1985 in Musisc
January–March
January 1 – The newest music video channel, VH-1, begins broadcasting on American cable. It is aimed at an older demographic than its sister station, MTV. The first video played is Marvin Gaye’s rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner”.
January 11
One of the biggest music festivals in the world begins in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Rock in Rio had an audience of 1.5 million people, and featured Iron Maiden, Nina Hagen, The B52’s, Go Go’s, Queen, Rod Stewart, James Taylor and AC/DC, along with Brazilian artists such as Gilberto Gil, Elba Ramalho, Barão Vermelho and Paralamas do Sucesso.
Willie Dixon sues Led Zeppelin over the song “Whole Lotta Love”, on the grounds that it contains too many similarities to his own song “You Need Love”. The lawsuit is settled out of court.[citation needed]
January 28 – Various artists, under the group name USA For Africa, including Ray Charles, Bob Dylan, Michael Jackson, Billy Joel, Cyndi Lauper, Steve Perry, Kenny Loggins, Willie Nelson, Lionel Richie, Smokey Robinson, Kenny Rogers, Diana Ross, Paul Simon, Bruce Springsteen, Huey Lewis, Tina Turner, Sheila E., Harry Belafonte, Lindsey Buckingham, Kim Carnes, Dionne Warwick, Waylon Jennings, Bob Geldof and Stevie Wonder, record the song “We Are the World”, written by Jackson and Ritchie.
February – Just months after the compact disc release of his sixteenth and most recent studio album, Tonight, and nearly two years after the initial CD release of its predecessor, Let’s Dance, RCA Records reissues David Bowie’s previous fourteen studio albums plus four greatest hits albums on the format. Consequently, Bowie becomes the first major artist to have his entire catalog converted to CD.
February 14
Whitney Houston releases her debut album.
February 22
The “One Night with Blue Note” concert, celebrating the relaunch of Blue Note Records and featuring over 30 jazz greats, is held at The Town Hall in New York. Freddie Hubbard, Herbie Hancock, Jack DeJohnette, McCoy Tyner and Grover Washington, Jr. are just a few of the performers.
February 26 – The 27th Annual Grammy Awards are presented in Los Angeles, hosted by John Denver. Lionel Richie’s Can’t Slow Down wins Album of the Year, while Tina Turner’s “What’s Love Got to Do with It” wins both Record of the Year and Song of the Year. Cyndi Lauper wins Best New Artist.
March 9 – Tears for Fears album Songs from the Big Chair debuts at number two on the UK Albums Chart. Enjoying massive sales, it spends 29 consecutive weeks on the top 10 and remain on the chart for another 50 weeks until September 1986.
March 27 – The South African Broadcasting Corporation bans Stevie Wonder’s music in response to Wonder dedicating the Oscar he had won the night before to Nelson Mandela.
March 28 – A wax likeness of Michael Jackson is unveiled at Madame Tussaud’s in London, UK.
April–June
April 1 – After months of squabbling, David Lee Roth leaves Van Halen to begin a solo career.
April 7 – Wham! becomes the first Western pop group to perform in China when they play a concert in Beijing’s Workers Stadium during an historic 10-day visit.
April 10 – Madonna begins her very first tour, The Virgin Tour (named after her Like a Virgin album) in Seattle, Washington, USA.
April 20 – Tears for Fears single “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” becomes their highest-charting single in the UK as it reach number two on the singles chart, held off the top position for two consecutive weeks by “We are the World”.
May – Russian singer Valery Leontiev starts his 10-date tour “Alone with all” and it becomes an instant hit. Queues for tickets blocked the traffic on a few central streets of Leningrad.[citation needed]
May 4 – With “La det swinge” by Bobbysocks!, Norway scores its first win at the Eurovision Song Contest, in Gothenburg, Sweden.
May 13 – Dire Straits release their fifth studio album, Brothers in Arms. The album becomes highly successful in part because of its unusually high sound quality, the result of it being recorded entirely digitally as opposed to with standard analog magnetic tape. The album additionally serves as a killer app for the compact disc format, becoming the first album to sell more copies on CD than on phonograph record, and goes on to become the highest selling album of the 1980s in the UK.
June 11 – Madonna ends The Virgin Tour at Madison Square Garden in New York, USA.
July–September
July 13 – The Live Aid concert takes place in Wembley Stadium, London, UK, and JFK Stadium in Philadelphia, USA. The headlining acts at the latter venue included a Led Zeppelin reunion, the first since their 1980 disbandment. The former venue, however, becomes the more notable of the two over the years, in part due to the high acclaim of Queen’s performance of “Radio Ga Ga”, which serves as the band’s comeback in the United Kingdom (Queen would still remain a pariah in the United States in the wake of Hot Space until after Freddie Mercury’s death six years later). With a little help from the British Concorde jet, singer Phil Collins manages to perform at both venues. This would be the last time Duran Duran would perform together with the original line up until they reunited to record their 2004 album Astronaut. On this day they would also have the number 1 song on the US Billboard charts with their James Bond theme to the film A View to a Kill.
September 6 – Michael Jackson purchases the publishing rights for most of the Beatles’ music for $47 million, much to the dismay of Paul McCartney, against whom he is bidding.
September 19 – The Parents Music Resource Center’s (P.M.R.C.) United States Senate hearing on rock censorship begin in Washington, D.C. Heavy metal singer Dee Snider of Twisted Sister, rock star Frank Zappa and country singer John Denver testify against the P.M.R.C.
September 22
The Farm Aid concert is held in Champaign, Illinois, USA.
Massimo Bogiancinno, general manager of the Paris Opera and former head of both the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and La Scala, is elected mayor of Florence.
October–December
October 26 – “Saving All My Love for You” by Whitney Houston tops the Billboard Hot 100. It was her first of seven consecutive number-one singles through 1988.
December 5 – The first fully digital reggae single, Wayne Smith’s “(Under Me) Sleng Teng”, is recorded at Prince Jammy’s studio; it is the beginning of ragga style reggae.
December 23 – Two young fans of Judas Priest in Sparks, Nevada shoot themselves, one fatally, after listening to the band’s records. A lawsuit is brought against the group in 1986 claiming that they were compelled by backwards subliminal messages hidden in their music.
December 31 – The fourteenth annual New Year’s Rockin’ Eve special is aired on ABC television, with appearances by Four Tops, The Judds, Barry Manilow, The Motels, Tears for Fears and The Temptations.
Also in 1985
Several hundreds of thousands of US dollars in publishing royalties are released to the surviving members, and families of the deceased members, of the British music group, Badfinger.
Metal Edge magazine is launched.
Roger Waters announces his intention to leave Pink Floyd; describing the band as “a spent force creatively”, he would spend the next two years in a legal battle with his now-former bandmates over the rights to the “Pink Floyd” name and other associated assets.