Taco’s “Puttin’ on the Ritz” was his one hit wonder, released on his debut album After Eight. The song was a cover from an old Fred Astaire favorite. This makes sense because Taco initially remade oldies song with contemporary feels to them.

The song, released in 1982, gained popularity in 1983. So much, in fact, that RCA records funded the entire album. After Eight sold over 500 thousand copies and reached number 4 on the American charts. Sadly, his later albums did not bolster his success, even experimenting with other musical genres.

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Joan Jett and the Blackhearts’ seven-week chart hit in 1982 was a cover of The Arrows’ hit “I Love Rock ‘N’ Roll” that launched her solo career. Joan Jett originally covered the song in ‘79, and then again in ‘82. The ‘79 version was done with two members of the Sex Pistols: Steve Jones and Paul Cook. Joan Jett originally heard the song on the Arrows Show, which was given to them for their performance of “I Love Rock ‘N’ Roll.”
There are a lot of interesting facts regarding the song:

• -The original version by The Arrows was about a girl dancing by a juke box, which may make a little more sense than a guy dancing around by himself.
• -The song has been covered over 50 times (depending on your source) including a 13th ranked Britney Spears cover.
• -P2P networks offer the nonexistant AC/DC version.
• -The song has been ranked in the top 100 songs of all time by The National Endowment of the Arts, and also appears on Guitar Hero II.
• -Joan Jett opted for a black and white music video because she didn’t like the red leather jacket after they filmed. Red was used a lot in Britney’s version, perhaps purposefully for that fact.
• -Mickie Most, the producer, didn’t expect the song to do well, thus it originally appeared on the B side, later to be relegated to the A side of the album.