POLL: 25 years ago, these were the #1 singles of the summer! (1985)

the only one of these songs I don't hate is the Paul Young one

OTOH the DJ Sammy & Yanou featuring Do & Alia version of "Heaven" is perhaps the peak of DJ Sammy & Yanou featuring Do & Alia's storied discography

View to a Kill for me.

"Everybody Wants to Rule the World" and Paul Young.

view to a kill and/or everybody wants to rule the world >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> anything else here.

Yeah, those are the only two I wouldn't turn off immediately. xpost

I'd rank them this-a-way:

Paul Young
Tears for Fears (both tracks)
Bryan Adams
Huey Lewis
Duran Duran
Phil Collins
John Parr

view to a kill and/or everybody wants to rule the world >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> anything else here.

― Daniel, Esq., Saturday, 19 June 2010 15:46 (11 minutes ago)

^^^^^^^

That's not even the best Adams single from that album (that'd be "Somebody").

power of love

That's not even the best Adams single from that album (that'd be "Somebody").

blech to bryan adams generally, except for cuts like a knife (the single). great video.

xp I'm partial to "Run to You," but "Somebody" is okay. Anything but "Summer of 69" is okay, actually.

"View to a Kill" just over "Sussudio" then "Huey Lewis" then maybe John Parr then bonfire

1 - Duran Duran, "A View to a Kill" (July 13-26)
2 - Tears for Fears, "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" (June 15-21)
3 - Phil Collins, "Sussudio" (July 6-12)
4 - Tears for Fears, "Shout" (August 3-23)
5 - Huey Lewis & The News, "The Power of Love" (August 24-September 6)
6 - Bryan Adams, "Heaven" (June 22-July 5)
7 - Paul Young, "Every Time You Go Away" (July 27-August 2)
8 - John Parr, "St. Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion)" (September 7-20)

11 year old me hated the John Parr track from the first time I heard it.

there's something about HL&TN that i think i could have liked, but something about HL&TN that i actually dislike.

can't put my finger on the "something" on either end of that sentence, tho.

Just "Power of Love"? Or the entirety of HL&TN?

Huey recorded some good tunes, but mostly before "The Power of Love."

the entirety of HL&TN. great vocal harmonies and catchy melodies is the "something" on side one of the sentence, i think.

What's amazing about Lewis is how "The Power of Love" kicked off an even bigger run of hits for'em.

i mean, they had those elements to some degree, but never enough to make me a fan. the "something" on the other side of the equasion, tho, was always present.

yeah, they were primed for huge commercial success. MTV helped.

I voted for "Everybody Wants To Rule The World"; early 80s new wave nervousness is there and the bridge blasts it away with confidence but then the nervousness returns. Plus, I'd like to rule the world.

I love all these songs, even Bryan Adams & Huey Lewis; was 11-ish and newly really into music at that point, so they're formative of my taste, for better and for worse.

I wouldn't like to rule the world, it sounds like a lot of work.

http://www.rollingstonesnet.com/images/Let%27sWork.gif

Especially burdened by indecision married to a lack of vision.

xpost

If you haven't seen Jagger do that on Top of the Pops, you haven't lived.

this is the summer i got to take a friend with me on vacation (lol only child) but then she cried EVERY NIGHT because she was homesick (we were 10 -- grow up already!) so she flew home and i got really sunburnt and spent a lot of time at the library

sussudio gets my vote because i distinctly remember listening to it in the car on the way to the grocery store to pick up cinnamon donuts while being intensely angry at this friend for being babyish

Well, his biggest solo hit, released this same year, was amusing enough.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hev2qx1y2IU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEUZcFC8L9o

Tragically there doesn't seem to be any sound here but you get the flavour. During the height of the Thatcher government and mass unemployment in the UK, Mick releases a record about how the unemployed are feckless fuckers who shd get off their arses and find a job so he doesn't have to pay any tax towards social security. Then he gets a gang of pre-teens to dance along behind him.

