How Soon is Now?The Smiths
How Soon is Now?
1985 · From Meat Is Murder
Marr's shudder came from four Fender Twins with their tremolos fighting, and Morrissey put a lonely man in a nightclub.
★ 8.1
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1985
Showing 37 songs from 1985
La Di Da DiSlick Rick
La Di Da Di
1985
Two voices and no instruments at all: Doug E. Fresh's beatbox under Slick Rick's storytelling, sampled ever since.
★ 7.6
West End GirlsPet Shop Boys
West End Girls
1985
Cut twice, once for Bobby Orlando and again with Stephen Hague, Tennant half-rapping London class anxiety to number one.
★ 7.5
Take On Me
1985
Two releases flopped before the third one broke, Furuholmen's Juno-60 riff intact and a video rotoscoped over sixteen weeks.
★ 7.5
Bizarre Love Triangle
1985
It missed the UK top forty, all Fairlight sequencing except Hook's bass, and now every indie disco needs it.
★ 7.5
Money for Nothing
1985 · From Brothers in Arms
Knopfler borrowed a pen in a New York appliance store to copy down a delivery man's complaints about MTV.
★ 7.4
Into the Groove
1985
Written for another singer, rebuilt with Stephen Bray for a Desperately Seeking Susan dance scene, then buried on a B-side.
★ 7.4
Everybody Wants to Rule the World
1985 · From Songs from the Big Chair
Orzabal found the shuffle alien to the band, Hughes talked him into it anyway, and America made it a number one.
★ 7.3
Don't You (Forget About Me)
1985
Bryan Ferry and Billy Idol passed; Simple Minds cut it reluctantly, then kept the placeholder chant that closes it.
★ 7.0
Shout (Tears for Fears)
1985 · From Songs from the Big Chair
Orzabal wrote it on a small synth as an album track; Stanley heard a worldwide smash and was right.
★ 6.9
In Between DaysThe Cure
In Between Days
1985 · From The Head on the Door
Smith's six-string bass, acoustic guitars strummed to a blur, and the Cure's sunniest song about feeling old.
★ 6.6
Head Over HeelsTears for Fears
Head Over Heels
1985 · From Songs from the Big Chair
Ian Stanley wrote the motif, Orzabal added melody and words, and the chorus arrives like a door kicked open.
★ 6.3
Don't Come Around Here No More
1985 · From Southern Accents
Stewart's electric sitar, a title Stevie Nicks said out loud one night, and Petty at his strangest.
★ 6.2
How Will I Know
1985 · From Whitney Houston
A demo Janet Jackson's camp turned down, which Houston rode to number one over her cousin Dionne Warwick.
★ 6.2
Conga
1985
Written after a show in Utrecht by the band's own drummer, it walked Latin percussion onto American pop radio.
★ 5.7
The Power of LoveHuey Lewis and the News
The Power of Love
1985
Zemeckis told Lewis to write whatever he liked for Back to the Future; the band got its first number one.
★ 5.7
Saving All My Love For You
1985 · From Whitney Houston
Goffin and Masser's song, first recorded by Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr.; Tom Scott's saxophone, Houston's first number one.
★ 5.1
Rhythm of the Night
1985
Warren wrote it for a Motown kung fu film, Perry swapped the drum machine for live players, DeBarge soared.
★ 5.0
We Are the WorldUSA for Africa
We Are the World
1985
Forty-odd stars filed past a sign reading "Check your ego at the door," and Quincy Jones got them singing together.
★ 4.8
Walking on Sunshine
1985
Kimberley Rew called it simple fun; the 1985 re-recording added horns and carried the band into the American top ten.
★ 4.8