ONE HIT WONDERLAND: "She Blinded Me with Science" by Thomas Dolby
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ก.พ. 2025
- And now a look back at the surprisingly long and varied career of the guy who made the novelty song about love and science!
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Thomas Dolby visited my school a few months back and was asked if he was irritated that most people only know She Blinded Me with Science. Thomas Dolby then said that he's not annoyed by it at all because he is quite proud of the song. He currently starting a program at John Hopkins Peabody Institute on programing soundtracks in virtual reality, computer games, augmented reality, etc.. He's a pretty cool dude and I even got his autograph.
Joyful Amoeba man, I'm so jealous! I've been obsessed with Dolby since I was a little kid. My aunt got to meet him at one of his shows a few years ago and sent me a T-shirt
You lucky son of a gun. Great story.
Well, yeah. Unlike a ton of other one-hit wonders, that song opened so many doors for him
That is so incredibly cool! Not only that you got to meet him and get his autograph, but it's awesome to hear that he's starting an interesting and unique program at a prestigious university.
if only my teachers were retired 80s pop stars(
"Good heavens, Mrs. Sakamoto" wasn't just any Japanese girl. It was the wife for Ryuichi Sakamoto who was also a pioneer in synthesizers and keyboards (who won an Oscar for The Last Emperor). Apparently Dolby stayed at Sakamoto's house at one point.
Make me wonder if he had a Gary Larson situation where he mentioned Jane Goodall that got everyone up in arms. Except Jane Goodall who found it a good laugh.
The guy from Yellow Magic Orchestra and Merry Christmas Mr. Laurence?
@@theoneandonlymichaelmccormick That's the guy!
@@theoneandonlymichaelmccormick And the Ralph Fiennes/Juliette Binoche version of Wuthering Heights.
@@jenniferschillig3768 Fuck, I don’t think I’ve even seen that one.
"Did he deserve better?"
One could argue that his entire life was a hit. He has done so many things that has helped shaped the way we listen to music. We could only dream of doing one thing that is memorable or impactful. So, to answer the question, I think he has done very well.
I think, "Did he deserve better", usually means, "Should they have had more than one hit." Todd says, "Eh, I didn't get him, so no." But as an American who loved "...Science" and by extension "Hyperactive" and "Howard the Duck" because they were the other borderline hits he had, I say he did deserve better. If only so I could have heard more of him before I grew old and the Internet age reintroduced his other music to me.
He’s a hero to me, but, allow this....... he is ultimately responsible for crazy frog. Back then, when a mobile/cell phone rang, D’you think he got royalties?🤣🤣🤣
@@PapaVanTwee5 not to mention his production work on other band’s albums. He produced arguably one of the greatest albums ever to come out of the uk- ‘Steve McQueen’ album of Prefab Sprout. Over-Excellent in my opinion?
@@duneideannaer5990 Yes, that too. Here's something you may be interested in. Ron "Boogiemonster" Gerber from the community radio show Crap From The Past on KFAI in Minneapolis doing an interview with Dolby in 2006: archive.org/details/cftp-2006-05-19
@@PapaVanTwee5 Thank you. Yeah, I shall be checking that out. Cheers 👍🏼
Odd fact: Dolby also played the part of The Schoolmaster in The Wall live 1990 in Berlin. It’s a sight to see. He’s in a harness, about 50 feet up with long legs and arms dangling down
Omg this guy did everything 🤯
@@MrManProduction Thomas Dolby has been anywhere and everywhere.
@@HolyGoddessMotherAnne here there any everywhere
@@MrManProduction Thomas Dolby till the end of all time itself.
@@HolyGoddessMotherAnne Thomas Dolby is truly the most interesting man in the world. Dos Equis.
"Did he deserve better?"
He didn't NEED 'better' than the career he already had. A bit more recognition from the mainstream audience maybe, but yeah.
When you've jammed with both David Bowie AND Parliament Funkadelic, you've nowhere to go but down from there.
One of my favorite things about this series is how it highlights people who had AWESOME careers which just happened to mostly run beneath the cultural radar, aside from one brief moment where they became visible.
The Golden age of wireless is great, man definately should've been bigger
Magnus Pike! A staple of children’s educational tv in the 70s/80s.
I watched this video about a year ago and since then Thomas Dolby has unironically become one of my favorite artists. Thanks Todd.
He blinded you with science?
Yeah i fell down the rabbit hole, i got thomas dolby on laserdisc
Hyperactive > She blinded me with science. Prove me wrong
@@LouerTube In my personal opinion,best Dolby song is one of his lesser known ones, Field Work by Thomas Dolby featuring Ryuichi Sakamoto, specifically the Tokyo mix which has a distinct sakamoto like sound helped by Dolby's great vocals.
