SUSAN FASSBENDER
(UK, one Top 40 hit, no Top 40 albums)

Put this mysterious sort into the great one-hit wonders category, alongside Alphaville and Baltimora. The song "Twilight Cafe" ("there's only one place I can think of to go") only made No.21 in '81, but was a smart, dark and unregimented piece of techno-pop with Fassbender's vocals disguised big-style by whatever studio toys were available at the time. Never seen nor heard of again, but a great piece of pop poetry was left behind.

Biggest Hit: "Twilight Cafe", No.21, 1981
Defining Moment: A stunning legacy from a short career.

FAT BOYS
(US, two Top 40 hits, no Top 40 albums)

ROTUND, BRUISING Yanks of little genuine rapping gift or integrity, who managed to score No.2 hits in '87 and '88 after pulling on some tarpaulin-sized flowery shirts and roping in the Beach Boys and Chubby Checker on to a cutting respectively. The Beach Boys harmonised over their insane, flatulent rantings on "Wipeout" ("we got the surfboard, took the beach ball out") and Checker then revitalised his 60s dance craze on "The Twist (Yo, Twist)" ("Chubby Checker and the Fat Boooooys"). Funny to watch in action, difficult to listen to as they buggered up timeless classics.

Biggest Hit: "Wipeout", "The Twist (Yo Twist)", both No.2, 1987 and 1988
Defining Moment: "Wipe-it-out, wipe-wipe, wipe-it-out, wah-wah-wipe...."

PHIL FEARON AND GALAXY
(UK, five Top 40 hits, one Top 40 album)

Grinning dreadlocked frontman of unfocussable soul-jaunt combo who secured a reasonable longevity from '84, considering how changeable the pop industry was becoming. Fearon's likeable, upbeat personality probably had a big effect, as first single "Dancing Tight" got instant acclaim (and a No.4 spot) in '83, followed by the less impacted "Wait Until Tonight (My Love)". The following year was their best, with the almost too twee "What Do I Do" ("no matter how I try, you always keep me waiting") hitting No.5, quickly pursued by the beautiful childhood-sweetheart story "Everybody's Laughing" ("they say that I don't have what it takes to make you love me, all the same I just have to try"). When both '85 releases flopped, it look like the game was up, but somehow they clawed back with the strongest melody of the lot in '86, the unusual "I Can Prove It" ("have you had enough, are you sad enough") in which all the verses were sung by backing vocalists while Fearon (now credited alone, though Galaxy were still lapdogging) merely pitched in with the bridge and chorus. It worked - it reached No.8 and gave the genuinely watchable Fearon a momentous send-off.

Biggest Hit: "Dancing Tight", No.4, 1983
Defining Moment: "Wha-do-ah-do if I wanna get through-do-yoooooo?"

WILTON FELDER
(US, one Top 40 hit, no Top 40 albums)

Yank saxophone-caresser whose one tiny foray was a No.39 hit in '80 called "Inherit The Wind". Bobby Womack sang on it, but we recall nothing else. Any more for us?

Biggest Hit: "Inherit The Wind", No.39, 1980
Defining Moment: You tell us.

KAREL FIALKA
(UK, one Top 40 hit, no Top 40 albums)

Uncomfortable-looking slaphead preacher who used his young son's TV viewing habits to tell broadcasters to be more careful about their scheduling decisions. His son was called Matthew, who wore pyjamas in the video and reeled off a list of his favourite shows in the chorus of "Hey Matthew" ("I see Dallas, Dynasty, Terrahawks, He-Man, Tom and Jerry...") while pa inexplicably asked his infant son in the verses what he wanted to do when he grew up. The idea of an under-ten child making a conscious decision to go to street-fighter college on leaving school was utterly ludicrous, as was the single. Needless to say, it was his only hit (and probably sold well due to 'awww' factor), with his only other foray seven years earlier flopping like a good 'un.

Biggest Hit: "Hey Matthew", No.9, 1987
Defining Moment: "Do you see the guns, do you see the bombs..."

FICTION FACTORY
(UK, one Top 40 hit, no Top 40 albums)

Middling combo who never kept up with the mid-80s glut of male phwooar-factor bands, though their one hit remains a beauty. "(Feels Like) Heaven" ("twisting the bones until they snap") reached No.6, has one of the most instantly recognisable intros of the decade, goes on to just about every retro 80s compilation album and has been brutally re-hashed for a number of cheap radio adverts for a local carpet firm or shopping mall.

Biggest Hit: "(Feels Like) Heaven", No.6, 1984
Defining Moment: "Heaven is closer, heaven is closer..."

FIELDS OF THE NEPHILIM
(UK, two Top 40 hits, one Top 40 album)

We can't think why (probably because it was '88 and we hated the charts then) but our recollection of this lot is zero. Can you help?

Biggest Hit: "Moonchild", No.28, 1988
Defining Moment: None yet.

FINE YOUNG CANNIBALS
(UK, seven Top 40 hits, two Top 40 albums)

Top-drawer trio comprising of unmouthwashed vocalist and occasional actor Roland Gift and ex- Beat twangers David Steele and Andy Cox. Gift's squawky tones delivered a selection of bouncy, uncontroversial lyrics over thumpy basslines and single string chords, with many a tune heavily plundered by fetching bits of trumpet and cliffhanging drums. First hit "Johnny Come Home" ("Johnny we're sorry, won't you come on home") took an age to climb to its '85 peak of No.8 but it set the seal on a decent, slow-burning career which never, probably to their own relief, got quite the A-list status it merited. With guitarist Steele developing a hilarious bodypopping- spider choreography for on TOTP (Gift and Steele, wisely, just did the usual indifferent leg movements), it got them noticed enough to keep plugging away, even after the blatantly anti-Thatch wristslasher "Blue" quite rightly peaked outside the 40. Back they came, unperturbed, with the awesome folk-esque cover of "Suspicious Minds"  ("we're caught in a trap, I can't walk out") which featured Jimmy Somerville on backing vocals, yet they again flopped with the next release "Funny How Love Is". In '87, they returned with a one-off cover of the Buzzcocks' timeless "Ever Fallen In Love" ("with someone you shouldn't have fallen in love with") which paid due homage to the original and returned them to the Top 10. Eventually, they got their deserved acclaim with the best album of '89 "The Raw And The Cooked" which spawned two final Top 10 hits, the first of which remains their best-known and most played tune "She Drives Me Crazy"  ("and I can't help myself"), duly complemented by "Good Thing"  ("where have you gone?") which initially featured in so-so movie Tin Men. Gift was, by now, doing a lot of thespianising, so little more came from them once their final 80s hit "I'm Not The Man I Used To Be" ("wonder why I'm drinking?") peaked at No.20, a disappointing placing considering it was their most adultly seminal song. Remembered for an astonishing vocal talent and a rubbery guitarist, but also, more crucially, for producing terrific hits which managed to cross the boundary between commercial success and discerning appreciation. They came up smelling of roses on all counts, and should be congratulated.

Biggest Hit: "She Drives Me Crazy", No.5, 1989
Defining Moment: All three sinking to their knees during the drumroll on "Johnny Come Home".