» 1980s » Funkytown – Pseudo Echo
Funkytown – Pseudo Echo
Sometimes a one-hit wonder is so good, it becomes a one-hit wonder for two bands.
That’s what happened with “Funkytown.”
Lipps Inc. released the original version of “Funkytown” in 1980 and it spent spent four weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Listen to the original version of “Funkytown” by Lipps Inc.
Seven years later, the magic of “Funkytown” hit the ears of listeners yet again with a significantly less interesting and less enduring version by Australian band Pseudo Echo. This little four-piece band gave “Funkytown” a decidedly more rock sound. To our ears, it’s decidedly more lame.
America’s radio listeners obviously disagreed as Pseduo Echo’s version of “Funkytown” hit #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the summer of 1987. We blame the popularity of the song on the summer season: kids that spent a good chunk of their time in swimming pools had ears full of water that somehow made “Funkytown” sound much better then than it does now.
You be the judge.
Listen to “Funkytown”
Buy “Funkytown”
Written by Michael Waterman
I'm an obsessive music collector, cataloger, commenter and trivia nut. Sometimes I'm even a listener. One-hit wonders have always been a guilty pleasure.
Filed under: 1980s · Tags: 1987, Funkytown, Lipps Inc., one hit wonder, Pop, Pseudo Echo, Rock
Five years before they butchered Funky Town, Pseudo Echo was one of those unknown bands known only to in-the-know “Modern Rock” experts like myself. Their 1982 debut, Autumnal Park, was an early 80s synth gem. (You have to check out the video for “A Beat For You” or “Listening” at YouTube. It’s early 80s Duran Duran meets A Flock of Seagulls meets ABC meets Big Country. You get the picture.)
I had a 5th-generation dubbed copy of Autumnal Park and made several more copies for my Middle School friends. They were one of those bands I’d trot out to one-up someone else, “Oh yeah, but have you heard of Pseudo Echo?”
And then Funky Town happened.
That’s always a sad day when you a band you discovered and loved becomes popular with a lame hit. I hated the Funky Town the moment I heard it. Compared to the Lipps Inc. version, I still consider it one of the worst cover tunes ever.