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Rolling Stone #1 College Albums of 1985

In 1985, Rolling Stone began publishing a College Albums chart, a bi-weekly list of the 10 "college rock" albums (whatever that means).  Here's a chart of the albums that hit the #1 spot on said chart that year:

Issue	Track	Artist
January 17 Issue 439	The Big Express	XTC
January 31 Issue 440
February 14 Issue 441
February 28 Issue 442	How Will the Wolf Survive?	Los Lobos
March 14 Issue 443	The Age of Consent	Bronski Beat
March 28 Issue 444
April 11 Issue 445	Meat is Murder	The Smiths
April 25 Issue 446
May 9 Issue 447
May 23 Issue 448	Songs from the Big Chair	Tears for Fears
June 6 Issue 449
June 20 Issue 450
July 4 Issue 451	Be Yourself Tonight	Eurythmics
July 18 Issues 452 & 453	No chart
August 15 Issue 454	Fables of the Reconstruction	R.E.M.
August 29 Issue 455
September 12 Issue 456
September 26 Issue 457
October 10 Issue 458
October 24 Issue 459	The Head on the Door	The Cure
November 7 Issue 460
November 21 Issue 461
December 5 Issue 462
December 19 Issues 463 & 464	No chart

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MTV Playlist, Light Rotation, May 1983

A few days back, I posted a MTV Playlist as part of a look back at May 1983. As I glanced at that playlist, one band in particular caught my eye: Rail. I noticed them not for their band name or song ("Hello"), but rather for their label - they didn't have one. And down the rabbit hole I went. In my mind, I constructed a scenario in which a regional band makes their own video, submits it to MTV unsolicited, some MTV exec likes it, there's some under-the-table payola and yada yada yada, it makes the MTV playlist.

But then I watched the video and at the end appears the lovely Martha Quinn talking about The Basement Tapes. The Basement Tapes! I'd completely forgotten about that thing.

Unsigned bands would submit videos and viewers would vote by telephone. Rail was the first winner of Basement Tapes and that's why they're on the playlist. Anyhoo, here's an annotated/linked copy of the above playlist. Some big hits and some bigger misses in this pile as well and at least one hit that should have been a miss. (apologies to Bonnie T. - it's not you, it's me). And at least five songs I have no memory of ever hearing before today.

Artist	Clip	Album	Pop	Rock	AC
Iron Maiden	Flight of Icarus	Piece of Mind		8
Jim Capaldi	That's Love	Fierce Heart	28		3
Gary Myrick	Guitar, Talk, Love & Drums	Language (EP)
Bonnie Tyler	Total Eclipse of the Heart	Faster Than the Speed of Night	1	23	7
Rank & File	Rank & File	Sundown
Todd Rundgren	Bang on the Drum All Day	The Ever Popular Tortured Artist Effect	63	29
Ric Ocasek	Jimmy Jimmy	Beatitude
Rail	Hello	Arrival
Pete Shelley	Telephone Operator	XL1
Sylvester	Hard Up	All I Need
Joan Armatrading	Drop the Pilot	The Key	78	33
ABC	All of My Heart	The Lexicon of Love
Culture Club	Time	Kissing to be Clever	2		6
Tears for Fears	Mad World	The Hurting
Kix	Body Talk	Cool Kids	104
Dexys Midnight Runners	Celtic Soul Brothers	Too-Rye-Ay	86	143
New Models	Stranger in Disguise	Sight and Sound (EP)		143

I would have sworn ABC's "All of My Heart" had been a single here in the US, but I would have lost that bet. Good new discoveries for me were the Sylvester and New Models tunes.

The Summer of 1985

A few days back, I watched the 2009 movie Adventureland. The soundtrack is better than the movie (which was miscast and poorly written), but the plot, such as it is, reminded me of my own summer of 1985. I won't go into too many details about that summer here, but I'll offer a few:

• After my first year away from home studying music at a state university, I returned to my parents' home for the summer, working 8-5 at a local plumbing supply house. One of the best jobs I've ever had in my 50 years, the unofficial motto of the joint was "open with a dozen donuts, close with a six pack of beer." I hope they're still doing that.
• On some evenings and weekends, I taught trumpet lessons to junior high students. I was horrible and the whole thing was a disaster (one of the worst jobs I've ever had in my 50 years).
• I took night classes from a nearby junior college. The classes were taught at my old high school by one of my high school history teachers making some summer money as an adjunct professor. I cheated but still only "earned" B's in both. If that teacher is still around, he probably continues to use the exact same exams every year.
• While my weekday nights were filled with school, I did manage dates with at least five different young ladies over the summer. All this while away from my college girlfriend. Yes, I was that guy. I finally couldn't handle the guilt and broke up with college girlfriend in mid-June. She immediately started dating a good friend of mine. What goes around...
• I turned 19, which was the legal drinking age in Texas at that time. My 19th birthday fell on a Sunday, which meant I went to church instead of a bar.
• Speaking of church, I performed solos in worship services at least twice that summer, including an ill-advised performance of an unaccompanied flugelhorn transcription of a Pat Metheny piece.
• I listened to a little bit of Live Aid on the radio, but didn't watch any on TV. With the exception of Stop Making Sense, I still don't like watching concerts on TV or film. Instead, me and some college friends hung out at Waterworld, the water park adjacent to Astroworld.
  