Mick had a rough mid 80s. And Dancing In The Streets was only a few short years away.

It was the same year!

"Just Another Night" has a nice rhyme of "rendezvous" with "baby it's true" that comes to mind a lot for some reason.

I'm kinda fascinated by pop stars' dalliances with right-ish wing positions in the early and mid 80s (e.g. Neil Young).

"Dancing in the Streets" was 85 I think, maybe 84. Worst video of all time imo

Summer' 85 -- #1 in England in the Live Aid period.

This was also the era when Phil Collins was a vocal supporter of the Tory party altho I think he denies this nowadays.

"Everybody Wants to Rule the World" always reminds me of a house full of popcorn at the end of Real Genius.

Tragically there doesn't seem to be any sound here

oh i wouldn't say "tragically." "mercifully," maybe.

mick jagger solo is a bore. and jagger/bowie's version of dancing in the streets was like an abomination of nature.

SHOUT ffs

nothing corny about Tears For Fears, college-rockers make good

Never a big fan of that record and now it's been extra-ruined by James Corden and Dizzee Rascal I will pass thx

Only Tears for Fears I have time for is "Mad World" and "Sowing the Seeds of Love" iirc

shout's good, too. i've heard it so often that it's lost it's edge, for me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHq3vy_7cJQ

ffs indeed

In league with all the rest of these, sure...Tears for Fears aren't corny. But they kinda are objectively corny in their own right.

(And I'm speaking as someone who loves the Songs from the Big Chair record front to back.)

don't blame Tears For Fears because you're a corny indie fuxxor and/or pokemon-card-having new jack crumbsnatcher that doesn't remember when rappers could make dope shit out of "shout"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1mAqvXP3yI

if tears for fears were dead, they'd be spinning in their graves.

Only Tears for Fears I have time for is "Mad World" and "Sowing the Seeds of Love" iirc

― Yahia Trick Yahia (Noodle Vague), Saturday, June 19, 2010 11:11 AM (9 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

shout's good, too. i've heard it so often that it's lost it's edge, for me.

― Daniel, Esq., Saturday, June 19, 2010 11:11 AM (8 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

everybody wants to rule the world >>>>>

yall need to check the extended 12" & just jam out.

Okay, that (Rap Version) is pretty bad. And I love drum machine rap by and large.

Mother's Talk + Head Over Heels + Working Hour > Everybody Wants To Rule The World > Shout >>>>>>>>>>>>>>> rest of the album

Okay, that (Rap Version) is pretty bad. And I love drum machine rap by and large.

― Johnny Fever, Saturday, June 19, 2010 12:27 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Cool, you know nothing about '80s rap. Go listen to the Avalanches or something

Whiney, why do you assume I'm 18 years old? I was listening to Whodini when you were in diapers, fucker.

lol, than how can you front on Craig G?!

Because it's bad.

u_u

what kind of horrible future is this in which anyone anywhere will rep for fucking tears for fears, one of the worst bands of all time

every single song: horrible

u r rong

no I am 100% right, they sucked real bad

you are 98.3% right but there's that crucial margin

tears for fears, one of the worst bands of all time

Like them or no, I just think you're grossly overstating their place in the world of music.

objectively speaking you're right, I just hate those songs so much

"mad world" - "sowing the seeds of love" - "everybody wants to rule the world" - "shout" - what a better world this would be if no-one had ever endured one note of such horribly formed "songs"

Donnie Darko made me love "Head Over Heels". Also, the Bad Plus do a decent version of "Everybody Wants to Rule the World."

Ted Leo's version of "Everybody Wants..." from this year is really good too. Reminded me that I really love the structure of that song.

Where the Fragg is Madonna's Into the Groove

Where's

Oh Sheila - Ready For the World
Madonna's Into the Groove
Aretha Franklin-Freeway of Love
Anything by Alexander O'Neal
Colonel Abrams Trapped

Take that up with the people who didn't buy as many copies of those singles as they did the ones mentioned in the opening post.

