10 Essential Rock Albums From 1985: Exclusive Excerpt

Were the ’80s really the greatest decade ever in music? We posit that question on the back cover of our new book, 501 Essential Albums of the 80s (Motorbooks/Quarto Group), and certainly that case could be made – though other 10-year spans can make their own claims to that distinction.

With portable hardware such as the Sony Walkman and boom boxes, the arrival of MTV and a total embrace from the rest of the culture, film soundtracks to sports arena playlists, music became ubiquitous during the ’80s. Our immersion was total, and the buy-in authentic. For a brief, handful-of-years minute, the various musical tribes united in a consensus about what were essential listens, resulting in levels of popularity we’d never seen before.

And to take the argument further – which was the best year in that (perhaps) greatest of decades?

A lot of attention is being paid to 1985 on its 40th anniversary, and a case can certainly be made for its preeminence during the 80s. It was the year of “We Are the World” and Live Aid, which in turned spanned the first Farm Aid concert – and which in turn brought together Sammy Hagar and Eddie Van Halen, and Bob Dylan and Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, harbingers of some big things to come.

VH-1 started on January 1 of that year. The Rock in Rio festival began 10 days later. David Lee Roth left Van Halen, Roger Waters quit Pink Floyd, Michael Jackson bought the Beatles’ publishing catalog, rock did battle with the Parents Music Resource Center (P.M.R.C.) – clearly there was no shortage of headlines.

And there was no shortage of great, or for our purposes essential, music. Amidst the book’s 501 genre-spanning choices is a potent chapter for 1985, and from that we’ve gleaned these 10 as the most essential classic rock albums of the year, selected and written by a corps of more than two dozen contributors – including some names that will be familiar to UCR readers…

Phil Collins
No Jacket Required
(Atlantic)
Released: February 18, 1985
Producers: Phil Collins, Hugh Padgham

By 1985, Phil Collins was on a roll coming off Top 10 hits with his first two solo albums, Face Value and Hello, I Must Be Going?, in addition to the same success of Abacab with his longtime mates in Genesis. Not one to settle for just being good, he responded with the biggest album of his career, No Jacket Required, titled from a personal story of Collins being denied entrance to a restaurant for not wearing proper attired, included softer ballads dealing with personal themes such as divorce and political angst, but he also he consciously decided to write more up-tempo and danceable tunes.

With 10 tracks (11 including the CD bonus “We Said Hello Goodbye”) the blend of well-written and expertly-performed and recorded Adult Contemporary and pop sounds made No Jacket Required a veritable hit-making machine. The album’s first two released singles — “Sussudio,” a Prince-inspired rollicking song about a schoolboy crush, and “One More Night,” a soulful paean about lost love — both reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart. Those were followed by the Top 10 likes of “Don’t Lose My Number,” with melodramatic lyrics and Collin’s gated reverb drum sound (and a comically elaborate video), and “Take Me Home,” whose soaring lyrics refer to the distressed pleas of a mental patient.

No Jacket Required earned three Grammy Awards for Collins, including Album of the Year and went on to become one of the best-selling releases of all time, with worldwide sales of more than 25 million copies. Its extraordinary success started him down the path from rock star to international music icon, with ubiquitous collaborations with other artists and a spot playing both Live Aid concerts, in London and Philadelphia, during the summer of 1985. – Jeff Corey

Dire Straits
Brothers in Arms
(Warner Bros.)
Released: May 17, 1985
Producers: Neil Dorfsman, Mark Knopfler

The historical significance of Dire Straits’ fifth LP stretches further than the music. As one of the first albums to be digitally recorded, the 1985 work came out around the time compact disc players were beginning to move into the mainstream. As such, Brothers in Arms became the first million-selling CD, a distinction served by the record’s clean, clear sound and the rising format’s upgrade in sonic quality. (CD buyers were also given expanded versions of the album’s songs, allowing more space for the nine pristine tracks to move within.)

But the technical accolades would have meant less if the songs didn’t support them. Starting with 1980’s Making Movies, Dire Straits began recording lengthier, artier songs that willfully branched out from the group’s carefully constructed 1978 debut single, “Sultans of Swing”; the five tracks on 1982’s Love Over Gold, averaged eight minutes each, with the longest clocking in at more than 14. That album set the stage for Brothers in Arms and the expanse that greeted the expertly crafted and deliberately paced “Your Latest Trick,” “Why Worry,” and the title track.

