“Fantasy” by Aldo Nova

Aldo Nova made "Fantasy", his 1982 debut single and the calling card of his self-titled first album on Portrait, very nearly on his own: the Canadian wrote it, sang it, played the guitars, bass and keyboards, arranged it, produced it and helped engineer and mix it, with Tony Bongiovi also on the mix and Terry Martell the only other musician credited, on drums. It's hard rock with the hairspray already applied, and it gets cited as one of the earliest stirrings of the glam metal wave that took over the later '80s.

The video is pure excess: Nova climbs out of a helicopter in a leopard-print jumpsuit and cowboy boots, with bodyguards toting machine guns, and when a locked door blocks his path he aims a Les Paul like a rifle and blasts it open with a laser. It remains his best-known record; VH1 later put it at 78 among the greatest one-hit wonders of the '80s.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.