1985 Survey Mix

This is the fifth in my series of 1980s survey mixes, which are moving backwards in time from 1989 to the start of the decade. These compilations are designed to give more context to the music of the ‘80s, and give a sense of how various niches and trends overlapped in this cultural moment.

We are now in the weird, dark, ultra-Reagan/Thatcher center of the 1980s. This year lends itself to the survey concept pretty well, because if you only focused on representing 1985 in hits, you’d get this rather stifling and cheesy mix of pop and rock songs, and if you only focused on the cool music – the punk, the rap, the indie, the early techno – you wouldn’t get a crucial sense of opposition. People talk about the ‘80s in terms of “monoculture,” and lament that we can’t have that anymore, but I don’t think that’s true right now. We absolutely have monocultural things now; it’s the thriving oppositional subcultures that have faded away.

Please note that the majority of disc 5 in this set covers the “Roxanne Wars,” a key moment in early rap history. It was basically a meme.

Thanks to Rob Sheffield and Paul Cox for their help in compiling this survey. All of the previous surveys are still available – 1989, 1988, 1987, 1986. The 1984 survey should be ready at the end of March.

DOWNLOAD DISC 1

R.E.M. “Feeling Gravity’s Pull” / The Smiths “How Soon Is Now?” / Tears for Fears “Head Over Heels” / Level 42 “Something About You” / Til Tuesday “Voices Carry” / Prince “Pop Life” / Madonna “Crazy for You” / The Cure “Close to Me” / Whitney Houston “How Will I Know” / Scritti Politti “Wood Beez (Pray Like Aretha Franklin)” / Aretha Franklin “Freeway of Love” / DeBarge “Rhythm of the Night” / Sade “Smooth Operator” / Sheila E “A Love Bizarre” / Phil Collins “Sussudio” / Wham! “I’m Your Man” / U2 “Bad” (Live)

DOWNLOAD DISC 2

Simple Minds “Don’t You (Forget About Me)” / A-Ha “Take On Me” / Huey Lewis and the News “The Power of Love” / Hüsker Dü “Celebrated Summer” / Minor Threat “Good Guys (Don’t Wear White)” / David Lee Roth “Just A Gigolo/I Ain’t Got Nobody” / Run-D.M.C. “King of Rock” / Schoolly D “P.S.K. What Does It Mean?” / Tina Turner “We Don’t Need Another Hero (Thunderdome)” / Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers “Don’t Come Around Here No More” / Paul Young “Every Time You Go Away” / The Commodores “Nightshift” / Village People “Sex Over the Phone” / Klymaxx “I Miss You” / Wayne Smith “Under Me Sleng Teng” / Don Cherry “I Walk” / Yello “Oh Yeah” / Jellybean featuring Madonna “Sidewalk Talk” / Grace Jones “Slave to the Rhythm” / Siouxsie and the Banshees “Overground”

DOWNLOAD DISC 3

INXS “What You Need” / Talking Heads “And She Was” / New Order “Love Vigilantes” / Prefab Sprout “Faron Young” / Camper Van Beethoven “Take the Skinheads Bowling” / Volcano Suns “Jak” / Game Theory “Curse of the Frontier Land” / The Mary Jane Girls “In My House” / Sheena Easton “Sugar Walls” / Book of Love “Boy” / Dead or Alive “You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)” / World Class Wreckin’ Cru “World class” / Chicago Bears “Super Bowl Shuffle” / Marshall Jefferson “Move Your Body” / Ready for the World “Oh Sheila” / Tenor Saw “Ring the Alarm” / Kurtis Blow “If I Ruled the World” / Morris Day and the Time “Jungle Love” / Faith No More “We Care A Lot” / The Hooters “And We Danced” / The Verlaines “Lying In State” / Lone Justice “Sweet Sweet Baby (I’m Falling)” / Mötley Crüe “Home Sweet Home”