  I hit on every female lifeguard I could find, embarrassing myself greatly. We then ate supper at Steak & Ale and barely had enough money between us to cover the check. Silly kids.
• I attended only one concert that summer: Al Jarreau with David Sanborn opening. Great show. Got my first speeding ticket on the way home.
  

  

  8th row, baby!

• My family weren't "picture takers" by any means, but I was able to locate one photo of myself from the summer of 1985 taken at my sister's college graduation in late May.
  
  

  

  Dig that crazy curly mullet!

• If we went on a family vacation that summer, I have no memory of it. My sister had immediately started grad school and wasn't home, so I had the run of the house.

As for the music, the theme song for the summer was Eurythmics' "Would I Lie to You" with no other song remotely in the running for the title. But I dug up an old mix CD that I made around the year 2000 (which I cleverly titled "Summer of '85") to provide some insight into what else I was spinning at that time. Here's the track list of that CD, including Billboard Hot 100 chart data. I've also included videos because that was an intricate part of the music experience at that time. Turns out my CD playlist is not exactly anachronistically accurate, but that's what sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll does to your memory.

1. "You're Only Human (Second Wind)" - Billy Joel (#9)
   
   
   
   
   note: for an actor, Billy is a heckuva musician.
   
   
2. "Head Over Heels" - Tears for Fears (#3)
   
   
   
   
   
3. "Bang a Gong (Get It On)" - The Power Station (#9)
   
   
   
   
   note: this track continues to hold up, probably because Tony Thompson destroyed his kit while recording
   
   
4. "Money for Nothing" - Dire Straits (#1)
   
   
   
   
   
5. "Can't Get There from Here" - R.E.M. (#110)
   
   
   
   
   
6. "Voices Carry" - 'Til Tuesday (#8)
   
   
   
   
   
7. "A View to a Kill" - Duran Duran (#1)
   
   
   
   
   
8. "Would I Lie to You?" - Eurhythmics (#5)
   
   
   
   
   note: can you imagine starting a concert with this song as they do in the video? No place to go after that one.
   
   
9. "Miami Vice Theme" - Jan Hammer (#1)
   
   
   
   
   
10. "The Night is Still Young" - Billy Joel (#34)
    
    
    
    
    
11. "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" - Tears for Fears (#1)
    
    
    
    
    
12. "Addicted to Love" - Robert Palmer (#1 in 1986)
    
    
    
    
    note: yum
    
    
13. "Walk of Life" - Dire Straits (#7 in 1986)
    
    
    
    
    note: if you click no other videos on this page, at least go check out "The Walk of Life Project"
    
    

I shoulda added these songs to the CD, space permitting:
"Everything She Wants" by Wham! (#1)
"Raspberry Beret" by Prince (#2)
"Easy Lover" by Philip Bailey and Phil Collins (#2)
"Dancing in the Streets" by David Bowie and Mick Jagger  (#7)
"California Girls" by David Lee Roth (#3)
and probably a few more that will occur to me in coming weeks.

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In addition to the albums that contained the above singles, here are a few other albums that remind me of that summer - some released that summer, others simply tied to memories of that summer (in no particular order):

The Falcon and The Snowman - Soundtrack (#54)
Vocalese - The Manhattan Transfer (#74)
The George Benson Collection (#14 in 1982)
The Doors (#2 in 1967)
Dream of the Blue Turtles - Sting (#2)
Tonight - David Bowie (#11 in 1984)
Stop Making Sense - Talking Heads (#41 in 1984)

Alternating Currents - Spyro Gyra (#66)
Black Codes (From the Underground) - Wynton Marsalis (#118)
The Voice - Bobby McFerrin
First Circle - Pat Metheny Group (#91 in 1984)
Wide Awake in America - U2 (#37)
Welcome to the Pleasuredome - Frankie Goes to Hollywood (#33 in 1984)
Mesopotamia - The B-52's (#35 in 1982)
Stay Tuned - Chet Atkins (#145)
All Over the Place - The Bangles (#80)