Welcome back to The Music of My Life, where I feature ten songs from each year of my life.  In most cases, the ten songs I choose will be ones I like personally (unless I explain otherwise). The songs will be selected from Billboard’s Year-end Hot 100 Chart, Acclaimed Music, and will all be released in the featured year.

I turned 15 in 1985. It was sophomore year and I had moved up from the Freshman band to the Concert/Marching band. It is the year that consisted of many of my favorite songs that I recently posted about in this week’s Turntable Talk blog. It was also the year that I went on my first date and my first dance. How did the music of 1985 play into my life? Let’s find out…

My first pick is a soulful tribute to two amazing singers who passed away in 1984. It is also the only hit that the Commodores had after Lionel Richie left the group. I am talking, of course, about Nightshift.

The song is a tribute to singers Marvin Gaye and Jackie Wilson. Marvin was 44 when he passed away, while Jackie was only 49. In 1974 the Righteous Brothers had a hit with Rock and Roll Heaven, where they picture fallen stars like Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin forming a band in heaven. This was supposed to be a soul version where Marvin Gaye and Jackie Wilson are on heaven’s nightshift, playing some sweet sounds.

I love how the intro starts with that percussion lick and the smooth bass line that works its way to the vocal. It is such a funky, soulful and loving tribute to Marvin and Jackie – two legends!

Nightshift

As a sophomore, I ventured out of my comfort zone a bit and decided it was ok to go to high school dances. Mostly, the guys just hung out at a table and talked. However, after my first official date, I began actually wanting to go to dances with a female date. While I cannot remember for certain, I am pretty sure that one of my first dances ever with a girl was to Crazy For You by Madonna.

Admittedly, I am not a huge fan of hers. My brother, on the other hand, loved her! There are a few songs that I do like by her, and this is one of them. What I remember most about dancing to this song was that she was singing “crazy for you” and I wasn’t sure what kind of message that may or may not have been sending to my date. I was also thinking about making sure I was swaying the same way she was and NOT stepping on her toes. It had to be a very uncomfortable dance for her.

Fun Fact: Madonna reportedly only took one take to record this song.

This was recorded for the soundtrack to the wrestling film Vision Quest, which also featured a guest appearance by Madonna herself, who played a singer at a local restaurant. After the success of this song, the film was renamed Crazy For You in some European countries to capitalize on the song’s popularity.

Crazy For You

How does that saying go? Everything old is new again? I don’t know. What I do know is that Netflix is currently airing the 4th installment of the Beverly Hills Cop Franchise and I hear it is doing well. It was back in 1984 that Eddie Murphy first played Detroit Cop Axel Foley. The character’s name is what led to the title of my next song, Axel F.

Before the title was settled on, it went by a different name. During production of the movie, it known as the “Banana Theme,” as it was slated for a scene where Axel Foley shoves a banana in the tailpipe of police officers intending to pursue him. The composer was German musician Harold Faltermeyer and truly, this song was all him.

According to Wikipedia, he  recorded the tune using five instruments: a Roland Jupite-8 provided the distinctive saw lead, a Moog modular synthesizer 15 provided the bass, a Roland JX-3P provided chord stab brasses, a Yamaha DX7 was used for the marimba sound, and a LinnDrum was used for drum programming. Faltermeyer played every single instrument.

He was also the musical director on Beverly Hills Cop and did the score for the film. The soundtrack went to #1 in the US and won a Grammy for Best Album Of Original Score Written For A Motion Picture Or A Television Special. The song topped out at #3.

We played this at a concert one year in band, and though it sounds pretty easy, it was a bit tougher than I anticipated. It may have been in a weird key. It was one of many fun numbers we played.

Axel F

There are some songs that when you hear them, you cannot help but feel happy. My next pick is one of those songs. I have rarely played this at a party or wedding where it didn’t cause people to just get up and dance.

Remember the feeling you got when you first found out that someone truly loved you? There was that feeling of joy that just overflows from you! You can feel that joy and excitement in the vocals by Katrina Leskanich in Walking on Sunshine. It just makes you feel good!

The wife of one of my second cousins threw him a birthday party I DJ’d. The song was on the “must play” list. I remember having a conversation about the song and she said that it was the kid of song that you should play the minute you wake up in the morning. She said that it would just set the mood for the day. She always seemed to be in good mood when I saw her, so maybe she did just that!

Songfacts says, The video got a lot of airplay on MTV. It shows the band hanging around London, with Katrina very colorful and bouncy, and her bandmates more subdued. She had to make her own sunshine, as there was none in London – it was a typically cloudy and cold day.

Katrina’s look was anti-glam, with tennis shoes and the kind of fashions you’d find at the mall. In interviews from this time, she often took shots at singers like Madonna and Pat Benatar for adopting more suggestive looks.

Teen boys didn’t seem to mind….

Take four major country superstars, all who are friends with each other, pitch them an old song and tell them they should record it together and you get one really neat song. That’s the basic story of how Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, and Johnny Cash became The Highwaymen.

Country legend Jimmy Webb wrote the song about a soul with incarnations in four different places in time and history: as a highwayman, a sailor, a construction worker on the Hoover Dam, and finally as a captain of a starship. Webb released his version in 1977, it was covered in 1979 by Glen Campbell, who took the song to Johnny Cash, who was recording with Nelson, Jennings and Kristofferson.

The story goes that the four were all together in Switzerland doing a television special and decided that they should do a project together. While the four were recording their first album, Johnny’s friend Marty Stuart played the song for Cash, saying it would be perfect for them. It had four verses, four souls, and four of them.