@@anneupfold8577 I finally listened to this, you're very right.
And as helpful Wikipedia tells me: "In March 2014, Dolby was named Homewood Professor of the Arts at Baltimore's Johns Hopkins University."
So in the end he became a legit professor. Not exactly a scientist, but close enough.
Thomas Dolby actually came to my school a few months back to endorse his course at Baltimore's Johns Hopkins University. Pretty cool and fascinating dude.
I mean, it's Johns Hopkins. That's a pretty darn close enough hit.
Many scientists are professors and many professors are scientists. But not all professors are scientists and not all scientists are professors.
.... yeah he’s here alright, as a professor of Music for New Media at Peabody Conservatory
He has developed actual new audio technology, so I'm content to call him a scientist.
The Aliens Ate My Buick album has one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard, "Budapest By Blimp". Soft atmospheric tone, poignant lyrics, a verse in Hungarian, and a whole feeling of half-sunlight on a crisp fall day. Very lovely, very underrated Dolby song.
It's absolutely stunning.
I love that song!
Love Budapest by Blimp
My favorite album
Thanks for the recommendation! I went off and listened to it after reading your comment and fell in love with it. I love his production work too, specifically Jordan: The Comeback by Prefab Sprout. It has a similar atmosphere to Budapest By Blimp.
What I think is really cool about these reviews is that, while some stories ended in tragedy, many of these one-hit wonders actually go on to have music careers, even if they’re not “stars” anymore. I think there’s this misconception in the arts that you’ve failed at your job unless people know your name, which just isn’t true. You can be a writer, a musician, an actor, whatever, and get by just fine without being famous for it.
girl in the basement 👌 this is a fantastic summary of what makes Dolby so fantastic
One of my favorite examples of this is Duncan "Barely Breathing" Sheik winning a Tony Award for "Spring Awakening."
They can have careers behind the scenes, but that doesn't mean they're necessarily happy. An example is Mike Posner. See Todd's review of "I Took A Pill In Ibiza" (remix).
@@emir0721 behind the scenes? It's not a choice between international super stardom and "behind the scenes"
Millions of professional musicians make a living in front of the scenes
One great example of what you've mentioned (BTS success) is Travis Horn formerly of The Buggles. He actually went into forming that group solely to break into music production and has gone on to shape much of our music all the way into the present day! He's produced for acts as big as Britney Spears, among others...oh yeah...The Buggles are alive and well, just not performing your Top Ten hits no...Mr. Horn is PRODUCING your Top Ten hits! 😁😂
When Run The Jewels, all these years later, shout you out with "that's not a brag, that's SCIENCE!" in a pretty damn good Magnus Pyke impersonation, you know you done good.
Huge Dolby fan here, by the way. I've always referred to Devin Townsend as the Thomas Dolby Of Metal.
@Luke Ha! Yeah, well, I guess diversity begets diversity. Gotta keep moving, right brother?
Just wanted 2 add both Dolby & Pyke
have had ties 2 Hip Hop 4 a while.
This song got sampled by Mobb Deep
in Got It Twisted.
& realized...
That "this is a journey into sound"
which has been sampled
from Rakim on? That's Pyke!
God I love Devy. They do seem to share a lot of creative sensibilities
Now for a short list of things she blinded me with
1. Science
BoyNamedSue4 2: More Science
@@OutOfTheShadows1, 3. OF COURSE!!!!!!! Don't you know anything about science?
Curse you science! *Shakes fist*
2. Mace
2. A diet lacking in Vitamin A and only ever meeting me after sunset
"One Of Our Submarines" is one of the myriad of beautiful songs that I would never have known about were it not for this channel. Thanks, Todd.
It's one of my favorite songs. Such a shame that more people don't know it
I have come from the future to tell you that "myriad" works like "many," i.e. "myriad songs," not "myriad of songs"
"She failed me in biology."
Oh dear...
"Fucked my teacher, called it tutory."
Stupid Google Does that mean she was a teacher or is it saying something far more unfortunate?
@@joelbaldwin4051 It implies he has a small dick, and at worse can't even make it work.
@@NEEDbacon "I gave her the D; she gave me a D-."
She gave him food poisoning?
His work with prefab sprout shouldn’t be overlooked, the album Steve McQueen is incredible.
And Jordan The Comeback
Hey, he produced The King of Rock 'n' Roll! That's really cool.
Was looking for this comment! Prefab sprout deserve all the love in the world
The album was marketed as "two Wheels good" in the States because of legal complaint of the McQueen estate
You forgot to mention that Dolby originally wrote "Hyperactive" for none other than Michael Jackson before he decided to perform it himself. And let us not forget its prominent appearance on the GTA VICE CITY soundtrack.
