1985 poll: Results

Ramshackle drink-punk beats every continent

ALBUMS

41 ballots for albums were counted. Albums needed a minimum of 2 votes and 10 points to make the list.

1. Mekons: Fear and Whiskey (356 points/27 votes/highest points given 30)

2. The Pogues: Rum Sodomy & the Lash (282/23/30)

3. The Replacements: Tim (279/26/25)

4. The Indestructible Beat of Soweto (241/15/25)

5. Kate Bush: Hounds of Love (216/18/30)

6. Tom Waits: Rain Dogs (215/19/25)

7. Hüsker Dü: New Day Rising (210/18/30)

8. New Order: Low-Life (168/14/25)

9. Talking Heads: Little Creatures (162/16/20)

10. Franco & Rochereau: Omona Wapi (141/11/20)

11. Scritti Politti: Cupid & Psyche 85 (135/12/25)

12. Double Dee & Steinski: The Payoff Mix/Lesson 2/Lesson 3 (127/9/30)

13. R.E.M.: Fables of the Reconstruction (115/15/18)

14. The Jesus and Mary Chain: Psychocandy (102/12/12)

15. Minutemen: 3-Way Tie for Last (100/11/15)

16. The Blasters: Hard Line (98/10/13)

17. The Fall: This Nation’s Saving Grace (97/12/20)

18. John Mellencamp: Scarecrow (95/7/30)

19. Hüsker Dü: Flip Your Wig (94/9/15)

20. Prefab Sprout: Steve McQueen (93/10/15)

21. Aretha Franklin: Who’s Zoomin’ Who? (93/10/20)

22. The Velvet Underground: VU (90/9/18)

23. Meat Puppets: Up on the Sun (89/10/12)

24. Lost in the Stars: The Music of Kurt Weill (82/6/25)

25. Sam Cooke: Live at the Harlem Square Club, 1963 (65/5/25)

26. LL Cool J: Radio (65/7/20)

27. The Smiths: Meat Is Murder (63/7/14)

28. Franco & OK Jazz: Mario (62/3/25)

29. Willie Nelson & Hank Snow: Brand on My Heart (62/6/25)

30. Rosanne Cash: Rhythm and Romance (58/8/10)

31. Linton Kwesi Johnson: In Concert with the Dub Band (53/4/20)

32. The Cure: The Head on the Door (50/6/10)

33. Marshall Crenshaw: Downtown (48/6/10)

34. Fuzz Dance (45/3/25)

35. Lone Justice (45/4/20)

36. Run-D.M.C.: King of Rock (44/5/12)

37. Fela Kuti: Army Arrangement (44/6/10)

38. Prince: Around the World in a Day (42/7/10)

39. Suzanne Vega (35/4/10)

40. Dire Straits: Brothers in Arms (33/4/15)

41. The Waterboys: This Is the Sea (32/3/17)

42. Marti Jones: Unsophisticated Time (32/4/10)

43=. Hailu Mergia & His Classical Instrument: Shemonmuanaye (30/3/10)

43=. Willie Nelson: Me and Paul (30/3/10)

45. Luther Vandross: The Night I Fell in Love (30/3/15)

46. Big Audio Dynamite: This Is Big Audio Dynamite (30/5/10)

47=. Fishbone (29/3/10)

47=. Robyn Hitchcock and the Egyptians: Fegmania! (29/3/10)

49. George Clinton: Some of My Best Jokes Are Friends (29/4/10)

50. Tears for Fears: Songs from the Big Chair (28/4/10)

51. The Rave-Ups: Town + Country (27/3/10)

52. Alex Chilton: Feudalist Tarts (25/2/15)

53. Kid Creole and the Coconuts: In Praise of Older Women and Other Crimes (25/4/10)

54. Jason & the Scorchers: Lost and Found (24/3/10)

55. Dramarama: Cinema Verité (22/3/10)

56=. Beat Farmers: Tales of the New West (20/2/10)

56=. Camper Van Beethoven: Telephone Free Landslide Victory (20/2/10)

56=. Pedro Lima: Maguidala (20/2/10)

59. Go-Go Crankin’ (20/3/10)

60. Phil Collins: No Jacket Required (19/2/10)

61. Killing Joke: Night Time (18/2/10)

62. 10,000 Maniacs: The Wishing Chair (17/2/10)

63. Rites of Spring (17/2/12)

64. Danny and Dusty: The Lost Weekend (16/2/10)

65=. Descendents: Bonus Fat (15/2/10)

