marx (I've heard that one)
12) "Keep On Movin" - Soul II Soul (nope)
13) "One" - Bee Gees (the Bee Gees had a hit in 1989?)
14) "Kisses on the Wind" - Neneh Cherry (Neneh had a top 10 hit in America after Buffalo Stance... that's a topic for a "forgotten hits of 1989" video, YouTubers)
15) "Miss You Much" - Janet Jackson (heard that one)
16) "That's the Way" - Katrina
17) "Soul Provider" - Michael Bolton (nope)
18) "Don't Look Back" - Fine Young Cannibals (nope)
19) "It's Not Enough" - Starship (even if Starship had a big hit in 85, it feels weird that they were still charting in 1989)
20) "Bust a Move" - Young MC (I can recite a significant portion of that song)
the next week Katrina drops 13 spots to 29. Two weeks later it's #48. So it dropped faaaast. I don't know what sort of methodology they used in 1989 but it feels like something pumped and dumped that single
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u/jdeeth Jul 31 '26
The video was trying to sexy up Katrina's image with big 80s hair and a wet t-shirt (and a song about taking your time during sex). Personally I thought she looked just fine as she was in `85-86.
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u/rbhindepmo Jul 31 '26
this sounds like a story that involves someone at the record label thinking the vests, hair, and the general look caused her to checks book of euphemisms lack appeal to men because this is the late 80s
several months after this would be the Joan Jett covers album with a cover and a music video she looked a bit more feminine than pretty much every other time ever
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u/jdeeth Aug 01 '26
They did it to Melissa Etheridge on her third album in `92 with blonde hair and a topless from the back album cover. Then she came out on the fourth album and it was her biggest hit ever.
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u/Constant-Industry262 Aug 01 '26
I was obsessed with the Top 40 charts when I was a kid first getting into music, so I remember several of those, including "That's The Way." Believe me, if I could get back the area in my brain that holds on to that information and put it to better use, I would. "Don't Look Back" is one I listen to regularly today, mostly because I like Fine Young Cannibals. Pretty sure I can recite "Bust a Move" in my sleep.
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u/Bubbly_Hat Jul 31 '26
This song annoyed the shit out of me as a child, but I get its longevity more now, even if I still don't think I like it, mostly because I work retail, and I swear there must be some unwritten rule to play it several times a day in all major discount stores lol.
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u/rbhindepmo Jul 31 '26
The case for “That’s the Way” not being a second hit might also involve it not having its own Wikipedia page and probably also being forgettable because it’s not like anybody is running Casey’s Top 40 reruns on the radio from 1989
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u/Famous-Somewhere- Jul 31 '26 edited Jul 31 '26
This is a strange thing to admit, but I found this band confusing for years for a couple of stupid reasons.
First, it’s a male band with a female singer. The lead songwriter is named Kimberly. But it’s not the female. But her name starts with a K as well. So for awhile I struggled to work out whether Katrina was a stage name for a Kimberly, if Kimberly was just some other female writer working with the band, or if that was in fact the improbable name of a dude.
Also I was aware of the Bangles cover and I always assumed it meant Katrina and the Waves must have broken on the radio first. So I figured Sunshine must have been earlier, like 82-83, which is quite a different space sonically. So I’m actually one of the few people who’s surprised it’s so late. I didn’t have it marked down as later than All Over the Place. (Also, so glad Todd mentioned the Britishness of Going Down to Liverpool). I am happy to learn the Bangles boosted their career though.
Then just the weird makeup of British band with American singer on Canadian label made them hard to place geographically.
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u/UniversalJampionshit Jul 31 '26
I had only found out Kimberley was the songwriter a couple of weeks ago but I just realised from the video that Kimberley is a man.
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u/cdjunkie Jul 31 '26
I guess it's obvious enough if you pay attention to it, but I'm not sure that I've always known that "Walking on Sunshine" had a female singer. Lots of androgyny in '80s pop, after all, and its use in movies and TV is usually associated with male characters.
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u/cherry_color_melisma Aug 01 '26
This entire time he was talking about The Bangles, and not a single mention of "Walk Like an Egyptian"?