I can imagine Michael doing it even better.
@@ninjabluefyre3815 I love 💘 Michael... You can tell by my channel. And yet, it would have been unique, but I just can't see it. I do wish I could have heard him song it though! 😂👍
@@ninjabluefyre3815 But would Michael's hand puppet have played the nose trombone better?
On a more serious note, is it possible that not getting this song changed Jackson's career? Hyperactive was released in 1984, and Jackson didn't have a new album until 1987 with Bad. Maybe the song was just being preloaded for Bad, but maybe there was supposed to be an album in the 1984-85 range that didn't happen due to lack of material? Jackson himself seems to be more interested in business than recording in that period. It makes me wonder, in any event.
It also makes me curious what a duet between Jackson and Dolby would've sounded like.
Did you know that he produced whodini's magic wand wich is also on gta vice City. And also magic wand was a hit in the dance chart.
I KNEW it sounded kinda familiar to me! GTA loves putting slightly obscure nuggets every once in a while, especially in GTAIV.
I respect the hell out of him for just doing whatever he wanted.
Essentially Thomas Dolby became the multimedia version of Trevor Horn in that besides doing work for other great artists, he made advancements in technology outside music!
Bowie mentions Dolbie by name when introducing the band before Heroes.
Hate to be a grammar nazi but it's Dolby*,that is true and good one.
Dork Funk is perfect!!!!
And Magnus Pyke was an amazing scientist, he worked for the Ministry of Food and in 1945, following the war, suggested using excess human blood supplies to make black pudding (sausage) for the masses.
Soylent green!!!!
Wow that’s so aweso… wait excess WHAT NOW?!?
I like the idea of kindly harvesting a little bit of spilt human blood, and not, y'know, the real truth of it.
You missed a pretty big connection (and you even dubbed in the line). "Good heavens Ms. Sakamoto, you're beautiful!" As in the wife of Ryuichi Sakamoto, who was in on the recording, and worked with Dolby on some other projects. When he wasn't composing the soundtrack for (and co-starring opposite David Bowie in) "Merry Christmas Mister Lawrence" oh, and splitting the Oscar for the Score of the Last Emperor. Nerd keyboardists stick together..
I was impressed by Dolby’s foray into nerdy science-based cooking television with his show “Good Eats” in the 2000s.
How did Neil Young and Rick James wind up playing in the same band in Toronto?
Thomas dolby, re-animator, real ghostbusters, this episode has everything i love
I can even hear a lifted riff that they used in the Ghostbusters
From what I've come to understand, One of our Submarines is about his Uncle, the family tale being that the submarine was out performing maneuvers and hit the bottom (That being the story as he knew it when he wrote the song.) The submarine went missing. It's literally in the song: "One of our submarines is missing tonight. Seems she ran aground on maneuvers." I did go to relook up that story and apparently he's recently learned what actually happened: it was sunk by Italian depth charges. The wreck was located this year, which is pretty darn cool.
"I was way ahead of the times in fetishizing Asian women."
Insert your own Rivers Cuomo joke.
Goddamn
The Phagus Show I see what you did there.
@@pphaguss I am.
Who?
It was a combined effort. Dolby did in the mainstream, Descendants did it in the underground.
I was at a taping during the first season of The Big Bang Theory. There is an entertainer who keeps the audience from getting too bored during the three-hour session. Somehow, I found myself in a dance contest, and the first contender was a legit bhangra movie dancer. So I was doomed. But I said that I was a physics teacher, and that got the crowd on my side. The MC asked me if I danced a lot, and I replied, "i danced. Once. In 1982." Just before my music started, the MC whispered in my ear "Take your shirt off, they'll love it." The music started, and holy crap, it was She Blinded Me With Science. The music guy was obviously on my side. I jumped around, and ripped off my shirt (ruining a favorite Eddie Bauer shirt - but it was worth it) and did a failed hand-stand and the crowd screamed with laughter. Actually a real highlight in my life that needed this song.
That's awesome. They were originally going to use She Blinded Me With Science as the theme for TBBT, it was used in the first Pilot before being replaced with the Barenaked Ladies song.
This, weird science by Oingo Boingo, and I am a scientist by the dandy Warhols are playing constantly in the SCP foundation.
Pajamapants Jack I'll take that as canon
And in Black Mesa too: th-cam.com/video/FEZzVsAabZw/w-d-xo.html
Pajamapants Jack is... is that Sydney....
JorWat25 one of my favorite Yahtzee videos
Check out "I like little girls" by Oingo Boingo.