65=. Joe Higgs: Triumph (15/2/10)

65=. John Fogerty: Centerfield (15/2/10)

65=. Lloyd Cole and the Commotions: Easy Pieces (15/2/10)

65=. Loudon Wainwright III: I’m Alright (15/2/10)

65=. Professor Longhair: Rock ’n’ Roll Gumbo (15/2/10)

65=. Rush: Power Windows (15/2/10)

65=. Schoolly D (15/2/10)

65=. Silos: About Her Steps (15/2/10)

65=. The Flirts: Blondes, Brunettes & Redheads (15/2/10)

65=. Womack & Womack: Radio M.U.S.C. Man (15/2/10)

65=. X: Ain’t Love Grand! (15/2/10)

77. Boney M: Eye Dance (14/2/9)

78. Junko Yagami: Communication (12/2/7)

79=. Artists United Against Apartheid: Sun City (10/2/5)

79=. Brian Eno: Thursday Afternoon (10/2/5)

79=. Cheb Khaled: Sidi Boumediene (10/2/5)

79=. Nick Lowe: The Rose of England (10/2/5)

79=. René & Angela: Street Called Desire (10/2/5)

79=. Richard Thompson: Across a Crowded Room (10/2/5)

79=. Sade: Promise (10/2/5)

Yanosik Awards for albums that got a single 30-point vote: Abdullah Ibrahim, Water from an Ancient Well and Tshala Muana’s self-titled.

I genuinely didn’t know who was going to win as polling opened, and figured a wide-open year might result in a wildcard breaking the usual rock log-jam at the top. Oh well, at least the correct drink-punks won, even if country fans might find the triumph of the Mekons—not exactly paragons of musicianship yet, Steve Goulding notwithstanding—galling when, in a strong year for the genre, none of their entries made top twenty (not even what’s the second- or third-best ever Willie IMO.) Even Mellencamp finished at eighteen, c’mon. Given how White Guy most the list is (maybe not surprising with only two confirmed non-man voters that I know of), Hounds of Love’s top five finish is very impressive—guess I wasn’t the only one who bought the argument than Side 2 makes it a real album-ass album.

If I ever run a 1986 poll (not happening this decade) I’ll have to think carefully about carrying points over. If Indestructible Beat had the same UK and US release year I expect it’d win either ’85 or ’86 handily (Beasties and Rhymin’ Simon too controversial, Robert Cray not universal.) I don’t know if anyone besides me withheld a vote from Omona Wapi because all its tracks were on 1983’s L’Evénement, but even if you added in the split votes for Mario it’d be stuck at a notably weak eighth. One of these years I’ll have to engineer a poll victory for an African album; maybe I’ll make voting for at least one Thukzin record mandatory in all 2020s polls.

SINGLES

32 ballots for singles were counted. Ties are broken by number of star votes, then by the “keep Don Henley out of the top ten rule”—anything released as a single prior to 1985 is asterisked and demoted—then the Farruggia rule (reverse order of album rank.) Songs that were substantially reworked for 1985 re-release (“West End Girls”, “Roxanne’s Revenge”, “Take on Me”) weren’t penalized. An increasingly unethical Spotify playlist is at the bottom; a few videos for songs with unjustifiably low play counts are embedded.

1. Prince & the Revolution: “Raspberry Beret” (21 votes/3 star votes)

2. Madonna: “Into the Groove” (18/2)

3. Kate Bush: “Running Up That Hill” (17/2)

4. Pet Shop Boys: “West End Girls” (10/1)

5. Ramones: “Bonzo Goes to Bitburg” (7/2)

6. The Smiths: “How Soon Is Now?” (7/2)*

7. Doug E. Fresh and the Get Fresh Crew: “The Show”/“La Di Da Di” (8)

8. Aretha Franklin: “Freeway of Love” (8)

9. The Waterboys: “The Whole of the Moon” (7/1)

10. Artists United Against Apartheid: “Sun City” (7)

11. Tears for Fears: “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” (7)

12. Don Henley: “The Boys of Summer” (7)*

13. Roxanne Shante: “Roxanne’s Revenge” (6/1)

14. Franco: “Mario” (6/1)

15. DeBarge: “Rhythm of the Night” (6)

16. Katrina and the Waves: “Walking on Sunshine” (6)

17. Run-D.M.C.: “King of Rock” (6)

18. R.E.M.: “Driver 8” (6)

19. Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam with Full Force: “I Wonder If I Take You Home” (6)*

