Playlist: We Look Back 40 Years To Rock Songs Of…1985

*Image of the concert poster for Live Aid, July 13, 1985 likely copyrighted…

A few years back, inspired by doing a playlist centered on the landmark year in music that was 1971 (a 50-year lookback at the time), I started putting together playlists centered on specific years in the 70s and then later we also started doing 80s playlists in parallel (40-year lookbacks). Earlier this year we did a playlist centered on 1975 – and what a great year that one was – and so now it’s time for us to do our annual 40 year “turn back the clock” and publish our Playlist: Rock Songs of 1985! From the 80s we’ve previously looked back to 1982, 1983 and 1984. I’ve done 1971, mentioned above, and 1972, 1973, 1974 and again 1975 from the 70s. I feel like I need to circle back eventually and do 1970. That was a helluva year for classic rock as well, but I digress

Jeez, 1985… Reagan had been re-elected in a landslide the previous November and he was busy in his second term weakening the underpinnings of the middle class and furthering his “voodoo economics” plan of “trickle down.” Spoiler alert, nothing trickled down. Gorbachev had just taken over in the Soviet Union and thinking about Reagan/Gorbachev meeting and that whole Glasnost thing feels like I’m in the “Way Back Machine.” The Cold War almost seems quaint now. Reagan was only meeting with Gorbachev between questionable visits to German WW2 cemeteries… sigh. The folks down at Coca-Cola introduced “New Coke” which was a disaster, and quickly went back to “Coke Classic.” People had been hording the old version of the soft drink. The IRA were still actively blowing people up. When I think about it now, it was a bit of a dark time…

Although it wasn’t all darkness. Amadeus won the Oscar for Best Picture. Women were using an inordinate amount of hairspray as coifs reached for the sky. Big hair and leg warmers…and mullets for the boys (and yes, I had one). I managed to finish my junior year in college and began my (first) senior year. That summer, instead of the usual working in the wonderful outdoors, I was a corporate intern which I hated. It was my first summer without a deep summer work tan. And let’s face it, the world just looks better with a tan. I was working for a woman who rode a broomstick to work that summer break… I wish I’d taken that miserable experience as a warning and avoided the corporate world altogether but what’s past is past.

The best thing about 1985 was watching the world come together for Live Aid, a huge concert in both Philadelphia and London. Hell, Phil Collins played London then flew on the Concorde to Philly to play with Zeppelin who had reunited for the show (in what was a disastrous performance). You don’t get much more 1985 than that story. The whole thing had grown out of Bob Geldof’s Band Aid charity single the previous year. That led to USA For Africa and the whole “We Are The World” thing. It was great to see the world focused on rock n roll in an attempt to make a change and feed the starving kids over in Africa. I saw part of the show at a friend’s house, my dad didn’t spring for anything more than basic cable, and then drove two hours south in an ill advised plan to meet women. So I missed a lot of it. Regrets, I’ve had a few.

While I agree that there are definite eras in music – the 70s, the 80s, etc – I don’t necessarily agree that music changes when the calendar rolls over and ends in a “0.” The early years in the 80s were still very strongly rooted in the 70s sound but by ’85 you’re hip deep in the 80s. When you hear this music, you have no doubt about what decade it came from. I wasn’t sure what to expect from ’85, but I knew there’d be a lot of synthesizer and drum machines. If not drum machines those electronic drum pads, which never sounded right. I hate the 80s drum sound. After 1984, which was such a blockbuster year for music, I assumed that ’85 would be a letdown. But there was a lot of great music that year. But it is a little over the top on the synths. In terms of music in 1985, you can’t underestimate the influence of MTV. Those videos even influenced movies, who began to use rock band’s original songs for their soundtracks.