One of Our Submarines is a stunningly beautiful synthpop song.
I adore "The Golden Age of Wireless". There's so many interesting songs on that album. Dolby's been called the Godfather of Steampunk, and I have to agree.
Phenomenal album
My grandma worked in a music store in '82 and got me a copy from England. The first issue with him jumping off a stage if I remember. It had the guitar version of Radio Silence. All those songs are still in my playlist.
"It's poetry in motion
" -- I always took the lyrics as meaning the geometric shape in motion and pheromones of a woman are triggering chemical releases in his brain that activate sexual arousal clouding his judgement, literally blinding him with science.
Also after first seeing this video I randomly found a cassette tape of this album in my house that has been collector of clutter of the many past residents and I happen to have a tape player in my vehicle. This album is fucking fantastic, I thought it would be shit from the snippets you played on this video but it turns out its a balls to the fucking wall new wave classic. It has deep inherit nerdiness and is straight up Mega Man/Sonic The Hedgehog music years before Ninetndo or Sega Genesis. Sonically designed to be booming and constantly shifting in tonal layers, so surprised I liked it so much but it's great. Thanks.
Your first paragraph summarizes the song perfectly 👏
Dolby is the best. Just weird enough for the weirdos, just listenable enough for the squares. 'Budapest by Blimp' always breaks my heart a little bit when it comes on shuffle play.
Love that song!!
Hauntingly beautiful song with the best intro chords ever.
Okay, just watched this the whole way through. Just want to ad, he is a freaking professor at Johns-Hopkins University. Seriously.
Thomas Dolby's influence on music--especially electronic music--from the late 1970s through the mid-1990s cannot be overstated.
As I said in an earlier post, his only rival during that period is Larry Fast.
Anyone remember the Video Killed the Radio Star video? Remember that other band that did it? The Camera Club?
Thomas Dolby was a member of that band. In fact, Dolby was playing the Keyboards in the clip.
George Clinton helped write Hot Sauce, and in fact the "Brother in the codpiece, I seen him on the TV. I think he likes his ladies all sweet and sugary" line was a quick diss to Cameo, who had just released Candy the year before.
Bruce Wooley and the Camera Club, although the group broke up and The Buggles are the ones that had the hit with that song. Dolby also wrote _New Toy_ for Lene Lovich.
Dolby did synthesizers for The Wall: Live in Berlin in 1990. He even had a solo on Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2.
it's all part of One Hit Wonderland cinematic universe (OHWCU)
Dolby also wrote and preformanced Mirror Song for the Robin Williams movie Toys. Featuring... Trevor Horn of the Buggles!
It's definitely one of the greatest "strange" songs of all time.
It defies all labels and genres. I have no idea what category it falls into, and wouldn't know how to even dance to it.
In spite of all that, it's still a great song.
I've never considered it a "novelty" song. It's part of New Wave to me.
The Cinema Snob cameo on Todd makes this officially one of my favorite episodes.
Is it bad I was hoping for a cameo from Noah as Dr. Insano?
Âmesang A few years ago that wouldve been possible, now noah is probably not too eager to work with anyone.
wstine79 Dang, I haven't seen him in years!
When Todd said his friend considered this his favorite song, I didn't expect it to be Brad. But now, it makes complete sense. Of course the guy who genuinely loves Caligula and once ate a 30 year old Reggie Bar on camera for views also loves She Blinded Me With Science.
@@razzdarkstar You mean nobody is eager to work with Noah!
What’s so funny and amazing to me is he could have done any other genre, he was very hot and a pretty good singer, but this dude chose nerd synth. That isn’t bad but I could see him doing so much other shit when I see his face and synth genius, nerd, and one of most accomplished keyboard players isn’t what comes to mind first.
He's on the faculty at the Peabody Institute now, heading the Music For New Media program. His dad was a professor, his siblings were professors, now he's a professor too!
Thomas Dolby was a staple on KROQ radio in LA, so I know a lot of his other songs. Golden Age Of Wireless is my favorite album from him. :)
i love these episodes where we find out the artist is a super legit person. i'm definitely looking his weird shit and his ted talks now. AND ROCKULA! Thanks for sharing this glorious geek with us
Golden Age of Wireless is legit one of my favorite albums - and Submarines is probably the best track. Aliens Ate My Buick is an amazing album too, for taking that Dolby goodness and injecting it with that serious funk.
Thomas Dolby is an absolute genuis of a producer and is responsible for producing one of my favorite '80s albums by my favorite pop band, Prefab Sprout's Steve McQueen. Dude will always be the MVP to me.
Hear, hear. Steve McQueen is up there alongside Aztec Camera's debut and Simple Minds' New Gold Dream as 80s pop records that just sweep you away when you hear them. Gorgeous stuff.