Where's

Oh Sheila - Ready For the World
Madonna's Into the Groove
Aretha Franklin-Freeway of Love
Anything by Alexander O'Neal
Colonel Abrams Trapped

In a dimension where this is a useless argument.

everybody wants to rule the world >>>>>

yall need to check the extended 12" & just jam out.

^^^^ up there with The Blue Nile circa Hats in the morphine-hit stakes.

Three songs are from popular movies, two of those share the name of the movie they're from! There's something wonderful and seemingly lost in that. Imagine if today's top pop stars recorded songs bearing the same names as the latest movies:
Lady Gaga - Toy Story 3
Ke$ha - She's Out of My League
Michael Buble - Date Night
Justin Bieber - Marmaduke (Dance Doggy Dance)

"Everybody Wants to Rule the World" is good and "Sussudio"'s sort of good, but based on this list, I'm glad I spent that summer listening to New Day Rising. (Terrible summer--got rejected for grad school in the spring, didn't start writing for publication till the fall.) I'm sure there must have been lots of better stuff elsewhere on the charts.

what kind of horrible future is this in which anyone anywhere will rep for fucking tears for fears, one of the worst bands of all time

― get your bucket of free wings (underrated aerosmith albums I have loved), Saturday, June 19, 2010 3:01 PM (2 days ago) Bookmark

Chris Martin baubleheads for all of you!!!!

wtf, hating Tears For Fears is clearly a sign of deafness/impending dementia. Besides both of these fucking GREAT songs, The Hurting is top to bottom unfuckwithable.

twenty-five years ago? damn

holy shit at that jagger song, never heard/googled lyrics before

I will concede it's corny but 17 year old me loved 'Everybody Wants to Rule the World' despite my misgivings about Tears For Fears.

T4F are mondeowave 4 lyfe (ie great)

it would be an abuse of moderator powers to embed autoplay T4F videos in this thread, right

holy shit at that jagger song, never heard/googled lyrics before

pretty shocking, have amended wikipedia to publicise. ta to NV for the text.

this was from summer 1985 too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXwelEWpPXs

These days it's "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" >>>>"Head Over Heels">>>>>>>"Shout"

view to a kill and/or everybody wants to rule the world >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> anything else here.

― Daniel, Esq., Saturday, 19 June 2010 15:46 (11 minutes ago)

^^^^^^^

― display-name aesthete (snoball), Saturday, June 19, 2010 9:59 AM (2 days ago)

^^^^^^^^

These days it's "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" >>>>"Head Over Heels">>>>>>>"Shout"

of these three I think the clear winner is "Head Over Heels"

wow that list makes me exactly remember my 15-yr-old summer. got my first job (washing dishes at an italian restaurant) and those things were on the radio all the time. tho in the kitchen we mostly played the rock station, which was more about "money for nothing," "all she wants to do is dance," and "radioactive." (the firm. remember the firm?)

anyway, "everybody wants to rule the world" pretty easily for me.

Ha -- I'm not even sure the lyrics to "A View to a Kill" are in English.

"money for nothing"

That was the #1 for a week or two immediately following the John Parr song, btw.

Other songs I remember (though they never hit #1):

Howard Jones - "Things Can Only Get Dinner" (it and "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" remind me a family trip to Disney on July 4th weekend)
Prince and the Revolution - "Raspberry Beret"
Springsteen - "Glory Days"
Shannon - "Do You Want To Get Away"

er, "Better" (though we did get dinner that weekend)

''Rhythm of the Night'' was also around this time, wasn't it? Probably a bit earlier as I remember hesitating to buy either DeBarge or the Tears for Fears album for my birthday (april) money. Of these lot, my vote goes to the first TfF song.

I remember it as a spring hit.

Oh: Eurythmics' "Would I Lie To You?"

"Things Can Only Get Dinner" - A missed opportunity for Weird Al?

