Tik & Tok (Tim Dry and Sean Crawford) were mimes/dancers for English synth pop artist Gary Numan, of "Cars" fame; they parlayed their work for a musician into becoming a musical act themselves in a similar style as their former employer. Had I not read an issue of an English pop magazine from around the same date as a 1980's American Top 40 rebroadcast, I may never have known of them. Had you known of them before reading this question ?

Even in an era when futuristic electronic dance pop was regular U.K. top 40 fodder, T&T had trouble finding traction. For their first single in 1982, a remake of The Lovin' Spoonful's "Summer In The City." There might be context apart from the original 1966 hit in which the song may work. This, to my ears, doesn't sound like one of those contexts. Do your ears concur with mine?

Overall, I'd offer that the Great British music-buying public acted judiciously in not conferring no T&T fame & fortune simply because they seemed to be unoriginal, cliche bandwagon-hoppers given to shock value for its own sake. Their visual aesthetic may have influenced later acts such as Sigue Sigue Sputnik and Daft Punk, but that's no excuse for uninspired sonic artistry. Can you think of anyone else who may have been in some way ahead of their time but not great at what should've been the main thing they were doing?

I don't think I'd be writing about Dry and Stafford were their shot at pop stardom completely unredeemable though. Which of these uses for Tik & Tok listed below might you find amusing, intriguing, or whatever?