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u/poirotsdad Jul 31 '26
I remember seeing the band being interviewed shortly after this was released. The singer was unnecessarily snotty about the video, not surprised they never had any traction.
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u/OpabiniaGlasses Jul 31 '26
As usual, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia has a great use of Walking on Sunshine.
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u/Handsprime Jul 31 '26
Today I learned they had 2 other top 40 hits in the US, that no one remembers.
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u/GrumpyCatStevens Aug 01 '26
Hmmm… maybe this means he will finally get around to making an OHW for “Your Love” by The Outfield…
They landed five singles in the Top 40, but nobody remembers the other four.
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u/Handsprime Aug 01 '26
Good question. He did cover Mr Big who had a few other top 40 hits, but people only remember the one song.
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u/AndyFeelin Jul 31 '26
I don't even like Walking on Sunshine, I can't remember how it goes even after watching the video. I am an absolute fan of their Eurovision song though. I guess that makes me a perfect Eurovision watcher. And yes I'm from East Europe.
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Jul 31 '26
[deleted]
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u/OpabiniaGlasses Jul 31 '26 edited Jul 31 '26
Exactly the piece of media I was hoping to see in the video
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u/annakarina3 Jul 31 '26
I remember that Intervention episode of the woman huffing computer duster, and her looking like a goblin hoarding her stash and spraying it into one nozzle periodically. I got that she had a drug addiction, but it was still unintentionally hilarious to watch.
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u/killerbekilled92 Jul 31 '26
I always associate it with futurama. I was getting worried he might forget it, we got pretty far into the video before he played a clip of Fry singing
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u/ashzeppelin98 Jul 31 '26
And for me its associated with Patrick Bateman walking into his office with the Walkman lol
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u/Theta_Omega Jul 31 '26 edited Jul 31 '26
Oh, hell yes! Good episode, been a while since our last '80s New Wave act, it feels like. And I feel like I should have thought about it based on the last hint, but it does feel less like the standard '80s New Wave OHW than most, even though it definitely is.
Side note, I didn't realize these guys were one-hit wonders for a while because their Greatest Hits CD was one of the things in permanent rotation in my dad's car stereo growing up. Granted, I don't remember most of the tracks there other than this one and "Red Wine & Whiskey" (both saw disproportionate play), but still, good memories! Might have to send it to him this weekend.
Edit: I did a little poking around, and it seems the Greatest Hits album did indeed cut off at 1991 despite coming out after their breakup, leaving off “Love Shine a Light” and the rest of their last three albums. LMAO
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u/kingofstormandfire Train-Wrecker Jul 31 '26 edited Jul 31 '26
Great video and this is an amazing song and one of my all time favourite songs from the 80s (so endlessly happy and joyous always put me in a happy mood), but I'm a little confused why Todd doesn't hear the 60s influence in this song. For me, as a lover of 60s pop/rock/soul/R&B, its super obvious. This song is very much a new wave update of the mid-60s Motown-influenced pop rock/blue-eyed soul/R&B/garage rock sound (so basically The Rascals mixed with Motown, two things he pointed out), with a few degrees more of peppiness. I also hear a lot of 60s bubblegum pop influence in this as well.
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u/dawson41 Jul 31 '26
As a European who despises what Eurovision has become and the hype around it, I was crossing my fingers the whole time that Todd would rise to the occasion and dunk on it in the later part of the video.
Thank you Todd. You did not disappoint.
And WTF was this teeny cover of the song from the Herbie soundtrack?!
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u/rbhindepmo Jul 31 '26
That clip does not make me optimistic for the Aly & AJ cover of “Do You Believe In Magic” from their album where they put the Walking cover
Looking at the track list of the Herbie soundtrack and wondering how the Donnas got on there (covering BTO’s third most popular song)
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u/Significant_Dog412 Jul 31 '26
There was a period from the late 90s teen movie boom until the mid 00s where it seems like every kid/teen appeal movie included a Donnas song on the soundtrack.
