1985...what a year it was.

So 1985 was a very daunting task for me. I mean, since I tend to stick to a single year in the later voting, how was I to choose five artists from a stellar list of seminal albums released between my 13th and 14th years of existence? 1985 was a huge year in music for me since it saw the birth of many albums that would shape my journey in music, open my eyes to other unheard tunes and still, after all these years, maintain a very heavy presence in my audio rotation.

Let me give you an example...off the top of my head (without any research, I promise) I can list these albums sent forth into the 1985 night:

The Waterboys-This Is The Sea, REM-Fables of the Reconstruction, The Replacements-Tim, The Pogues-Rum, Sodomy & the Lash, Love & Rockets-Seventh Dream of Teenage Heaven, Echo & The Bunnymen-Songs To Learn and Sing, The Clash-Cut The Crap, Camper Van Beethoven-Telephone Free Landslide Victory, Smiths-Meat Is Murder, Run-DMC- King Of Rock, Sonic Youth-Bad Moon Rising, Talking Heads-Little Creatures, Jesus & Mary Chain-Psychocandy, Oingo Boingo -Dead Man's Party,Peter Gabriel-Birdy Soundtrack, Pete Townshend-White City, Everything But the Girl-Love Not Money, Style Council-Our Favorite Shop, New Order-Lowlife, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds-the Firstborn Is Dead, Dire Straits-Brothers In Arms , Neil Young-Old Ways, The Cure-Head On The Door, Tom Waits-Rain Dogs, Kate Bush-Hounds of Love, Inxs-Listen Like Thieves, the Cult-Love, Big Audio Dynamite-This Is Big Audio Dynamite, Grace Jones-Island Life, Mekons-Fear And Whiskey

So you see, I had an entirely difficult task in having to whittle my list to five. I had to leave off some in favor of better albums to come. I had to leave off some in favor of better previous efforts. But all in all, 1985 proved to be a defining year for my ears. I only hope there are others that had as much fun coming through their speakers and into their lives as I did.

So without further ado, I give you my five nominees and my efforts at justification based solely on my own personal experience.

The Pogues:

What can I say about the Pogues and their gem Rum Sodomy & the Lash? This is easily one of my all-time favorite albums. I would nominate them to any hall of fame based solely on this one. Since the first time I heard this classic it has been by my side, or at the very least never far from my reach. From the opening revving "The Sick Bed of Chuchulainn" all the way to the final strains of "The Band Played Waltzing Mathilda" I know this record as well as if I'd created it myself. There is not a single song on here that I would ever skip if it came up on a playlist. Not ever. This one is surely a record that shaped my tastes and guided me on amazing journeys.

The songs collected here are tales of sorrow, sadness, longing, desperation... and yet. There is also an underlying sense of overcoming these obstacles and considering them merely speed bumps in life. Maybe it's the Irish way or maybe it's simply a desire to prove there is something better, either way it's a delightful combination that both saddens and emboldens me. Even the heart-wrenching story that unfolds in "Old Main Drag" makes me feel better about whatever minor problems I may encounter in my day to day.

It also served as a learning experience for me. I remember fondly the time I spent in the library researching Kilkenny Cat and Chuchulainn. It opened up a new chapter in my love of cultures and history and showed that even a "punk" band had intelligence and a sense of self, family, and heritage.

All I can say is, thank you Pogues. Thank you for gifting me with a true work of genius that eased my early teen years and helped to steer me in the direction of becoming the man I now am, for better or worse.

Old Main Drag

Dirty Old Town

Billy's Bones

I'm A Man You Don't Meet Every Day

Sickbed of Chuchulainn

The Replacements:

The Replacements gave me the album Tim in 1985. This is also one of my lifelong favorites and a disc that I am able to identify with on many different levels. Also another album that I would induct the band based solely on this work. The songs collected here encompass a great deal of my feelings and experiences in the dawning of my teens.

At that point in time, "Bastards of Young" could have easily been my theme song. "The sons of no one" indeed. The line "Dreams unfulfilled/ Graduate unskilled" proved too prophetic in the coming school years. And the line "The ones who love us best are the ones we'll lay to rest/And visit their graves on holidays at best/The ones who love us least are the ones we'll die to please/If it's any consolation, I don't begin to understand them" is something that I can relate to even to this day.