But it was the album’s oddest track, “Money For Nothing,” that sent it to the top of the charts and made Dire Straits one of the biggest bands in the world during the mid-’80s. With a vocal assist from Sting, a fuzzy guitar line inspired by ZZ Top, and an award-winning computer-generated video that illustrated the song’s working-class takedown of pampered pop stars (“That ain’t working, that’s the way you do it / Money for nothing and your chicks for free”), the No. 1 hit was an inescapable part of the culture in 1985. But its success wore down frontman Mark Knopfler, who disbanded Dire Straits a decade later, after one last album. -Michael Gallucci

Bob Dylan
Biograph
(Columbia)
Released: Autumn 1985
Producer: Jeff Rosen

Before there was The Bootleg Series, there was Biograph. And before that, of course, there were Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits albums – three of them. But Biograph was not a best-of, per se, though it does contain a substantial number of Dylan’s best-known songs.
No, instead, it’s a 53-track career-spanning collection that was released as a five LP/three cassette/three CD box set containing previously released material, studio outtakes and demos, unreleased songs, and live performances, all of which date from 1962-81.

Somewhat illogically – but this is Dylan, right? – the set was not arranged chronologically, although small themes emerge here and there from the songs’ groupings — love songs, political songs, etc. Ultimately, though, the Bob-Dylan-has-come-unstuck-in-time order evinced his enduring talent, never mind that his critical fortunes sometimes foundered during that span.

The real draw here, of course, was the rarities – 18 previously unreleased songs, some of them known to the Dylan cognoscenti but not the general public. Some are revelatory, such as “Caribbean Wind,” and a smoking live take of “Groom Still Waiting at the Altar,” both of which hail from the mostly unloved Shot of Love era. There were also great tracks from the Rolling Thunder tour, from the Blood on the Tracks album sessions, and much more.

Beyond the material itself, there was much more that Biograph got right, most notably the booklet and accompanying materials, which offered rare photographs, a long, insightful essay by Cameron Crowe and, perhaps best of all, direct comments about many of the songs by Dylan himself. Because it turned out to be a commercial success – going platinum, even – Biograph was a game-changer for the way archival material was presented, paving the way for a thousand box sets to come and presaging Dylan’s own vast (and still-in-progress) Bootleg Series. – Daniel Durchholz

John Fogerty
Centerfield
(Warner Bros.)
Released: January 7, 1985
Producer: John Fogerty

With a howl like Little Richard’s and guitar riffs that rival Chuck Berry’s, John Fogerty is one of the great primal forces in rock ‘n’ roll. The hits he recorded with Creedence Clearwater Revival—more than a dozen in the Top 15 of the Billboard Hot 100 between 1968-1972—ranked among the genre’s enduring classics. After Creedence broke up, Fogerty recorded two solo albums to little acclaim. After a decade out of the spotlight, he returned in 1985 with Centerfield.

“Put me in, coach, I’m ready to play!” the singer declared joyfully in the album’s title track, with allusions to Berry’s “Brown Eyed Handsome Man” and poet Ernest Thayer’s “Casey at the Bat.” The song opened with programmed drum beats that mimic a baseball crowd’s rhythmic claps—one of several moments that highlight that Fogerty apparently crafted this entire album without any other musicians in the room.

“The Old Man Down The Road” opens the album with a swamp rock hook that echoed CCR’s “Run Through The Jungle”—so much so, unfortunately, that Fogerty was sued by Saul Zaentz, then-owner of the Creedence publishing rights, and the inspiration for the sharply penned “Mr. Greed” and “Vanz Kant Danz” on Centerfield. (Zaentz lost the “Jungle” suit in a case that went to the U.S. Supreme Court and set a new precedent over damages in copyright cases.)

