the year in rock (1985)

How young are you?
How old am I?
Let's count the rings,
around my eyes.

"I Will Dare"
by The Replacements

One of my favorite books is "The Rolling Stone Review 1985 The Year in Rock" edited by Ira A. Robbins. Every now and then I like to flip through its pages and reminisce about the music of the 80's, when I really found myself developing my musical taste and discovering bands. I remember in the years after it came out, I kept looking for a follow-up, hoping and kind of expecting that it would come out annually, but unfortunately, this was the only one. It wasn't just me - here's an excerpt from the Introduction: "This is the first installment in an annual tradition that we hope will be around for quite some time. The Rolling Stone Review 1985 is a recap of the year 1984 (well, actually, it covers October 1, 1983 to September 30, 1984 - the regulation number of days, just time-shifted a little), a compilation of what happened and when... "

1985! That's 25 years ago.

Here's their list for Bands of the Year: King Sunny Ade, Laurie Anderson, Art of Noise, Afrika Bambaataa, Elvis Costello, Culture Club, Duran Duran, Eurythmics, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Jacksons, Cyndi Lauper, Huey Lewis and the News, Los Lobos, John Cougar Mellencamp, Motley Crue, Police, Pretenders, Prince, R.E.M., Run-D.M.C., Smiths, Bruce Springsteen, Thompson Twins, Tina Turner, and Van Halen.

And their Picks for 1985: Bangles, Billy Bragg, Bronski Beat, General Public, Husker Du, Let's Active, Minutemen, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Replacements, and Scritti Politti.

How's that for a trip down Memory Lane? I'd say that their choices were pretty accurate. And isn't it wild being able to look back at what was once so fresh and new? Well, maybe it's just me because this was the music of my young adulthood.

Leafing through the pages, there is a LOT more to this book than just the lists I typed above (American Beat, Local Scene Reports, The Year in Pictures, Quotes of the Year, etc.), but since it really just taps into my memories I won't go into it any more. (sniff, sniff, my youth!)