"Left of the Dial" was a call to arms for each of us that had to work to hear the music we loved and did whatever we could to actually see the bands perform. Left of the dial was where I spent my entire radio listening.

"Swingin' Party" and "Here Comes A Regular" did a phenomenal job of describing my social life. Thankfully, it wasn't long until I found like minded folks that I forged life-long friendships with, but the Replacements played a large role in bringing us together.

Again, I offer thanks to the band for putting just enough of my life out there for me to find that I wasn't alone.

(As a post script, Paul Westerberg is one hell of a songwriter.)

Bastards of Young

Here Comes A Regular



Waitress In the Sky



Swingin' Party



Hold My Life






REM

REM saw fit to gift me "Fables of the Reconstruction" in '85. Yet another on the all-time list. I know every song by heart and spent a good deal of time learning to play them. REM was a bridge to bring my sister and I closer when all else about our lives was trying to pull us further apart. We both fed off of this band and enjoyed the time we could share common ground.

Fables was a true work of art. Not just musically for, you see, there was so much more to it than that. There was the lyrical content, forever wanting to be deciphered and defined and considered as poetry. There was the communal art scene of Athens, Georgia to be discovered and explored. There was a calming sense of being okay with yourself.

"Life and How To Live It", "Driver 8", "Wendell Gee", "Old Man Kensey"...yep, they all still float around my head on a normal basis. And each and every time I hear this album it brings me back to the good times at that point of my life.

"Can't Get There From Here" is one of the greatest songs ever written to travel by, in my humble opinion. I can't count the number of times I've been hurtling done the nation's highways belting out this tune, giving it my all and trying to do Mr. Stipe justice as he and his band-mates blared ecstatically out of my speakers.

A thank you goes out for this record and the smile it puts on my face as well as for the spring it puts into my step.

Can't Get There From Here

Life and How To Live It



Driver 8



Wendell Gee



Green Grow the Rushes





Talking Heads






Sure, Talking Heads had some success with previous efforts and I quite enjoy their earlier works. I mean, c'mon...Speaking In Tongues? Great album. "Once in a Lifetime", "Life During Wartime","Psycho Killer", all predate Little Creatures. And they all are good enough reasons to include Talking Heads in the Hall of Whatever.

But to me and my ears, it was all about the fun, enchanting, endearing tunes on Little Creatures . "Road to Nowhere' was a common find on my 'Road Ramblings' cassettes made especially for going to places far away and better than where I was. "And She Was" is perhaps one of the better whimsical sing-along songs to come out of the decade. I defy you to listen to the track without tapping your toes or dancing juuuusssttttt a little or outright singing along. I would be flat out lying if I said that I haven't taken the opportunity to sing "Stay Up Late" to my littlest guy. It's got a good swing and is fun for both of us. It's also one of the song sthat I used to lull myself to much needed sleep at the height of my insomnia riddled teens. It was something that I could recite in my sleep which was exactly what I was aiming for.

So I guess what I'm saying is, Talking Heads are a very good band with a penchant for creating tunes that we all know. And yet, I wait until their 1985 offering to nominate them because it holds a bigger place in my heart. The bounce of youth is brought back into focus for me and that's not something I wish to lose.


Road To Nowhere



And She Was



Stay Up Late



And to show how the earlier work rated...

Slippery people



Psycho Killer




My final nominee is Peter Gabriel




I know what you're all saying: "How can you nominate him before the release of the seminal So album?!?!?! Well, it's easy really. 1985 was the year Gabriel did the soundtrack for "Birdy", one of my favorite movies. I can't explain to you (nor do I care to) why the film is so dear to me. But it is. Infinitely.

I would agree that a single soundtrack album composed mostly of instrumentals isn't something to base a nomination on. But you see, this is my list. My brain is not the same as yours. It functions of it's own accord and is a sentient being of it's own. Besides which, who could realistically say that songs like "Solsbury Hill", "Shock the Monkey", "Games Without Frontiers", "Biko" aren't enough to nominate? Gabriel came into his own before So was even thought of.

This is the one I have on each list that I think speaks for itself. Maybe you agree, maybe you don't...but all in all Peter Gabriel was already a force to be reckoned with and did it contrary to what you would think people would like.


Games Without Frontiers



Shock the Monkey



Solsbury Hill



Biko



Intruder





There you have it. I hope some others are able to throw together some more posts. Maybe I'll just have to help out...;)