20=. Commodores: “Nightshift” (5/1)

20=. Madonna: “Crazy for You” (5/1)

22. New Order: “The Perfect Kiss” (5/1)

23. Eurythmics: “Would I Lie to You?” (5)

24. Tears for Fears: “Head Over Heels” (5)

25. LL Cool J: “I Can’t Live Without My Radio” (5)

26. Hüsker Dü: “Makes No Sense at All”/“Love Is All Around” (5)

27. LL Cool J: “Rock the Bells” (4/1)

28. A-ha: “Take On Me” (4)

29. Kid Creole and the Coconuts: “Endicott” (4)

30. The Fall: “Cruiser’s Creek”/“L.A.” (4)

31. The Jesus and Mary Chain: “Just Like Honey” (4)

32=. Talking Heads: “And She Was” (4)

32=. Talking Heads: “Road to Nowhere” (4)

34. The Replacements: “Bastards of Young” (4)

35=. Loose Ends: “Hangin’ on a String” (3/1)

35=. Wayne Smith: “Under Me Sleng Teng” (3/1)

37=. Colonel Abrams: “Trapped” (3)

37=. Jermaine Stewart: “We Don’t Have to Take Our Clothes Off” (3)

37=. Madonna: “Material Girl” (3)

37=. Mariya Takeuchi: “Plastic Love” (3)

37=. Paul Young: “Every Time You Go Away” (3)

37=. Siouxie and the Banshees: “Cities in Dust” (3)

43. Eurythmics: “There Must Be an Angel (Playing With My Heart)” (3)

44. Bryan Ferry: “Slave to Love” (3)

45. Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers: “Don’t Come Around Here No More” (3)

46. Prince & the Revolution: “Pop Life” (3)

47. Lone Justice: “Ways to Be Wicked” (3)

48. Aretha Franklin: “Who’s Zoomin’ Who?” (3)

49. John Cougar Mellencamp: “Small Town” (3)

50. Exposé: “Point of No Return” (3)*

51. Book of Love: “Boy” (2/1)

53. Roxanne Shanté vs. Sparky Dee: “Round 1” (2/1)

53. The Pogues: “A Pair of Brown Eyes” (2/1)

54. Foreigner: “I Want to Know What Love Is” (2/1)*

[Edit: The indefatigable Chuck Eddy convinced me that “How Soon Is Now?” and “Point of No Return” should be asterisked.]

To compensate for the male-dominated album list, I expected a close two-way battle between Kate and Madge for the win, only for Prince to pull away (and not even with the song I seminamed the blog after.) Still, a list that implies a much healthier state of music than the albums ones. Book of Love get the honor of my first “huh, I wish I’d heard that before the deadline” moment.

Also receiving two votes:

Beastie Boys: “She’s on It”
Bryan Adams: “Heaven”
Cheb Khaled: “Saber Inal”
Fine Young Cannibals: “Johnny Come Home”
Fun Fun: “Living in Japan”
Godley & Crème: “Cry”
Heart: “These Dreams”
Kate Bush: “Cloudbusting”
Lee Sun-hee: “Ah! The Good Old Days”
Pet Shop Boys: “Opportunities (Let’s Make Lots of Money)”
Prefab Sprout: “Appetite”
Prefab Sprout: “Faron Young”
R.E.M.: “Can’t Get There from Here”
Randy Travis: “1982”/“Reasons I Cheat”
Rosanne Cash: “I Don't Know Why You Don't Want Me”
Schoolly D: “P.S.K. (What Does It Mean)”/“Gucci Time”
Simple Minds: “Don’t You (Forget About Me)”
Stevie Wonder: “Part-Time Lover”
Talking Heads: “Stay Up Late”
The Clash: “This Is England”
The Cult: “She Sells Sanctuary”
The Cure: “In Between Days”
The Smiths: “The Boy with the Thorn in His Side”/“Rubber Ring”/“Asleep”
USA for Africa: “We Are the World”
Wham!: “Everything She Wants”

Also receiving a star vote:

Double Dee & Steinski: “Lesson 3 (History of Hip Hop)”
Gwen Guthrie: “Love in Moderation”
Prefab Sprout: “When Love Breaks Down”
Roky Erickson: “Don’t Slander Me”
Soda Stereo: “Cuando Paso el Temblor”
The Pogues: “The Band Played Waltzing Matilda”
Tom Waits: “Anywhere I Lay My Head”

My ballot is here. Other publicly available ballots are in the voting thread.