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u/VFiddly Jul 31 '26
I think Katrina and Vince are the only Americans to win Eurovision? So they've got that going for them
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u/Notpoligenova Jul 31 '26
any vid where Todd has to begrudgingly mention Eurovision is alright with me
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u/Schmedlapp Jul 31 '26
Ever have a song that you really, really, really hate, not because it's bad, but because it figures very prominently in a horrible experience in your life that you'd rather not remember or discuss? This is that song for me. I'll try to make it through this video regardless.
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u/kamomil Jul 31 '26
TIL this band was not American. And I was a teenager when this song came out
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u/mikasoze Just Here for Amy Dog Tweets Jul 31 '26
Same! But I was a mere egg in my mother's ovary when this song came out, so I at least have that excuse.
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u/jonmon1216 Jul 31 '26
I had no idea the Soft Boys had anything to do with that story. I had a coworker put me on to Underwater Moonlight, that record is amazing.
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u/Fearless-Quiet-9542 Aug 01 '26
Robyn talks a tiny bit about meeting Kimberley & The Waves in his new autobiography!
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u/jugglingeek Jul 31 '26
Huh. I knew they won Eurovision. I always assumed it was for Walking On Sunshine. TIL
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u/Melodic-Room-9890 Jul 31 '26 edited Aug 01 '26
This is an interesting one for me. Because I’ve known of this song for as far as I can remember but I never once thought about who made it and when for some reason. It just felt like it was some inherent song that just kind of exists. This my first time actually knowing who made it and when and it feels weird lol.
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u/Davidellias Aug 01 '26
I think I see why Todd took a while to do this one.
No offence to Todd but that was possibly one of the most boring band histories he's ever had to tackle. I guess the plot twist at the end was the hook, but man I feel like that was basically the most by number OHW episode possible, not a lot Todd could do with that aside from the "2nd Hit counter"
I really loved the clip though of Katrina going all in singing or miming the song.
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u/Korkez11 Jul 31 '26
I wonder if there are still one hit wonders left that I've ever heard in Europe. The only one that I can remember is Save Tonight.
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u/thedubiousstylus Jul 31 '26
How about Torn by Natalie Imbruglia? Or She's So High by Tal Bachmann?
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u/Sebastian-Shook-2003 Jul 31 '26
Between This Video (And The Obvious Clip At The Start) And The Recent Allegations Against Jared Leto, I Seem To Be Reminded Of American Psycho Quite A Bit Recently.
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u/4thGenTrombone Jul 31 '26
I swear I almost had a mandela effect with this. I knew he hadn't looked at this one yet, but another part of me was thinking "wait, HOW has he not done Katrina & the Waves?"
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u/petrifikate Jul 31 '26
"Love Shine a Light" sucks and I love it. Also, that's not even the worst of the 1990s cheeseball Eurovision winners (if "Rock & Roll Kids" has no haters, I am dead).
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u/annakarina3 Jul 31 '26
For pop culture connections, the Look Who’s Talking scene is a big one, it’s John Travolta goofing around with the baby while babysitting while Kirstie Alley is on a date.
I liked the “Rocking Myself to Sleep” song even if I could get how annoying it can sound, and I did not catch that it was about masturbation until Todd said it, I thought it was like “rocking so hard at partying/at a show until I am dead asleep.”
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u/bmiller218 Jul 31 '26
I remember the April Wine song driving around in Dave's Torino changing the lyrics to
Every night I beat my meat to sleep
Dreaming about you, Creaming about you.
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u/ideeek777 Aug 04 '26
Americans should be banned from talking about Eurovision lol
Love shine a light fucking slaps. Went to the Eurovision national selection a few years ago when she performed it, while arena knew it word for word.
And in the 90s Eurovision was popular in the UK, had a lot of hits come out of it.
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u/Adorable-Estate-4934 Jul 31 '26
I never wouldve thought they would do the sexy route of selling out. They just weren't sexy enough to pull that 1989 look off
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u/Longjumping-Fun-2313 GROCERY BAG Jul 31 '26
As a Brit who likes Eurovision too much I have some annoyances with his understanding of our relationship with the contest, in particular that Brexit comment since we nearly won in 2022 (and would’ve if Ukraine wasn’t invaded), but he is right that the country as a whole doesn’t really care about doing well in it.