Prefab Sprout are incredibly underrated, great band!
Yeah! Faron Young, Appetite, Goodbye Lucille, When the Angels... Legendary!
Prefab Sprout, is definetly one of the greatest bands on earth. And the perfect sound of Steve McQueen and Jordan: The Comeback wouldn't have been possible without Dolby's production
Genuinely amazed King of Rock n Roll has never been on here yet
Besides Oingo Boingo, "Hyperactive" sounds like something from a Super Nintendo game. It particularly reminds me of the Battle Mode music from SNES Mario Kart.
MGS5: The Phantom Pain introduced me to this song, now, whenever I hear it, I picture Big Boss riding his horse through the mountains of 1980s Afghanistan, while avoiding the guard posts of Soviet soldiers.
SerialK⁸⁶ Wait a minute, seriously?
Crazy Luigi ummm...yes?
SerialK⁸⁶ Hey, me too!
Which, of course, was what Thomas Dolby intended all along.
Yeah that’s the only reason people know this song
I don't know what it is, but at 8:09, Todd saying "My watch has a calculator on it!" always gets me. I think it's the delivery, just this perfectly incredulous tone of voice. I wanna take that clip and make it my text message sound on my phone.
His second album, "The Flat Earth", is an overlooked classic. He also released an autobiography recently that I recommend reading, because the dude had a varied and interesting career.
Thomas Dolby is one of my favorite 80s artists. One thing I noticed recently about this song is that the narrator is talking about being in love with a SMART CHICK. Probably a professor. "She failed me in geometry" and "she failed me in biology". She's smarter than he is...and he finds that SEXY. Talk about forward thinking! Also, Thomas Dolby is NOT a one-hit wonder. "One of our Submarines" may not have been as big as "She Blinded Me with Science" but "Hyperactive" (from The Flat Earth) was amazing. I also really liked "I Scare Myself". But then, my musical tastes are pretty broad and atypical. I don't know if I am a music nerd...okay yeah maybe I am.
Mate if youre watching a 20 minute documentary on Thomas Dolby with any degree of investment, you are, in fact, a music nerd. From one to another, I'm glad to find someon who enjoys Dilby as much as I do
It does feel weird if we go too long without an 80s One Hit Wonderland. But I am looking forward to all the 90s OHW!! I imagine the next time Todd opens requests everyone will start requesting 2000s ringtone rap songs/pop clones.
I doubt we'll get a lot of ringtone rap requests; that shit was so interchangeable it wasn't even funny. Plus, 80's and 90's music had the potential to be fucking weird with their music so it can make for very interesting videos... very few 2000's ringtone rap had very interesting stories; bare in mind, he's only knocked out 2 ringtone rappers and only one of them wound up having an interesting story to him (that being Chamillionaire, and even then, I'd barely consider him a ringtone rapper). I get the feeling most of them are gonna wind up being like D4L, possibly without the artist dying.
Plus, with the exception of the ringtone rappers... there's ALWAYS the potential those people could wind up having a hit any day now; look at Mike Posner (and yes, I still feel like an idiot for talking about a potential OHW episode on him).
2000s ringtone songs you say?
We will get our Crazy Frog episode yet!
Speaking of 90's One Hit Wonders, Lumberjacker by Jackyl would be interesting.
Nick Rynearson Personally, I'd find the House of Pain with Jump Around and Everlast with What It's Like as interesting episodes myself, if only because of the connection those two have with one of the same artists in question.
MyssBlewm I'd like to him to do "Face Down" by Red Jumpsuit Apparatus or "Check Yes, Juliet" by We the Kings just to get him to talk about emo music. :P
Hot Sauce is unbelievable! My forever party-time favorite. The amount of musicality and energy in that song knows no limits.
When are we getting our Dog Police review.
wstine79 I'm still waiting for him to cover Mark Morrison's Return of the Mack.
Now that would be cool if Todd did Dog Police
I was wondering the same thing a few days ago.
He’s been teasing “You’re Beautiful” by James Blunt for about 2 years now.
I mean, he even has a dog, so it would be fitting. Amydog deserves more cameos, is all I'm saying.
Thomas Dolby wasn't for everyone, but he made something, or was a part of a thing for everyone.
Whether it was from foreigner, def leopard, mst3k and rifftrax lovers (for the bad movies), his innovations in sound tech, or his music, he's done a lot for science, and technology.
I nearly fell out of my chair when you mentioned Rockula. My friends and I stumbled across that in high school and it became a huge inside joke for us. Honestly I kinda thought it might have been a shared hallucination.