Score-settling aside, Centerfield was packed with exceptional songwriting, often bittersweet. Big Train (From Memphis) recalled the inspiration of Elvis Presley who, like the big train, “is gone gone gone.” Echoing “Fortunate Son,” the aging narrator recounting baby-boomer memories in “I Saw It On T.V.” tells of the politicians who “took my only son from me.” With double-platinum sales, Centerfield brought Fogerty back to where he so richly deserved to be—No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart. – Thom Duffy

Heart
Heart
(Capitol)
Released: June 21, 1985
Producer: Ron Nevison

“Some people told us we might have hits if we did these songs,” Ann Wilson said about Heart‘s eighth studio album. “We hadn’t had hits for awhile, so we listened to them.” After falling on commercial hard times and switching labels, the band led by Ann and younger sister Nancy Wilson regained its beat here, accepting polished tunes from outside writers and scoring four Top 10 singles, including “These Dreams” and “Never,” a No. 1 album and five-times platinum sales. The decision likely saved Heart from permanent failure. – Gary Graff

John Mellencamp
Scarecrow
(Riva/Mercury)
Released: July 31, 1985
Producers: John Mellencamp, George Green

The maturity — and there is no other work for it — that John (then) Cougar Mellencamp began with American Fool in 1982 and continued on the following year’s Uh-Huh took another step with the Indiana rocker’s eighth studio album. He still liked to “R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A.,” but most of the 11 songs — including that one — mined deeper terrain, whether it was Rain on the Scarecrow‘s paean to the plight of America’s family farmer, the poignant statement of character in the biographical Small Town, the socio-political outlook in “The Face of the Nation” or the soulful self-realization in the sweeping Minutes to Memories.
The penultimate track was even called “You’ve Got to Stand for Somethin’,” and this time Mellencamp really did — albeit with a bit of kicking and screaming to get there.

“Up until this year I was just a guy in a band in a bar. I didn’t want to go beyond that,” Mellencamp, acknowledging he also wanted to dodge specific comparisons to Bruce Springsteen, said as he started touring to support Scarecrow. “Then I started to realize, ‘What’s wrong with two people putting their best foot forward?'”

Writing a “terrible” screenplay, meanwhile, put him in a different kind of mode, with characters and narrators even more fleshed out than those he drew in “Jack & Diane” and “Pink Houses.”

Mellencamp, joined by guests Rickie Lee Jones and Ry Cooder in spots, also deepened the musical well here. He made his band members learn a bunch of mostly ’60s garage rock tunes, opening their minds to different ways to approach music and draw from a larger palette. Scarecrow let us know that Mellencamp was an American fool no more but was, rather, ready to join the ranks of thoughtful, resonant heartland troubadours — and still let it R.O.C.K. when he wanted. — GG

Robert Palmer
Riptide
(Island)
Released: November 1985
Producer: Bernard Edwards

The depth of the late Robert Palmer’s genius can only truly be appreciated in retrospect, and for those who haven’t done so, the rabbit hole of his music is definitely worth falling into. For most of his career, Palmer played with genres and a great wardrobe while garnering a respectful following. His short stint in the Power Station with Duran Duran’s Andy and John Taylor catapulted him to something near stardom, although he left the band in the lurch to work on his own material .

That led to his eighth album, Riptide, and its breakthrough single, “Addicted to Love.” A rocking singalong played by musicians from the Power Station and Chaka Khan’s band, it became Palmer’s signature hit and was a bona fide earworm– though what people remember most is the video, in which Palmer sings while five identically styled models barely dance behind him while holding instruments they obviously aren’t play. MTV had the clip in perpetual rotation, searing its vapid imagery into the eyeballs of history while pushing the song – which won a Grammy Award — to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Palmer hit big again with his cover of Cherrelle’s “I Didn’t Mean to Turn You On,” whose video replicated “Addicted to Love”’s cloned models with similar success. “I hardly ever get asked about music,” Palmer told the U.K.’s Guardian in 2002. “I do, however, get asked about the ‘Addicted To Love’ video and my suits on a daily basis.”

Riptide had more to recommend it than those two juggernauts, however, including the first single, “Discipline of Love,” “Hyperactive” and the title track. The double-platinum success of the album, and those two videos, may have minimized the brilliance of some of Palmer’s previous work – notably 1980’s Clues — but it insured he is remembered. -Helene Dunbar

Simple Minds
Once Upon a Time
(A&M)
Released: October 21, 1985
Producers: Jimmy Iovine, Bob Clearmountain

Scotland’s Simple Minds was big in the U.K. and Europe with six successful albums, but it was the No. 1 hit “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” from the Brat Pack film The Breakfast Club earlier in 1985 that broke the group in America and set the table for its biggest album.

