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
Browse by time · year
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
Small Town
1985 · From Scarecrow
Written in the laundry room of Mellencamp's old house, it makes Indiana sound like enough for one life.
★ 4.7
Alive and Kicking
1985 · From Once Upon a Time
Robin Clark, credited as additional lead singer, answers Kerr line for line while Iovine pushes everything skyward.
★ 4.7
Holding Back the Years
1985
Hucknall wrote the words at seventeen, his punk band cut it first, and the chorus made it an American number one.
★ 4.3
These Dreams
1985
Taupin and Martin Page wrote it, Nancy Wilson sang lead through a cold, and Heart got their first number one.
★ 4.2
That's What Friends Are For
1985
Bacharach and Bayer Sager wrote it for Rod Stewart; four voices later it raised over three million for AIDS research.
★ 4.1
Say You, Say MeLionel Richie
Say You, Say Me
1985
Hackford asked for a title theme; Richie handed him this instead, cut mostly in his own living room.
★ 3.8
Broken Wings
1985
Reversed cymbal into synth bass, John Lang's lyric drawn from Kahlil Gibran, and Page's voice soaring over it.
★ 3.6
What About Love
1985
Recorded first by the band Toronto in 1982 and shelved, it became Heart's first Capitol single, with Grace Slick harmonizing.
★ 3.5
Miami Vice Theme
1985
Jan Hammer cut it once the series was picked up, then two Grammys and a Hot 100 number one.
★ 3.4
Kyrie
1985
Page and George wrote the music touring with Adam Ant; John Lang set a Greek prayer on top.
★ 3.0
Cherish (Kool & the Gang)
1985
J.T. Taylor's lead vocal, six weeks atop adult contemporary, and a ballad that never left the wedding playlist.
★ 2.9
Burning Heart
1985
Stallone commissioned it for Rocky IV, and Peterik and Sullivan answered with East-versus-West dread over a marching riff.
★ 2.8
Rock Me Amadeus
1985
Falco rapped Mozart's debts over a Bolland and Bolland production, and gave the Hot 100 its only German-language number one.
★ 2.6
Some Guys Have All the Luck
1985 · From Camouflage
Jeff Fortgang wrote it fresh out of Yale; the Persuaders cut it first, and Stewart took it to number ten.
★ 2.6
St. Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion)
1985
Foster showed Parr a news clip about Rick Hansen's wheelchair world tour, and the pair wrote it that Friday afternoon.
★ 2.2
Tarzan Boy
1985
Bassi and Hackett wrote it, McShane mimed it in the video, and the Tarzan yell became the hook.
★ 0.9