Several years in the future, getting to this....two things have always impressed me about Thomas Dolby: first, he wrote a song called Airwaves, which remains MY favorite Dolby song, and he build a Jules-Verne era wooden submarine in his backyard, by hand. The man has his badass moments.
"Keep Your Hands to Yourself" by the Georgia Satellites would make for a great episode. An amazing southern rock band known by 99% of people just for that one song. And it's from the 80's!
GrantH agreed
"Keep Your Hands To Yourself" was one of the last gasps of classic rock making for a pop hit.
duckiedale80 The band had a couple other minor rock hits besides “Keep Your Hands to Yourself” as well, but I still feel that it’s deserving of an episode because it’s BY FAR their most well-known song, it’s basically a classic rock standard at this point.
I saw them on the In The Land of Salvation and Sin tour. That album was as good as the Black Crowes debut. But the dudes were too ugly and it's hard to be taken seriously when you launch with a novelty song. See Jackyl and Ugly Kid Joe as other examples.
TGS's timing went against them more than anything else; rock radio started going corporate before their second single ever came out. Had they released their first single just nine months later, I don't think they would've had any hits at all. :-(
"Dork Funk" Did you just invent that term and then slip it in there? That is brilliant. Seriously, a pearl hidden in this review. You should make a long video essay on the topic.
Thomas Dolby has done so much in the music world, in terms of production alone, and to boot, he's been involved in some really interesting projects, including The Gate To The Mind's Eye, the third in a number of computer-animated art films back when people were really experimenting with just how far computer animation could go. You know...the late 80's/early 90's? It's essentially the equivalent of a computer-animated acid trip with Dolby putting his flavor into it.
Also, apparently he's currently working at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University with a new music program they're rolling out during the fall. So there's that.
Hey Mr. InTheShadows,
I just wanted to say thank you to you for covering this song and Thomas Dolby. I can’t exactly remember when I First watched it, but as soon as I did something in me lit up and apparently I’m like a die hard for him, reading his book and everything. Also I play synth now (not super well but it’s early days) and I love it! and I never would have started without this gateway drug of a video.
So yeah, thank you so much!!
Thomas Dolby was a great session keyboardist. I'm glad you're covering him :D.
He still is, despite he is also a succesful businessman and a college professor. Greatest multi-tasking ever!
The Talking Heads connection was something I never thought about all these years. Good observation.
I'm a big fan living in China! I agree you should do more pre-80s one hit wonders. What about "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" by The Tokens, or "Sugar Sugar" by the Archies, or "Spirit in the Sky" by Norman Greenbaum, or "Rockin' Robin" by Bobby Day".
Ryan O'Connor , I agree Todd should cover "Sugar Sugar".
@@SW23252 The Archies had four or five top 40 hits aside from "Sugar Sugar." Archie comic books of the period referenced them a lot.
As soon as I heard that he was inspired by Bowie’s BERLIN WORK, AND that he PLAYED KEYBOARDS FOR HIM ON LIVE AID, I immediately fell in love with this man
I, for one, like this new regeneration of Doctor Who.
People are gushing about Golden Age of Wireless, but my favorite Dolby project is his live album from 2006, The Sole Inhabitant. He doesn't do anything exceptional there like Daft Punk did with Alive 2007 but something about those versions of his songs hits so much harder for me than the studio versions. Def nostalgia to an extent, but even then it's a magnificent release.
This was always one of those songs I wasn't sure even existed as I've never heard the entire thing fully, usually just the "science!" parts
“Drugs are science too” - Todd in the Shadows, 2020
Both require experimentation
Thomas Dolby did the soundtrack to Cyberia, a game I loved as a child. I was never able to find the soundtrack for sale or online, but I always liked the music for it.
Thanks to this video, “One Of Our Submarines” is now one of my favorite songs ever made. This series really is amazing for how much music you can discover through it.
Midnight Oil for example became one of my favorite bands ever after learning more about them through their OHW video, love this channel.
Finally some more new wave!! I’ve been spinning this one on Spotify a lot lately
He made the music for “Waiting for a Girl Like You”? I owe Dolby a token of my gratitude. One of the greatest songs of all time.
Toddthony in the Shadowtano here! Internet’s best hidden music nerd!
Bryan Smith I can see it
Crow_ todd is clearly short for todathan
hey buddy, did you here the news? da da da da... its music reviews.
Here's some requests for future OHW episodes
Dream Academy - Life in a Northern Tow
Bow Wow Wow - I Want Candy
Big Country - In a Big Country
Icicle Works - A Whisper to a Scream
Michael Penn - No Myth
And it would be extremely awesome if you were to do a OHW episode on Rappers Delight.