The band teamed with American producers Jimmy Iovine and Bob Clearmountain to punch up its already anthemic sound, bringing in more guitar drive and accentuating frontman Jim Kerr’s yearning vocals. The result radiated a raw energy and solid structure not fully realized on its previous releases. Once Upon a Time reached No. 10 on the Billboard 200 and topped U.K.’s albums chart. “Alive and Kicking” scored another abundance of radio play with its hymn-like melody and a coda featuring backup singer Robin Clark’s gospel-inspired vocals. There was a spiritual vibe to the Sly & the Family Stone-influenced “Sanctify Yourself,” while “All the Things She Said” was inspired by quotes from Polish political prisoners in Russia. – JC

Sting
Dream of the Blue Turtles
(A&M)
Released: June 1, 1985
Producers: Sting, Pete Smith

The Police’s hiatus after its Synchronicity album and tour was supposed to be temporary. But the massive success of Sting’s solo debut, Dream of the Blue Turtles — released on Synchronicity’s two-year anniversary and containing a reworked version of Zenyatta Mondatta’s “Shadows in the Rain” — helped put the kibosh on reconciliation plans.

Playing guitar with a band of rising jazz stars including Branford Marsalis on sax and future Rolling Stone Darryl Jones on bass, Sting revisited his pre-Police roots, as well as his love for composer Kurt Weill (on the vampire-inspired “Moon Over Bourbon Street”). He also editorialized about socio-political issues such as Cold War tensions (“Russians”), a British coal miners’ strife (“We Work the Black Seam”) and war, child exploitation and drugs ( Children’s Crusade). He also counter-balanced his stalkerish “Every Breath You Take,” the Police’s biggest hit, with the upbeat opener and first single, “If You Love Somebody Set Them Free”; reaching No. 3 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart, it remains his highest-ranking solo single. Three more singles climbed inside the Top 20; the album itself hit No. 2 on Billboard’s Top 200 and launched Sting’s remarkable run of seven consecutive Top 10 solo studio albums

He actually quoted “Every Breath…” in the feel-good calypso track “Love is the Seventh Wave,” then leavened its somewhat reverential lyrics with the line, “every cake you bake, every leg you break.” Marsalis’ and keyboardist Kenny Kirkland’s instrumental flights offset the lyrical density of songs such as Children’s Crusade and the gorgeously arranged Fortress Around Your Heart, and, with Omar Hakim’s drumming, found a cool-jazz/funk groove on tracks such as “Consider Me Gone.” Turtles was all-killer/no-filler and kept any Police reunion plans cuffed for another two-plus decades. – Lynne Margolis

Tears For Fears
Songs From the Big Chair
(Mercury)
Released: February 25, 1985
Producer: Chris Hughes

Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith, aka Tears for Fears, worked out their childhood traumas on their first album The Hurting, freeing their psyches for the poppier Songs From the Big Chair. Where the debut was deeply introspective and heavily synth-based, the duo’s sophomore effort had more intentionally “joyful,” guitar-driven songs, though the joy was mitigated by tracks such Everybody Wants to Rule the World, overtly about the Cold War (as were many other songs during the mid-80s). It hit No. 1 on the U.S. charts, as did the follow-up single, the more personal but equally intense Shout.
Based on the Jungian theory that the way to move past childhood trauma is to (literally) scream, Shout made the loudest noise of Tears For Fears’ career. The song opened with the anthemic mantra “Shout, shout, let it all out / these are the things I can do without” and went on to profess that, “If I could change your mind / I’d really like to break your heart.” It was brutally candid, but overall the album offered a bold, explosive sound from an otherwise cerebral band.

Song From the Big Chair was relentless with hooks and beats that made listeners need to sing along – nowhere more true than on the unapologetically romantic “Head Over Heels,” a third Top 5 hit from the album. Whatever sonic magic Tears For Fears unleashed on this album, the band’s heart still shined through. As Stylus magazine noted 21 years after the album’s release, “Even today, when all rock musicians seem to be able to do is be emotional and honest, the brutality and power of Songs From the Big Chair’s catharsis is still quite shocking.” -HD