10 Greatest One Hit Wonders Of The 1980s
6. Turning Japanese - The Vapors
Once the '70s started to die down, the next phase of rock and roll seemed to be coming out of the new wave scene. Since the punk wave started to quickly implode in on itself after the Clash started falling apart, we had people like Devo putting their weird stamp on the genre and actually scoring hits on the charts. Even though we seemed to have a pretty high tolerance for weird, Turning Japanese is toeing right up to that line.
From rumors about illusions to masturbation to having nothing to do with Japan, the Vapors' only hit is still one of the most confusing songs to ever get on the charts. For as many weird parts of this song are accounted for, the song itself is pretty much bulletproof, with an unbeatable chorus melody and not a single wasted guitar fill in sight.
When they reached the top though, the Vapors' days were already numbered, with every rock cliche from the band members hating each other to shoddy business deals sending their next album to the wrong side of relevancy before it was even released. It doesn't seem to really matter though. When you launch something this strange into pop culture, you aren't going to forget about it anytime soon.