While I do think ’84 and ’86 were stronger years, I think you’ll find a lot to like from this ’85 playlist. When I started this thing, it had over 150 songs on it that I eventually winnowed down to less than 90. I couldn’t include them all or the Jean Genie’s husband will be back telling me my posts are way too long (they probably are). While the overall vibe is synth pop/rock we see the beginnings of Hip Hop (Run-D.M.C., LL Cool J) and alternative music (R.E.M., RHCP, Kate Bush, OMD). Hair Metal hadn’t quite taken root but was beginning to with Ratt, Bon Jovi and Motley Crue on the list. Play this one straight through or shuffle it, season to taste. If there’s a song you don’t like, skip it. Our job is to turn you on to something new or at the very least put something in your ear that hasn’t been there for a while. Crank it up, grab a wine cooler and “party like the 80s.” Oh, and no, I didn’t include “We Are The World”… it works as charity but it sucks as a song…

• Dire Straits, Brothers In Arms, “Money For Nothing” – This epic rocker is, in my mind, the song of 1985. Sting even showed up to help perform it at Live Aid. Even the video is iconic.
• The Cult, Love, “She Sells Sanctuary” – The Rock Chick and my favorite track from Love, the Cult’s fabulous second album.
• Pete Townshend, White City: A Novel, “Give Blood” – Don’t let that whole “novel”/concept album thing scare you, this is a great Townshend solo album, his first since the Who broke up. I considered “Second Hand Love,” the blues scorcher that the Rock Chick loves but “Give Blood” is too epic to be ignored… and sadly still relevant today.
• Eric Clapton, Behind The Sun, “Forever Man” – From one of the “Dirty Dozen,” 12 albums only I like, but what a great song. Phil Collins produced the original album sessions but the record company asked them to record a few additional songs produced by Lenny Waronker & Ted Templeman, including this one.
• George Thorogood, Maverick, “I Drink Alone” – Was there ever a song more perfect for B&V?
• Run-D.M.C., King Of Rock, “King Of Rock” – Such a pioneer Rap record and yes, it rocks… those guitars!
• John Fogerty, Centerfield, “The Old Man Down The Road” – A big comeback album for Fogerty. Although even I’m tired of hearing the title track at baseball games.
• Paul McCartney, Spies Like Us Soundtrack, “Spies Like Us” – McCartney’s lone song from 1985 but a bit of a cult favorite amongst his fans.
• The Firm, The Firm, “Radioactive” – The first single from Jimmy Page’s (Led Zeppelin) and Paul Rodgers’ (Free/Bad Company) supergroup, the Firm, which turned out to be not so super but I loved these guys.
• Prince, Around The World In A Day, “Raspberry Beret” – Alas, this album made my list of “Most Disappointing Albums,” but everybody dug this one song. I even liked Warren Zevon & the Hindu Love Gods’ (aka R.E.M.) cover. This album was clearly Prince trying to change his music to slow down the runaway fame that came with Purple Rain.
• David Lee Roth, Crazy From The Heat, “Easy Street” – Sure, I could have gone with his Beach Boys cover, but I despise the Beach Boys. I like that this is kinda bluesy.
• The Smiths, Meat Is Murder, “The Headmaster Ritual” – I don’t know what this headmaster is up to down at this school but he needs to cut it out.
• Journey, Vision Quest Soundtrack, “Only The Young” – Recorded for Frontiers but pulled off the record, this track found it’s way to this movie soundtrack.
• Phil Collins, No Jacket Required, “Take Me Home” – I always liked this song… I certainly wasn’t going to choose “Sussudio.”
• Simple Minds, The Breakfast Club Soundtrack, “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” – Later ably covered by Billy Idol. Here we hear that classic 80s synth pop/rock.
• Tears For Fears, Songs From The Big Chair, “Everybody Wants To Rule The World” – Truer words were never spoken.
• Paul Young, The Secret Of Association, “Every Time You Go Away” – Great cover of a Hall & Oates song… I was always a sucker for brokenhearted tracks…
