Music changes at a rapid pace, no matter when you choose to take stock of the situation. But it’s fair to say that the 80s served as the epicenter for tumultuous changes in just about every genre of music. The year 1985 was a pivot-point year in the middle of the decade, which hosted several huge albums. May of that year proved particularly momentous, thanks to these five standout LPs.
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‘Brothers In Arms’ by Dire Straits
At the beginning of the decade, you would have received lucrative odds on a bet that these somewhat stoic pub rockers would turn into MTV superstars. “Money For Nothing”, which managed to poke fun at video exposure even while benefiting from it, set the table for that transformation. That drew listeners into the bulk of the album, where they heard the depth of Mark Knopfler’s songwriting in full effect. Knopfler flashed his pop sense on songs like “So Far Away” and “Walk Of Life”. The title track is the brooding standout, a meditation on unnecessary dividing lines featuring Knopfler’s lead guitar at its most haunting.
‘Low-Life’ by New Order
The third album is often the one where bands define the identity that they’ll stand for most of their career. You can sort of see New Order making that kind of leap on Low-Life. They started to leave behind the vestiges of Joy Division on this record by incorporating more melody and brightness. That’s not to say narratives like “Love Vigilantes” and “Face Up” deliver happy endings. But the band veered into more danceable territory, all while leaving plenty of room for Bernard Summer’s chirping guitar to make its mark. The result is a hybrid that is still influencing bands today.
‘Nervous Night’ by The Hooters
The Hooters had already released some of the songs that made up their breakthrough LP a few years back on an indie release. In that respect, they knew going into it that they had some solid material. But the Philly band supplemented those tracks with plenty more power pop goodness. They spiced things up with the instrumentation, as melodicas and mandolins dot the tracks. The songwriting by Rob Hyman and Eric Bazilian ultimately carries the day. That’s the case with both uptempo stompers “Day By Day” and “And We Danced”, as well as more contemplative material such as “All You Zombies”.
‘Shaken ‘N’ Stirred’ by Robert Plant
You have to give credit to Robert Plant for never settling for what could have been his easiest path to solo glory. That, of course, would have been to churn out Zeppelin rehashes so that he could give the banshee wails of old. Instead, each new record turned out to be a different exploration. He admitted after this record that he was fascinated by Talking Heads, and you can hear him trying to match their wild rhythms on Side One. But Plant finds his footing on Side Two. “Little By Little” could easily have fit on the Zep swan song In Through The Out Door. And closing track “Sixes And Sevens” finds him conjuring up alluring mystery, always one of his lyrical go-to moves.
‘Suzanne Vega’ by Suzanne Vega
Singer-songwriters weren’t exactly hot commodities in the middle of the 80s, an era noted for big sounds. But listeners found their way anyway to the subtleties of Vega’s debut, helping to incite a bit of a renaissance for tunesmiths in that time period. While some nifty production touches appear here and there, the album mostly recommends itself on the strength of Vega’s airy melodies and affectless vocals. Highlights include “Marlene On The Wall”, the album’s most well-known song, and the clever parable “The Queen And The Soldier”. But there’s not a track here that doesn’t manage to wow, thanks to Vega’s skill and care.
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