Music in 1985

By Patrick Mondout

The era of charity songs hit a fever pitch early in the year when the USA for Africa session yielded the multi-platinum We Are the World single. Noticeably absent from the sessions were Paul McCartney, Rod Stewart, and Prince. The first two had previous engagements in Europe but the notoriously private Prince, perhaps not realizing what a colossal mistake he was about to make, decided to skip the session and contribute a song to the album instead.* Ironically, of all the other songs contributed by major artists for the album, his song - 4 The Tears In Your Eyes - was the only song seemingly written for the occasion.

Phil Collins released No Jacket Required and continued a streak of what would eventually be 13 top ten solo singles from 1984-1990.

Here are some of the albums you may have been listening to in 1985.

Alexander O'Neal

Aretha Franklin - Who's Zoomin' Who

Camper Van Beethoven - Telephone Free Landslide Victory

Cure - The Head On The Door

Elton John - Ice on Fire

Husker Du - New Day Rising

Jesse Johnson's Revuep

John Cougar Mellencamp - Scarecrow

John Fogerty - Centerfield

Kate Bush - Hounds Of Love

LL Cool J - Radio

Morris Day - Color Of Success

New Order - Low-Life

Phil Collins - No Jacket Required

Pogues - Rum Sodomy and The Lash

Prefab Sprout - Two Wheels Good

Prince and the Revolution - Around the World in a Day

R.E.M. - Fables Of The Reconstruction

Ready For The World

Replacements - Tim

Robert Palmer - Riptide

Run-D.M.C. - King of Rock

Sade - Diamond Life

Scritti Politti - Cupid & Psyche 85

Sheila E - In Romance 1600

Stevie Wonder - In Square Circle

Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble - Soul To Soul

Sting - The Dream Of The Blue Turtles

Suzanne Vega

Ta Mara and the Seen

Talking Heads - Little Creatures

Tears for Fears - Songs From The Big Chair

Tom Waits - Rain Dogs

Whitney Houston

USA for Africa

ZZ Top - Afterburner

* Prince had a chance on the 10th anniversary to put the event behind him while onstage with Quincy Jones and many others in January 1995 at the American Music Awards. While everyone else sang We Are the World as part of the finale, Prince stood up there front and center (it was his night - having received the AMA's most prestigious award, the Award of Merit) with with "slave" scrawled on his face in dark sunglasses sucking on a lollypop. Quincy tried to hand him the microphone to sing part of the song but instead of accepting it, Prince tried to hand Quincy his lollypop. Prince has done much to help others over the years through his own and other charities, but these two incidents were decidedly uncool.