• Katrina & the Waves, Katrina & the Waves, “Walking On Sunshine” – This is so upbeat it might even be considered startling. I wasn’t really a fan until it featured in that John Cusack movie High Fidelity.
• Mick Jagger, She’s The Boss, “Lonely At The Top” – Such a highly anticipated solo record, such a missed opportunity. Although Mick’s major solo debut did go platinum. This was the lone “Jagger/Richards” cowrite on the LP so I went with it to show there were some decent rock tracks on this thing.
• Eurythmics, Be Yourself Tonight, “Would I Lie To You?” – I wasn’t a huge Eurythmics’ fan during the 80s but this track immediately grabbed me back then. Nice riff. I’m a huge fan now.
• The Power Station, The Power Station, “Some Like It Hot” – “She wants to multiply, are you gonna do it?” Love this Robert Palmer side project with the great Tony Thompson on drums and two Duran Durans on guitar/bass.
• Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Southern Accents, “Don’t Come Around Here No More” – Album produced partially by Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics. I liked the sitar and the guitar solo. One of Petty’s biggest songs.
• Bon Jovi, 7800 Fahrenheit, “In And Out Of Love” – From Bon Jovi’s sophomore effort. Stardom was only 1 more album away.
• Jason & the Scorchers, Lost & Found, “White Lies” – A bit of an obscure little rock song I always dug.
• The Hooters, Nervous Night, “And We Danced” – I added this track, that I’d forgotten about, to our Playlist: Songs About Dancing For All The Wallflowers… “As the band began to play (out of tune)…”
• Supertramp, Brother Where You Bound, “Cannonball” – One of the last songs from Supertramp that I connected with.
• Robert Plant, Shaken ‘N’ Stirred, “Little By Little” – Fresh off the Honeydrippers, Plant seems refreshed on this tune… “I can breathe again…” indeed.
• Joe Walsh, The Confessor, “The Confessor” – I remember reading the Rolling Stone review on this where the guy complained that this track was too “70s.” What’s wrong with that?
• Talking Heads, Little Creatures, “And She Was” – This was my first Talking Heads’ studio album. I wasn’t cool enough to get on the bandwagon until Stop Making Sense, the live LP/film.
• Bryan Ferry, Boys And Girls, “Slave To Love” – I always thought this was a Roxy Music tune, but no it’s solo Ferry.
• a-ha, Hunting High And Low, “Take On Me” – Well, you can’t talk about 1985 with talking about a-Ha. The video is, like Dire Straits’ above, iconic. I’m not a huge fan but can appreciate it all these years later.
• Red Hot Chili Peppers, Freaky Styley, “Black Eyed Blonde” – With legend George Clinton producing, the Peppers indulge in their funkiest music.
• R.E.M., Fables Of The Reconstruction, “Driver 8” – A track that should have been on my Playlist: The Road/Driving.
• Bob Dylan, Empire Burlesque, “Tight Connection To My Heart (Has Anybody Seen My Love)” – For anybody else, this would have been a huge album… I still don’t know why it wasn’t. I put this track on my Valentine’s Day Playlist: Songs About Hearts.
• Ratt, Invasion Of Your Privacy, “Lay It Down” – Hair Metal slowly making a beachhead into popular music. These guys weren’t bad!
• Corey Hart, Boy In The Box, “Never Surrender” – Midtempo track from the “Sunglasses At Night” guy.
• Sting, Dream Of The Blue Turtles, “Fortress Around Your Heart” – Sting’s first solo album post-Police was a bit of a disappointment at the time, especially when you consider he was coming off Synchronicity. But I think in retrospect this album was better in spots than we remember, despite the Jazz-lite approach.
• O.M.D., Crush, “So In Love” – No one who knew me in the 80s would believe that I was listening to Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark back then, but I do now courtesy of the Rock Chick.
• Heart, Heart, “These Dreams” – Ballad salad from the Wilson sisters but I just heard this with some friends in a bar, so I picked it.
