The term arose in Tin Pan Alley to describe one of the major divisions of popular music; the other two divisions were ballads and dance music. Of course, in response to the song's popularity and perhaps the free advertising, the group was later featured there. In 1965, " A Windmill in Old Amsterdam", a song written by Ted Dicks and Myles Rudge, became a UK hit for Ronnie Hilton.

No modern Premier League player would be seen dead singing along to cheesy lyrics written by some crusty old rockers.For three weeks in the early 90s, the UK Singles Chart was topped by a three and a half minute anthem about a man in a large, clumsy, pink and yellow spotted costume. It proved to be an astute move as funk-rock gem ‘Play That Funky Music’ was a colossal global hit that sold over 2. Dickie Goodman faced a lawsuit for his 1956 novelty song " The Flying Saucer", which sampled snippets of contemporary hits without permission and arranged them to resemble interviews with an alien landing on Earth.

Novelty songs are seldom serious music, but what they have going for them is fun or, perhaps, a bit of a shock factor.Blobby is bathed on a slab, in a recreation of Shakespear’s Sister’s ‘Stay’ video, and leers over his backing band in a recreation of Robert Palmer’s ‘Addicted to Love’, as well as leading a gang of children in what looks like a Satanic ritual. It’s the last instrumental number one since… I’m not sure, to be honest, but it’s been a good while. It’s also an odd number one for this moment in time, wedged in among the dance tracks and ballads, one that might have been a hit in any era, that is as likely to get your granny dancing as it is your five-year-old nephew. Gloriously cheesy and the staple of parties across the land, ‘Kung Fu Fighting’ reached Number 1 in the UK and more than a dozen other countries.