Europa was one of my favorite songs as a kid! No idea it was from this guy. No one hit wonder in my heart.
It was called the pirate twins as it was a character he played with his Paris girlfriend
His album Astronauts and heretics from the early 90s is legit. Best thing he ever did in my opinion.
can todd please do the top 10 worst songs of *insert year here* again?
Ninjaverse I've heard that Top Tens are real hard work for him, but I'm just dying to see him do a Worst Songs of 2000 video!
Top 10 worst songs from his Top Ten worst songs of each year he’s been a reviewer
On his patreon it says he is doing one, in exchange for a thousand dollars raised
That was for the 1991 list from a few years ago
*reads Spandan's comment
alright who's a got a grand just lying around???
Dolby is amazing. I met him in 2007. He's awesome
This is totally one of my favorite songs. I really wanted to be a scientist when I was growing up and here is a song about a dude in love with a female scientist. Also, I really love 80s New Wave.
Jumping in this comment section from 2023 to say it’s time to bring that submarine song back
Thomas Dolby didn't deserve a whole lot better as far as his music career is concerned, but he did deserve better. "One Of Our Submarines" and "Close But No Cigar" deserved to be hits in the United States.
In this case, seems like he had a great behind-the-scene career, collaborating with other artists, being a synth nerd/pioneer, and going solo for a bit was just a cherry on top, a fun side-project.
Strangely enough, I've never heard "She blinded me with science", but I think I caught "One of our submarines" somewhere x)
I’ve wanted this episode for years. Thomas Dolby is one of my favorite musical artists and there’s just so much more to him than the hit. A Map of the Floating City is one of my favorite albums of all time.
17 hills is a great song off that album
That a great one, yeah. My personal favorite is Road to Reno
He can do anything: the new wave stuff on his first two albums, a funky album, an Americana album, etc. It’s clever how he combines samples and live instruments: the horns on my favorite album “Aliens…” the strings on the song “17 Hills”, etc. I had no idea he played the synth on all those classic albums.
I wouldn’t say that he deserved better. He doesn’t seem he wanted better. So while I usually agree with your “did they deserve better?”s I actually think that Dolby got what he wanted and he felt that he got what he deserved through getting what he wanted. And if he feels that way, I’d say that’s good enough for me to say “not really.” But eh, that’s my opinion.
Xell Todd's verdicts don't necessarily mean they did bad for themselves. In his video about the song Hey Mickey, he said Toni Basil didn't deserve better "in the nicest way possible" because she was massively successful at everything she did that wasn't a solo music career she didn't work hard at.
Hypothermia I know. I’m just saying that despite his middling and more background career I’d say he didn’t deserve better since the guy didn’t want better since he was satisfied with what he did and got to do.
OH yes he wanted better , it's in his biography , but he was aware that his looks could never match to for instance his labelmates Duran so he played the dork instead , but he wasn't funny like Weird al , more like smart wisecracker
My theory is that Miss Sakamoto is a reference to Ryuichi Sakamoto, a member of the popular Japanese elecyronic group Yellow Magic Orchestra. Sakamoto and YMO were known in the electronic scene at the time, and him and Dolby would collaberate a year or two after She Blinded Me with Science. The bassline and drums also sound like Sakamoto's song Riot in Lagos.
Also thats an electronic keyboard, not a synthesizer, reeeee.
I will take up any opportunity to talk about YMO
Sakamoto-san is indeed very beautiful
I'm really digging that submarine song. Never heard it before but I'm surprised how awesome it it.
He also did all the music in the popular "Gate to the Mind's Eye" video. That was one of a series of popular one hour long form music videos that combined computer animation with musicians. Among others to compose scores for the series were Jan Hammer(Miami Vice theme among others), and Kerry Livgren (founder and main songwriter for Kansas).
Dolby's "Astronauts and Heretics" is one of my favorite albums ever. And from his first album, "Through the Airwaves" is one of my favorite songs ever.
For me, I can never get enough of "Aliens Ate My Buick!" That album was the soundtrack of my childhood.
I Love You good-bye is my favourite of f Astronauts and Heretics
"One of Our Submarines" literally sounds like an anime OP for some obscure anime OVA. I'm getting *SERIOUS* Orguss 02 vibes from it.
I was just about to go to sleep... DAMN YOU TODD, WHOEVER YOU ARE!
My stepdad met him while working at TRW. Dolby was part of group trying to create a pre-Sirius satellite radio network.
Didn't even mention that he did "The Mirror Song" from Toys. "ALL THE OLD FRIENDS AAAAAND THE LOVED ONES. THESE ARE THE PEOPLE... YOU HAVEN'T EVEN MET."
"Drugs are science too" -Todd, who is presumably in the shadows because he is doing science.