• Motley Crue, Theater Of Pain, “Home Sweet Home” – Many of you were cool enough to get on the Motley Crue bandwagon early, but most of us didn’t do so until we saw the video for this song.
• Y&T, Open Fire, “Summertime Girls” – Also on our Playlist: Songs of Summer 2.0…
• AC/DC, Fly On The Wall, “Sink The Pink” – Good song from perhaps the weakest AC/DC era, and they’re a band who rarely made a bad album.
• Billy Joel, Greatest Hits Vol I & II, “While The Night Is Still Young” – This song was a return to form for Joel in my mind after the whole An Innocent Man genre exercise. New song hidden on a Greatest Hits LP.
• Huey Lewis & the News, Back To The Future Soundtrack, “The Power Of Love” – Huey and his News were still laboring to follow up the smash hit Sports! when they dropped this hit on a soundtrack.
• Jeff Beck with Rod Stewart, Flash, “People Get Ready” – Supposedly, to return the favor of Jeff Beck playing on “Infatuation,” Rod dropped by the studio when Jeff was recording this album and they knocked out a classic. It was the most popular thing Rod had been involved in in years. It’s as close as we ever got to a Jeff Beck Group reunion, alas and alack.
• Aretha Franklin, Who’s Zooming Who?, “Freeway Of Love” – There will always be room for the Queen of Soul on any playlist we do… and also The Big Man, Clarence Clemons, from the E Street Band plays the sax solos.
• Cheap Trick, Standing On The Edge, “Tonight It’s You” – These guys have been so solid for so long I think they’re on every playlist I’ve ever done.
• X, Ain’t Love Grand, “Burning House Of Love” – X was such a great punk band and this is a great, great song.
• Dio, Sacred Heart, “Hungry For Heaven” – This album was no The Last In Line, but this was a good song. “You’re hungry for heaven, but you need a little hell,” indeed.
• John Mellencamp, Scarecrow, “Rain On The Scarecrow” – A song for the farmers out there who are about to go through a really rough year… in 2025.
• The Cure, The Head On The Door, “Close To Me” – I’ve always absolutely loved this twitchy little love song. The Rock Chick has forbidden me from dancing to this song…
• Nick Lowe, The Rose Of England, “I Knew The Bride (When She Used To Rock And Roll)” – Oh did I know the bride… but those records are sealed.
• Starship, Knee Deep In The Hoopla, “Sara” – I always hated “We Built This City On Rock N Roll” but this track was ok.
• Stevie Wonder, In Square Circle, “Part-Time Lover” – I love almost everything Stevie does.
• Kate Bush, Hounds Of Love, “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)” – A song I’m embarrassed to say I didn’t discover until Stranger Things.
• Kiss, Asylum, “Tears Are Falling” – Oddly I seem to like more of the Kiss without make up era than almost any other.
• The Waterboys, This Is The Sea, “The Whole Of The Moon” – First heard this song when I saw U2 walk on stage to it for The Joshua Tree 2017 Concert. It’s a favorite at B&V now.
• Tom Waits, Rain Dogs, “Downtown Train” – A great song that is now well known because Rod Stewart covered it, which is a shame because I’ve always liked the original.
• Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble, Soul To Soul, “Change It” – One of my all time favorite SRV tunes.
• Eddie Murphy, How Could It Be, “Party All The Time” – Ok, laugh if you want, but this is a damn catchy tune. And in the video when Rick James (who produced it) walks out of the control room to join Eddie at the mic, oh yeah baby!
• Roger Daltrey, Under A Raging Moon, “After The Fire” – A track Townshend wrote for the Who to perform at Live Aid, but they couldn’t get it together in time so he gave it to Roger. Great, great song. Pete did a live version a few years later.
• Rush, Power Windows, “The Big Money” – This was about the time I started to lose touch with Rush. I don’t know why?
• Simply Red, Picture Book, “Holding Back The Years” – Wonderful ballad.
• INXS, Listen Like Thieves, “What You Need” – INXS were a great band I think we all underestimated.