The song led to the name of their supergroup, their album, and of course, their first single. Each of the four verses was sung by a different performer: first Nelson as the highwayman, then Kristofferson as the sailor, then Jennings as the dam builder, and finally Cash as the starship captain. Webb later observed, “I don’t know how they decided who would take which verse, but having Johnny last was like having God singing your song.”

No personal story to go with this one, I just like it!

I am embarrassed to say that up until 1985, I had never seen a James Bond movie. I was familiar with the fact that Roger Moore played Bond. My mom would rent Bond films on occasion and also watch them on cable. Moore played a Bond-like version of himself in Cannonball Run in 1981, but I had never really seen him AS Bond.

So when a friend of mine asked if I wanted to go to the show with him we saw A View to a Kill. It was actually neat to see this in the theaters. I had often seen the Bond movie intro being parodied, but to see it kick off the film and to hear the song was all new to me. I was grateful to be able to see it.

Knowing Duran Duran and some of their songs, I was surprised that they did the theme song. The story of how they got it is interesting. Songfacts says: “according to the bassist John Taylor, was that he approached the longtime Bond producer, Albert R. ‘Cubby’ Broccoli, while extremely intoxicated when they were both at a party. He stated that he was a long time fan (Major Bond geek would be more accurate. An Aston Martin was said to be one of his first “rock star” purchases, and he frequently mentioned his Bond video collection in interviews) of the series, but the music for the last few movies had been mediocre. He then offered to have his band fix the problem and Broccoli took the idea under advisement. Being asked to perform the theme song for a James Bond movie is a great honor, but the requirement to include its title in the lyrics can be challenging. Just ask John Taylor. “To this day we are forever grateful that we didn’t get Quantum Of Solace,” he said.

It is the only theme from a Bond movie to hit #1 in America.

A View To A Kill

I’ve made it all the way to 1985 and have yet to feature a Prince song. Not that I don’t like him, he was a musical genius. I am still blown away by his Rock and Roll Hall of Fame performance and his Superbowl Halftime Show. He was a talent, no doubt. My only real connection to him was that we play Let’s Go Crazy in Marching Band one year.

However, I can connect this one to me because it was on my 15th birthday that Prince released Raspberry Beret. Prince originally recorded “Raspberry Beret” in 1982, but re-worked it with his newly re-formed Revolution backing band.

At the time this was released, Prince was under fire from Tipper Gore during the notorious PMRC witch hunt, which placed two of his songs on the list of the “filthy 15.” So this is one of the songs where Prince started making his lyrics more family friendly. But if you really listen closely, you know that Prince still slipped in a “filthy” reference.

Raspberry Beret

1985 was the year that one of my favorite movies was released – Back to the Future. If you’ve read this blog for any length of time, I reference the movie a lot and have read my fair share of time travel novels. It is a masterpiece and I will always watch it when it is on.

When Marty realizes he’s going to be late for school and he leave’s Doc’s place on his skateboard, Huey Lewis and The News’ The Power of Love makes the perfect song to accompany the scene. How did Huey become involved?

The film’s director Robert Zemeckis wanted Lewis to do the song – Huey Lewis & the News were rising stars with a modern sound that worked well in the movie, which takes place in both 1955 and 1985. Lewis had never done film work and hesitated at first, since he didn’t want to write a song called “Back to the Future.” When Zemeckis told him that the song didn’t have to be about the movie, Lewis accepted the challenge.

All Back to the Future fans know that Lewis has an uncredited cameo in this movie. Lewis has an uncredited cameo in this scene, where he plays a teacher who is judging the auditions. An early scene in the film has Marty McFly and his band The Pinheads auditioning for the high school dance. Huey plays a teacher who is judging the auditions. The group plays the beginning of “The Power of Love,” but before Marty can sing a note, Lewis cuts them off, telling them, “I’m afraid you’re just too darn loud.”

The music video doesn’t contain scenes from the film, but does feature an appearance by Christopher Lloyd in character as Doc Brown. We see him pull up in the DeLorean outside of a club where Huey Lewis & the News are performing.

The Power of Love

Yesterday marked the 34th anniversary of the passing of Stevie Ray Vaughn. I debated posting one of his songs for Tune Tuesday, but opted for a more uplifting post.

I was late to the SRV party. I was introduced to him after he passed away. I marveled at his playing and his vocal abilities. I really fell in love with his music.

I wrote about this song before, probably for one of the Song Drafts we were doing. It is Stevie’s cover of the old Hank Ballard song, “Look at Little Sister.”

Look At Little Sister

My final pick is another fun song. It reminds me a lot of the Kinks Come Dancing (which I just wrote about for Max’s PowerPop blog) because of the sound of the opening keyboards.

The Dire Straits were coming off the success of Money For Nothing which really established the band on MTV and on Top 40 radio in America. The fourth single from their Brothers In Arms Album was Walk of Life.

Mark Knopfler wrote this song to celebrate the street buskers of London, hence the references to “Be-Bop-a-Lula” and “What’d I Say,” which were two standards that might be part of a singer’s repertoire in the mid-’80s. Before the lyrics kick in, Knopfler does a few “who-hoo”s, which help create a whimsical vibe. When he spoke with the BBC in 1989, he expressed some “woo-hoo” remorse. “There’s too many ‘woos’ at the beginning of ‘Walk of Life,'” he said. “I heard it on the radio the other day and thought, Oh my God! What was I doing that for?”

Walk of Life (US)

Walk of Life (UK)

What song defined 1985 for you?

Next week we’ll share some songs from 1986. As I look at the music from that year, there were some great music videos! The year will feature my high school class song, my first attempt at Karaoke – before there was Karaoke, and two fantastic cover songs!

See you then!