Some rock songs enjoy a brief stint on the charts and on the radio and then fade into obscurity. And then some still sound good, regardless of when they were released, including these three rock songs. All out in 1985, they will always sound like classics.
“Broken Wings” by Mr. Mister
“Broken Wings” is Mr. Mister’s first No. 1 single. On their sophomore Welcome To The Real World album, “Broken Wings” was written by band members Richard Page and Steve George, along with songwriter John Lang.
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A song about overcoming hard times in a relationship, “Broken Wings” says, “Take these broken wings / And learn to fly again / Learn to live so free / When we hear the voices sing/ The book of love will open up and let us in / Take these broken wings.”
“Broken Wings” became a two-week No. 1 hit for Mr. Mister. They followed the song with “Kyrie”, their second and final single to reach the top of the charts.
“We Built This City” by Starship
A rock anthem if there ever was one, “We Built This City” is Starship’s first single, and first No. 1 hit. On their freshman Knee Deep In The Hoopla record, “We Built This City” was written by Bernie Taupin, Martin Page, Dennis Lambert, and Peter Wolf.
“We Built This City” says, “Marconi plays the mambo, listen to the radio / Don’t you remember? / We built this city / We built this city on rock and roll / We built this city / We built this city on rock and roll Built this city / We built this city on rock and roll.”
“Sussudio” by Phil Collins
Phil Collins was well into his solo career when he released “Sussudio”. On No Jacket Required, his third solo album, Collins is the sole writer of “Sussudio”.
“Sussudio” says, “There’s a girl that’s been on my mind / All the time / Su-sussudio, oh-oh / Now, she don’t even know my name / But I think she likes me just the same / Su-sussudio, whoa.”
Collins admits the song doesn’t make sense. But nothing worked for him as well as the nonsensical word. When Collins began writing “Sussudio”, he was working with his drum machine. He never imagined that it would stick.
“So I kinda knew I had to find something else for that word,” Collins says. “Then I went back and tried to find another word that scanned as well as ‘sussudio,’ and I couldn’t find one, so I went back to ‘sussudio.’”
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