Tag Archives: Decades

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Song of the Day #5,630: ‘How Will I Know’ – Whitney Houston

Three albums released in 1985 are among the 40 top-selling albums of all time. I covered two of them in recent weeks: Dire Straits’ Brothers in Arms and Phil Collins’ No Jacket Required.

The third is Whitney Houston’s self-titled debut, an album that crawled out of the gate in February of ’85 and slowly picked up steam, eventually becoming a record-breaking juggernaut. Despite coming out in early ’85, it ended up as the best-selling album of 1986. It also produced three #1 singles, a first for a debut album or an album by a solo woman.

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Song of the Day #5,627: ‘In Between Days’ – The Cure

The Cure’s sixth studio album, 1985’s The Head on the Door, saw the band introducing a new pop sensibility to the mopey goth rock of earlier releases.

Sparked by successful lead-off single ‘In Between Days,’ the album gave the English band its first foothold in the U.S. and led to a run of platinum-selling albums in the late 80s and early 90s.

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Song of the Day #5,626: ‘Alive and Kicking’ – Simple Minds

Scottish rock band Simple Minds released their seventh studio album, Once Upon a Time, on the heels of their breakout hit, ‘Don’t You (Forget About Me).’ That track was the band’s first to chart in the U.S. and it made it all the way to #1, an ironic achievement given that they had little interest in recording the song in the first place.

The band chose to leave the hit song (which was released on the soundtrack of The Breakfast Club) off of their next album, but the anthemic pop sound of the tune was present throughout this great collection.

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Song of the Day #5,625: ‘This Time’ – INXS

In 1985, Australian rock band INXS released their fifth studio album, Listen Like Thieves, and earned an international following that resulted in three straight multi-platinum albums in the U.S.

This album saw the band shifting from their New Wave/pop beginnings to a harder rock sound. As a casual fan, this is the version of INXS I know best (particularly from follow-up album Kick) so I’m curious to hear those first four albums. I’m always intrigued by bands that go through stylistic phases.

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Song of the Day #5,624: ‘Never’ – Heart

My next 1985 album is the self-titled release by hard rock band Heart, their eighth studio album and first to fully embrace a glam metal makeover well-suited to the MTV era.

The transition worked, giving the band their only #1 album and the best-selling record of their career. Four singles reached the top ten, including ‘These Dreams,’ the band’s first #1 hit. The album also earned the band their first Grammy nomination, for Best Rock Performance.

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