10 Greatest One-Hit Wonders Of The '80s
5. Fiction Factory - "(Feels Like) Heaven"
For a country with a relatively small population, Scotland has always massively overperformed when it comes to producing great music. And while Fiction Factory certainly wouldn’t be the first name you reached for when reeling off their finest exports, their single “(Feels Like) Heaven” is a magnificent slice of melancholic northern ‘80s pop.
A dramatic, serious single in the vein of more successful compatriots Simple Minds, “(Feels Like) Heaven” combines “Let’s Dance” era Bowie bass, slick synths, and a brilliantly simple falsetto chorus to create a sensitive anthem both melancholic and uplifting.
The tune wasn’t an enormous hit at the time, but it has lasted well, not tied too tight to the excesses of the ‘80s and aging well as a result.
The band couldn’t yield another song of similar impact on their two albums and split shortly after their second release, but they reunite from time to time with the sole purpose of playing this song to festival crowds. Not the most glamorous of existences perhaps, but this tune is synth pop royalty.