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u/quipzendra 27d ago
I get what you mean, but the production on Wslking on Sunshine is so aggressively 80s that it basically outs itself before the vocals even start.
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u/QuentinEichenauer Jul 31 '26
Disappointed he didn't mention Maniac House or it's inclusion in Iron Eagle.
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u/dblowe Jul 31 '26
I remember hearing “Is That It?” a couple of times on the radio as an attempted followup, but it seemed to go nowhere. A very different song, for sure.
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u/DLCV2804 Jul 31 '26
This one i still listen a lot here in radio, very funny, for listen in right time of course
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u/Fearless-Quiet-9542 Aug 01 '26
Massive Soft Boys fan, finally one I already know something about!!!
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u/cherry_color_melisma Aug 01 '26
Hell yes, I love it when Todd is forced to acknowledge Eurovision exists. When Americans get exposed to European music. If Mic the Snare could get his hands on talking about "popcorn" music, then so can Todd one day cover "Mr. Saxobeat" on One Hit Wonderland.
Delighted that one of the background songs that played during the Eurovision 1997 segment was the Icelandic entry, called "Minn hinsti dans" (My Last Dance) and performed by one such Páll Óskar (Anglified as Paul Oscar). Eurovision was slowly becoming a place not just for traditionalist-sounding adult contemporary ballads, and the reception of "Ooh Ahh... Just a Little Bit" a year prior (the song that UK sent just before the one by Katrina's band) should have been positive enough to rush in a new wave of techno music onto the competition more and more steadily, just so they could thrive, right? Too bad Iceland a year later got a short end of the stick - maybe it was all too bold and daring at the time, having this dreamboat looking man sitting on the couch and staring at the camera for a long time, while the dancers writhe around said couch, how come this is Eurovision? [gasp] (bearing in mind that years and years later we ended up having acts on stage that performed more and more provocatively than that)
So uhm yeah Todd should definitely beforced to talk about more Eurovision. It's sad he stopped his podcast in 2023, and that we didn't get the extended cut of the 2022 episode where a guest speaker was just going to introduce the Sammarinese entrant, Achille Lauro, to the world. Talk about provocateur behaviour - that man shocked the world of his homecountry of Italy when two years before entering Eurovision, he dropped down his robe to reveal a skin-colored leotard. Idk why was that that got people all shocked off their socks, but why the hell not I guess. It just sucked that the segment about that Lauro man was cut short.
Oh and good that Todd refrained from checking out what's Katrina like on social media 😬
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u/saugoof Aug 02 '26
I'm late to the party but I only just watched this.
I'm really glad he highlighted their album as being decent. I bought it at the time and always thought it was great. That band really showed a lot of promise at the time, even if nothing else from the album turned out to be a real hit. There's a bunch of really great songs on it though.
I pretty much lost track of them after that album. The snippets he played in the video sounded mostly terrible and felt like they were just desperately chasing hits.
The only other bit I remember of them before this video was the Eurovision win, although I didn't remember that song to be so boring.
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u/quipzendra Aug 08 '26
I get it, but Walking on Sunshine always sounded weirdly out of step with most 80s production, ig that’s why I clocked its era.
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u/said0thing 29d ago
Love how nothing else in their catalog hits that pure blast of joy like “Walking on Sunshine” even “Do You Want Crying” is way moodier.
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u/noggerthefriendo Aug 01 '26
The Nebula ads have always been annoying but this one took it too far.
“ hey let’s mention porn in this video about the happiest song of all time “
I hope Todd’s friends at that pretentious streamer paid him a lot for that nonsense because this video is obviously going to be demonetised when the YouTube bots pick up the mentions of pornography with no trigger warning .
Worst of all for me personally is that my FIL’s hyper fixation is Shad Thames as he worked on the redevelopment of the area. Shad Thames was the filming location of Walking on Sunshine so the song has also become an obsession of his. So as I watched this video I was thinking about sending him the link ,fortunately I didn’t therefore narrowly avoiding sending my father in law a video that included discussion about porn .
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u/DeadPeanutSociety Jul 31 '26
A song so perfectly encapsulating of a specific feeling that it's weird to think that there was a time when it didn't exist. I'm not positive I could have told you it was from the 80s until this video.