Every day from now until Spring, I will play a song from each year from 1940-2020. I’ll also write a little bit about the song and why I chose it to represent that year.
1985 was a pretty eventful year. I moved out of the dorm and got an apartment. I was getting more self-confident at school and I got big roles in two plays “A servant of two masters’ and “The Rainmaker”. That summer I got to go on my first international vacation. (Well, technically my second. Back in the 70s we went to El Paso, Texas and crossed the border to Juarez, Mexico. I don’t remember a whole lot about it except for the fact that my parents seemed really nervous the whole time). This time we were going to Canada.
My father spent a fairly large part of 1985 working in Detroit, Michigan. He spent all of his working life at General Motors and got called away fairly often. After the Spring semester ended, I and my brother Devin (who was attending college at the University of Kansas) and my mom all flew out to Detroit to visit him. We rented a car and drove through parts of Ontario and Quebec. We visited Toronto and went to the observation deck on the CN Tower (Still one of the world’s tallest structures). In Montreal, I realized my college French did not serve me as well as I had anticipated. My favorite city was definitely the nation’s capital Ottawa. I especially liked the architecture and statues.
When I got back to Kansas City, I spent the rest of the summer delivering pizzas. I loved that job. I got to drive around, listen to music on my radio and get tips. I also taped about ten hours of “Live Aid” that July I especially was impressed with U2 and Queen (But I guess everybody was.
One of my favorite movies was released that summer “Real Genius” a comedy that starred Val Kilmer as a computer/tech genius. I always liked hanging with brilliant people even if it means I just sit there with my mouth shut. The song from that movie had gotten a lot of airplay that summer both in the US and in Canada. I still like it and don’t think it’s aged much at all. Especially these days.
Good choice. Never saw the movie, but the song was big with my high school friend group. I may have even taped it by putting my cassette recorder up to the radio, 😂 lol.
Mw too. I was “Mister Mix tape” in high school and college