"And do you want gravy...Iiiiiiii Dooooooo"

"A View to a Kill" is one of the greatest singles of all time, u r all lame.

Meeting you with a view to a kill
Face to face in secret places feel the chill
Nightfall covers me
But you know, the plans I'm making
Still oversee
Could it be the whole earth opening wide
A sacred why, a mystery gaping inside
The weekends why, until we

CHORUS:
Dance into the fire
That fatal kiss is all we need
Dance into the fire
To fatal sounds of broken dreams
Dance into the fire
That fatal kiss is all we need
Dance into the fire

The choice for you is the view to a kill
Between the shades assassination standing still
The first crystal tears
Fall as snowflakes on your body
First time in years
To drench your skin with lover's rosy stain
A chance to find a phoenix for the flame
A chance to die, but can we

we mostly played the rock station, which was more about "money for nothing,"

every song here >>>>>>> "money for nothing"

yeah definitely Duran Duran walks away with this poll...

Both Tears For Fears tracks are awesome!!

Why did Paul Young exist, anyway? Seriously. His mullet was not impressive, and his music was so bland even by 80s standards.

wow @ "A View to a Kill" lyrics. Are they "right" (maybe this question is indeterminate)? I mean, really:

"A sacred why, a mystery gaping inside
The weekends why, until we"

It's worthy of Paul Banks.

I like three or four of his singles a lot, actually, and his voice is powerful and expressive enough to mitigate the effects of his obsession with fretless bass.

I guess I just never really got him.

It was only a couple months ago I rediscovered my love for "Every Time You Go Away." The single mix, with the slap echo on the drums, is far superior to the sort of bland album/UK single version. Compare and contrast:

Regular version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUKBuAkr4Lg

Echoed version:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x17dr8_paul-young-every-time-you-go-away_music

"Shout" is a fucking huge record and no amount of overplaying could make me think less of it

I always dug Paul Young!

"Come Back and Stay" is still my favorite.

A View to a Kill" is one of the greatest singles of all time, u r all lame.

i used to like it more, but now "a view" seems to me like DD running on fumes.

I will rep for Tears For Fears until the day I die - and their reunion album a few years back was unconditionally great. "Shout" still really gets to me, though "Everybody Wants To Rule The World" was always one of the weak tracks on "Songs From The Big Chair". They'll be playing in Boston this summer and I plan on being there!

wow i owned several of the full length cassettes that this list came from. i kinda love all these (except for "Heaven") even if I don't particularly love all the artists. kind of embarrassed that at the time i prob liked "St. Elmo's Fire" best. nowadays i'd go with "View to a Kill." was always more a "Head Over Heels" dude than "Everybody Wants to Rule the World"

I like Heaven actually...DJ Sammy showed me the light.

If DJ Sammy needed to show you the light, you didn't deserve "Heaven" in the first place.

Heaven is a very bitter and angry song, none of the artists covering it seem to get that.

i owned and loved Reckless, but i never had much time for "heaven." i'm a little more forgiving these days. it's certainly better than anything i can recall him doing since.

(it's all been a slight downhill grade since cuts like a knife imo)

heaven vs. heaven is a place on earth vs. dancing in heaven

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

These songs are all awesome!! My four-year-old self was rocking out to every single one.

damn right!

GONNA BE A MAN OF MOTION, UNDERNEATH THESE PAIR OF WHEELS, TAKE ME WHERE THE FUTURE'S FLYING, ST. ELMO'S FIYA.

My favorite in 1985: Paul Young
Off the best album: Bryan Adams
Best artist, overall: Bryan Adams and Huey Lewis (tie)
Song George Smith has convinced me I'm probably underrating, but I still haven't checked yet to see if he's right: John Parr
Surprising myself by voting for: "Everybody Wants To The Rule The World"

Huey recorded some good lots of great tunes, but mostly entirely before "The Power of Love."

That's not even the best Adams single from that album (that'd be "Somebody").

