Welcome to the final post in the “Weekend Diversion: 1985” series. I first did a wrap-up post for the final post in last year’s series, which isn’t saying much: I’ve only done these series for three years.
Be that as it may, last year I noticed that the posts about songs would end the Sunday before Christmas, and that would happen again this year. I didn’t bother to look in 1983, but it was the same story, as it is in many years, actually. However, it’s not the Sundays themselves, but, rather, whether there was a new Number One on the final Sunday of the year. There wasn’t one in 1983, 1984, or 1985, and there won’t be in next year’s series, either.
The thing is, the final Number One song of a year may remain there for the last Sunday of the year, too, and that means it’s usually also the first Number One of the new year, too, because Billboard usually published a two-week edition wrapping up each year. So, the first new Number One of 1986 reached the top of the charts on January 18, so the first of next year’s series will be then, too. More time to plan the series?
Each year I do more than merely look at the charts and research the songs, I also look at the “Year in Music” to see what was going on in that year, and Wikipedia make it easy by having pages for each year. So, I looked at“1985 in music” page, mainly because it talks about things that aren’t about Chart Position, and so, things I probably wouldn’t mention in a post. They’re often things I either never knew or had forgotten.
For example, on March 27, 1985, “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.” On April 1, David Lee Roth left Van Halen to begin his solo career (I didn’t know that was in 1985). On April 10, Madonna launched her first tour, “The Virgin Tour”, in Seattle. One forgets every famous person had to start somewhere. On September 19, the Parents Music Resource Center's (PMRC) US Senate hearing on music censorship begin in Washington, DC. Dee Snider of Twisted Sister, rock star Frank Zappa, and country singer John Denver all testified against the PMRC’s censorship plans. One of its leaders, Tipper Gore, was the wife of US Senator Al Gore, and when Bill Clinton picked Gore to be his running mate in 1992, and that choice felt kind of icky to me because I remembered all the self-righteous busybody grandstanding of the PMRC and Tipper.
In addition to learning (or being reminded) about the music events of 1985, there were also some other things I learned this year, often by accident. I learned that the band Eurogliders was Australian, and that Dire Straits wasn’t (I have no idea why I thought they were). Worse, it was only last night that I learned that Mark Hollis, the lead singer of one of my favourite 80s bands, Talk Talk, died from cancer in February 2019. I found out because I was catching up on videos from “The Professor of Rock”, Adam Reader, who recently published a video about Hollis and Talk Talk. Adam mentioned that many people may not have known because it wasn’t widely reported at the time. That made the news even sadder to me.
Every year has good songs and—well, those that are less good. Some brilliant songs never reach Number One, and some that do—well, they’re less good. Good or bad, every pop song on the charts may carry memories for us, or help us to remember things. The songs we listened to at significant times in our life can help us celebrate, remember, heal—and feel. And, isn’t that just about the most wonderful thing ever? That, in a nutshell, is precisely why I do these series. I love pop music, I love the memories the songs stir up, and I seriously enjoy learning new things about the songs, artists, and anything/everything about them. As long as that’s true, I’ll keep doing this.
The new series, “Weekend Diversion: 1986” will begin on Sunday, January 18, 2026. I can’t wait to see what I learn—or remember—next year!
Previously in the “Weekend Diversion – 1985” series:
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 1 – February 2, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 2 – February 16, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 3 – March 12, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 4 – March 30, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 5 – April 13, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 6 – May 11, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 7 – May 18, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 8 – June 1, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 9 – June 8, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 10 – June 22, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 11 – July 6, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 12 – July 13, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 13 – July 27, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 14 – August 3, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 15 – August 24, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 16 – September 7, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 17 – September 21, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 18 – October 12, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 19 – October 19, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 20 – October 26, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 21 – November 2, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 22 – November 9, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 23 – November 16, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 24 – November 30, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 25 – December 7, 2025
Weekend Diversion: 1985, Part 26 – December 21, 2025
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