He caved to Eighties nostalgia in 1996, bringing back saxophonist Greg Ham and hitting the road as Men At Work. Now: Men At Work frontman Colin Hay managed to carve out a nice career on his own as a singer-songwriter.
Why would anyone want the Australian knock-off when the real deal was back? The band split in 1986. Of course it did – they released that LP the same month as the Police's Synchronicity. That year, they released their next LP, Cargo, which failed to generate the same level of heat. "Who Can It Be Now?" was also a giant hit – and by June 1983, Men At Work were on the cover of Rolling Stone. "Down Under" was one of the biggest songs of the year, with a video that MTV played constantly. The Police didn't release any new music in 1982, and the public was so hungry for more that it was willing to tolerate an Australian group with a vaguely similar sound. Then: My esteemed colleague Rob Sheffield has a theory about Men At Work. Image Credit: Dave Hogan/Hulton Archive/Getty Images/Ethan Miller/Getty Images
FLOCK OF SEAGULLS SPACE AGE LOVE SONG VIDEO ACTORS PRO
Pro tip: If you see the current lineup, don't spend the whole time waiting for "I Ran." Their other hit from that year, "Space Age Love Song," is just as awesome. The original lineup briefly got back together in 2003 on VH1's Bands Reunited, but the other three guys returned to their day jobs after a few shows. Catch them this summer on tour with fellow Eighties acts like The Escape Club, Boys Don't Cry and When In Rome UK. He's pretty bald these days, so the haircut is long gone, but the group still does a ton of gigs. Now: Mike Score formed a new version of A Flock of Seagulls after the original lineup disintegrated, and he's been touring the nostalgia circuit ever since. As big as "I Ran" was, today the band is more remembered for its signature look, masterminded by frontman and former hairdresser Mike Score. Their 1983 follow-up LP was called Listen, but fans opted not to do that and the group split up three years later. MTV played the hell out of "I Ran (So Far Away)," and before they knew it, A Flock of Seagulls were opening up for the Police at stadiums. The video in question looks like it was filmed over the course of about 10 minutes inside a trashcan – but that didn't matter. They had crazy haircuts, a near-perfect New Wave single and a video for MTV. Then: A Flock of Seagulls were the perfect band for 1982.
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