• Simple Minds, Once Upon A Time, “Sanctify Yourself” – The only band with two songs on the list.
• Mike + The Mechanics, Mike + The Mechanics, “Silent Running” – The Mike was Mike Rutherford from Genesis whose drummer who had a pretty successful solo career as well. Cool song.
• The Cars, Greatest Hits, “Tonight She Comes” – Another new song hidden on a greatest hits album. The double entendre is almost lethal.
• ZZ Top, Afterburner, “Can’t Stop Rockin'” – ZZ may have gone a little overboard with the synths and drum machines on this album, but this is still a solid track. I saw them on this tour…
• James Taylor, That’s Why I’m Here, “That’s Why I’m Here” – And aren’t we glad JT is still here?
• The Replacements, Tim, “Here Comes A Regular” – At the same time this may be the most depressing and yet affirming songs about drinking ever…but mostly depressing…in a good way? “I used to live at home, now I stay at the house.” I can’t help but think the Rock Chick saved me from being this guy.
• Robert Palmer, Riptide, “Addicted To Love” – I owned this album and saw him in concert on this tour.
• Aerosmith, Done With Mirrors, “Let The Music Do The Talking” – This was the album that should have fueled Aerosmith’s comeback, without the overproduction and outside songwriters that came in later. I think Joe Perry did this song first, solo, with the Joe Perry Project.
• Sade, Promise, “The Sweetest Taboo” – This song, and Sade’s voice, is “like butter.”
• The Clash, Cut The Crap, “This Is England” – A dying gasp from the post Mick Jones Clash.
• Echo & the Bunnymen, Songs To Learn & Sing, “The Killing Moon” – Also found on our Playlist: Songs About The Moon.
• The Outfield, Play Deep, “Say It Isn’t So” – I heard this song playing outside a bar, in the lobby of a hotel while I was introducing myself to Ian Astbury of the Cult…he paused and said, “The Outfield,” while bobbing his head. Who didn’t like these guys?
• Stevie Nicks, Rock A Little, “You Can Talk To Me” – Given to me by a college girlfriend who wanted me to… talk to her?
• LL Cool J, Radio, “I Can’t Live Without My Radio” – Another track that captures the B&V ethos. Yes, I had a boombox in ’85 that I took everywhere. You never knew when you were gonna need tunes.
• Arcadia, So Red The Rose, “Election Day” – Not to be outdone by their bandmates who’d stepped outside Duran Duran for the Power Station, Simon LeBon, Nick Rhodes and Roger Taylor formed their own side band. This was the only track I remember hearing…
• UB40 with Chrissie Hynde, Baggariddim, “I Got You Babe” – Sonny and Cher cover in 1985?
• Glen Frey, Miami Vice Soundtrack, “You Belong To The City” – MTV influenced both film and TV, hence a soundtrack to a TV show. I think Glen had a recurring role as a drug smuggler or some such thing. I didn’t watch a lot of Miami Vice. I was at the library, I swear…
• Duran Duran, A View To A Kill Soundtrack, “A View To A Kill” – The lads in Duran Duran who’d been going different directions in ’85 did pull it together for this great Bond Theme.
• ‘Til Tuesday, Voices Carry, “Voices Carry” – “Hush, hush, keep it down now, voices carry.” Words I learned to live by that summer during my slavish corporate internship. Sigh.
• Van Morrison, A Sense Of Wonder, “Torn Down a la Rimbaud” – I always liked this obscure little tune…It’s been a long, long time since I read Rimbaud’s A Season In Hell.

There it is folks, our 1985 playlist. If there is a song you liked from that year put it in the comments and we’ll look to add it onto the playlist. I only use songs from albums that were released in the year in question. For example, there were several singles that were hits in ’85 but released in ’84 so they didn’t make the playlist. And I didn’t include much pop stuff like Madonna or Whitney Houston, guilty as charged.

Enjoy this at high volume. Hopefully it sparks a few pleasant memories for those of you out there who lived through ’85. I know it sure stirred up some ghosts for me…

Cheers!