DOWNLOAD DISC 4

The Jesus and Mary Chain “Just Like Honey” / The Fall “Cruiser’s Creek” / The Minutemen “Tour-Spiel” / Black Flag “Annihilate This Week” / Megadeth “Killing Is My Business…and Business is Good” / Big Black “Racer X” / 10,000 Maniacs “Scorpio Rising” / The Replacements “Swingin’ Party” / Phranc “Amazons” / Ronnie Milsap “She Keeps the Home Fires Burning” / Professor Longhair “Mardi Gras in New Orleans” / John Cougar Mellencamp “Small Town” / Reba McEntire “How Blue” / Suzanne Vega “Marlene on the Wall” / Dolly Parton featuring Kenny Rogers “Real Love” / The Blasters “Dark Night” / Artists United Against Apartheid “Sun City” / Duran Duran “A View to A Kill” / Big Audio Dynamite “The Bottom Line” / Felt “Primitive Painters” / Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds “Tupelo” / Simply Red “Holding Back the Years”

DOWNLOAD DISC 5

U.T.F.O. “Roxanne, Roxanne” / Roxanne Shanté “Roxanne’s Revenge” / The Real Roxanne “The Real Roxanne” / Sparky D “Sparky’s Turn (Roxanne You’re Through)” / Dr. Freshh “Roxanne’s Doctor – The Real Man” / Doctor Rocx and Co. “Do the Roxanne (Dance)” / Gigolo Tony and Lacey Lace “The Parents of Roxanne” / Crush Groove “Yo My Little Sister (Roxanne’s Brothers” / Ralph Rolle “Roxanne’s A Man” / The East Coast Crew “The Final Word No More Roxanne (Please)” / Mantronix “Needle to the Groove” / Marley Marl featuring MC Shan “Marley Marl Scratch” / Word of Mouth featuring DJ Cheese “King Kut” / Too Short “Girl” / Strafe “Set It Off” / Miles Davis “Human Nature”

DOWNLOAD DISC 6

Kate Bush “Running Up That Hill” / Eurythmics “Would I Lie to You?” / Cameo “Attack Me With Your Love” / Stevie Wonder “Part Time Lover” / LL Cool J “I Can’t Live Without My Radio” / Alexander Robotnik “Problems D’Amour” / Talk Talk “Life’s What You Make It” / Depeche Mode “Shake the Disease” / Sonic Youth “Death Valley ’69” / Shriekback “Nemesis” / Circle Jerks “American Heavy Metal Weekend” / Bruce Springsteen “Glory Days” / Jimmy Barnes “Working Class Man” / The Judds “Girls Night Out” / Meat Puppets “Away” / Dead Milkmen “Bitchin’ Camaro” / Rosanne Cash “I Don’t Know Why You Don’t Want Me” / Tom Waits “Jockey Full of Bourbon” / Jason and the Scorchers “Last Time Around” / The Cult “She Sells Sanctuary” / Godley & Creme “Cry”

DOWNLOAD DISC 7

USA for Africa “We Are the World” / Starship “We Built This City” / Katrina and the Waves “I’m Walking On Sunshine” / Mick Jagger & David Bowie “Dancing in the Streets” / Eddie Murphy “Party All the Time” / John Parr “St. Elmo’s Fire (Man in Motion)” / Bryan Adams “Summer of ’69” / John Fogerty “Centerfield” / Fetchin’ Bones “A Fable” / Robyn Hitchcock “The Man with the Lightbulb Head” / Einsturzende Neubauten “Yu-Gung” / Model 500 “No UFO’s” / Lola “Wax the Van” / Nile Rodgers “State Your Mind” / Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam & Full Force “I Wonder If I Take You Home” / JM Silk “Music is the Key” / ABC “Be Near Me” / Teena Marie “Lovergirl” / Double “The Captain of Her Heart”

DOWNLOAD DISC 8

Dire Straits “Money for Nothing” / Mr. Mister “Broken Wings” / Boogie Boys “A Fly Girl” / Newcleus “I Wanna Be A B-Boy” / Jan Hammer “Crockett’s Theme” / Tangerine Dream “Love On A Real Train (Risky Business)” / Allison Moyet “Lover Resurrection” / The Fat Boys “Fat Boys Are Back” / Barrington Levy “Here I Come” / Alabama “Can’t Keep A Good Man Down” / The Chills “Kaleidoscope World” / Fishbone “Party at Ground Zero” / Foetus “Pigswill” / Shannon “Don’t You Wanna Get Away” / The Style Council “Walls Come Tumbling Down” / Marillion “Kayleigh” / Bryan Ferry “Slave to Love” / Corey Hart “Never Surrender” / Kenny Rogers “Crazy”