Mexican Radio

Todd plays "Mexican Radio" on the piano

WALL OF VOODOO - MEXICAN RADIO A one-hit wonder retrospective

Todd: Welcome back to One Hit Wonderland, where we take a look at bands and artists known for only one song. I am still doing requests, and...yeah, they sent me a weird one today.


 * Video for "Mexican Radio"
 * Stan Ridgway: I'm on a Mexican radio
 * I'm on a Mexican whoa-oh radio

Todd (VO): Yeah, uh...this is...this is Wall of Voodoo performing their hit New Wave song from 1983, "Mexican Radio."

Todd: And as you probably know, we are no strangers to New Wave on this show. We've...


 * Clips of Men Without Hats - "The Safety Dance" and A Flock of Seagulls - "I Ran (So Far Away)"

Todd (VO): ...covered our fair share of goofy-looking early '80s MTV bands. But even among the vast cavalcades of oddball, makeup-and-hairspray synth acts...

Todd: ...this is still kind of out there.


 * Stan: Wish I was in Tijuana
 * Eating barbecued iguana

Todd (VO): 'Cause unlike the previous New Wave acts on One Hit Wonderland, this wasn't a big hit in the Billboard sense. It only made it to #58 on the charts. No, it was a hit in the MTV sense. [Promo clips for MTV] I've mentioned that MTV, in its early years, only had, like, a dozen videos, so they'd just throw anything on there. And late at night, it would just get exceptionally weird.

Todd: For example, here's a little tune from around the same time that got a lot of videoplay.


 * Clip of Dog Police - "Dog Police"
 * *Arf arf arf arf*
 * Dog Police: Dog Police!
 * Where are you coming from
 * Dog Police!
 * Nobody knows who you are
 * *Arf arf arf arf*

Todd (VO): This is "Dog Police" by the band Dog Police. Very popular on MTV back in the early '80s. Yeah, I don't know either.

"Mexican Radio" is not quite a forgotten, esoteric artifact like "Dog Police" by Dog Police, but...

Todd (VO): ...I feel like it fits in roughly the same mold. Its main attraction is that it's...it's just odd.

Todd (VO): It's a New Wave, country-and-western song about listening to music south of the border. And despite not being quite ever a hit, it's had a long shelf life. This isn't the first request I've gotten for it. It's...it's in that sweet spot of being just weird enough to stick in the brain, unlike "Dog Police," which was too weird to get any traction.


 * Dog Police: Nobody knows who you are!
 * *Arf arf arf arf*
 * Dog Police
 * Where are you coming from

Todd: Can I do a video on "Dog Police"? No, they paid me money for this.

Todd (VO): All right, turn that dial to XERF and fix up some barbecued iguana.

Todd: This is "Mexican Radio" by Wall of Voodoo. [Snaps fingers] Andale!


 * Stan: Bbbbbbbbbbb!

Before the hit