Continuing a countdown of my favorite albums of 1985…
#9 – Scarecrow – John Cougar Mellencamp
Here’s another album I don’t know by heart, but know well enough to give it a spot on this list.
John Mellencamp (still using the Cougar for this release) is one of those artists I enjoy and admire but not enough to consider myself a dedicated fan.
I’m a little more than halfway through my Decades series, in which I’m covering albums released in each of the 40 years between 1970 and 2009. I’ve covered the first four years of every decade from the 70s through the 00s, plus — most recently — 1975.
That brings me to 1985, the year I turned 13. That’s a formative year in anybody’s life, musically and otherwise, so I’m excited to dive in once again to one of my favorite musical decades.
The 2013 installment of Throwback Weekends continues to annoy, as once again the majority of the top ten has been featured on the blog before. This is due to a combination of my having written about some of these songs at the time and the fact that the Billboard Top Ten was remarkably static that year.
I won’t list the songs in the top seven spots as I have in previous weeks. It’s the same roundup of Lorde, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus, Drake, Jay-Z and friends. All decent enough songs, but apparently the only songs worth hearing during the back half of that year.
Throwing back to the week of November 8, 2003, we find Beyoncé and Sean Paul holding on to the top spot with ‘Baby Boy,’ in the middle of a nine-week run for the song at #1.
Sitting just behind it, a month away from its own #1 berth, is Ludacris’ ‘Stand Up.’ This is the second single from the rapper’s fourth album Chicken-n-Beer, and would become his first to top the Hot 100.
We’ll have to wait awhile for Taylor Swift’s next “Taylor’s Version.” I’m guessing Reputation will come next, allowing Swift to wrap up the project with her self-titled debut. I can’t wait to hear the gems unearthed on those two releases.
In the meantime, Swift’s most recent release — 2022’s Midnights — came with its own batch of bonus tracks. They aren’t old enough to have made it into the vault, but that’s all the better for fans who get to hear them right away.
Meet Me In Montauk 