No way -- "Run to You" or "Summer Of 69", by far; "One Night Love Affair" probably better than "Somebody" or "Heaven," too.

Can't stand "Summer of '69," and "Run to You" has a weak chorus. Don't remember "One Night Love Affair" other than that it was a single.

yeah, that's totally true, and i hadn't really focused on it before: run to you has a very weak chorus.

"It's Only Love" w/ Tina Turner maybe better, too. ("Ain't Gonna Cry" and "Kids Wanna Rock" would be way up there, but they weren't singles.)

Run to You may have a weak chorus (it's just the title repeated four or more times), but its guitar hook is still one of my favorites. I'll often just mindlessly go to it when I piddling around on my guitar with no ideas.

I love It's Only Love.

I=I'm

Im I the only one that likes shout more than everybody wants to rule the world?

No, I'm with you. But Head Over Heels is better than either one.

voting Tears for Fears "Everybody Wants To Rule The World"

This is literally the worst music ever polled on this board.

"Heaven" is my vote. It has a decent hook and turn.

I was born in 1983, but thanks to VH1 countdowns I know all of these songs!

Anyone repping for Shout has to be aware it spawned, 25 years later, this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07K_kHV7BXk

i've chosen never to listen to that version

indeed

you are wise.

This is literally the worst music ever polled on this board.

*cough*

This is literally the worst music ever polled on this board.

no way

The Buzz Ballads Poll

inyo maybe, but seriously, i'd gladly take half that buzz ballad list or even the crow 2 ost over this garbage.

steve shasta i defer to you in matters of food and fashion but...

seriously I think it comes down to how old you were/where you were in 1985 or 1995 (buzz ballads) "doll parts" is fab but the rest of that poll can blow me

both lists suck and the best thing on either is "Everybody Wants to Rule the World", which is a fantastic song

"Sussudio" is weirder and harder than anything besides the Hole number, guys.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

who,who,whodio voted for sussudio?

Wow, I didn't figure with all the Bryan Adams/Heaven talk in the thread that he'd only get one vote.

John Parr, "St. Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion)" (September 7-20) 13

I figured this would come in last somehow.

The part in the "St. Elmo's Fire" where he goes OOOH-hoo-ooo-oo-HOO (at ~1:25 in the video) was an endless source of hilarity to my brother & I when we were in high school. He made a .wav file of just that part and set it up so when you played WarCraft 2, everyone made that sound when they died.

good results

i was so bummed when Songs From The Big Chair got shafted on the '80s albums poll, even moreso now after this thread's results

I'm in no mood to start one anytime soon, but one day we should do an alt. '80s poll.

Yeah, I'd like to see it done, although I don't know if it'd be as interesting/fruitful as the alt '70s or '90s were so I don't feel a strong motivation to spearhead it myself.

I think it could definitely be pretty interesting. Lots of freestyle, r&b and chart pop that was pretty overlooked in the poll, in addition to the Tears for Fears and Peter Gabriel snubs.

yeah it definitely would be neat, I just don't see it being a treasure trove like the '70s one.

My 11 year old opinion of John Parr circa 'St. Elmo's Fire' was "he's just an old guy trying to look trendy".

The whole impetus for this particular poll was watching the John Parr video on youtube and remembering that summer. I went to Wikipedia and found out he was only 30 at the time of that single, but he sure as hell looks older.

he sounds/looks constipated afaiac.

that song came up in music round of pub trivia a few weeks ago and nobody could remember his name, just his constipated look.

Where is Madonna's "Into the Groove" That was the quintessential hit of summer of '85. Where is Wham's "Everything She Wants" Aretha Franklin's "Freeway of Love" and Whitney Houstons "You Give Good Love"

"Into the Groove" was never released as a stand alone single, only as the B-side to "Angel."

Parr's mullet was the first mullet that looked ridiculous to me. The bit in the "Naughty Naughty" video when he cranks the tuning pegs on his guitar where were a source of amusement among my friends. He totally gave off the vibes of old guy trying to be hip.