If I weren't already subscribed, I would for this video. I LOVE Thomas Dolby.
Not this song, particularly. But if it weren't for this song, maybe we wouldn't have everything else.
Oh, no, noooo, don't talk about Rockula! It's awful!
The thing that makes this so great is how insanely funky it is. It’s also way different sounding than anything but maybe Talking Heads which I’m also a huge fan of. It’s one of my all time favorite songs.
10:35 "He's playing a cartoon character that loves science so much that the only way he can understand love is through science" yes its not a funny joke but it is really sad.
That's why coldplays "the scientist" is so hard breaking to me. Maybe it was inspired by blinded me with science
It’s sad 😔
"If someone blinds you with science, they tell you about something in a complicated, technical way so that you find it hard to understand." - The Interwebs
I had never felt so happy while watching this video.
For years, I had known Dolby through his album (which my father owns) that included this song. I had known him for his tech-centric songs, and I felt like making a Patreon request for you some day...then you made this video.
I had no idea that he helped with the soundtracks for Howard the Duck and Ferngully, two movies that I extremely enjoy.
I highly recommend checking out his albums. He's the ultimate nerd god for music.
I was in the audience during that concert scene at the end of Howard the Duck though you can't see me. I was so far towards the back of the auditorium that I was behind the cameras. Thomas Dolby was there to supervise the music scenes. During the long breaks between takes he would just sit on the edge of the stage looking bored to tears. Maybe he really was hyperactive.
I love this song for the pure fact that without it, we wouldn't have had the absolute gem that was Got It Twisted. RIP to Prodigy. Long live mobb deep
We miss the 90s ok Todd don’t judge us 😔
goldfox177 Wrong. You miss what it was like to young in the 90s.
The nineties was a magical time to be alive.
The first half was the 16 bit console era in which Nintendo enjoyed the second half of their golden age. The second half of the nineties saw 3D rendered graphics becom the industry standard for video games and though that saw the rise of the PlayStation brand that ended the golden years for Nintendo we did still get ground breaking classics on the Nintendo 64 and some excellent sega saturn games in that period. The nineties was a golden era for capcom due to the success of street fighter II which ultimately saw the nineties end with exceptional street fighter games such as street fighter alpha 3 and street fighter 3 third strike. The global economy in the nineties started out in recession but rode a wave of economic growth afterwards that soared into the new millennium on the dot com boom. And though that boom had a correction right at the start of the millennium many of the companies that survived it became titans that dominate the landscape today - eBay, Amazon, PayPal, and to a lesser extent yahoo. But it's really the things from that era that we took for granted that have been lost due to the technological advances since then that we're nostalgic for even though in most cases what we have now is far superior. Things like CRT televisions, CD players, minidisc players, VCRs and video rental chains like blockbuster video, dial up internet, happy pants, new jack swing music, eurodance music, euphoric trance
Young-M i mean, there is a lot to miss about the 90's that don't involve being young. The economy was undeniably fantastic, the Cold War was over, 24 hour cable news didn't exist yet, 9/11 hadn't happened. Looking at the hellscape we live in now, the 90's seem pretty nice.
stop it
RysonSynic I’ll agree with you there but what I mean is everything sounds good if you romanticise it through nostalgia goggles. You say everything’s a hell-scape now but I’ll bet in 10-20 years time people will say it’s not nearly as bad as everyone thinks.
Shortly after this video was released, I purchased Dolby's first two albums, and played them to death. One of Our Submarines, Dissidents, Hyperactive, Radio Silence...classics and more. Thank you Todd for making me understand how great Thomas Dolby is.
I swear Todd should have similar recommended videos, because I've noticed Thomas Dolby in such a month ago and fell in love with his music instantly (I don't believe I heard it much before). Although, I must confess (girl yes I wanna be your lover, since we commenting on One Hit Wonderland) my favorite song of his is "I Scare Myself". I'm also not at all surprised that Brad loves this song, but his cameo was still very much surprising.
"I Scare Myself" is a cover song. Thomas didn't write it.
Yes ! I'm a big Thomas Dolby fan and clicked on it a few weeks ago and no play. I left a heartfelt request somewhere on Todd's site to put it back on. And behold,here it is. Todd can make wishes come true !
You like Dolby? Then you should definitely check out Prefab Sprout and their albums Steve McQueen, From langley Park To Memphis and Jordan: The Comeback, Dolby's production is just stellar!
Thanks, I will do that.
Your right , I like it a lot! Thanks again.
My main takeaway from this video is, I must see Rockula someday!
VirtualBoy500 agreed
Thomas Dolby is amazing. The golden age of wireless is a 10/10