Martika - Toy Soldiers (1989)

Arguably one of the most iconic songs of the late 1980's, Toy Soldiers by Martika is a song that just seems to always get stuck in my head.

Martika claimed that the inspiration for the song came from a friend who was battling cocaine addiction at the time. According to an episode of VH-1's Pop-Up Video, in which the video was featured, the friend in question ultimately beat the addiction.

However this claim was retrospective, as neither Martika nor Columbia made any such claim at the time of the song's release in 1989, and the song's 'anti-drug' reputation was little more than a happy coincidence - in reality it was a standard teen-love song theme about being over-attached to an uninterested, abusive 'bad-boy' boyfriend.

At the time of the song's release, there was growing public concern about drug addiction in the young, and a number of campaigns throughout most of the world during the AIDS crisis warning of the dangers posed by discarded needles, emphasizing that even without the needle a used syringe was still dangerous to a child, who might wish to play with one as if it were an old fashioned peg doll or toy soldier.

Songs comparing heroin addiction to an abusive love affair have been a music staple for decades (e.g. The Stranglers 1979 single 'Don't Bring Harry'), and 'Toy Soldiers' motifs of emptiness replacing pain, addiction to something they know is not good for them, and a fear of the consequences if it is not ended (along with the children singing 'won't you come out and play with me?') resulted in the song's heavy rotation by radio and TV as anti-drugs due to the ambiguous nature of the lyrics.

The song spent two weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S. and New Zealand while reaching number five in both the United Kingdom and Australia. When it spent its first week at number one, it had leapt over Madonna's "Express Yourself" and kept that song from reaching the top spot. On Billboard's year-end chart for 1989, "Toy Soldiers" placed number 29. It was Martika's only number-one single in the U.S., and her highest-ranking single in the United Kingdom. The single was certified Gold in the United States by the RIAA.

In March and April 2009, VH1 ran a countdown of the 100 Greatest One-Hit Wonders of the 80s. "Toy Soldiers" placed at #67 on the countdown despite the fact that Martika had three other Top 40 hits: "More Than You Know" (#18); "I Feel the Earth Move" (#25); and "Love ... Thy Will Be Done" (#10).